MY HIPS ACHED the next morning. Not because of the activity, but because Ryan remained there, pinning me beneath him as he dozed on my breast, a sliver of drool pooling on my nipple. Ticklish, decadent, heady joy rushed through me. I watched in fascination as Ryan’s lips curled in sleep in response to my own happiness. I combed my fingers through his hair, and his nose twitched before burrowing against my breast with a soft groan.
My lips pressed together with my smile, and the bruising ache of the bite on my lip sent a thrill through me. Ryan’s grin pressed to my chest and his teeth scratched my breast before he rolled to the side and slid up to curl around me. His stare landed immediately on my bottom lip, and I laughed as a wave of alpha satisfaction hit me in the chest.
“How swollen is it?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.
Ryan’s lips twitched. “A bit. It’ll be healed soon.”
He leaned in, warm skin pressing to mine, nuzzled my cheek and then pressed a soft kiss to my lip before licking over the wound. Shivering desire rushed through me, swirling around my center, and I moaned and curved into Ryan until his smile broke the kiss. This was a smiling record for Ryan, and I was deeply pleased with myself.
“You did that on purpose. Am I going to be horny for you every time someone kisses me now?” I asked.
“You shouldn’t notice it so much with the others,” he said, pulling away just enough to swipe his thumb across my lip. I shook again and narrowed my eyes at the delight transforming his face. “Do you mind?”
He knew I didn’t. I was absolutely bubbly inside, like a champagne bottle waiting to spill over.
We were lucky the bond left us exhausted and drowsy or I would’ve kept Ryan up all night. “Of course not.”
“It won’t be as noticeable,” he said. “You could cover it with lipstick. In case you want to wait to discuss it with the others. Your smell has shifted a little, but most would assume it was due to sex.”
I shook my head. “I’m not hiding this from anyone.”
“I can’t guarantee how Jonah will take it, but I’ll challenge him if it comes down to it,” Ryan said with a faint wince.
I sighed and cuddled closer, aimlessly tracing the shadow of stubble on his jaw. Ryan didn’t have a lot of body hair and he kept his beard shaved so I hardly ever felt the rough grit of growth coming in. He purred as I scratched, and I thought it might be worth a little beard burn for mornings like this.
“If Jonah thinks his own decision to wait on bonding me should have any effect on my
relationship with anyone else in this pack, he and I have a much larger argument ahead of us. He’s in charge of the club, but he’s not in charge of me,” I said as an answer to any of Ryan’s concerns.
“He knows you belong with this pack,” Ryan said, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “And you’ve got back-up if he needs anything else clarified about that. Now, I have a confession to make.”
I propped myself up on my side and when he did the same, I nodded for him to continue. I smiled when his eyes focused on my breasts instead and found the sheet to tug it over.
“There’s a reason I’m glad we bonded last night,” Ryan said, shaking off his distraction.
I laughed. “I should hope so, ‘cause you’re stuck with me.”
“Right, well there’s a lot of reasons. But I have a question for you, and I’m kind of hoping the bond will help you answer it.”
Even with the heaviness sneaking into our connection, I was expecting a question about emotions, or the Hangmen. “Shoot,” I said.
“What happened with Coal that day you came to see me?” Anxiety snagged in my chest and I hiccuped on a gasp. Ryan’s face hardened, a soft growl at the back of his throat. “Baby, I need to know. If he hurt you—“ “He didn’t,” I said quickly. “It was just… I don’t know what to call it. He pushed. I got him to back off.” Ryan’s growl deepened, and I was surprised by the depth of anger in the bond and how tense we both were. I released a slow breath and then leaned in, brushing my lips across his.
Sweetness slipped between us, an automatic reaction to my alpha touching his mark. “I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at the time—“ “You were stressed and upset,” Ryan said, a rattle in the words as he struggled not to snap at me.
“—But he was one of the scents that attracted me to the pack. And with all the rest of you, that response proved to be…a pretty good gauge of how strongly I’d feel for you,” I said, kissing Ryan again. Gentle humor and affectionate pleasure warred with his temper through the bond. “I wanted to give him a chance, and then I didn’t really know how I felt about what happened and I thought maybe I
led him on.”
“He fucking knew better,” Ryan said.
I nodded. “Well. Anyway. This week has been good to clear my head and I realized no, I don’t want to bond Cole. I considered telling Jonah to keep him at the Plaza, but I was afraid of getting into the whole thing.”
Ryan grunted and rolled away, checking an old mantle clock on the other side of the room. “He’s on the road now, or I’d be getting into it.”
“I’m not in heat now, my feelings are a lot clearer. I can deal with Cole if he starts up again.
He’s part of the pack, he’s going to have to hear it from me eventually.”
“He makes you uncomfortable,” Ryan said, sitting up and reaching to pull me up and into his side. “I’m trying to not be an asshole about this, but I’m gonna have a hard time leaving you alone with him.”
I opened my mouth to respond with something along the lines of ‘I can take care of myself,’ which was true, but not what Ryan needed to hear. “I don’t want to be alone with him. I’d be perfectly happy to have my alphas chaperone me until he’s on his way back to the rest of the pack, okay?”
Maybe it was a testament to how right for each other Ryan and I were that I found the bond so delightful to examine, studying his reactions to the conversation. Relief and surprise mingled with pride in response to my declaration, and Ryan’s eyebrows lifted.
“Really? You’re not going to feel crowded?”
I shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t think so. You’re right, Cole makes me uncomfortable and that’s
partly my own fault for not realizing sooner that I didn’t have the same connection with him as I do with you and the others.”
Ryan’s jaw clenched. “Trust me, sweetness. It’s his fault.”
“We’re a team now,” I said, unable to resist the giddy smile spreading across my face. Ryan looked somber, but his own delight was blooming wildly in my thoughts and I didn’t have the control over my expressions that he did. “How’s my lip look?”
“Succulent,” he said, smirking and scooping me up, the sheets tangling as he dragged me onto his lap for a kiss that left me squirming and sighing. “Now, do we deal with the others or hide in here?”
Hiding sounded good, less for avoiding the others and more that I could enjoy extra time with Ryan, but I wanted to wear my first bonding mark proudly.
“Let’s talk to the others,” I said, before crawling off Ryan’s lap and stepping onto the cold floorboards. “And also, I want breakfast foods.”
“YOU FUCKIN’ didn’t!” Bullet bellowed, my chin held in his hand as he gaped open-mouthed at my bottom lip. His thumb pressed the fragile scar, and while it was a nice warm feeling, Ryan was right that it wasn’t nearly as good as when he touched the mark.
“He clearly fucking did,” I said, pulling myself free from Bullet’s grip.
“But Jonah—“ Bullet started, turning to Ryan. My alpha—my official alpha—was leaning against the counter, sipping coffee out of a china teacup, one eyebrow raised as the other three men stared between us.
“One,” I snapped, stepping between Bullet and Ryan and raising finger. I shot a look at Tornado who was at the stove, skillet sizzling and a fork in his lifted hand. “Do not burn that bacon, I am starving. Two. Am I or am I not going to be a part of this pack?”
“Of course you are!”
“Fuckin’ obviously!”
“Love, how can you ask that?”
“Then three: whose decision is it when and with whom I bond?” I asked, arms crossing over my chest.
“Yours,” Tornado said immediately, earning himself a smile.
“I mean, yeah,” Bullet hedged, brow furrowing.
“You don’t sound certain of that, handsome, and I have concerns,” I said, jutting my chin out and leveling him a narrow-eyed look.
Bullet swallowed, eyes flicking between my challenging stare and my bottom lip. He ended up looking over my head back to Ryan. “You gonna make her defend herself to Scorch when he inevitably feels butthurt at not getting final say and first dibs?”
“Hey! I am perfectly capable of—“ “No, I’ll deal with him,” Ryan said.
I whipped around to glare at him, and he answered me with a stare over the rim of his teacup and a reassuring stroke through the bond.
“Well, fine then,” Bullet said before huffing and settling himself back in his chair. “Guess I’m just kinda jealous now.”
I laughed and climbed into his lap, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “You know you’ll get your
own turn when you’re ready.”
Bullet purred, hands cupping around my waist. He leaned back against the table, elbows propped on the surface. “Would you understand if I wanted to wait for Scorch’s blessing?” I frowned, and he squeezed me gently. “Not because I don’t think you deserve to make your own decisions on this, but because I will feel ready when I know that the act won’t cause any tension for anyone.”
I sighed and softened in Bullet’s hold. I’d seen Ryan challenge Jonah before, and it was clear the two cooperated because they were equally strong wills working in tandem. Big, scary, darling Bullet was every bit as strong as any of the alphas in the pack, but his flexibility and open heart were what I needed from him, and if that meant we waited longer to bond, I could understand. It was a better reason than not trusting my decision.
Bullet purred as I leaned in to kiss him until the scent of bacon was too strong on the air and my stomach growled. Bullet laughed and then lifted me up to the table as Tornado and Mackenzie brought hefty plates of food over. I slid down into a seat between Ryan and Bullet and leaned across to the other two alphas.
“I hope you know you’re part of this decision for me too. There aren’t any other alphas who could’ve made this experience feel so natural, let alone make sure I loved every minute of it.”
I smiled as Mackenzie’s chest swelled with pride, his hand reaching for mine across the table.
“You’re sure?” Tornado whispered, eyes wide.
I stretched my other hand to him, and he grabbed it like a lifeline. “I’m positive.”
“There’s no rush,” Mackenzie said to him, and Tornado nodded unevenly. “It will happen when it happens.”
“Damnit, Coal is gonna be intolerable when he finds out he’s gettin’ bonded,” Bullet said in a sudden, humored rush.
Except I didn’t laugh, and Ryan let out an immediate snarl that he failed to stifle.
“Right. So…about that,” I said, grabbing a slice of bacon to tide me over through the next serious conversation.
I WAS NEARLY napping on Bullet’s chest as my alphas heckled Peter Fonda in The Wild Angels that night in front of the big movie screen.
“Look at that fuckin’ hair,” Bullet rumbled under my ear.
“That’s his helmet not his hair,” Tornado muttered.
On the other side of the house, the front door banged open. I twitched and froze on my alpha
pillow, and Ryan growled.
“Where the fuck is everybody?”
Mackenzie sighed and pushed up from the giant couch. “I’ll go… deal with him.”
I groaned and rolled into the warm spot he’d just vacated before wobbling up into standing.
“Hang on. I’ll come too.”
“Baby…” Ryan was antsy and angry and full of worry. Bullet and Tornado too, judging by their stormy expressions. I offered them a thin smile and escaped reaching arms, heading to join Mackenzie by the door.
“I don’t want to be dancing around this,” I said to them. “Just gonna deal with it head-on and go from there.”
Ryan weighed my words, staring at me, for a long beat before standing. “Then I’m coming with you.”
Bullet grunted. “We all are, let’s be real.”
“I want to handle it myself,” I warned, and waited for them to nod. “Okay, then.”
Cole hollered the house down again as we left the movie running and headed down the hall together. When we made it to the front hall, Cole’s bag was dropped carelessly to the floor, and he was holding an ornate vase in his hands with a calculating look.
“That’s worth more than your bike probably, so be careful,” Bullet said. There was a barely concealed snarl in his voice, and I nudged his side with my elbow, lifting my eyebrows. He shrugged and cleared his throat.
“There’s my sweet little omega,” Cole said, eyes on me as he put the vase back on its side table.
His arms spread wide. “Well? Get over here and give me a kiss.”
Ryan was thrumming wildly in the bond with a feral energy that he barely hid physically. I brushed my fingers down the inside of his arm, hoping to settle him enough that I could look at Cole without seeing red.
“What’s with you guys?” Cole asked. “The heat do some kinda number on you? Can’t believe I fuckin’ missed the best part.”
“The best part of Baby is Baby,” Mackenzie said in a sudden burst of temper.
Omigod. How cute and how ridiculous are these guys?
Cole’s eyebrows shot up high and his eyes narrowed slightly, studying Mackenzie.
“Sorry for the lackluster welcome,” I said, trying to force myself through the declaration. Just get it over with, Baby. Maybe Cole would even be offended enough to leave.
“Well then, let’s sweeten it, little omega,” Cole purred, striding forward.
“I don’t like being called that,” I snapped, Ryan’s temper getting the best of me. Cole’s feet paused and his eyes narrowed again. Despite the long drive up north, this alpha looked every bit as glossy and handsome as the men in the movie we’d just been watching. Except, I just wasn’t attracted to him anymore. I cleared my throat and squared my shoulders. “I know that you and I… that we were um, exploring a possible connection while I was at the Plaza,” I said.
Cole’s smile was sharp. “If you want to call it that, sure.”
“I think that it probably had more to do with the heat and hormones than you and I,” I said. “I’m sure you have expectations since I asked for you to be here, but I’m not… those aren’t…”
“Going to happen,” Cole said, words flat and voice cold, rolling back on his heels.
“Yeah,” I breathed, nodding.
Confrontation was officially not my jam in this kind of situation. I wasn’t mad at Cole, I just didn’t want him pestering me for sex and knotting and bonding. Not when I wasn’t even sure I liked him, let alone felt as close to him as I did with the others.
“Got it,” he said, straightening and relaxing.
I paused, surprised by the acceptance. “Yeah?”
He laughed, and his smile was shiny and easy going again. “Yeah, Baby. I mean, I dunno if I’m giving up, but I get what you’re saying. Heat’s over and you don’t know if we’re more than a fling.”
“I…” Fling wasn’t exactly the word I would use but, “Yeah. Kinda.”
“Cool,” Cole said with a casual shrug. “I got time to win you over.”
My bond with Ryan radiated with suspicion, but we seemed to be on the same page. Relief that Cole appeared to be backing off.
“Well, okay,” I said slowly. “Um, so, welcome then.”
“Right, so what the fuck is this place?” Cole asked, spinning, his boots squeaking and scuffing on the tile. “I mean this is… we’re not like, renting it right?”
Bullet laughed, and the others relaxed. Ryan’s arms circled my waist and drew me back to his chest, worry stifled away as Bullet explained about his secret inheritance.
That was easy enough.
“Still not leavin’ you with him,” Ryan whispered for only me to hear. I shrugged in agreement.
My mind wasn’t changed on Cole just because he’d backed off for the moment, and Ryan’s protectiveness suited me just fine.
