Page 45 of Eight Count Heat
Could be more. If you wanted.
My heart pounds in my chest, like a bird caught in a net. This is dangerous territory. I already have enough secrets, enough risks. Adding a relationship, or whatever this would be, with a teammate feels like lighting a match while standing in gasoline.
But the memory of his mouth against mine makes my resolve waver.
I don't know what I want,I answer honestly.
Fair. Let me know when you figure it out.
So simple. No pressure, no demands. Just an open door I can walk through. Or not.
I should sleep. Early practice tomorrow.
Night, Reese.
I set my phone down, more confused than ever. In the space of one evening, everything has shifted. Cameron knows my secret but doesn't care. Wants me despite it, or perhaps because of the person he sees beneath the facade. Meanwhile, someone else knows too, someone who sees my secret as a weapon.
I glance at the note I placed on my desk. Four words. Fifteen letters. Enough to threaten everything I've worked for.
But as I slip into bed, it's not the note I'm thinking about. It's the way Cameron looked at me in the moonlight. The gentle way he pushed my hair back from my face. The unexpected softness in his eyes when I made him smile.
I've spent years learning to suppress every Omega instinct I was born with. To ignore the pull toward certain Alphas. To remain clinical and detached when designation biology tried to take over.
But nothing in my training prepared me for Cameron Blake.
I close my eyes, trying to focus on the problems at hand. Seven days left in my trial period. Seven days until I run out of suppressants. A threatening note from an unknown sender. These are the things I should be worried about.
Instead, I fall asleep with the memory of his kiss playing on repeat, his taste still lingering on my lips, and the dangerous hope that it happens again.
Morning comes too soon, my alarm jolting me from dreams I'm grateful not to remember clearly. They involved water and hands and Cameron's mouth against my skin, places decidedly not my lips.
I sit up, rubbing sleep from my eyes, and immediately spot the note on my desk. Reality crashes back, driving away the pleasant lingering effects of my dreams.
Someone knows. Someone is threatening me.
As I dress for practice, I run through the possibilities. The women's team, led by Kinsley, has made their dislike of me clear.But would they go this far? And how would they have discovered my secret?
The administration could have accessed my sealed records from Westlake, but again, why the anonymous note rather than official action?
Another student who's noticed my careful behaviors? A professor with keen observation skills?
Too many possibilities, too little information.
I check my phone: 5:10 AM. I'm going to be late for the first time since joining the team. Gray will be furious.
As I rush from my dorm, I nearly collide with Tyler Wu, of all people, standing outside my building.
"You're late," he says by way of greeting. "Like, really late. You're never late."
"I'm aware," I reply, adjusting my bag on my shoulder. "What are you doing here?"
"Trying to figure out what's wrong." He falls into step beside me. "You're the most punctual person I know, besides me and Gray. Something must have happened."
I glance at him. "Maybe I just overslept."
"Right. The girl who shows up fifteen minutes early to everything just overslept." His tone is skeptical but not unkind. "What's really going on?"
For a brief moment, I consider showing him the note. Tyler, with his analytical mind, might see something I missed. But that would mean admitting the threat is real, which feels like giving it power.
