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T his is the discovery of a lifetime. The walls are stone, and tapestries hang in-between each torch—or the remains of them. Though this temple has been hidden away, nothing is untouched by time. Colors fade, threads fall apart, but what's left is still breathtaking. And more well preserved than it should be.

The panels tell us stories of what life was like thousands of years ago, what this place really means. I wish I had time to study each and every one, but that will have to wait, I guess.

The hallway is wide enough that we can all walk side-by-side, but we don’t. Bear and Archer take the lead, with Roman and I a few paces behind them. Jax keeps attempting to pull up beside me, but every time he does, Roman growls at him, and he begrudgingly falls back.

“Is that really necessary?” I hiss under my breath.

“Necessary? The man should be in handcuffs, not taking a stroll by your side.” Roman barely makes an effort to stay quiet.

“Do you have a scent match, Roman?”

He scoffs as if it’s the most ridiculous idea he’s ever heard, and I realize it’s a sound he hasn’t made toward me in a few days. Maybe we really were getting somewhere as colleagues, and maybe even friends. Today has certainly undone any of that progress.

“If you don’t have a scent match, then you can’t understand what it’s like. I honestly…” How do I explain it? I mean, I have that bandana tucked in the small bag slung over my shoulder right now, right beside the puzzle box. I haven’t been able to let either of those two things out of my possession. It’s not hard to imagine why Jax would have “stalked” me. I might have done the same if I was the one who knew about him.

There’s only one thing I don’t understand, and it makes my heart twist. Why didn’t he introduce himself? He could have come up to the camp during the day and just… I try to imagine it and fail. No, I guess he couldn’t have done that. If Roman’s hostility is any indicator, an entire camp of people at a closed dig site certainly wouldn’t have let him get past the first tent, much less to me. I sigh, casting a glance over my shoulder at the man in question.

He gives me a crooked smile that’s oddly both playful and seductive. He’s handsome, in a rugged, unkempt kind of way. Wild. That’s the word to describe him.

Something in my core tightens, skin tingling. Would he unleash some of that wildness with me? Something tells me I may like it if he did .

The thought is immediately followed by another, much less pleasant one. Will he still want me once he knows I’m not like other omegas? What alpha would want an omega they can’t bond, even if they’re a scent match?

Turning my attention back to the path ahead, I quicken my steps. All the more reason to discover what secrets this temple holds. If there’s any chance the accounts of Lunara’s relic are true?—

“What’s it like?” Roman whispers, cutting off my thoughts.

“What’s what like?”

He hesitates, his Adam’s apple bobbing down his throat. “What’s it like having a scent match?” His voice shakes, all of his normal bravado gone.

“Um… I’m not sure I can say. It’s pretty new. But… It’s not just that I find the scent appealing. There’s a pull, an impulse, deep in my gut. My instincts say he’s safe.”

He snorts, and I glare at him.

I think for a moment, trying to put it into words. “It’s like coming home after years away. The town may have stores you’ve never seen, you may have new neighbors where your best friend used to live, but there’s already a level of comfort and recognition when you arrive. You can relax knowing that this is your town, but you’re still excited to learn its nuances all over again.”

He stares at me in a way that makes it clear he doesn’t understand. I’m not sure I understand myself.

When I just shrug, he strides off to join Bear and Archer.

The second Roman is two steps ahead of me, Jax is at my side and taking my hand. Roman doesn’t stop him, so maybe I got through to him a little after all.

I give Jax a soft smile before removing my hand from his. No matter how natural it feels to be around him, he’s still a stranger.

He looks a little hurt as he takes off his cowboy hat and spins it on the tip of his finger like a rodeo performer. “Sorry. It’s just…”

“Yeah, I get it.” The urge to touch him is like the draw of lightning seeking a rod. But what do I know about him, really? It’s uncommon for scent matches to reject each other, but it happens. They aren’t always a perfect fit. And this man is, by his own admission, a thief and a stalker. I can overlook the stalker part, but can I overlook the fact that he makes a living breaking the law?

“So, you…” How do I even ask this? “Um, steal for a living?”

“I research artifacts, hunt treasure, and rob graves, little mate. It’s not so different from what you do. I just do it for someone who can pay more.” He grins and winks.

“And you’re… successful at it?” Right, ‘cause that’s the question I should be asking him right now. But, I’m curious. I mean, he may look a bit unpolished, with his cowboy hat and his unbuttoned shirt revealing his bare, chiseled chest, but his jeans are designer, and his boots and backpack are high-quality.

“Not successful enough to give you what you deserve.” He looks away and wanders over to one of the tattered tapestries on the wall, or what’s left of it. His fingers graze the worn threads. “You don’t like it, do you?”

“Don’t like what?”

“What I do. It’s not exactly an upstanding profession.”

“It’s an ancient one, though. I mean, grave robbers have been around as long as there have been graves.” Why am I defending him? “So have stories about the dangers and spiritual consequences of robbing graves. Most civilizations consider it disrespectful to the dead at best, and sometimes far more taboo than that. There are stories of hauntings and?—”

He stops my rambling with a finger to my lips. Beneath the sweat and dirt of his calloused finger, the smell of absinthe peeks through, making my head spin.

“Shhh, little mate. Don’t worry. I won’t be doing this anymore. This was always going to be my last job.” His forefinger drags down my lips, tugging the bottom one a little. “But I never expected to find a treasure as priceless as you.”

I stare at him, breathless and shivering. A cramp twists my stomach, but it eases the moment his hands come to my shoulders.

“You’re cold.” He rubs my arms.

I shake my head. Definitely not cold, despite how my body is shivering. This is ridiculous. I am more than my biology, and this man isn’t my type. Nothing like my type. Roman is more the type of alpha I always pictured myself with, in the few moments when I allowed myself to picture being with an alpha at all, when I tried to pretend an alpha might want me.

Except Roman definitely doesn’t want me.

And Jax does.

He pulls me into his warm body, and like an addict, I let him, huffing in deep drags of his intoxicating scent.

“Fuck.” Roman’s voice booms in the long hallway.

I jump away from Jax.

“We might have a problem,” Archer calls.

As I hurry to put distance between myself and Jax, and to see what the problem is, Jax takes off his button up and drapes it over my shoulders. I should give it back, but the closer we get to the others, the more of a draft there is, making me wish I’d worn pants instead of shorts. It feels like the temperature has dropped a few degrees, and goosebumps rise on my skin. That’s the only reason I keep Jax’s shirt. Not because it smells so good. Or because his bare chest looks so delicious. Nope. Definitely has nothing to do with that.