August held back a snort. Steve was turning on the charm, and he was annoyingly good at it. August could practically feel Dylan melting at the seductive, reassuring tone of his words.
“We don’t have time for that, anyway,” Ryker said. He bent his waist and kissed the top of Steve’s hair, stroking his fingers over the bite he’d placed on his neck. Steve shuddered at the touch, moaning and turning his face into Ryker’s thigh. Ryker grinned and made eye-contact with Dylan. “Steve can claim you once we’re back home in Fort Plainslac.”
Dylan relaxed, and August frowned down at him.
“Did you think we would pressure you to get fucked when you didn’t want to?”
With three against one, August had a guilty realization that they needed to do more to safeguard against accidentally pressuring Dylan into taking on more than he could handle. It was already too easy to get carried away – as Dylan’s currently numbed hole could testify – and with three of them, the damage they could do was considerable.
“No,” Dylan said, sounding like he meant it. He pushed closer to August’s body, burrowing in under his arm and seeking out the warmth of his body. “I know you won’t make me do anything I don’t want to do.”
“We also don’t want to accidentally pressure you into doing things,” August said. “We can be enthusiastic sometimes, but that doesn’t mean that we’d be angry with you for saying no. You know that, right?”
“I know,” Dylan said.
“Good. It’s important that you feel you can say no to us,” August said. “Even when it’s just regular fucking.”
“I know,” Dylan repeated, his tone indulgent.
August huffed and decided to let it go. He could talk to Ryker and Steve about it later. “How long until we have to go back out there?” he asked.
“About twenty minutes,” Steve said, checking his phone. “Do you want more food?”
August was on the verge of being hungry, but he’d rather eat after they were done with their fights to figure out where they ranked in the pack than before.
“No, thank you, I’m good.”
He turned his face and rested his chin on top of Dylan’s head, rubbing it down into his scalp with gentle motions.
“How did you feel seeing Ryker’s alpha shift?” he asked.
Dylan perked up, his expression turning eager. “It was kind of hot. His shoulders were so wide, and the way his thighs looked in those little shorts should be illegal.”
August blinked, turning to Ryker who was watching him with a similarly befuddled expression. Of all the reactions he had anticipated, horny appreciation for Ryker’s thighs was not one of them.
“Is that something you’d like to explore?” Ryker asked, his voice carefully neutral. “In the bedroom, I mean?”
Dylan licked his lips, staring at August’s thigh and lifting his shoulder in a little shrug.
“Maybe?”
Steve laughed, delighted.
“Is it weird?” Dylan asked, worried.
“No, it’s hot as fuck,” Steve said, speaking for all three of them. “I’d love to shift into my alpha form and let you lick my muscles while you bounce on my knot. All you have to do is say when, and I’ll shift for you.”
“Me too,” Ryker said.
“And me,” August agreed. “Though we’d have to work up to fucking you. Our muscles aren’t the only thing that get bigger when we shift.”
“I didn’t mean sex,” Dylan said, scandalized. He pulled away so that he could look up at August’s face. “I just meant that I could feel your pecs, or you could squeeze my head between your thighs or something. Stuff like that.”
“So you want to do some muscle worship when we’re all big and hulked out, is that it?” August asked.
Dylan nodded.
“That’s fun,” August said. He tugged Dylan back under his arm, pressing him close to his side. “We’ll make it happen as soon as we get back.”
