“Go to sleep, Olivander,” I tell him. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Work…” he groans.
“The lab can wait,” I tell him, because I just want to keep him here a little longer.
“Okay,” he says, and a moment later he is snoring.
I don’t know how long I lay there with him, but regrettably I have to get up to pee, so I extract myself from his hold and do so. I shower, dress, and feel the overwhelming ache in my stomach telling me I need to eat.
I debate waking him up, but he looks so peaceful curled up in my bed. So I don’t wake him. I carefully slide out of the room, closing the door softly. I look across the hall, noting Diego is still there, reading his book. He looks up at me for a moment, then goes back to his book, and I hurry to the kitchen.
Chapter 21
diego
Tension has never been a problem for our pack, but tonight, the dinner table has the distinct feeling of electricity in the air, like lightning about to strike.
I know that Olly was with Auryn. As was Emmett. And Gage. Theoretically, we should all be well-fucked and happy. Unfortunately, with three alphas in the room, we’re all competing for her attention.
I almost wish I could watch this meal with Olly’s eyes. He's watching us make fools of ourselves with a keen gaze, almost certainly documenting every action in his head.
It started with a fight over who gets to cook dinner. We each wanted to make something special for Auryn, so naturally we butted heads over who got the honor.
Gage won.
Since Gage cooked, Emmett set the table. He perhaps went overboard with the candles, and Olly had to grab the extinguisher for the salad course.
My blunder came when I snuck some extra chili powder in Gage’s sauce. Yes, that's playing dirty, but I couldn’t resist. Just seeing Auryn’s reaction to the aroma is enough to make my eventual punishment worth it.
All throughout the meal, the three of us bump and nudge each other, all trying to get close to our omega.
Our mate.
Halfway through dessert, Gage asks Olly how his tests are going. This excites our beta, and he nearly drags Gage from the kitchen.
I meet Emmett’s gaze and nod. We've been preparing something while the others were … otherwise occupied. Now, with Gage and Olly safely out of the room, we can get started.
“Auryn,mi amor, can I ask you something?”
Em pretends to be disinterested, but I see him peek out of the corner of his eye.
“Sure,” she says. “What is it?”
“The Orion house …” I pause as she whines. “I promise, it's nothing bad. I just want to know if you remember the layout. Where all the rooms are.”
Auryn frowns. “I don’t know. They kept me in a dark room. Underground. A basement. I never saw much of the rest.”
Em shifts his weight in his seat and makes a show of inspecting his fingernails. “You don’t remember anything? Not how many doors or if there were stairs or extra hallways?”
She shakes her head. “No. I'm sorry. Do you need to know this? Is it important?”
It's important to Emmett and me, but she can't know why. “I just wanted to know more about where you came from.” I flash a smile to ease her concern. “No te preocupas.It’s nothing.”
“Can we walk you back to your room?” Em asks hastily.
I shoot him a glare. If he doesn't calm down, she might suspect something. Though I admit, I find it interesting that he asked if we could both escort her. We’d talked about saying our goodbyes in case something happened, but we never discussed doing that together.
Thankfully, Auryn doesn’t seem to notice anything amiss.
