I laugh for the first time in what feels like ages and lean forward just enough to brush my lips against his. My eyes dart from his to Cassian’s, but the alpha only smiles a serene smile, draws a blanket up over the three of us, and cuddles Simon closer.
Simon falls back asleep, but Cassian and I lay awake long after.
“What happens now?”
Cassian meets my gaze in the dark, his eyes catching the moonlight that streams in through the high windows of the nest. “Whatever he wants. Whatever you want.”
“Him,” I murmur. “I want him.”
“You don’t care that he’s—we’re—not… straight?”
Now I want to jab him in the ribs, but the smarting pain in my wrist from the omega trap’s thorns and the beta sleeping between us stops me. I wince but shake my head. “Why should I? You make each other happy. I see that now.”
“I’m not giving him up.”
“I wouldn’t respect you if you did. And I wouldn’t love him like I do if he didn’t fight for you just as hard as I think you’d fight for him.”
Cassian nods in the dark. “I’ll tell you everything when he’s awake to tell me how I’m getting the story all wrong, all right? But until then?”
“Yeah?”
Cassian smiles a wry smile that makes his eyes twinkle in the moonlight. “Get your beauty rest, Junes.”
And I do, falling asleep with a smile on my face.
* * *
We waketo an incredibly noisy infirmary, Marcus standing before the nest’s door with his arms crossed. Just like the first time I stayed in the infirmary, he’s shoved one of the narrow hospital beds across the doorway to block anyone from entering.
“He’s my brother, Marcus, and he was fuckingtortured. Don’t make me hex you, because I will. You’re too noble to hex first. I’m not.”
“Oh my god, Belly,” Simon croaks.
Cassian holds a glass of water to his cracked lips and helps him drink. “Just let her come in so we can get it over with. You know how she gets. Junes and I aren’t the only ones who love you. And we’re the least scary. So, can she come in before she hexes Haley?”
Simon darts a look over at me and my cheeks heat. I’ve known in my heart that I love him for months, but after the secret he kept from me, after everything that’s just happened—we haven’t said the words yet.
“You’re telling me a thousand times once Ellie’s gone,” Simon tells me, my sweet, bossy beta who has so much sunshine in his heart.
“Maybe a hundred,” I tease.
“Kit-kat, I am in the infirmary and very gravely injured. A thousand times.”
I frown at that, because it’s my fault he’s here, that heisgravely injured. If Rad hadn’t wanted to hurt me, he never would have taken Simon, never would have hurt him.
“We’re going to talk about that frown of yours, because I know what it means. I’ll even make Cassian be the bad guy, if that’s what it takes to make you understand.”
“Literally never has before,” Cassian mutters. “Marcus, please let Ellie in.”
I ease out of Simon’s arms and drop a kiss on his forehead. “I’ll be back in a few. Enjoy your time with your sister.”
I pass Ellie as I leave and she enters, and she pulls me into a tight hug.
“I’m so sorry, Ellie.”
She nods stiffly against me and sniffles before releasing me, holding me at arm’s length. “Be sorry it happened, not sorry because you think it’s your fault. That sadistic bastard could have targeted any of us. You were the only one brave enough to stand up to him. Now, go. Your men are waiting for you.”
At my arched brow, she rolls her eyes. “If you think Professor White Chocolate Mocha has been anywhere but right here for the past twenty-four hours, you’re more of a dummy than I thought you were. And duh, Luca’s been here. But that goes without saying.”
