I nod.
Her eyes dart toward where poor Kane is standing near the front door, his eyes straight ahead, his hands clasped in front of him. I’ve invited him to sit, offered a seat at the breakfast bar, even told him he could hang out in my bedroom to watch TV.
Apparently, he doesn’t budge when he’s on duty. What he thinks he’s guarding me from, I’m not sure.
“And he’s, like, your personal guard? Is he your Kevin Costner?”
I frown at her in confusion.
“You know. Like onTheBodyguard? Whitney Houston?” She then proceeds to sing “I Will Always Love You” extremely off-key, causing me to laugh.
Even Kane’s lips twitch as he struggles to hold back his laugh.
“Today is actually the second time we met. He brought me back to pack up my stuff. You met him then. I think.” I try to remember whether the two actually interacted.
“That wasn’t me. That was my brother,” Kane says without looking in my direction.
“Are you twins?” Otherwise, the brothers either have only two parents or one of their fathers sired them both.
“Yes.” One word. Nothing else. And he still isn’t looking in our direction.
Ella’s wide eyes move back to me, a smile on her lips before she mouths, “that’s hot.” I’m sure she wouldn’t mind being sandwiched between twins during her next cycle. Except I have no idea whether Kane or his brother are single or already have packs.
“Well? Do you have a due date?”
“Um,” I say, glancing at Kane. There’s so much more I need to tell her, but I really don’t want to have this conversation with an audience, especially when they’re loyal to the alphas. He could easily run back and tell them every single thing I tell my best friend.
And sorry, but what’s said between Ella and me should always be kept between us. There are things neither of us would want others to ever know about.
After a few moments of silence, the big alpha guard’s eyes finally dart in my direction. He seems to pick up on my reluctance to speak in front of him, dips his head, and steps through the front door.
“Hey. You can hang out in my bedroom like I offered. There’s a big TV with a crap ton of streaming services. Just tell the alphas I was in your sight the whole time. Not like anything will happen if you’re in the other room.”
Kane hesitates, his hand on the knob, his eyes going from me to the hallway outside, then to the hallway leading to my bedroom.
“I promise I won’t tell anyone you binged House Omegas of Beverly Hills,” I tease.
His brows pucker a second, but they smooth and his lips quirk as he once again tries to hold back a smile.
After he shuts the door and twists all the locks in place, he heads to my room, closing the door quietly behind him.
“Tell me. What’s going on? I knew this was all too good to be true. Are they assholes? Abusive? I’ll kill them with my bare hands.” Ella is getting herself worked up before she even knows what the hell I’m going to say.
“Reel it in, psycho. They’re not assholes. Not abusive in the least. They’re actually really sweet and kind and gentle.” Except when Mason loses himself to lust, but I’m not complaining about that.
“Then what? Your scent has been off. I know some of that is from pregnancy hormones, but there’s stress hormones literally pouring from you.”
I chew on my bottom lip a second, then release it, pulling it down between my fingers, then pull the collar of my shirt to the side.
Ella lunges from the couch. “Holy shit! Theybondedyou?! Against your fucking will? You should totally turn them in! Youknow what? Fuck that! I’m calling—” I snatch her phone away when she pulls it free to call her massive alpha brothers.
“It wasn’t against my will, Ella. Chill the fuck out.” I cut my eyes to the hallway as Kane appears around the corner, his brows pinched together as he checks on me. “It’s fine.”
He nods and disappears again, the door closing with an audible click. “Fuck. Keep your voice down.”
“What happened?” Ella is seething. And her sweet cherry and honey scent is tart with anger.
“This one happened during my heat. We were both lost to our hindbrain. And this one,” I say, pointing to my lip. “I begged for it. I begged one of the alphas for the bite.”
