Page 93 of Claimed By the Rockstars: Part One
I know what a scent match feels like. Know the way it bypasses every rational thought and goes straight to the bone-deep certainty thatthis person is mine. Alphas hear about it our whole lives—from our families, from our friends, from songs and poems and movies and TV and every word of romantic bullshit ever written.
And now a male omega is smelling like every fantasy I didn't know I had wrapped in vanilla and cinnamon andmine mine mine.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
PHOENIX
Bells’s scent is driving meinsane.
Not in the way that tempts me to kick down the door and claim what every alpha instinct is screaming belongs to me. I'm an alpha, not a monster. But in the way that makes me hyperaware of every breath, every sound, every shift in the air that might indicate Bells needs something I could provide.
Rafael's pacing has worn a path in the hotel carpet. Back and forth, back and forth, his fingers drumming against his thigh in that nervous tic he gets when he's trying not to do something stupid.
Like burst through that door.
"We should check on him," Raf says for the fifth time in ten minutes.
"He said he needs to be alone," I counter, also for the fifth time.
"That was an hour ago."
"Still applies."
Raf shoots me a look that could strip paint. "Phoenix, he's in there suffering. You can smell it. I candefinitelysmell it. We're supposed to just sit here and?—"
A thud from the other room cuts him off.
We're both at the door before conscious thought catches up. Rafael's hand hovers over the handle, but he doesn't turn it. Doesn't cross that line. Bells locked it anyway.
"Bells?" I call through the wood. "You okay?"
Silence.
Then, quieter than it should be: "Yeah. Just... dropped something."
His voice is wrecked. Rough and broken like he's been crying or screaming or both. The omega in distress triggers something primal in my chest, something that wants to break down every barrier between us and make it better.
"Do you need anything?" Rafael asks, and his knuckles are white where they're gripping the doorframe.
Another pause. Longer this time.
"Water," Bells finally says. "And... I don't know. Blankets? Pillows? Something soft."
Nesting supplies.
My heart does something complicated in my chest because that's—that's trust. Letting us provide for his heat even if he won't let us help directly. It's more than I expected, more than we probably deserve given the circumstances.
"Whatever you need," I say immediately. "Give us twenty minutes. Or do you want one of us to stay and keep watch?"
"No," Bells mutters. "I trust you more when you're together and can hold each other back. No offense."
"None taken," Raf says gruffly. "We'll be right back."
"Okay."
Rafael and I stare at each other for a beat, both processing what just happened. Then we're moving, grabbing our jackets and keys, heading for the door like the building's on fire.
