Faith & the Dead End Devils (Sweet Omegaverse, #8)(112)

"Scout's honor, sugar," Eve purred.

And then she swayed into the seat across from me, cinnamon-warm eyes sliding in my direction. My mouth was dry, and I was trying to keep the instinctive alarm blaring inside of me muffled before any of my bondmates grew worried. I didn't want Adam to leave me alone with this woman, not while everyone else was so far out of reach. Not that I thought any of them being closer could really stop her from killing me as quickly and efficiently as she had so many men in the stories Adam had been filling my head with this afternoon.

Eve's eyes blinked slowly and her gaze reminded me of a cat, the pretense of trust in that brief shuttering of her lashes.

"I like a fresh bond and a good fuck after a fight too," she said.

Ice cream dribbled down my hand as my face flushed hot. Eve rested her elbow on the picnic table and set her chin on the heel of her hand, a serene smile stretching over her lips. Bear had scented Ghost's bond right away too, surprisingly calm. It was still fairly fresh, and I'd worn a skirt rather than something that might rub against the spot before Ghost had time to finish healing it.

"It's centering," Eve continued. "Reassuring, even."

"Is that why you've bitten my brother, like, seventy-five times?" The words snapped out of me, and I sucked in a breath in their wake.

Do not goad the international hitwoman, I shouted in my own head.

Eve just laughed. "That, and that he tastes like candy," she said. "But I restrained myself last night. Bit Rory again instead. He begs almost as prettily as your brother."

My eyes widened at the idea of the huge, tattooed, scowling alpha begging for this woman's bite. Then again, he looked awfully relaxed today.

"I bit Bear the day we met," I said.

Eve blinked. "You bit him?" I nodded, and her eyes strayed to where Adam and Rory were walking across the back lot toward the convenience store.

"It made something like a bond—fainter, though." It was a bizarre conversation, but I hoped Adam got the chance to sink his teeth into Eve for a change.

"Intriguing," Eve murmured. "Do you know why you bit him?"

I stalled, thinking and lapping up my melting ice cream cone. "I don't remember it exactly. He smelled like home, or—you know, not my home that I knew, but what it feels like to be home? Anyway, I was scared and angry, and he was reaching into the cage for me…" I frowned. "I dunno if I was biting him because he felt safe, or because I felt threatened, actually."

"Both, probably," Eve said, her stare too intent to hold for long. "I was feral for a long time growing up. I learned to control it, to put the instincts away when I needed to work. To draw them out again when I needed the extra protection. They always served me better than any rules or logic I'd been instructed with."

"Is that why you bit Adam?" I asked.

Eve snorted. "I bit Adam because he is a sneaky little con artist who put me in a rut to keep me from killing him. So, yes," she said, grinning. "I suppose it was instinct."

"And you don't regret it?" I asked, thinking of Bear and King, and even now Ghost.

Eve sighed, a heavy, weary sound, and my heart ached for Adam. "Don't tell my pack, but…no, I don't regret any of the many times I've bitten my packmates," she said with a smug smile, which faltered a moment later. "Well, aside from one inconveniently-placed bite on the ass. Garrett whined for days. It was very annoying."

My laugh caught me off guard, and so did Eve's shy smile in answer.

"You like it here?" she asked.

I looked around at the dry, sparse landscape, the paint chipping off the plaster walls of the buildings, the garage overflowing with machinery and grease, the burn barrels glittering with beer bottles. Ghost's laugh was loud, and heavy metal music had just started pouring out of the windows from the kitchens—the girls starting to clean or cook for the evening.

"I like my nest, my…my pack," I said, smiling at the word on my tongue. I had a pack now, small as it was, still missing King in the mix. "It's not what I’d imagined, but it's nice to just…be somewhere, and not plan for where we have to run next."

Eve's nose wrinkled, and I recalled all of Adam's excitement over his past few weeks of travel.

"Adam talks about the Charger like it's a mansion," I said, surprised by my own impulse to offer a compliment to the woman. "Like it's the world's best nest.”

"You're different people," Eve observed.

I opened my mouth to argue and then shut it again. Of course we were different people. We always had been.

"We have a house in the suburbs," Eve said slowly, gaze distant. "I do think we prefer the Charger, but it's there for us when we need a break. But does it feel permanent here for you?"

I licked my lips and they were dry from the desert air. I had a nest built from plywood and soundproof foam. I was surrounded by alphas that seemed to simultaneously want me out or want a piece of me. I'd been told from the beginning that I was only staying until I found a good pack, but the good pack was here, and I didn't know what that meant for the future. King was a coin toss in the air right now, and I was still waiting to see which way he would land.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I want...them. I want my pack."