Talon moved closer but didn’t shift back. Slade spoke for his brother: “He says that coming to you was an instinctive drive, but it was a drive initiated by you.”
Right.Right. That made sense.
“I always want all of you,” I reassured them. “That question was just a weird random thought related to how strong these pack bonds are, and I guess our desire for each other.”
Slade pressed a kiss to my forehead. “And we want you. All of you. In whatever way you’re willing to share.”
He released me into Finley and Kellan’s arms, who quickly cupped my face, one at a time, and kissed me before racing back into the stadium. I was immediately concerned that they’d be late for the game, or their skates would be damaged from sprinting to me.
They had guards on, but it was rough out here.
I hoped I hadn’t screwed up this game for them.
When Hunter strode back into sight looking visibly calmer, Sladereturned to his dragon form. His and Talon’s beasts ran their snouts along my cheeks and then flew off.
Leaving me with our entitled alpha once more.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated for him. “I played a stupid fucking game and learned the consequences.”
Before I could dig deeper into my worries that I’d fucked everything up, Hunter dragged me against his chest. “You don’t have to apologize,” he said. “I should have had more control. Three decades of perfecting my control and you detonate it with a single look.”
I closed my eyes and soaked up the coziness of his hug. “I think that’s the way I can completely share energy without needing to use magic,” I murmured. “It was like, I could feel all of you. Everywhere. I could have taken your power or given you mine.”
Tonight, I’d completely opened myself up to the five of them and let all our essences flow together in the quintet bond. “I felt it too,” he admitted. “But I don’t ever want you to use it that way again. Not only did we all lack reasoning and control, it would be easy to drain you. I don’t want any of us to accidentally do so. You opened the bond too far.”
“It didn’t hurt me though,” I felt the need to add. “I actually really enjoyed the feeling, though maybe a little too sexually charged for a public venue.”
Hunter’s hold tightened until I felt a very mild ache in my ribs. “Never again, Emmeline. I don’t care if we’re about to die, you don’t mesh us like that. It clouded our senses and left us no better than rutting, feral beasts.” He slowly brushed snowflakes off my face as he caressed it, and I couldn’t look away from his serious expression. “What if we’d hurt you in our mindless instinct? What if we drained you until you couldn’t recover? There are too many risks and unknowns.”
There was not a damn chance I’d ever promise not to share power if they were dying, so I changed the subject. “We should get back inside. I want to see the boys play—if I haven’t fucked it up and gotten them benched.”
Hunter’s stare was resigned, but he didn’t call me out on my subject change. “Coach will understand. They’ll be playing.” He linked our hands together and we walked toward the entrance.
I almost thought I’d gotten away with my segue before he added, “And we will be revisiting this conversation later.”
“Sure,” I replied, already knowing there was nothing to revisit.
When we reached our seats, they were cleaned of all the food that must have gone flying when Hunter threw me over his shoulder. When countless gazes locked on us, Hunter’s chest swelled with a warning grumble, which had them all returning their focus to the game.
A game which was already many minutes into the first period.
To my relief, Kellan and Finley were both out on the ice and appeared to be having the time of their lives. Finley was in full bear-bash mode, crashing the red and orange team into the boards. I had no idea who they were playing, and it didn’t matter, since the only team I was interested in was the one in teal, white, and gold.
“Has your sister had any issue with Henderson?” I asked when the burley Viking caught my eye. He wore a 43 on his jersey, and was skating beside Kellan as they fought to get the puck down their end. On the other side of them, Christian stayed close, no doubt good for an assist if needed.
“He shows up every day at the compound gate but has been respecting her refusal to see him,” Hunter replied as he leaned back in his chair, long legs spread out as far as he could get them. “He leaves her flowers and gifts, but I don’t think Kass has taken any of them.”
On the ice, Henderson shot a quick pass to Kellan, setting him up perfectly for a goal attempt. When the buzzer sounded, the stadium erupted, and the alphas huddled together before they skated past the bench to slap gloves with their team.
“I need to catch up with Kass,” I said as play started again.
I flinched when Kellan got knocked to the ice, but he was back up in a flash, skating like the devil was on his tail. My daredevil with a death wish.
“You’ll see her tonight,” Hunter told me, his focus on the fast-paced game. “I invited her around for dinner tonight, along with Kenzo, Warrick, and a few powerful alpha allies. We don’t fully trust anyone, but we also might not be able to do this alone. This will be a small, select group to update on what’s happening with Jewels.”
The game was momentarily forgotten as I stared at him. “Okay, I really didn’t expect you to say any of that. You’ve been adamant that we couldn’t trust another soul.”
He released a long, drawn-out breath. “I still feel that way, but if we don’t happen to win this game of hide-and-seek with Jewels, weneed allies to fight the next part of the war. As hard as it is, I have to trust a few in the hopes to save the many.”
