Page 160 of All Packed Up

“Nic!” she groaned.

“Jeez, thanks, Dad,” Tate retorted, and that made it so much worse.

“No, man! That’s so wrong,” Arlo jeered, taking a hand off her hip to smack Tate.

Wendy couldn’t believe she was laughing during her heat of all things. The thought sobered her as Grif’s and Nic’s footsteps faded, as their laughter died down.

Heats were as much an emotional state as a physical state. That had never been more clear than when Derek must have recognized she was in heat. All of her attention was distracted by the alpha she wanted to forget.

The bond was a two-way mirror. Whether she wanted to share every emotion with him or not, it wasn’t her choice.

In answer to her heat, Derek flared up like an inferno, his rage greater and hotter than anything that burned beneath her skin.

That desperate need, that heat, simmered below the surface, but it was nothing compared to the volcanic rage melting down the line of her dreaded connection, that damned bond with Derek.

It was terrifying.

Where was he directing all that rage? Who would pay for it if she wasn’t there?

“Wendy.”

Even as the intensity of the emotion rattled her to her core, Wendy was determined to push him away. To push them away. The Sterling Pack had no room in this moment, in this nest, where she felt safe for the first time in a long time. Where she trusted the people who’d take care of her during her heat.

So she pushed them far from her mind, imagined a chest of which she slammed the lid shut, locked.

It wasn’t a permanent solution, and she knew that chest was going to open again, probably sooner than she wanted it. It rattled, and she was still aware of it. Unfortunately, Wendy didn’t think that part would ever go away.

But for the moment, she could breathe.

“Hey,” the voice repeated, and Wendy realized Arlo had tucked her into his chest. Lifting her head, she found both of them peering at her worriedly, waiting for her to open her gaze, to come back to them.

Her cheeks flushed. How long had they been watching, waiting? Moments or seconds?

“Do you feel okay?” Arlo asked.

Shaking hands belied the nod of her head, and she slid her weight to the side, sliding off Arlo’s lap. Warmth washed over her, head to toe as the wetness inside her soft pants chilled against her skin.

A fuzzy blanket was her favorite thing right then, and she pulled it over herself. It took two seconds to realize it felt terrible against her sensitive skin, and she tossed it off with a grimace.

She couldn’t care less that the alphas watched her try to get comfy, cute little smiles on their stupid faces. With a huff, Wendy flopped back down on the mattress, and slid the waistband down her hips. “Well? Get these off me, please,” she added at the last second.

The pants slid down her legs in record time, and she could have laughed had it not taken her breath away instead. Clearing her throat, she leaned up on her forearms and stared at the alphas.

“I really am okay. This is just the first time I’ve been in heat and not…uhm, dreaded it.” Wendy covered the end of the admission with a laugh, but not a funny ha-ha. A sad ha-ha.

Tate tapped Arlo on the chest as he grinned. “Hey, man, hear that? She doesn’t dread it!”

She snickered at his taunt, and the tension slid from her shoulders. Arlo palmed her ankle and rubbed a circle with his thumb.

“It’s not the best compliment I’ve ever received, but then again, I wasn’t like, giving out surveys or anything. Should I start?”

“I’ll be the first to fill it out,” Tate said, pulling his mate in for a chaste kiss. It was cute and sweet, but as Wendy spied the bite guards behind Tate, any apprehension she had finally melted away.

“And I’ll be the second,” she said softly, sliding her ankle from Arlo’s touch to widen her legs.

Their lips parted, and her blood reheated as their gazes brushed over her.

Finally.