Page 29 of The Case of the Missing Love Stone

“We met Scarlet.”

“That’s not an answer.” He braces both palms against the table. For a moment, the only sound is the air-conditioning unit rattling beneath the window. “Her scent hit me before I saw her.”

“Me too.”

“Not like that.”

I lean against the table beside him. “Tell me.”

His shoulders rise with a slow breath. “My alpha reacts like she is already mine and she is in distress. I have an overwhelming need to protect her and make the deprivation leave her scent.” His voice turns rough. “It’s not just attraction. She smells like mine, and right now it’s all wrong.”

I think of Scarlet leaning into his jacket. “You want to fix it.”

“I want everyone away from her.”

“Including me?”

His head turns sharply. The answer comes through our bond before he speaks. Never me.

I slide my hand against his lower back.

Wes exhales. “I want you closer,” he says. “I want her between us.”

The truth settles warmly in my chest. There’s no real surprise in it. Wes and I have discussed an omega for years, always in distant terms. A future person with no face or scent, just an idea. That idea no longer feels theoretical.

“She connects to our frequency,” I say.

“I know.”

An omega doesn’t need a bite bond to feel whether a pack’s rhythm settles her. Bond attachment can begin long before anything permanent does. And, Scarlet fits our rhythm, like her frequency was made to tune to ours.

“She was frightened by it.”

“I know that too.”

His frustration pushes through the bond. Not anger at her. Anger that desire cannot make him safe in her eyes.

I turn him toward me. “You did well today.”

His mouth flattens. “I gave her three rules and touched her hair, Ro. I was barely able to contain myself.”

“You kept yourself in check and listened when I warned you. You were honest with her and gave her space to make her own choice.”

“I told her not to go into the swamp alone.”

“You’re still you.”

That earns me the beginning of a smile.

I place both hands on his chest. “Her fear is not a judgment of your worth. You’re a good alpha.”

His gaze darkens. “Careful.”

“Or what?”

His hands settle on my hips.

The room shifts as arousal awakens in our bond. It always does when Wes stops directing his control outward and turns it on me. “Or I remind you who you belong to.”