Page 31 of Crave

Two fucking Omegas. They’d always been inseparable, Quinn and Susannah, two halves of a whole, and it was even more so now. It made so much sense that I felt stupid for not seeing it before. Though how could I have predicted that the Goddess would suddenly turn the Beta I’d loved into an Omega?

Not even my skills of prediction were that good. But I felt like I should have known that about Quinn. What kind of Alpha, even when we were teens, didn’t recognize the beginnings of an Omega presentation? He was late—that I knew, but still. The way he used to flush in the locker rooms after Phys Ed. The way he was always touching Susannah, like she was a security blanket. The way he eyed me sometimes, like he was hungry. I’d just thought he was a Beta responding to an Alpha. It never occurred to me that he was in the hormonal throes of transitioning to an Omega.

My own response to him was even more telling. I’d loved Susannah, but I was also super protective of Quinn. I’d told myself it was because I liked him, and because Susannah loved him more than she loved anyone. More than she loved her own family. More than she’d ever possibly loved Murphy and me. She’d stand between Quinn and a bullet without blinking.

I’d always thought of him as Pack, but if I looked back, I was a little too growly with other Alphas around him. A little too protective. A little too hurt when he’d chosen Wilkie too.

“You’re thinking real hard up there, Alpha,” Quinn gritted out, and I stopped, turning to check on him. He looked pale, and a light sheen of sweat spread across his face, making him glisten in the moonlight.

I gave him a tight smile. “A lot to think about,Omega,” I replied. “Are you doing okay?” I pulled out my satellite phone, checking the GPS. “We aren’t far away now—maybe another two hours of jogging, or four if you want to walk the rest of the way. We’re just over the Canadian border now.”

Quinn shook his head. “I’m fine. The quicker we get there, the quicker…”

“The quicker what?” I asked softly.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to do now.” He swallowed hard. “And I think the yearning is catching up to me now that I’m not on my meds, you know?”

My dick went instantly rock hard.Fuck. The yearning.It was like the heat for male Omegas, and usually, it would push the female Omegas into heat as well. It was like a fuckfest of epic proportions, with only one goal: to be bred.

“Goddess,” Murphy breathed.

“Just Quinn,” Susannah said quietly. She looked flushed too, probably responding to thefuck mepheromones coming from Quinn. She’d feel the effects first, but we’d all fall into the frenzy behind her. I was so damn glad we weren’t in Moonburst, Montana. The joint combination of an unmated Omega pair in heat/yearning would’ve had every unmated Alpha in the vicinity banging on the door.

Murphy cleared his throat. “How long?”

Quinn shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve, uh, never technically gone into yearning.”

I swore beneath my breath, but reached out and gently held his forearm. “If you need anything”—A nest, treats, cock, my cubs—“all you need to do is ask. Murphy and I are here for the both of you.”

The Omegas between us both blushed, and I didn’t have to wonder too hard about what they were thinking, especially when their scents bloomed together. Separately, they smelled delicious, but their scents together? It was fucking heaven.

Quinn’s pretty aquamarine eyes were wide and shiny. “Thanks, Merrick.” He looked over his shoulder at Murphy. “You too, Murphy. We owe you everything. You saved us.” Susannah’s face was solemn, but she nodded her agreement.

The memory of Susannah tearing into town, her face pale and her eyes wide with fear, was going to haunt me forever. Even thinking about the healing scrapes on her wrists where those cuffs had been on too tight made me angry. I wanted to dig up Wilkie and kill him myself. She’d run straight to me like I was her savior, and I’d never been more scared in my life. I could feel Murphy’s rage and pain through our bond, but I hadn’t been able to find him until Susannah had found me.

We all owed Tanner a life debt.

I squeezed Quinn’s arm once more, then turned. We needed to get out of these woods and back to Tanner, then onto wherever we were going. I had my suspicions about where we were headed, though. Dark River. Home of the vamps who’d all sworn to do no harm.

My Beast rumbled low in my chest at the idea of walking our Omegas—theOmegas; they weren’t ours yet, I chastized myself—into a town filled with vegan vampires. If I thought they smelled amazing, what would vampires think? Would we test their self-control?

Inexplicably, I trusted Tanner to protect them too. He wouldn’t have saved them from Wilkie only to turn around and let them be eaten by his own kind.

By the time we made it to the campground where we were to meet him, the sun was lighting the sky and Quinn was starting to throw off pheromones like they were fireworks on the Fourth of July. My dick had throbbed for the last mile and a half.

I could smell the faint scent that I associated with the vampire. It was more a blankness of smell, but with a hint of Murphy, whose clothes he was wearing. Shifting back, we pulled our clothes from the backpack Murphy was carrying and changed into normal clothing. Unfortunately for me, the hard-on just traveled from one form to the next, so I tucked my cock into the waistband of my boxers.

I fell back, wrapping an arm around Quinn. The Omega fell into my body, burying his face against my chest and huffing in lungfuls of my scent. I did my best to surround him, which would give him the most comfort, but he was only a little shorter than me so it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Being close to an Alpha would ease the symptoms he was obviously suffering from.

Tanner was sitting on the hood of the car, and his head whipped toward us when we appeared from between the trees. “You made good tim— Why does hesmelllike that?” His words were choked, and even in the darkness, I could see his pupils dilate.

“He’s going into the yearning.”

Tanner raised a single eyebrow. “Fuck me swinging. I knew he must smell good to the Manix, but I didn’t realize he’d smell good to other supernaturals too. Not enough outside data.” He made a humming noise, but his eyes never left Quinn, except to flick to Susannah. He cleared his throat. “The research says that from the onset of pre-yearning symptoms, it's usually twenty-four to forty-eight hours before the full force of the yearning hits. I’m sure the last thing you want is for it to take full effect out here in the middle of the woods.”

Murphy snorted. “We’re Manix. We are literallymadeto have sex in the woods. But they’ll need a proper nest.”

Tanner nodded, sliding off the hood. “Get in. Slight change of plans. We’re heading to Fox Falls.”

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