Page 56 of Queen of Diamonds

He cupped my chin, leaning close and licking the tear from my face because… well, because he was Kyan, but it made me giggle. And cry more.

“What the hell?” Zed’s voice from below gave me an irrationally giddy shot of adrenaline. Both Kyan and I scrambled to the edge of his pad. “Where is—?” He cut off, eyes finding us. “Absolutely fucking not,” he snarled. “Knight?—!”

“No.” Knight had a broom in hand and was sweeping up his popcorn with a stoney expression. “You want to try and get up there?” he spat. “I won’t. Last time?—”

“I took his fucking tasers?—”

“Like he hasn’t got two more?” Knight demanded. “I quit. I quit this whole Omega bullshit.”

“You can’t quit?—”

“I can. If you and Kyan want to fight over her, go for it. She can do what she wants.”

“There, see,” Kyan breathed, tugging me back to the bed and already arranging pillows around us. “Up here you’re safe. This is your Oasis.”

The sounds of Knight’s TV, and a hissed argument between the other two was faint in the background. The TV was comforting. I always liked sleeping with one on, and here my mate’s scents were everywhere.

“Why?” I asked, peering up at him as he finished with his pillow arrangement.

I’d… left him.

“You were my first Oasis,” he whispered. “When I was about to break, you gave me more to live for.” He drew me close. “I’ve always believed in you.”

I swallowed, suddenly terrified of what he was saying. Of what it meant. “What if it was dangerous for you to… to be with me?”

“I would rather die than leave you behind,” he said, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. “How long has it been since you’ve had one?” Kyan asked.

“One… what?”

“A place you knew you were safe?” I clenched my jaw, eyes burning, curling up tighter. He wound his arms around my waist, and it was the most comforting thing I’d ever felt, down the feeling of his bracelets brushing my skin.

I let out a squeak of surprise as a tentative paw pressed up against my hip, followed by a whole chunky, fluffy cat.

“Lucy?” I asked, blinking through the dim light.

Her purr got louder at the sound of my voice and she dug her way into the blankets at my side. A sob broke from my chest as I hugged her close.

“Oh,” Kyan chuckled. “She loves it up here. Now.” He pressed a gentle kiss to my temple. “Sleep, Baby. It’s still nighttime.”

20

KYAN

Iwoke to Glade lying peacefully in my arms, which was exactly where she should be. I knew, by how it smoothed every shard of the Alpha instincts that had, for years, been lodging deeper and deeper into my soul.

For far too long, I’d ached for this. Being apart from her had been unnatural, but this completed me: having her in my arms, knowing she was safe and alive. Feeling it from the warmth of her skin and hearing the slow rhythm of her breaths.

My pack was half of me, and she was the other half. She had been since the first moment I’d laid eyes on her.

That moment had been something like this, with her dark lashes brushing her cheeks, a faint pinch between her brows as she slept, hair tumbling around her in a huge bed.

She’d been hugging a pillow close then, instead of a cat, and she was covered by nothing but a silk sheet draped over her like liquid. The summer air had been warm, even this late, and the moonlight filtered through her window, reflecting silver pools along each curve of her perfect figure.

Her scent turned the world upside down. It was a lightning storm, heavy in the air; a drug trickling bone deep, halting me in my tracks and changing everything forever.

I knew, to the others, she smelled like cardamom (whatever the hell that smelled like), but to me, she was static in the air, rain in the wind, a clap of thunder in the distance.

I’d been awake with her in my arms for a while now, and below us the smells of breakfast cooking wafted up. The TV was always on down there, but I heard one of the others flicking through channels. It ended up on boxing, which meant it was Zed who was awake.

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