He licked his lips, looked up over his shoulder, and asked, “Can we take a nap?”
Ryker looked at August and Steve, both of them nodding their approval of the idea, and nodded. He reached down and combed his fingers through Dylan’s sweaty hair, giving it a little tug.
“I think that sounds like a fantastic idea.”
Ryker doubted that Steve or August were any more tired than he was, but a puppy pile with their omega was not something any of them wanted to pass up.
45
STEVE
Steve woke up with his head pillowed comfortably on Ryker’s bicep. Ryker was spooning him from behind, an arm held tightly over his waist, breathing softly into the back of his neck.
Dylan and August lay facing them, and Steve huffed out a breath of amusement at their position. Dylan was on his stomach, face resting on his arm, with August lying half on top of him, hugging him possessively and practically pinning him to the mattress with the weight of his body.
They were close enough together that Steve could feel Dylan and August’s soft breaths on his arm.
Steve closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment. It had been a long time since he woke up this comfortable, his wolf quiet and content with the knowledge that everything was as it should be and that there was nothing to worry about.
After a few minutes, the reason that Steve had woken up became too pressing to ignore. His bladder was aching, the muscles in his groin clenched to keep his piss inside, a state of affairs which was his own fault since he’d failed to go to the bathroom before going to bed.
He’d forgotten, his eagerness to get back to cuddling his mates driving any kind of logical thought process straight out of his mind.
Lifting Ryker’s arm away from his midsection, Steve climbed out from underneath the covers and crawled over Ryker to get to the edge of the bed.
“Is it morning?” Dylan mumbled, still sounding half asleep.
“Just need to use the bathroom,” Steve whispered, reaching over and patting his arm. “Go back to sleep.”
Dylan closed his eyes, and a few seconds later his breathing evened out and he fell back asleep.
Steve slipped quietly out of the bedroom, making his way to the guest bedroom where the sound of the toilet flushing wouldn’t wake Dylan up again.
After peeing and washing his hands, Steve went to the kitchen for a glass of water. He stood by the counter and gulped it down, looking out the darkened window at the driveway below.
When a familiar car pulled into the driveway, he perked up and put his glass down and went to put on some clothes.
It was his mother.
Steve had planned on seeing her the day before, right after talking to his dad, but she hadn’t been home. Then, after everything that had happened with Ryker, August and Dylan, he’d been too busy to even think about her.
Seeing her car now, however, he was struck by the urge to see her and tell her everything that had happened.
Dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, Steve was heading for the door when he spotted his spit-cleaned motorcycle riding boots on the floor next to the couch. He was tempted to put them on – the scent of leather and come making his mouth water – and if he’d been going to talk to anyone except his mom, he would have.
He continued into the hallway and put on his regular boots and jacket and then hurried out of the apartment and jogged down so that he could meet his mom as she came into the house.
“Steve!” his mother said, stopping in the doorway to the garage and shooting him a wide smile. “How did you know I was coming home so early?”
She walked forward, wrapping him up in a hug and lifting him off the floor. She was a tall woman, standing about six inches shorter than him, with wide shoulders and thickly muscled legs that were her primary weapon in dominance fights.
Steve knew that his father had picked his mother solely for her ability to give him strong alphas as children, and that it had resulted in a miserable marriage that both parties had been happy to escape.
“I didn’t,” Steve said, enduring the off the ground bearhug with a grin. “I was getting a glass of water when I saw your car. Where have you been?”
His mother let him down, holding him at arm’s length and looking him up and down.
“I was in Anchorage. There was a gallery opening I had to attend, but when Marcus called me and said that you were coming home, I came right back.”
