Page 28 of Dodging Bullets

My heart did that clenching thing in my chest again, my Omega purring at her greeting.What the fuck?

I climbed out of Rio’s car, and she raced up to me, bouncing on the balls of her feet. I could tell she wanted to hug me, but I kept my hands to myself, no matter how much I wanted to hug her too. She had to make that leap.

“I made dinner with Max. Did you know you can make ice cream at home? I’d never had ice cream until this week, and I think it might be the best thing I’ve ever had. And chocolate. Why did they not have chocolate at the Homestead?”

I wanted to frown at that, but I didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm. Finally, she leaned toward me and gripped my arms, pulling me closer. How few hugs had she had in her life that she felt so awkward making this connection?

I reached around her back and squeezed her tightly. “I love ice cream. Is that what you made for dessert?”

She was nodding and smiling.Fuck,she was beautiful. Achingly beautiful. “With chocolate chips and chocolate sauce.”

“Best of all worlds, then.”

She dragged me up the front steps, and I smiled at Llew as I walked past. He nodded respectfully. “Evening, Omega.”

I nodded back. “Alpha.” But that was all the conversation I could get in before I was in the kitchen with Paloma, staring at the ice-cream maker churning away.

She wasn’t talking, just sharing her wonder, and in that moment, I wanted everything for the Omega in front of me. Happiness. Security. Good Alphas, and a great Pack. It solidified my need to pull away after tonight, because this Pack was the best of them—exactly what she needed. It didn’t matter that I wanted them too.

Her need trumped my want.

Max appeared, smiling fondly at us both. “Hey, August. I see you’ve been introduced to the ice-cream machine.”

I grinned back at him. So fucking handsome. When he wrapped an arm casually around Paloma’s waist, they were so attractive together, it stole my breath. What would it be like to be between both of them during my heat?

The thought pulled me up short. Not only were those thoughts completely inappropriate, but it was a slippery slope. My own heat was merely a month away, and if I fixated too much on this Pack, I was bound for disappointment, which was never fun during a heat.

“Paloma was just telling me about her flavorings. I have to admit, I’m excited for her creation.”

Max looked down at her fondly, and jealousy reared its head again. “Come on through to the living room. I’ll grab you both a drink.” He led us both into the living room, where Rio and Llew were already on the couches. Paloma bounced over to sit on the giant Alpha’s lap, and Llew immediately wrapped her up in his arms, pure bliss on his face.

I could see what Rio was talking about now. Llew’s Alpha dominance felt immense now that he wasn’t trying to suppress it, but it wasn’t a chaotic sensation anymore. No, it pulsed with happiness, and Iknewit came from his bond to the woman in his lap.

I listened to Paloma chatting about her week, about the public library that she’d signed up for, and her cheeks went pink.“I couldn’t sign up under my own name, because I don’t have any identification. Or a last name.”

“You’re a Barrie now. That’s your last name forever, or as long as you want it,” Llew said, nuzzling her cheek.

I nodded. “Yes, once you bond to a Pack, it’s traditional to change your last name to theirs. If that’s what you want. Nothing is set in stone. You can change your first name too. Everything is your choice now.”

She blinked at me. “I wouldn’t have to be Paloma anymore?” She stared at me with open-mouthed shock.

“Not unless you wanted to be,” I informed her gently. “Would you like to change it?”

She chewed her lip. “My friend at the Homestead, Nimah, used to call me Polly. I called her Nim. We weren’t meant to shorten our god-given names, but it felt like a secret between the two of us. I think I’d like to be Polly now.”

I saw Rio stiffen beside me, but I patted his leg gently. He couldn’t react negatively to these little tidbits; otherwise, she’d stop dropping them completely just to keep the peace. We needed the information she had stored away in her brain to stop these people for good, information she might not even know she had.

I smiled softly. “Polly is a beautiful name. Bright and happy. It suits you.” She gave me a half-hearted grin. “Was Nim an Omega too?”

Paloma—I mean, Polly—shook her head. “No, I was the only Omega after the last one died, maybe three years ago? It’s hard to know. Nim’s a Beta. She is the sweetest person. The only one there who showed me love, despite me being marked by Melize. We were raised in the same house.”

“Could you be sisters?” Max asked, and she shook her head.

“No, she had beautiful golden skin and almond-shaped eyes. Her mother was definitely Sister Alita, because she was the onlyone there who looked like Nim, but we weren’t allowed to say so. We were all children of the house. Sister Alita didn’t show any favoritism toward Nim.”

I resisted the urge to grind my back teeth as her scent soured. When she turned her face into Llew’s chest, he stroked her back gently. “We’ll rescue your sister, Polly. We’ll bring her home here and open up the world to her, so she can be the decider of her own fate. Just like you.”

Well, I guess if we were having hard conversations, it might be good to get them all out of the way in one go. “There’s actually something else the guys invited me over to talk to you about.”

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