Tilly

Cruz

One month later

Mystepfaltered,and I smiled at the sound of her chuckling, and I didn’t want to be the one to spoil it. But I could smell her over the top of the coffee and bacon and now I was more delirious with a need to see her.

Four weeks she’d been my lover, and I still wanted to see her, to touch her, to smell her. To see my omega.

My mate.

But it was something else that was making me seek her out. I sensed danger. Something wasn’t right with our bond.

As I reached the kitchen, inhaling her sweet perfume, and I wanted to take her to bed and mix my scent with hers. But at the smell of another, one foot hovered in the air as the scent invaded my nostrils.

“Don’t let them keep you tied to this house, Tilly. If you do, you’ll become a prisoner to them. To Cruz, especially. He is the worst kind of alpha. He will have you nesting on your bed and in a permanent heat if he can find a way.”

I wanted to rush into the kitchen and stop the conversation, but I also wanted to hear Tilly’s reaction. I stood back but glanced at the window and could see both their reflections. Tilly stood in her leggings and tee shirt, her hair bunched into an untidy bun on the top of her head.

Sandy stood across the island from her and her blonde hair was in an immaculate chin-length bob, dressed in an electric blue tight fitted dress and a pair of high-heeled knee-length boots.

But it was Tilly in her scruffy look that had my blood boiling and my cock bouncing eagerly for her.

There was a trace of a smile on Tilly’s lips. “We’ve talked about me coming back to work. No need to worry about that,” she said.

Sandy smirked, her brow raised slightly. “That is what they’ll have you believe.”

“Okay, thank you for the warning.”

“How is the relationship working? Have you agreed to be claimed or are you waiting, as I advised you?” She stared at Tilly, her voice lowered as she whispered, “our pack will still take you.”

Tilly seemed to know I was there, and she glanced over at me. “Sandy brought me a birthday card,” she said, not mentioning anything about what Sandy had said to her.

Sandy twisted in her heels, her hand landed on her hip, and her smile reached her eyes as she stared at me. The way she looked at me was confusing. I didn’t trust her; I knew I had to remember this was now about Tilly.

“And a gift,” she said, taking a box from her pocket. “I wanted to take you to dinner...” she hesitated as she glared at me. “I don’t think he will allow that.”

“I can decide,” Tilly said.

I tried to hold in a growl at that, but when Tilly looked at me; I gave her a nod. “We’re already booked.”

“Really,” Tilly said.

“It was supposed to be a surprise.”

Sandy’s eyebrows bounced. “A surprise.”

“A surprise,” I repeated and growled.

Sandy strolled to Tilly and took her hand, turned it over and placed a box in it. “Happy birthday,” she said. “Maybe I can take you for dinner tomorrow evening?”

“The surprise is for the long weekend,” I said.

“Coffee?” Tilly asked and moved away from Sandy. She opened the fridge, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her round arse. I slid into the kitchen, taking a stool and sat.

“Yes,” Sandy said, and I turned my gaze away from Tilly and met Sandy’s stare.

My eyebrow arched in annoyance. She was purposely pushing my buttons.

“Please, Tills,” I said.

Tilly twisted around to me. Her eyes widened, and I resisted the urge to smirk as she stared at me. I gave her a soft smile, and she returned it. Before she rubbed her lips together and her eyes dropped away. But I wanted her eyes on me again, so desperately.

My eyes flicked to Sandy, and she shot me a heated glare. I still couldn’t work out what she was doing here. Tilly’s sweet perfume contrasted with the salty bacon that was cooking away. I wanted to pull her away from the kitchen, smell her with nothing coating her and then taste her everywhere.

Sandy scowled at me. She resented me, the pack, and my need for an omega. Jackson and I never gave her what she wanted, to be the only one who we needed. She’d always been a greedy woman, and her leaving when she did was always about to happen.

That’s why I didn’t understand her sudden desperation for Tilly. She never wanted an omega.

Sandy’s smile grew wider, and she slowly walked to me. Her hand raised to my cheek, and she ran a fingernail through my stubble. “Can we try again, Cruz? I really miss you. I miss this pack,” she purred.

I glanced over her shoulder. Tilly’s eyes and mouth widened.

“This pack is complete,” I said and leaned closer to her ear, whispered, “we both know why you are really here. And it’s not for me or the pack.”

Sandy glared at me, and I could almost hear her teeth grind in frustration. “I will make sure Tilly, no, everyone in the world knows who you really are. Your history, what you did. All the uncomfortable truths you’re too scared to tell her. Then she’ll come to me, anyway. Why would she stay once she learns who you really are?”

Restraint slipped through my fingers, and I wanted to squeeze my hands around her neck until her bloodshot eyes popped out and her nose bled. But as I turned to find Tilly, her eyes were wide as she stared at me, but it was when she gave me a small smile and shook her head.

And she was right. Sandy never learned the full truth of that night. She had nothing on me, apart from what she’d heard from Luca. All she knew was I saved an omega and was waiting for her.

The bond I had with Tilly pulled, and I felt calmness wash over me. She knew how close I was to losing control. Tilly was using the bind to calm me.

“Sandy, I think you should leave,” Tilly said as she leaned against the kitchen island, looking picture perfect and totally at home in our space. Her space.

“Don’t tell me you’re choosing them, not after what he did,” Sandy hissed.