Lying here in Piper’s naked arms, allowing the heated water to ease aches out of my joints as he gently washes me with rose scented soap on a soft sponge, is the perfect end to it.
The Omega dorms only have showers with cold water.
I had forgotten how good a bath could feel.
I don’t know that I have ever felt what it was like to be cared for by someone and for it to be not about sex. Yet Piper has shown me that all day.
My shoulders slump with relief. “Thanks. Your brother is a great uncle.”
Icarus glances down. “Ollie has been through a lot but he’s the most cheerful person I know. He never lets the bullying and humiliations from the elite get him down. He stays upbeat, no matter how hard he has been forced to work. Plus, he loves Zoe. She’s brightened all our lives.”
I’m aware how much our new pack members are listening to this, even though Zero and Lionzio are currently bent over the marble pedestal sink, brushing their teeth.
“You’ve raised him well,” I reply.
“He’s the only family I had, until Zoe and you.” Icarus’ electric gaze catches mine. “I’m not his parent but I did my best to fill the aching void where they should have been, after we were abandoned. He felt our parents’ neglect and then rejection more than I did. He’s going to be over the moon that you…I mean thatwe’re…”
“That I’ve finally admitted I’ve fallen in love with you?”
Icarus takes a step toward me across the bathroom, as if he can’t stop himself. “Do you know how many nights I’ve lain awake, fantasizing that one day you would say that back to me?”
Piper pauses in his careful washing of my stomach, resting his chin on my shoulder. “Sweet.”
“So, our new Chief Alpha is a romantic?” Zero whistles. “I’m going to expect candlelight, rose petals, and a whole orchestra when you confess to me.”
Icarus turns to Zero, prowling back across the bathroom to pin the beautiful Beta against the sink. “You’re a brat who should expect spankings.”
“That works,” Zero says, breathlessly.
Icarus merely reaches around to wipe a smear of toothpaste off Zero’s lip.
“And a lot of love,” he adds.
I smile.
Zero tries to hide how pleased he is but can’t.
Instead, he snatches up a towel and attempts to snap Icarus with it, as if to hide from the emotion of the moment.
Icarus merely catches the end of the towel and wraps it around his fist. Then he yanks Zero into his arms.
Zero yelps like he is hunted prey but opens his lips in invitation.
Well played, Beta.
Icarus’ eyes twinkle.
But who could resist kissing Zero?
I watch in delight, as Icarus kisses Zero with the emotion of love that Zero appeared to be running from.
Deep and lingering.
Zero’s eyes flutter shut, allowing the Alpha to dominate him.
Lionzio watches the two of them together with a closed off expression, clasping his toothbrush so hard that I think it may crack.
“Is this okay, Gracie?” Piper runs the sponge in massaging circles over my shoulders, at the same time that he wraps his legs more closely around me in the bath. “Your muscles are tight. Are you stressed?”
