Page 29 of Want It All

‘You shouldn’t be alone,’ Tristan said tightly, and after a moment, I realised he was talking to me. ‘Omegas can die of shock. You need to stay with someone.’

‘She can stay with us,’ Sebastian said.

‘Baby,’ Tristan sighed. ‘I have to go back to the dean. If I leave you two alone, someone is going to end up in heat, and the next time you leave the apartment you’ll have bonding bites on your necks.’

Blood rushed to my cheeks … But he wasn’t wrong.

Sebastian and I apart were measured, considered, smart.

But together? We were reckless, impulsive.

We’d proved it, barely ten minutes ago. If I wasn’t an omega, and he wasn’t a beta who already had an alpha, it wouldn’t be a problem, but that wasn’t the case.

Our recklessness affected more than just ourselves.

I opened my mouth to say I’d ask Byron, but paused. Letting him into my space – or going into his – meant that he’d scent me, or I’d scent him, and everything would just be … over.

I wasn’t sure I could deal with that on top of everything else that had happened today. And even though I had other friends, my omega wasn’t keen on the idea of them in my room.

‘I’ll be okay,’ I said, forcing a smile. ‘I’m feeling okay. What if I called someone?’

Tristan frowned down at me. His green eyes were dark with some strong emotion as he considered me, but I couldn’t read what it was. ‘You’ll text Sebastian, too,’ he said at last, and it wasn’t a question.

The hallways were deserted as they walked me back to my room.

I leaned heavily on Tristan; his other arm was wrapped around Sebastian’s shoulders.

Sebastian seemed almost as affected as I was, and I wondered if he was having some kind of flashback to the first time he’d seen a feral alpha; his face was bloodless, and I could see him trembling.

I was as reluctant to leave him as he seemed to leave me, but I knew that Tristan was right.

We couldn’t be trusted together.

They waited until I locked my door before they left; we didn’t say goodbye.

I clicked every single lock into place and pushed a rolled-up towel along the bottom of the door; I even dragged the dining table and leaned it against the door to barricade myself inside for good measure.

My air purifier was already set to high, but I turned on my scent diffusers as well, filling my room with a calming lavender blend.

I was still shaking with cold, so I ran myself a bath, using a thermometer to make sure the water wouldn’t scald me. Between heat spikes and shock reactions like this one, omegas sometimes needed help to make sure they wouldn’t lie in a bath that would either give them actual burns, or hypothermia.

Stripping off was the last thing I wanted to do – a wave of gooseflesh broke out across my skin when I unbuttoned my blouse – but I forced myself to do it anyway, leaving my fuzzy winter dressing gown by the side of the bath for afterwards, along with a pair of heavy-duty winter bed socks.

Sexy .

When the bath filled, I flicked off the tap and clambered in, unable to stop a moan when my shoulders sank beneath the water. I lay there for a moment, willing my body to warm before I reached for my phone.

I had several texts and a number of missed calls from Byron; he picked up immediately. ‘Rose?’ he said urgently. ‘Are you okay?’

I sighed and put him on speaker, setting my phone on the side of the bath. ‘I’m okay.’

‘My mum told me what happened.’ He paused. ‘Are you with Sebastian?’

I couldn’t stop flushing at that. ‘No. I’m in my room. In the bath.’

He exhaled. ‘How can I help?’

‘Tristan didn’t want me to be alone.’ I bit my lip. ‘I thought about asking you to come. Into my room, I mean. But if that happens … If you scent me …’ I trailed off, my teeth worrying at my skin.

‘I know,’ he said gently. ‘If we scent each other, and it’s not complementary …’ He was silent for a moment. ‘But Rose … I caught enough of your scent the night of the party to know that I like it. It doesn’t mean you’ll like mine, but I can tell you right now that I wanted more.’

‘More of my scent?’

‘More of you ,’ he purred, and it heated me more thoroughly than the bath had done. ‘More of everything .’

‘Because I’m an omega.’

‘Because you’re you . I’ve known other omegas. Many of them. None of them ever made my alpha take notice in the way you do.’

I sighed again, melting against the side of the bath. ‘Then what do we do?’

‘Firstly, I’m going to bring you a chai latte and every dessert I can scrounge from the kitchen,’ he said dryly.

‘ Okay my ass; Sebastian just messaged to let me know you’re in shock, little liar.

I’ll leave everything outside your door.

Then, when you’re ready, we can –’ He faltered.

‘I don’t know. What usually happens in this situation? ’

‘I don’t think this situation has a usually ,’ I answered.

‘You’re the historian. What did people do before the Unveiling?’

‘They dated,’ I said. ‘They went to bars, or out for dinner or coffee, or they saw movies.’

‘A movie night!’ He sounded so enthusiastic that I couldn’t help but smile. ‘In my room, so that –’

‘My scent won’t be too strong, but I’ll be able to scent you,’ I finished.

‘That sounds good. There’s only one problem.’

I frowned. ‘What is it?’

He laughed. ‘What will we watch?’