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“No. Well, yeah. But that’s not why I shivered. That ‘creepy mates speaking at the same time thing’ was like the twins in The Shining.”

Alden laughs. “Damn. I was trying to be romantic.”

Tyler looks affronted. “It was a coincidence. I would never do that on purpose.”

“Do you feel like we’re missing too?” Alden asks.

I nod, admitting, if only to myself, that Tyler was right about why I’ve been sick. I feel better the longer I spend near them.

Alden strokes my hair again. “Poor sweet omega suffering alone,” he croons. “Rest. We’ll take care of you.”

22 ALDEN

The rain cleared before we left the lab, but the streets are still wet. Wispy mist hugs the Pacific Ocean beneath the near-twilight on my left.

“What are we going to do if he doesn’t agree?” I whisper on the drive home, stroking Elliott’s auburn curls while he dozes in my lap. He only opened his eyes for a few seconds when we told him we would drive him to our place, then shivered and went back to sleep.

“We could kidnap him?” Tyler meets my gaze in the rearview mirror.

I roll my eyes with a scoff. “Okay, Dr. Consent King.”

Tyler slows to a stop at the last light before our street. “Fine. We’ll court the hell out of him.”

“I thought we would court him regardless.”

Elliott whimpers in sleep. The fresh scent of his slick fills the car. The orange blossom still smells as delicious as always, but it’s weaker.

“I don’t like the idea of him going into heat when he already seems so frail,” I say.

“He’s with us now. We’ll take good care of him.”

“We should have done it your way,” I say.

Noel called a couple weeks ago and said he thought there was something wrong with Elliott. Depression or a chronic illness. Maybe both? Tyler wanted to make a house call, but I figured Elliott might be more open to our proposal if we let him come to us.

“My way could have pushed him further away.” Reassurance fills the car with Tyler’s ocean scent. “You’re an amazing alpha.”

“No, you.” I wink.

The light turns green, and I tighten my arm around Elliott.

It’s so surreal to have Elliott resting in my lap like he belongs there, like we’re a pack already. And even more surreal to have my best friend be my mate. Tyler has been so busy at the lab, but we spent the first few weeks after we got together living in bed, hibernating and growing closer in this new, deeper way.

I hate that our little omega struggled without us. But I’m grateful for the gift he gave us. Tyler spent so much time loving me while I was with someone else, and we both were in no place to share each other. But now we’re ready for our omega.

Tyler parks the car in our narrow driveway.

“Elliott.” I rub his shoulder. “We’re home.”

He inhales and rolls onto his back, but doesn’t wake.

I feel Tyler’s worry through the bond as he turns off the car and gets out, slamming his door shut behind him.

Elliott flinches awake, hazel eyes wide until he finds my face.

“Sorry,” Tyler says, opening the back door more gently.

“How are you feeling?” I ask.