The smile that crossed his face was small but genuine — a rare crack in his controlled exterior, transforming his sharp features into something almost boyish. "Okay. Come here." He led me to his desk chair, sat down and pulled me into his lap without asking. I let him, too tired to protest, too curious to resist. His arms wrapped around my waist as he pulled up files on his laptop, his chin resting on my shoulder as he explained each chart, each graph, each data point.
His hand stayed on my knee the whole time. Light. Present. Needing contact. I let him have it.
"Your stress markers have decreased significantly over the past two weeks," he observed, scrolling through the most recent data, his breath warm against my ear. "Your sleep patterns are normalizing. Your appetite has improved. You're settling, Ava. Whether you want to admit it or not."
"Is that your professional opinion?" I asked, a hint of teasing in my voice, glancing back at him over my shoulder.
"It's my observation as your Alpha, who loves you," he replied without hesitation, and the casual way he said it — like it was obvious, like it was fact — made my breath catch.
"Ethan—" I started, my heart stumbling over his casual declaration.
"I know you're not ready to say it back," he interrupted gently, his arms tightening around me, pulling me more securely against his chest. "I can wait. I've been waiting for years. A little longer won't kill me." He pressed a kiss to my temple. I closed my eyes and let myself lean into him. Let myself feel the safety of his arms, the steadiness of his heartbeat, the warmth of his body wrapped around mine.
I wasn't ready to say it back. Wasn't ready to accept everything he was offering.
I was starting to understand. And maybe, for now, that was enough.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
AVA
Leo didn't ask me to spend time with him. He ambushed me. I was in the kitchen, making tea I didn't really want just to have something to do with my hands, when a pair of arms wrapped around me from behind and lifted me clean off my feet.
"You're coming with me, Red," Leo announced, already carrying me toward the back door, his voice bright with mischief.
"Leo! Put me down!" I kicked uselessly at the air, my heart hammering from the surprise of it, my fingers gripping his forearms for balance.
"Nope." He shouldered open the door and carried me out onto the back porch, where the January air hit my face like a slap, his arms never loosening their grip. "You've had your quality time with the others. Now it's my turn, and I'm not wasting it on some boring conversation in a study or a workshop." He deposited me onto a worn wooden bench, then dropped down beside me, slinging an arm over my shoulders like we were old friends catching up. Like he hadn't just kidnapped me from the kitchen.
"Leo, it's freezing out here," I protested, wrapping my arms around myself, my breath fogging in the cold air.
"I know." He grinned, hazel eyes dancing with amusement, and produced a thick wool blanket from somewhere behind the bench, draping it over both of us. "That's why I came prepared. Now stop complaining and enjoy the view." I wanted to stay annoyed, but the view was stunning. The porch overlooked a snow-covered valley, pine trees frosted white, mountains rising in the distance against a gray winter sky. It was the kind of scenery that belonged on a postcard, pristine and untouched.
"Fine," I muttered, pulling the blanket tighter around myself, my annoyance fading despite my best efforts. "But if I get frostbite, I'm blaming you."
"Noted." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a silver flask, unscrewing the cap and taking a long swig before offering it to me, his eyes glinting with mischief. "Whiskey. It'll warm you up."
I hesitated for a moment, then took the flask and drank. The liquor burned a path down my throat and settled warm in my stomach. He was right, it did help.
"So," Leo said, taking the flask back and tucking it away, his arm settling more firmly around my shoulders. "The others got to bare their souls and do their whole tortured-Alpha routine. Caleb with his carvings and sad eyes. Ethan with his charts and data…don’t know what Mason is planning…" He made a face, somewhere between amused and exasperated. "Very dramatic, all of them."
"And what's your routine?" I asked, glancing up at him, studying his profile against the gray sky. At twenty-six, Leo was the most conventionally handsome of the four, all sharp cheekbones and a strong jaw, with artfully messy brown hair that looked like he'd just rolled out of bed. His hazel eyes shifted color depending on the light, sometimes more green, sometimesmore gold. Right now they were a warm amber, catching the weak winter sun. There was something underneath the pretty face. Something harder. Something that only showed when he wasn't actively trying to charm you.
"My routine?" He turned to look at me, a crooked smile playing at his lips. "I'm the fun one, Red. No tortured backstory, no dramatic declarations. Just good times and bad decisions."
"Bullshit," I said flatly, surprising both of us.
His smile faltered for just a second, a crack in the armor, before snapping back into place. "Excuse me?" His eyebrow arched, but I caught the tension in his jaw.
"You heard me." I shifted on the bench to face him more fully, the blanket pulling tight between us, my eyes locked on his. "You're not the fun one. You're the one who uses fun as a shield so no one looks too closely at what's underneath."
Something flickered in his hazel eyes. Surprise, maybe. Or recognition.
"Been talking to Ethan?" he asked lightly, but there was an edge underneath the casual tone, his fingers drumming against his thigh. "He loves to psychoanalyze."
"I don't need Ethan to tell me what I can see for myself." I held his gaze, refusing to back down, my chin lifting slightly. "You deflect with humor. You make everything a joke so no one asks the serious questions. But I've seen the way you look when you think no one's watching, Leo. That's not the face of someone who's just here for good times." He was quiet for a long moment, the playful mask slipping away to reveal something raw and blistered underneath. Younger. More vulnerable than I'd ever seen him.
"You always did see too much," he said finally, his voice rough around the edges. "Even when you were a kid. It was annoying as hell."
