Page 22 of The Omega's Bloodline: Part One

I sank against my seat. “Okay, I guess I don’t need to know right this second.”

He leaned over and pulled me into a kiss. “Want me to distract you when we get back to Salem?”

“Yes,please.”

“Perfect.” He grinned, his gaze igniting. “Then get us to the hotel and I’ll distract you so much you forget your own name. And afterward we can peruse the witchy shops to find you something cute.”

I let out a laugh. At least one of these brothers was making decisions I agreed with.

We stopped at a park a short distance away because my eyes decided crying was better than focusing on the road. Caden extracted me from the front seat, carried me over to a tree, and sat down beneath it with me cradled in his lap. I leaned into the embrace. His purr roared to life, and between that and the hand rhythmically stroking my hair, I was eventually able to pull myself together.

I’m here. As long as you want me. He cuddled me even closer and I tucked my face against his throat. At least one of them wasn’t going anywhere. The declaration went a long way to soothing my ragged nerves.

I sat up and turned his face to me. “You really want to stay?”

“I’m not sure what impression I’ve given you at any point that would imply otherwise, but I meant what I said. I like you.A lot. And I’m happier than I’ve been in decades.”

“Good. Because I like you a hell of a lot too.” I snuggled in again, but not before indulging in a kiss. “You’re stuck with me forever.”

He laughed softly. “What a hardship.”

Music pulsed a thumping beat, every note from the drums like a punch to the chest as I stood next to the speakers. I needed the distraction even though it hurt my ears. Bodies gyrated all around me. Good old Rochester giving the local shifters a place to unwind and get freaky to the sound of early 2000s dance music.

A beautiful deer shifter ground her ass against me, but it did absolutely nothing for me. It was stupid of me to be here. I was close enough that all I could think about washer, but still too far away that I could give in to the impulse and show up out of nowhere.

Her.

Logan.

My brother’s mate, or as close to a mate as she could get since she was human.

She was the one woman on this godsforsaken earth I couldn’t have, so of course she was the one woman I was so fucking in love with it was physically painful.

It wasn’t my fault. I’d tried to get over her, but it didn’t matter how many people I tried to be with in every sense of the word. None of it touched that ever-burning torch I carried for her.

I pushed away from the deer shifter and went to get a shot of vodka at the bar. It never helped. It didn’t matter where I was; I could feel her as if she were magnetic north. I was nothing but a hapless compass needle, drawn always in her direction.

Fuck.

I downed the shot, hoping one day I would find the unique balance between drowning out my awareness of the woman I couldn’t have and the point just before I was hurling my guts out.

Tomorrow I would have to go farther. I could never stay away as long as I needed to, because even when I made it to the other side of the country and that awareness dimmed, it was replaced by the incessant need to feel it again.

Another shot. Another glass slammed down on the bar as I savored the burn.

Nausea churned my gut. I stumbled to the bathroom and expelled all the money I had just consumed. I lingered for amoment to splash cool water on my face before venturing out into the music, the sound as I opened the door like walking into a brick wall.

One of my buddies found me as I turned the corner into the main room. “There you are. Someone can’t hold their liquor.”

I rolled my eyes. “Shut up, Tommy.”

Unease prickled up my spine. I spun around but saw nothing out of the ordinary. I’d felt it on a few occasions since the last time I saw Logan. There was never anything to cause it, but I never stuck around for long to investigate further.

I was about to ask if Tommy was ready to leave when a scream rent the air.

We both turned to the sound. One of the club patrons, an owl shifter I vaguely recognized, was held aloft in the air, shouting his head off. The crowd backed away and it was then I realized nothing was holding him up.

I jerked back against the wall.

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