Camelia's stomach twisted at the implication, and she couldn't deny the wash of excitement that filled her at the question. "Am I going to continue...sleeping with them?"
Aria shrugged. "It only makes sense, doesn't it? I mean..." She glanced around, as if she'd only just realized how public they were, and she lowered her voice even further, barely whispering. "You need to...smell like an Alpha, right? To the other Alphas. To get them to leave you alone. Isn't that what all this is about?"
Camelia swallowed. "Yeah. I just figured that since we were sharing the same space together, that would be enough..."
Her voice trailed off when Aria raised an eyebrow, and she buried her face in her hands. "Okay, okay, even I know that's a weak argument. I haven't really thought about it, Aria. I'vebeen...fuck, I've been trying not to. The last few weeks...they've been really hard to figure out. My feelings and my head...they're all a fucking mess."
Aria patted her back. "Might be a conversation worth having with them, if you're serious about keeping yourself safe," she said gently.
"Yeah, maybe," Camelia mumbled.
Chapter three
Aria's questions lingered on Camelia's mind all afternoon as she returned to the house and continued unpacking. James and Evan were out, and the house was almost painfully quiet without the two of them around.
You don't need them around. This is just an arrangement between the three of you. Nothing more, nothing less.
The voice of reason in her mind was starting to feel more insidious and doubtful, less comforting than it usually did. It didn't matter howreasonableit was, how much she agreed in principle with her inner voice.
It didn't change how she felt. How much she...wanted this to be more.
"This is absurd," she muttered to herself. She tugged the bottom hem of her tank top down so that it lay straight, and she turned and marched out of the room that was now hers. She only wore the tank top and a pair of shorts since she had been unpacking and getting overheated, and when she got tothe kitchen she determinedly went through the cupboards to see what food was there.
She wasn't the best cook, but she was more than passable after years of having to sporadically take care of herself. And she was going to make dinner for the three of them. They were doing her a big favor by letting her stay and...protect her, the least that she could do was feed them.
And it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you want your Alphas to be pleased with you. Nothing at all.
Camelia steadfastly ignored her inner voice, and turned Spotify on her phone to an eighties mix channel. She hummed to Bon Jovi and Meat Loaf as she started chopping onions and thawing some ground beef. She made a mean fucking lasagna, and it took a while so it wouldn't matter when they came back home.
Though she hoped that they wouldn't be gone for too long.
Camelia got lost in the act of cooking and started dancing around the kitchen as she chopped tomatoes for sauce. She was in the middle of an intense hip-swinging routine when she turned on her heel and saw Evan leaning against the wall with a soft smirk on his face, standing in the doorway to the living room. Camelia yelped, and fumbled for her phone for a moment before she was able to turn the music off.
"You scared the shit out of me!" She pressed her hand to her chest, willing her racing heart to slow, and the amused expression that had been gracing his handsome features split into a full-blown grin as he laughed.
"Sorry, didn't mean to." He continued chuckling, and Camelia took the moment to look him up and down. He was dressed up, wearing a gray button-down shirt tucked into a pair of slacks with shiny loafers on his feet. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows – a fact that made Camelia swallow against a sudden rush of saliva – and his dark hair was neatly combed back.
She pointed at him with her knife, gesturing up and down. "You look really nice. Where were you guys?"
"Lunch with my parents." Evan shrugged one shoulder. "They took me and James to the country club. They like to do that sort of thing." His eyes gleamed a little, and his voice was teasing when he continued, "I would have invited you along, but you were nowhere to be found."
He walked a little further into the space, and Camelia caught a whiff of his smoke pine scent, and her pussy clenched as she averted her gaze from his. "Met with Aria for lunch. I'm sure that you had a lovely time without me." She peeked up at him, a hint of insecurity wrapping around her heart and squeezing as she mumbled, "Did you tell your parents about me, at all?"
"Of course." The immediate answer surprised her, and he raised an eyebrow at her even as he smiled a little. "Mom wants me to bring you along next time we meet. She says you sound like a delight."
Camelia bit her lip, ignoring how Evan's gaze dropped to her mouth. "You didn't..."
She couldn't finish the sentence, but a moment later realization dawned on Evan's face, and he stepped even closer to her. Directly into her space, where he could wrap his hand around the back of her neck. His thumb stroked the skin there, and Camelia knew that he could feel her pulse pounding.
"No, I didn't. And neither did James," he said softly. His blue eyes were intense as he looked at her, and Camelia swallowed. "We would never do something like that to you. As far as my parents are aware, you're a new roommate that had a sudden change of living circumstances that necessitated our involvement."
Camelia sighed, leaning slightly into Evan's touch at the relief that washed through her. Her instincts crowed at having his attention, his touch on her, but she ignored them. "Thank you.I...I know that it's not fair of me, to ask you two to keep things secret..."
Evan leaned down, pressing a firm kiss to her forehead before she could finish her thought. "Don't be ridiculous," he said. His breath brushed against her skin, making goosebumps erupt up and down her spine as he continued. "It isn't our secret to tell. Besides." His expression twisted with something that rang of almost-regret and possession. His voice rasped when he spoke again. "It's only a few more days before those meds are fully out of your system, and then...you won't have a choice. You'll be outed to anyone with half a sense." He grimaced. "The least we could do was offer you your privacy while you still have it."
Camelia pressed her lips tightly together, the truth of what he was saying more than she wanted to face in that moment. A banging sound above their heads caught her attention, and she frowned. "What is James doing?"
Evan smiled again, the seriousness of the moment passing. "Changing. He hates meeting my parents at the country club. Says that it makes him feel like a monkey in a suit."
