Page 88 of The Gift
“Did you catch Henley’s impatience from him, or is this your own?”
Reno starts laughing and doesn’t stop as he nabs my hands leading us over to a hidden door. “We’re all impatient, and that’s a good thing. We’ll take good care of you, Bailey, but I have to agree with Koda, as tempting as bending you over the hood of his truck sounds, now is not the time.”
“Will there be a time?” I ask, almost purring at him. My moods are moving like the tides, and each of the Bailey pack pulling me magnetically to them, like they are each my moon.
“Of course there will be,” Reno stops near a closed door, a large electronic pad to the side. “Okay, good looking, this is how we’ve set this up, and it’s probably a little cumbersome but there’s reasons for that.”
“Like what?”
“It’s trying to minimise pressure and strike out any opportunity for alpha, or beta coercive control. Because sadly that is very much an influence that omegas rarely have the fight to get past.”
I rear back a little, not shocked per se, it’s the very nature of the beast, channelling my moods making me search past words for things not there.
“We’re trying to make sure omegas stay in the driver seat during heat acceptance. I guess once they’ve made it through the next stage, decisions have been made with full mental capacity. Well, that was our intention that drove us. We worked with a couple of omegas when they weren’t impacted by heat and they all reported this being a positive step.”
“Okay. What happens?”
“You go through these doors and it takes you straight into the suite booked under your name. If you flick through the screens, you’ll see that the observation area is empty. If there’s a person in there that shouldn’t be there, you can press this button,” he points to a black one marked alarm, “if you’re happy, you unlock the door and then you enter into the next room.”
“This sounds complicated,” I grump.
“The idea is that heat partners arrive before full heat hits, exactly what we’re doing. You might be getting small waves of change, but you’re not in heat. We have other protocols in place in that situation and different again for packs, but you’ve still got cognitive capability and your decision making is functioning.”
“How do you know I have my wits about me?” I challenge him. In my mind, I’m trying for insightful, but it comes across sulky, which isn’t sexy.
“You called Ashton out.”
Makes sense. I did. But I’m so over this checking.
“Okay. Reno, I fucking love that you guys are so driven by ensuring consent and intention belongs with the omegas, but honestly, babe you tell me how to do this a little bit quicker. Please?!”
Ashton moves like a bolt of lightning, all but pressing me against the door and I can feel the heat rolling off me, as much as I can feel his erection through his jeans.
“We’re going as quickly as we can, Bailey. You know we’re as ready as you are. Listen to him, do what he says and within a few minutes we’ll be showing you how patient we’ve been. Yeah?”
I fling my head back, pushing against him. He’s being pretty aggressive in his intentions… and I adore him for it.
“Stay there while I do it,” I demand, wiggling my sensitive ass against his thickening cock, to make a point.
His finger digs into my hip as he talks into my ear. “Listen to Reno, because the next part is key.”
“Inside the room, eight doors, buttons on each. You have one way viewing glass. You want the person in that room with you, you hit the green button. You don’t want them, hit the red button. Once you’ve let who you want in, it gives you access to your nest. About your nest, we chose because you wouldn’t. If you don’t like it we will change rooms. Got it?” Reno’s voice picks up, so he’s talking quicker and quicker.
“Yes,” I say breathlessly as Ashton digs his hips into my ass, pushing me harder into the door. My body hums in happiness, shit, so do I.
“What colour, Bailey?” he asks, biting my neck.
“Green.” I say, sinking happily into his hold.
“Or red!” Koda barks from behind us.
“We’re worried for you, okay,” Ashton soothes softly, releasing his teeth from my body. I doubt anyone would have heard him but I do.
“To unlock this door, we used the date you got your first nomination with the Press Club.”
“How do you know that?” I ask Reno.
He smiles when I look for an answer, not replying though. I enter the date, and shove Ashton back so I can open the door and run inside. Koda stops the door from closing with his foot because in my eagerness, I missed what Reno was saying.
