Casey
The cold air can’tchill my overheated cheeks. I can’t even look at them. My attempts to speak leave me with my mouth open but no words. I’ve never been so embarrassed. No, that’s not true. I can remember several times I’ve been in worse situations, but not since I came out here. Not since I’ve been away from the pack.
I put my face in my hands and rub at my eyes. How do these things happen to me? Now I need to clean up. But still, I can’t face that carpet. I keep seeing him do that over and over. It’s in my carpet. I could bleach it. No, that’s not going to be enough. Roll it up and burn it? Not in this weather.
I stand up and blink twice when they imitate me.
Right, the wolves. I am really, really glad they were here tonight. Not that I will ever tell them that.
“Are you okay?” Hazard asks. His face is almost as red as his hair. “I’m really sorry.”
It’s the first time any of them have apologised. He really doesn’t need to, not over this.
I look at him and bite my lower lip.
“No, don’t cry, I’m sorry-” Hazard reaches out to me but stops when I step back, trying but failing to control myself.
The giggle works its way free, and, once I start, I can’t seem to stop. It just continues to rip through me. I laugh until tears run down my cheeks and then, to my utter surprise, Khaos starts to laugh, too. Even when my stomach is aching, I can’t stop.
“There is snot on my carpet. A big, giant booger.”
Hazard tilts his head to the side, his eyes glinting with the light from the house. His smile spreads slowly as he realises I’m not about to lose my mind.
“I was trying to signal Khaos for help, but that…that was just too much. Oh, jeez, where did you find this guy? He picked his nose and flicked it on my carpet, Khaos!”
Khaos glowers at me. “That man was a buffoon. Ugly, disgusting human.”
I laugh harder, wiping tears from my face. I sway over to Khaos and tap his chest with a long fingernail. “But, darling house terrorist, since you agree with me, you five can pull the carpet up and put it outside.”
“Oh, thank the wolf gods,” Riot says and makes for my home. “I thought you might want to keep it.”
“Nope. I really don’t.”
We follow Riot into the house, and I stare, pole-axed as he pulls off his shirt, tosses it on the couch, and starts moving furniture. Those muscles flex, ripple, and stretch in a hypnotising pattern that leaves me parched and without a single thought in my head. I watch him lifting the cupboard that took almost a week to shift into its position, but he lifts it with ease, his muscles flexing easily. I’m drooling, unable to look away. It’s not until Wrath sidles up behind me, a long finger stroking down my back where no one else can see, that I’m freed from the spell.
“Pretty, isn’t he?” Wrath whispers. “Our sexy Riot, he’s got an enormous cock, too, and he knows exactly,” he leans closer, “how,” his fingers slide down the topmost curve of my ass, “to use it.”
I expel the breath I’m holding and sidestep the vicious alpha with averted eyes, but he stays with me, pressed right up inside my space.
“Wrath!” Khaos growls.
Wrath snickers and turns his head to inhale my hair. And now I have the other four staring at us intently. The moment is intensely powerful, and I want to glory in it. I greedily take it until I remember that they aren’t really mine to have. I sidestep, turn, and go into the kitchen.
My hands are shaking as I carefully clean the dishes, nodding silently to Khaos as he brings the broken cups in. These are the last two Freida left me. Time has the most amazing ability to erase the existence of the people you love. I wish it would let me keep her for a bit longer.
“I’ve set up your next date. It’s in two days in town.”
Wrath snarls at Khaos and seizes my wrist.
“Wrath,” Khaos warns in a deep, low voice that has me hunching my shoulders.
“Before she goes on her date, we need to fix a couple of things,” Wrath says with a purr.
“What things?” I snap. If he wants me to cut my hair or wear makeup or a dress, he can go sit on a knife and bleed out.
“I was watching your behaviour, and you’re not at all comfortable with touch.”
Touch? I’m not comfortable with touch? What does that mean?
