Page 89 of Savage Surrender

“I was eating.” The timbre of his voice is rich and deep. “You.”

Pinch me. The whole world is still against us, but my belly is full, their scents are thick in the air, and for the first time since I returned to Emerald Hills, I can breathe.

My security notes keep disappearing under pastry flakes. Bianca from the refuge wants to figure out how to guard every inch surrounding us. The rest of me is already daydreaming about the tiny library I saw coming in, long days letting the warm sand roast me, and fucking my handsome-as-fuck mates on every surface. I could get used to this.

Heat crawls over my skin and settles solidly between my legs. Which is still sore from last night... and this morning. My scent pops in the air, the breeze carrying it far enough that Owen comes inside from where he’s been mapping all of the cameras and lights Weller and Tristan went to get from the store.

He’s bare from the waist up - broad, bronze, and oh so delicious. His bullet wound is healing well, but the sight of it sends a pang of guilt through me.

But then he gives me a heated look that makes my insides go soft and stupid.

“I’m also hungry,” he says, glancing at my hand.

“You ate two breakfast sandwiches already.”

“Freddie ate half of one.”

“Because you took mine.” Freddie hides his smile behind his coffee.

Owen comes around the island, gaze locked on the piece of pastry pinched between my fingers.

I hold the pastry just out of his reach. He could take it and me with it, throw me onto the island, and eat breakfast off my naked body. The hunger that rolls through our bond says he is thinking about exactly that, but Owen bends his head instead and waits for me to put it in his mouth.

My omega loves this.

It’s slightly humiliating, but my hormones win.

I feed him the bite, brushing the sugar from the corner of his mouth afterward, and Owen’s eyes close for half a second as though I gave him something far more precious than almond filling. His hands settle on my hips beneath the cover-up, rough palms traveling over bare skin while he chews.

I look down at the drawing we’ve created of the property. Three acres of dense trees surround us, and the beach is mostly private, although someone could wander too far down the private boardwalk.

I make notations of where I want cameras and alarms to go. It’s ironic since I’ve come to despise surveillance. Maybe one day we won’t need to be so paranoid.

“Weller mentioned Ezra tracking down a few people to come and keep watch outside during my heat.”

“Unnecessary. I’ll snap the neck of anyone who comes near you. I already feel an adrenaline buzz.”

“During my heat?” I laugh and reach around him for another slice of fruit, lifting it to Freddie when he drifts within range. Juice runs over my fingers before he catches the orange between his teeth. “You plan to yank your dick out of me, put on pants, and conduct a perimeter check? What if we’re knotted?”

Owen’s body presses against mine and Freddie nearly chokes.

“I wouldn’t bother with pants.”

“Terrifying, but it isn’t a security plan. If Ez can spare the people, we should take them. I hate it, but we’re running out of options here.”

Freddie swallows and licks the juice from the side of my hand. “If Ezra can’t send anyone, we’ll figure out shifts. Two of us patrolling, two resting with you.”

“Resting.” Owen says the word as though Freddie suggested we’d be doing needlepoint together.

The sound of a golf cart whines somewhere beyond the trees before Freddie can answer. Its tiny electric motor complains, growing louder.

They appear around the corner with Tristan behind the wheel, one hand braced across a tower of grocery bags teetering precariously. Cases of water fill the rear platform. They’ve used rope to tie everything down. Boxes have been tied to the roof. Weller sits wedged into his seat with no room to spare, and I can see immediately that he’s holding at least two bags full of condoms.

I cringe a little. Condoms sound absolutely repulsive.

But whatever it takes to prevent the next generation of science experiments.

I walk out onto the balcony to welcome them home.