Page 48 of The Omega's Bloodline: Part One

“You’re an adult to the humans now,” she said, her fingertips tracing the veins in my wrist, sending sparks through my body. Every time she touched me, she lit a fire under my skin.

“Yep.” I swallowed hard, immediately transfixed when she turned those navy eyes on me.

“You like me, don’t you?”

I nodded frantically. “Of course I like you. Who wouldn’t?”

Rachel’s soft smile was a prize I tried to win daily. I’d been besotted with her for years and ate up every crumb of attention she gave me like it was a gourmet meal. I knew she was off limits. She was married and mated to my brother, but that knowledge did nothing to squish those feelings.

When she lifted my hand and kissed my wrist above where the knotted threads came together, it was like time stopped. “You love me, right?”

My tongue felt like a lead weight in my mouth as I struggled to breathe enough to answer her.

She moved closer, brushing her mouth against mine. The heat of her lips was too much, like the burn of liquor straight down my throat, and I was helpless to resist. I had dreamed of kissing her, but never imagined it would actually happen.

The world melted away, and when I resurfaced, we were in the car with Rachel looking pensive in the front seat.

“You’re sure this is what you want?” My voice sounded so strange to me, like I was both underwater and echoing.

“I can’t stay, Seth. He doesn’t want me the way he’s supposed to.”

I turned to the road briefly, and when I looked back at Rachel, she was gone, with only an empty seat and scenery flying past me. “Rachel?”

The wheels lost traction, my car spinning out of control and plunging through an aura that turned the air wavery. Ice sank into every cell and I jolted with a screech, my house cat form tumbling into the hot tub where I’d fallen asleep on the edge.

Logan scooped me up and cradled me to her chest, the water from my fur sinking into her shirt. “Shh, it’s okay. Did you have a nightmare?”

I clung tightly to her. She smelled like the forest with night-blooming jasmine, making me want to curl up inside her shirt and fall asleep. It hadn’t been a nightmare, more a memory.Not ’til the end.

It still made me feel like a dumbass that I’d tossed my relationship with Caden out the window for a chance with Rachel. She’d been so beautiful, and he’d loved her so much. I’d just wanted to be a part of that. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me even now.

Caden had raised me after our parents died, and as soon as I’d gotten old enough to start fending for myself, he’d sought out a mate and found Rachel. Maybe it was jealousy. She’d stolen his heart and his attention, leaving a lot less for me, and I hadn’t liked that one bit. She’d wanted me, though. At least, I’d thought so.

If nothing else, at least this fucking monster was letting me spend time with my brother again. I wouldn’t thank it or anything, but I could appreciate the forced proximity. We hadn’t ever talked about Rachel. I was glad we finally had. She’d burned me as much as him and had paid for her choices with her life. I still didn’t know what got her. She’d used me to leave him, seduced me so easily, and left me in the night.

Logan’s magic fingers got my purr rumbling. She was beautiful too and had stolen Caden more thoroughly than Rachel ever had.

I wanted her.

Her gaze was like gasoline on the fire inside me. One look turned my guts into an inferno that was ready to burn me up. I had to stop falling for Caden’s women. Fuck him for having the same taste as me.

From the first time I’d met Logan, I’d felt that pull. It was fucking unfair. I’d tried so hard to keep my distance, to look for what I wanted in other people, hoping and praying that the next time I saw her it would have faded.

Spoiler alert. It fucking didnot.

I didn’t even know what it was about her. It was like she’d reached straight through me and tied a rope around my spine, yanking me toward her whenever I was nearby. I shoved it all down. It was dangerous to indulge myself even thinking about her. Didn’t mean I was good at avoiding it, but at least I was aware it was a terrible idea.

Did that make it better or worse?

Logan let out a soft sound and my fur puffed up.

Gods-dammit.

I should get out of here and take a fucking walk. I didn’t want to go out into those woods, though. I wiggled out of her embrace and settled myself on the porch in Logan’s line of sight.

Please don’t be mad at him. He loves you so much it scares the shit out of him. He’s never been good at worrying.

Logan flicked a few droplets of water at me and I leapt aside.

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