A hand crawled up my calf—Avery, the only one that hadn’t gotten up yet. I shook it off. “You, too, mister. I’m in need of my beauty rest.”
He stuck out his lip, trying to turn on the adorable charm I knew he had in him, and it almost broke me. Almost. “Nope! Turn that off. Out you go.”
He huffed as he got up—probably being rejected for the first time in his life, and that made me feel a good dose of joy. I was heartless like that.
“Oh, and boys”—I didn’t lift my head, but I felt their heavy gazes as they paused on the way out—“I talked to my dad before I got here, and I’m sure they are going to have us go out again”—I could feel the tension rising—“probably all together. Which is why I’m going to take you guys to my trove later.” I yawned again, and my body gave up as slumber was starting to take over.
“Trove?” I was so out of it, so I couldn’t tell you which one said it, but I felt glee as I responded, “My treasure trove, to suit up.”
Chapter 16
AfterRaylawentdown,I told the guys I was going to catch more z’s. I wasn’t like Falcon, who could apparently work off no sleep and got a natural high from working in his lab. I bet he got a bump of wake-up juice from the praise she gave him about his gift.
I’ll admit it, I was partially surprised when she said she had been with all of us. I kind of expected Avery, but Falcon and Cosmo? That came out of left field. I didn’t know those two even had a thing for her. It wasn’t obvious like Avery and me, but also, we didn’t give her secret helpful gifts, and we weren’t her brother.
I could still hear the chorus of everyone yelling at me,He’s her adopted brother!
It was still a little weird, but they didn’t share DNA, so I guess it was more like fucking your best friend you have known all your life. Even with all that, it was not the only issue here. What was creeping me out, causing me to lay awake in this, was I wasn’t as pissed as I should’ve been.
My wolf wasn’t howling in my head to take all their heads and lay them at her feet. I didn’t feel the rising anger I thought would spread through my body when Avery touched her. The overwhelming jealousy I would feel to know that Falcon had provided something for my mate that I couldn’t. Nope, in fact, I felt close to the opposite.
When Avery touched her, I didn’t get a small spike of irritation, but she had returned, from being kidnapped apparently, and looked dead tired, so I joined in, wanting to also help my mate rest. When I learned Falcon had given her a gift, sure, I was jealous, but it was more I was jealous I didn’t think of it first. I was more glad he gave her something that helped her get out of a bad situation and back to us.
I tossed around in bed, trying to burrow my head into the pillow to get more rest, but then my wolf played scenarios in my head that wreaked havoc over my body.
At first, they were soft and sweet, reminding me how nice it was to touch her leg and foot. How watching her close her eyes and moan at my touch was as seductive as her licking her lips and giving me the come-fuck-me looks. Then he started to play the scene right before we left, reminding me she was lying in bed naked. Almost like an invitation for something naughty to happen.
I shoved that scene away, telling him she needed sleep, and that was why we needed to leave her alone. She didn’t want to be disturbed.
That only served to make him more creative, showing me how if we made it fast and hard, we could tire out her mind and body so it would be a much deeper, healing kind of sleep. I was almost swayed, too, when my dick grew, throbbing to be inside her, to feel her wrapped around me, consuming me. Then the thought of her sinking her teething into me, feasting on my blood, filling herself with my essence. I was already up, hand on the doorknob with a raging hard-on when I remembered the look she gave before we left.
It was her sigh of relief, her snuggle into the pillow, and her still too pale skin that had me pausing. She needed her sleep, so I forced myself to let go of the knob and settle back into bed.
This was frustrating. After trying for a few hours to go back to sleep and failing, I got up, showered, and left the room Cosmo put me in. I looked up and down the hallway, rows and rows of doors were on either side as this was where most of the single clan members had rooms. There were so many, I forgot which way I was supposed to go to get out of here.
A click came across from me, and Avery sauntered out with a yawn. “Can’t sleep, big guy?” Leaning against the doorframe, he looked relaxed in his baggy joggers and thin v-neck linen shirt, like he was ready to seduce someone, even in grungy clothes. It was annoying.
I grunted in response, glancing to my left and right as I tried to figure out which way was the right way to get out of here.
“It’s to your left.” Avery threw his thumb in the direction he said, and my immediate reaction was to go the other way, not let this pretty boy be right. Then again, he was an heir, and we were supposed to be getting to know each other, being friendly.
I thought about how friendly I was getting with one heir in particular, one with a rack I wanted to dive into and never leave. I pictured those soft breasts pushed up against my face as I played with her, fingering her like a skilled cellist and plucking her in the right way to make her drenched as she moaned out my name.
“Dude, whatever you are thinking, stop. We’re in the hallway of Desmond house. I doubt there wouldn’t be rumors flying around if they see us in the hallway with you sporting a raging hard-on.” I stalked off to the left, wanting to be out of here as soon as possible when a soft chuckle and footsteps came from behind me.
I swiveled around, about to tell him to stop following me when we bumped into each other, and my half-hard cock rubbed up right against his. The second it happened, I jumped away from him, and my whole body seized up in shock. “What the fuck, man?!”
He lifted both hands, acting like I was a wild animal that needed to calm down. “Hey. Hey. It’s okay. It’s not that big of a deal. It happens to everyone.” My cock was softening by the second at thinking about how they bumped into each other, and I rubbed my hands over my face.
I was not only embarrassed about it, but I didn’t want him to think that my hard-on was because of him. “Rayla! I was thinking about Rayla and her gorgeous tits. That’s why... That’s why...” I couldn’t get it all out, stumbling over my words.
“Dude, I get it.” He lowered his hands, smiling as he nodded in agreement. “Her tits are amazing. Like an eleven out of ten, so I get it. No big deal.”
Tired of having this conversation, I blurted, “Why are you even following me?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked away for a second. “Look, I couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t have anything scheduled for today, so when I saw you in the hallway, I thought, hey, let’s get to know one of the heirs. That’s all.”
I exhaled while looking down at the ground and then remembered I had the same thought earlier. Suppose it couldn’t hurt to bring him along. I eyed him up and down again, noticing that while he wasn’t big and bulky like me, he had some lean muscle on him. “I was going to head to the closest gym. I don’t know if that’s something you want to do.”
