Page 32 of Dodging Bullets

There was so much longing in his eyes when he looked at them both. An old residual kind of desire when he watched August, and a newer, hotter want when his gaze landed on Polly. How long had Rio wanted his group therapist? Why hadn’t he ever said so?

I knew the reason before the question even settled in my mind. Me. I was the reason he’d never tried for the Omega in front of us.

And maybe a little himself too. Between the two of us, there was enough fucked-up mental health to write a textbook. We were probably a therapist’s nightmare Pack really, like bringing your work home with you. But Polly hadn’t had any options, and it felt like fate had placed her here in our laps, so we could each be what the other needed.

Max walked back over, handing us each a ticket. “Okay, Polly. What are we hitting first?” He handed her a map that had all the animals listed and their locations in this big botanical garden.

“Rhinos still exist?” she breathed, pointing to an area on the map. “My magazine said they were extinct.”

I led her into the zoo, the kid at the gate eyeing us warily as he scanned our tickets. Some people were sensitive to the fractured sensation of my Alpha, but now that Polly was here, he felt a lot less feral.

Max looked over her shoulder at the map. “Some are extinct, and depending on how old your magazines were, it would depend which one they were referring to. The Western Black rhino was declared extinct in 2011. The Northern White rhino was made functionally extinct in 2018 when the last male died. So while some subspecies are dead, it’s not necessarily the whole species. These ones look like Southern White rhinos.”

August looked at Max, like he’d grown the horn from his face. “How do you know that?”

Max nudged him with his shoulder. “Information is my thing, remember?”

August and Max were of a similar height, and they looked good together. I looked down at Polly, who was watching them hungrily. Her question last night, about whether Omegas could join the heat of other Omegas, was playing on my mind. Anyone with eyes and a heightened sense of smell could tell she wanted August. It was odd, but given that he was here instead of at work, that he seemed so at ease, it led me to believe that perhaps August wanted my Sweet Thing too.

“Well, looks like we’re doing the chubby unicorns first,” Rio said, heading off in the direction of the rhinos.

Polly stood up on her tippy toes, pulling me down closer. “Unicorns aren’t real, right?”

I kept the amusement from my face. I didn’t want to make her feel bad. “No, beautiful girl. They’re just myth.” She nodded solemnly, or maybe a little sadly. I hugged her close, her body fitting against mine perfectly.

Rio looked back over his shoulder at us. “Hurry up, you two, or I’m leaving you with your brethren in the sloth enclosure!”

Laughing, Polly skipped away, but she never let go of my hand.

Eighteen

Polly

This had been the most magical day of my life. I couldn’t remember another moment in time where I had been this happy, not even as a child. No birthday or celebration, no single moment in my life had been filled with as much joy as going from enclosure to enclosure, seeing living animals that I’d thought I could only ever read about.

Galapagos tortoises, Lowland gorillas, tigers—they were all there, in large enclosures, but close enough that I could touch them. In all the scary moments of realizing that I’d been in a cult and that everything I’d ever learnt was wrong, this was a sparkling silver lining.

I didn’t have time to be scared, or worried, or overwhelmed, because I was surrounded by four men I knew would jump in front of a bullet for me.

Max and I took turns trying to one-up each other with animal facts, while Rio rolled his eyes. August spoke to me like I was a normal person with a normal history, making conversation like we were getting to know each other. I guess we were, really. I knew he was the youngest in a family of girls. I knew his dad had been in the army, and his mom had been a kindergarten teacher. Two of his sisters were also in the army, while the other one wasa dental hygienist. I knew that he loved his job at the VA; he loved helping people find solid ground after they left the armed forces.

The more he spoke, the more the feelings in my chest grew and stretched toward him. Desire. Longing. By the time he bought me ice cream at the end of our first lap of the zoo, I wanted to pull him closer to me and kiss him. I wanted to kiss all the gentle places and all the jagged ones too. I wanted to hold him close to me, breathe in his reassuring scent, and listen to his sweet voice.

And I wanted to do it all naked.

Okay, there was definitely some merit to his statement that my heat was coming. The thought thrilled and terrified me in equal measures. One part of my mind was purring at the idea that all these big, strong men would be mine.

But the other part—the one who’d spent her whole life shying away from the touches of the Alphas she knew—was terrified. If I had barely any control over my Omega, what if they lost control of their Alphas? They felt good, but how would I even know? I knew nothing. That was well established now.

August nudged my arm with his. “What’s wrong?”

I gave him a bright smile that probably didn’t reach my eyes. “Why do you think something is wrong? This day has been the best one of my life.”

He tapped his nose. “The scents don’t lie, Omega. Tell me why your scent suddenly soured, only if you’d like.”

Because while August had basically told me his entire family history, he hadn’t pushed me for information. I mean, it had poured out anyway, but he never asked me any direct questions. He never pressed me, and I never felt interrogated. He was a calm presence in a hectic world, and I wanted to cling to him.

“I was just thinking about my heat. Old fears that Iknowwon’t happen, but I can’t shake the unease anyway.”

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