us, you would give me your nurturing self.”
The words had never passed my lips to anyone I wasn’t related to.
“Now,” he insisted. “Tell me now. It’ll be all right. I’ll catch you.”
Big breath, deep breath. “I love you, Graeme.”
His smile was luminous, but the fierce look in his eyes turned it into more of a glare. “And I love you back, you vexing creature. How dare you doubt our mating at the first test of––”
“Yeah, good, kiss me now.”
And he did.
14
Graeme
It was difficult for us to leave the club because Wade was torn. He heard Avery when he assured him the omegas weren’t being hurt, and he heard me when I reiterated the same sentiment, but believing it was another story. He needed to be guided outside, not quite forcefully but nearly so. I understood. His oath to serve and protect was at war with what he’d just witnessed. He felt as though he was leaving the scene of a crime, and I appreciated, as he paced in front of me, his need to grasp the entire picture.
“So if you’re an omega, and you have sex with an alpha, and he doesn’t mark you, then wham, heat.”
“Normally, yes,” I replied, prepared to work everything through with him.
“How long does a true heat last?”
“No more than twenty-four hours, sometimes less, and then it abates,” I answered irritably, realizing I needed to get to the heart of the matter. “What’s your concern?”
“It’s barbaric,” Wade declared adamantly.
“Not the heat, correct?” I needed to clarify. “The practice of alphas putting omegas into heat and not marking them, that’s what you find offensive.”
“Yes—I, of course. The heat is natural and organic, it’s that spectacle that’s horrific.”
“It’s antiquated,” I corrected him, “but culturally accepted, as so many rituals and laws that pertain specifically to omegas are. And that’s why I’m working with others, albeit slowly, to change legislation where omegas are concerned.”
“You are?” Avery asked, looking up from his phone, texting with Peck, who, along with his partner, Ness, was at Bridget’s home, after midnight on a very early Sunday, to look at and acquire, if needed, the surveillance tape from Friday night.
“I am, but it’s going to take time, as many of the people speaking out against changing laws for omegas are omegas themselves. Many of them don’t want the same rights as alphas and betas and gammas, because then so much more will be required of them and remove them from their traditional roles.”
“That’s all well and good,” Wade told me, “but right this second, how can those omegas be safe in there?”
“It’s the omega’s choice to be put into heat and then exhibit themselves,” I declared, well beyond tired of discussing it and turning toward Avery, wanting, needing to be closer. I understood it was shocking and appalling to Wade, but he wasn’t a wolf, so it was unreasonable of me to expect it to make sense to him.
“Wait,” he barked, moving to face me, blocking me from stepping closer to Avery.
Instantly, because the drive was primal, I went still.
“Shit,” he gasped, backpedaling, staring at me. “What the hell?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Avery soothed him, moving between us and into my space, hands slipping under my trench coat and my suit jacket to my sides, sliding over my ribs as he bumped his head on my chest. “Just take one more step back, Wade.”
He was wary, his gaze flicking from my face to Avery’s and back before returning to me. “What happened? Your eyes did a weird thing, like when a cat’s eyes glow in the dark.”
“That’s eyeshine, lupines call it wolf eyes,” Avery replied gently. “It’s just a reflective layer behind the pupil of our eyes. No big deal.”
“Yeah, but why?” Wade addressed his question to my mate.
“Our mating is brand new,” he informed his partner, still using a soothing, calming tone, soft, gentle, like he was talking to a wild animal. “Graeme and I haven’t spent any prolonged time together, and because of that, as my alpha, he’s very protective of me and my space, and of his position in relation to mine.”
“I don’t under––”
“You walked between us,” Avery apprised him. “That’s Wolf 101 at the academy.”
Wade stared at him for a long moment, and then a look of both resignation and annoyance crossed his handsome features. “Shit,” he groaned, upset with himself for making such a rookie mistake. He took another step back and gestured at me. “Graeme, I know better than that, and we’re just getting to know each