“When have I let you down before?” I ask, dipping in quickly for a snuggle and purposely leaving him covered in more of my scent.
Hayes looks good in his jeans and no top. It gives me that moment I’ve been hoping for, to have a look at his tattoos properly. And before was not the time. I don’t think he would have appreciated me asking him to take a break in his feral raging so I could quiz him on the reasons he chose his tattoos.
I trail my finger over the line work of the incomplete tattoo; the wisteria looks like it’s blowing over his shoulder and falling around his heart. A heavy pounding on the door interrupts the questions I was going to ask. Puck’s voice through the door is easily discernible as is the smile on his face.
“Raney, Koz sent me up—”
Hayes swings the door open in an instant. “We’re coming.”
But Puck’s eyes are on me first. They go from top to bottom and up again, his eyes holding mine for a brief moment, but in that time, I see his question asking if I’m fine. My lips tip slightly, answer enough it seems because his eyes jump to Hayes, and then he takes in the room, which is in a decent state of disaster. Chairs are left on their sides, a coffee table is in line with the bed, the sofa still pushed against the edge of the window. And yeah, we travelled the circuit of destruction a few times over.
“Shit, Hayes, it must have been some news she told you. Holy crap, is that your boobs imprinted on the glass, Raney? I’m kind of kicking myself I didn’t come up sooner.”
I go to wave Puck off, but he sweeps in and nabs my hand, drawing me out of the room while still looking at Hayes for an answer to his question. “Hayes, what was it she told you?”
“Puck!” This time I do interrupt him. “Not your call.”
“It is. Everything about you is my call,” he snaps back. “It’s how a pack works. It’s how we will work.”
“Yeah, well not yet,” I answer quickly.
“So, it was a goodbye fuck?” Puck asks, his eyes on Hayes.
Hayes interrupts. “Not at all. I appreciate where you’re going, and you’re right about not having secrets. The Anders family have been playing Talon and me off for years, just never figured they’d stoop so low as where they did.”
“Go on,” Puck says with an obvious lack of emotion and empathy.
I go to pull my hand out of his, not liking this, but Hayes comes up and brushes the hair off my face as he answers. “Raney let me know the kid I thought was mine is not mine. Now all that remains to be seen is if I’m the rapist they painted me to be or not.”
Puck scoffs an ugly noise. “Yeah, well, let’s be real. You raping someone is like saying Sharlene is a good parent. Whatever I can do to help, you let me know, hey?”
Hayes gives a nod of his head. “Appreciate that, Puck. I feel pretty stupid…”
“Well, don’t. I grew up knowing how manipulative they can be and the games they’re capable of playing. You’ve got some shit to work out, make sure you remember you got other people besides Talon that are there for you. But if you don’t hurry up and get your ass downstairs, that number is going to diminish pretty quick. Koz is going off.”
“You should change, Raney, shit. I’m sorry.” Hayes grimaces before it’s like he catches himself. “Actually, I’m not sorry about spending time with you at all. I’m not. But I will apologise to Koz for being so long.”
And then he takes my other hand out of Puck’s and leads me down the stairs. I pull back at the last second already knowing he’s intending to face Koz and he can, but I can’t break Koz’s one stipulation in honour of his tradition today.
Koz is talking before I even make my way through the door. “I’ve got my eyes shut, Raney, get here.” He turns in my direction, and his hands find mine, tugging me against his chest. His cherry scent is verging on being bitter except the chocolate side of him is so sweet, it threatens to bring cavities to my teeth.
“Stay,” he growls, his eyes still closed as he removes his suit jacket and sweeps it behind me, waiting until my arms slide inside. I swim in it, but I know he’s not dressing me in it for fashion or warmth. “I just want to call you mine, micina, and the day seems to be passing slowly. You know, everything else is a yes. It’s always a yes. Except it would be nice to pack you when you smell more like me than Hayes. It went okay?” His voice betrays both his impatience and his concerns, but his entire focus is on me. When he talks, it sounds like he’s been smoking, making his voice deep and growly, and god it works on so many levels. I have to bite my tongue so I don’t whimper like I’m a fresh omega. Of course he picks up on it. And he chuckles as he drops down to give me a chaste kiss on my cheek before he whispers into my ear. “Puck goes with you, or Hayes. Reid’s made his intentions very clear in his latest call. It’s been a little while since he called Puck, and I’m not worried in the least, but it doesn’t mean I’m relaxed. In the car waiting for you are bullet proof vests for you and the Scorned Girls, and a beautiful new tracking bracelet for you. Non-negotiable, so don’t even bother opening those lips unless you want me to stretch them with my dick.”
Even with his eyes closed, I smile up at him before I start noisily popping my lips open and closed, mimicking a goldfish, earning another noise of frustration from him. “Why are you pushing me so hard today?”
“You have to ask?” I laugh.
He tries to ignore my shenanigans, but he can’t hide the way his scent gets all warm and thick. The second I stop mucking around, he gives a filthy chuckle in my ear, knowing he just muddled my brain with his scent. It also gives him the chance to keep talking without me being a dick. “I want you armed at all times, and tell Heidi that Ayden is with me, so I apologise in advance. And please ask Heidi to borrow someone’s scent blocker, I don’t want to smell another omega, Raney, and she’s making it very difficult. Which I do not like.”
“Yeah, we had a slight hiccup inside, girl stuff, but she’s freshened up and ready to do her thing,” I say quickly. “I’ll get her to spritz again before we leave.”
Koz brushes his lips against my forehead but pulls me closer when Puck approaches. Instead of staying out of my conversation with Koz, Puck does what he did earlier in Birdie, when he swoops in and kisses the bejesus out of me. Of course, the two of them obliterate another pair of pants when Koz seems to think he needs to practice biting his claim on my throat while Puck drags my lip through his teeth. His eyes full of ‘yeah, I’m fucking you very soon too’. Hayes is not left out of the equation. I can feel his eyes on me, and us. I’m hoping he’s working out how to make himself a part of this as fast as humanly possible.
And then I’m the one escaping from them and sprinting over to King to give him a quick cuddle before I head back to where the Scorned Girls are waiting.
“So, how did it go?” They swarm around, each of them wrapping an arm around me, ready to hear all the sordid details.
“Raney!” Koz’s alpha roars over the distance, “get your ass in the car now and let’s get packed!”
