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“Perfect!” I chirp, rushing into my room. As quickly as I can, I dry myself and throw on my least worn, loose tee and a pair of shorts River outgrew. My stomach flutters with nerves and excitement as I finger-comb my hair. I had completely forgotten our agreement to spend time together, but Dair didn’t, and instead of expecting me to bend over backward to accommodate what he wants, he somehow anticipated that I would need a quiet night and is making sure I get it. Who is this alpha?

When I return to the kitchen, he’s already got two metal bowls set on the table, full of deliciously aromatic, steaming hot stew. He also brought several pieces of crusty bread and even managed to find cups to fill with water. I pause in surprise when I realize that he set my food up at my usual place, and he chuckles a little as he says, “Your scent is the strongest in that chair.”

My perfume spills around me in a cloud of fizzy giddiness as my heart rate speeds and warmth blooms across my cheeks and chest. The way Dair intentionally perceives things about me, even insignificant details like which chair I prefer, is mind-bending. What is this feeling taking over my body? It feels like disbelief layered in comfort and primal satisfaction, yet it’s also bashfully hopeful. I think I have a crush on this alpha.

“Thank you,” I finally say, breathless. “You didn’t have to do all of this, but I want you to know how grateful I am that you did. This is exactly what I needed after today.” I slowly sit in my chair and watch with a still-grieving heart as Dair sits in the one Mother always preferred.

His small smile returns, flashing enough of his canine to distract me. “It’s truly no problem. I wanted to spend time with you, remember?” he asks.

Tentatively, I inquire, “Because I’m the sister of your ally?”

He’s quiet for a moment. “No, because you’re you, and I find that I like you quite a bit.” There is no dishonesty in his scent. He means it.

The butterflies in my stomach flutter so fast it feels like I’m floating. “Good,” I smile. “I like you quite a bit, too.” I bashfully look down and push my bread into my stew so that it can soak.

When I look up again, Dair’s smile is blinding in its intensity, flashing those massive canines in a way that I know wasn’t supposed to be provocative, but is. His face sobers after a moment, though, and he says, “Things with the alliance have changed a little after today. I am leaving soon, and Aspen and Koda are remaining here to help rebuild. I have to get back to my territory.”

I push down a distressed whine as confusion, regret, and despair war inside of me. I have been puzzled about the way Dair makes me feel, especially because of the fucked-up situation with Ferris, but I was almost becoming attached to my insane daydream that I might escape the pain and leave with Dair.

His gray eyes darken with intensity, and his hands clench into fists on either side of his bowl. “I wanted to ask you something that may seem absolutely ridiculous.”

“Okay,” I drawl, interested to hear what he says.

“Is there any world in which you’d be interested in leaving Grand Prairie?”

I stare at him, my heart suddenly trying to beat out of my chest. “Leaving?” Can this be really happening?

“I mean, leaving with me?” he adds with an open, hopeful expression. When I don’t respond, he barrels on, “I am very interested in knowing you, Raine. If I’m being honest, there’s a large part of me that feels like it will break if I leave without you, and based on what I saw today, I vehemently believe that you would be safer if you came with us. So, I’d like to formally invite you to leave with Tore and me the day after tomorrow. You could find a new future, not as an omega forced to bond someone you don’t want, but as Raine, the woman who made her own choice.”

I want to immediately accept. This is the chance I need to go somewhere else and be someone other than River’s little sister and, secretly, Ferris’s unwanted scent-match. Even better, there’s no pressure on the two of us to ignore or explore this magnetic connection that only continues to grow. There will be no one breathing down my neck to make a match or become someone’s mate. If we pursue these feelings, it’ll be because we want to, and I think I really want to.

“I know I’m not giving you much time to really consider, but I do want you to think about it, and then let me know sometime before tomorrow night. If you decide to come with us, I’ll need time to finesse your decision with your brother, and we’ll have to make sure that we have time to pack everything you need before we go.”

“Alright,” I agree. “I will think it over.” My omega nearly purrs to see the dark look of satisfaction on Dair’s face. Leaving with him seems like a no-brainer, though, and although I’m scared and nervous about being in the Wilds again, I can’t help but feel giddy anticipation so strong, I’m tempted to say yes right this second. I’m not going to let my fear take this away from me. I swallow my emotions, tears threatening to fall as I absorb how much of a gift Dair has offered me.

How is it possible that this alpha has already given me more than my own scent-match has in all these years?

“Good,” he says. “Now, let’s eat before the stew gets cold.”

I take a bite of the stew, close my eyes to enjoy the savory fattiness of the deer meat we’ve been spoiled with, and hum my pleasure. When I open them again, Dair is staring at me, eyes blazing silver like twin moons. I watch, enraptured, as he brings his own spoon to his mouth, slurps his broth, and then licks the spoon in a slow, alarmingly sensual drag of his tongue.

My perfume explodes around us, and a possessive growl rumbles through Dair’s massive chest. Breathing heavily, I do my best to focus on eating, but now that my sense of smell has fully returned, I am entirely distracted by Dair’s scent intermingling with my perfume. As his scent deepens, it brings forth a spicy muskiness that is distinctly dominant, nearly animal. Together, our scents paint a picture of finding solace from a storm in a dark, dry cave once used as a beast’s den. Dair would build a small fire, and then we’d strip off our soaked clothes, letting them drip on the chilled stone. Shivering, we’d warm each other up, skin to skin, while we listened to the rain fall outside of our cocoon. As the small fire grew, so too would the flames of desire between us.

“Raine,” Dair says. “You need to eat, little one. It’s been a long day and your body needs to be replenished.”

I nod, but mentally, I’m in that crude, erotic lair. My skin feels so warm, just like it would being pressed against Dair’s massive body. Lust and confusion war inside me. I’ve never reacted to another person this way aside from Ferris, who I knew was my scent-match immediately after presenting as an omega. These feelings and instincts I have about Dair are something else, although the overwhelming sense of rightness is achingly familiar.

And, unlike Ferris, Dair is here, and he’s trying to take care of me. Nothing has ever been more arousing. A small, pathetic whine escapes my throat as slick soaks into my shorts and onto my thighs. Dair freezes, cocking his head to the side in a distinctly predatory way as his nostrils visibly flare.

“Raine,” he growls. “What do you need?”

Overwhelmed, I shake my head. My stomach rumbles with hunger, but my mind and body are so distracted by this aching want that I can’t focus on eating. “It’s too much,” I gasp.

“What is?”

“This wanting,” I whine. It feels like my instincts are in sudden overdrive, almost as if I finally found someone to nurture my omega, and now she’s veering closer to the surface, ready to finally explode.

Dair stares at me for a long moment, scanning over my heaving chest, clenched thighs, and the pounding pulse of desire in my neck. “Come here, omega.” I watch in confusion as he pushes his chair away from the table a few feet. “Please,” he rasps desperately, “let me help you.”