Page 34 of Power Shift

“Two more,” Ronan grunts, reaching for me. When I shake my head and fold my arms to ensure I don’t do the same thing, he pins Dash beneath a death glare. “I’m not leaving her here alone.”

“You’ve only just met. It’s a scent match, right? That’s what this is?” Dash asks.

It sounds flippant. Like he doesn’t really care about what’s just happened, yet something in my gut tells me that’s not the whole story. That there’s more to this beta than I’ve seen so far.

“She’s my omega,” Ronan growls, inching toward his packmate.

“I believe you. But it’s too soon. Landon needs to hear about this before we do anything else.”

“Landon doesn’t have shit to say about this.”

Dash’s mouth drops just enough to betray his surprise. “You know that isn’t how it works, Ro.”

“He can’t take her from me.”

My heart pangs, and a beat later, I’m back in his arms despite Dash’s warning. I need to touch him, even if that looks bad to his packmate. In a few minutes, I’ll be going inside alone. Even if that makes me want to hurl all over the grass.

Pressing a hand to Ronan’s vibrating chest, I tip my head back to meet his dark eyes. “Nobody is taking me from you. But he’s right. If there are more of you . . . then you need to speak with them, and we have to meet. This is still new. A scent match is rare and incredible, but it’s not a done deal.”

“Not a done deal?” he asks, confused.

I giggle. “No. Not by a long shot.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you have to court her, Ronan. Like any other omega. But there’s no chance we’ll be able to do that without Landon and Jasper,” Dash answers for me.

Landon and Jasper. I memorize their names, already picturing what they might look like and how they smell. If both Ronan and Dash have sweet scents, maybe the other two are darker, spicy.

Blinking, I mentally chastise myself. I’m too far ahead. It’s obvious whoever Landon is, he isn’t interested in an omega.

I’ve already struck out with Dash, and if I don’t recognize the other two as scent matches, I don’t know what will happen. Thinking about it now will only make it that much harder to let Ronan leave.

We need time apart. All of us. Without it, we’ll never think about anything properly. I’ve already lost all sense once, and I can’t afford to do it again.

At least not until I know what in the world I’m going to do.

12

DASH

Ronan lingers in the alley,his bike rumbling and helmet on, but doesn’t make a move to hit the road. I watch him from the driver’s seat of my car, shaking my head at his stubbornness.

He didn’t want to leave the omega—Briar. I don’t blame him. Leaving her felt wrong for me too. But I also know that we can’t do anything else without speaking to Jasper and Landon.

The sweet girl with the pale blue eyes, round cheeks, and a tiny diamond in her nose that glittered in the starlight stole my breath at first glance. And once I regained it, all I could smell was the hint of a comforting lemon sugar scent that stroked a part of me that I’d forgotten existed. It kicked my heartbeat into overdrive, but compared to Ronan’s reaction to her, mine wasn’t anything special.

She’s clearly his omega. If she were mine, wouldn’t I have been all over her too? Historically, time and place have never really mattered much when it comes to scent matches. The pull between us should have been strong enough to shift the entire world beneath my feet. She should be my centre of gravity now, but I’m still anchored to the ground.

Good god, when we get to the house, one sniff of Ronan and Landon’s going to lose his shit. If she truly is supposed to be our pack omega, Jasper will try to get as much information from us as he can.

Our pack is already fracturing, but if this truly goes how I’m expecting it to, there very well might not be anything left of us by the end of the night.

My fingers feel weighed down as I roll down the passenger window and lean over the centre console. “Go home, Ro!”

His face is hidden behind his matte-black helmet, but I know he’s staring at me when he keeps his head tilted in my direction and kicks the bike into gear. Clouds of dirt puff up behind him when he spins into the street, the loud purr of his bike drowning out the rest of the noises in the neighbourhood.

I shift the car into gear and follow him, not wanting to risk losing him in case he tries to come back here instead. From what I saw earlier, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he snuck into the building and found out where Briar lived before standing guard outside of her apartment door all night.

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