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I rub my thumb across her cheek. “Security.”
She bites her thick bottom lip. “Is that why you had the elevator key?” I don’t answer. Don’t tell her that I’m Lucy’s cousin. That I have access to every space in this building. I pull my eyes to Finn.
He’s hovering beside her, swaying like he’s caught between us. He’s talked more this morning than I’ve ever heard from him, but he’s still quiet. We both are.
He steps toward the door, then turns back. “Can I have your number?”
Her eyes widen. I’m surprised too, but I’m better at keeping it hidden.
She takes his phone, types quickly, then hands it back. “I just texted myself. Now I have yours too.”
Finn smiles. It’s one that takes up his whole face.
She tugs his shirt until they’re touching. Then she kisses him. “Call me.” Then she skims her fingers down my chest. “See you, Viking.”
Neither Finn nor I speak until the elevator doors close.
“Leith, she’s—”
“Not for us,” I cut in.
Finn looks like he wants to argue. I hold up a finger. “Piers is obsessed with your research. He wants a scent match. You know that.”
He swallows. Finn’s been working for two years on a DNA-based system to identify scent compatibility. It could change the way packs find their omegas worldwide. And Piers has been his biggest supporter.
“But a scent match isn’t guaranteed. And you don’t need them to be happy. We could—”
I shake my head. No point. She’s not our match, and our pack alpha won’t settle for less.
Finn steps closer, pressing his forehead my shoulder. “She’s just so—”
“I know.” I press my lips to his temple.
The house smells like bacon and toast when we walk in.
“That you, Leith?” Beck yells from the kitchen.
“Me and Finn.”
“Breakfast in ten,” he calls back.
I head straight up the back stairs. Finn trails behind me. He still smells like her. We both do. Vanilla-lavender, rain-soaked grass, and my smoky scent all mixed together on our skin. It’s good. Too good. That’s exactly why I need to wash it off.
We meet again in the upstairs hall on our way back down. Beck and Piers are standing at the bottom of the stairs looking rattled.
“What the fuck is wrong with you two?” I ask.
Piers’ black eyes snap up. His nostrils flare once, hard. “We thought—”
Beck drags in a long inhale, then another, shoulders going tight. “Nothing. It was right there and then… gone.”
Piers mutters something under his breath and scrubs a hand over his face. He looks unsettled, almost agitated. Beck keeps sniffing the air like he’s trying to chase something that already disappeared.
Finn glances between them. “Thought what?”
Beck shakes his head. “Weird as hell. Never mind.”
The strange tension fades as quickly as it arrived. Piers turns and heads toward the kitchen without another word. Finn and I follow.
