Page 103 of Claimed By the Rockstars: Part One
"Fuck," Rafael mutters. "Her scent just spiked again."
"I can smell it," Phoenix says, and his pupils are dilating as I watch. "Bells, we can't help you if?—"
"You're our scent match," Rafael interrupts. "Both of us. Phoenix and me. You're our scent match."
I freeze.
The words become an invisible fog I can't wave away, can't dismiss, can't pretend I didn't hear.
Scent match.
Both of them.
My brain is trying to process this through the fever haze and the artificial heat and the fact that I just puked my guts out on a hotel bathroom floor, but the information won't quite stick.
Scent match.
Me.
"I'm sorry to dump that on you right now," Rafael says, his dark gaze softening. "But you need to know before anything moves forward. If it does. If you want it to."
Phoenix nods, his blue eyes serious despite looking at me like a starving wild animal, blown pupils and all. "We're not trying to pressure you. Just... full disclosure."
Full disclosure. Right. Because that's what we're doing now. Laying all our cards on the table while I'm naked in a nest and they're both staring at me like I'm the answer to a question they didn't know they were asking.
Then it hits me.
Rex.
That night at the stone tower when he stumbled and crushed me against the wall. The way his entire body went rigid, the sharp intake of breath, how he's been avoiding me ever since I started sleeping in his bed and making it smell like omega.
And he fuckinghatesme.
"Oh gods," I breathe, the realization settling in my chest like concrete. "Rex is my scent match too. And he hates my guts."
Phoenix sighs. "Rex doesn't hate you, he's just?—"
"Insane?" Rafael supplies helpfully.
"No," I say. "I mean… yeah. Maybe. But he really,reallyhates me. And there's no way it's just that he knows he's my scent match, and that's why he's pissed. He has to be in denial or something. If he knew I'm an omega, he'd use it as leverage."
Rafael's brow furrows. "What do you mean?"
"He knows I'm a girl," I say again, fighting to keep my voice steady through another wave of heat. "Saw me changing when he was prowling around in a maintenance tunnel not long after I met you guys the first time. That's when we got in a fight and I slashed him with my knife."
I decide not to tell them exactly who I am. The odds of them digging like Rex did are low. Phoenix is just not the type at all, and I'm pretty sure Rafael would get distracted ten minutes into his research. Rex is the one who's easy to imagine feverishly hunting internet archives, not them.
Phoenix's lip curls, and for a moment, all golden retriever energy burns away. "And he's been blackmailing you ever since, making you sing for us."
"But you're sure he still thinks you're a beta?" Rafael asks.
I nod. "He must think that, yeah, or he'd be telling me he has even more dirt on me than he previously thought. But I have my own gun to his head. A gun I feel guilty about, which is a pain in the fucking ass."
"Which is…?" Rafael asks carefully.
"I've seen his face," I mutter.
Phoenix's eyes widen slightly, but he quickly schools his face into a neutral expression. "Oh."
