He laughs this time, and the noise bounces around us. I love hearing him laugh.
“It really is an old family recipe, so I can’t say for certain how it came about, but I know it works. It doesn’t numb your connection; it numbs the way people remember your scent especially if you’re packed. My parents needed it in their line of work. We needed it as triplets.”
“Okay,” I say slowly, side eyeing him.
“It’s not a suppressor as such so you’ll feel us, but others won’t pick up on our pack bond. It gives you the peace of our connection being undetectable to anyone but you. If it stopped our connection, I wouldn’t suggest it.”
“And why is that?” I tease.
“You know why. I just got you. There is no chance I’m wasting another second pretending you are not the most special thing in my world.” He tugs me close before looking deep into my eyes.
“Being triplets meant we’ve always hidden ourselves. Mostly, it’s how we look but we also use a homoeopathic lotion, with special properties to alter the effect scent has on people.”
“Like a blocker?”
“In a way,” he says, linking our fingers. “The herbs used numb the brain’s recall function, so I’m not hiding your scent, but I don’t want people remembering they smell us on you.”
I look at him stunned. “Kai, that’s genius! You could help a lot of people with a protection like that. Wow, I’m honestly a little stunned right now.”
“I actually can’t ever remember not using it. But we also don’t use it all the time because not being able to scent someone sets off a million alarms as an Alpha.”
“Right? But then why were you so freaked about me scenting Ramses again. Wasn’t he using it when he worked the bar the night I was attacked?”
“There wasn’t a need. Darius and I weren’t working, so you wouldn’t have the chance of seeing us. When the three of us are together, that’s the only other situation we’d use it. Except now we have you, I will not risk you in any way.”
Nothing more, nothing less, but it feels immense.
“We probably need to talk about protection too, rohi,” he says softly. “I want lots of babies with you, but we come from a family of triplets. There’s every likelihood if you fall pregnant it will be with triplets.”
“We’ll manage when the time is right, but not before the law gets overturned. I’m not sure about nine kids though, Kai,” I say, running my fingers through his dark hair. He closes his eyes and sinks into my touch. “I do want children, but first I want time with you and your brothers. I want to be selfish before I have no choice but to be selfless.”
“You’re selfless now,” he insists.
“No, I’m not. I should be but I’m nowhere near being selfless. Anyway, I want times like this where it is just me and you, no one else to worry about.”
“There is always someone to worry about.”
“I know,” I say looking away for a minute. “I think Allan was on to something about Verdune.”
“How so?”
“Under the management of the Board, Verdune has steered into making money when originally our ethos was about making a difference. I want us to go back to making a difference, to do that I’m going to upset a lot of the shareholders who are all about making money.”
“My brave mate is going to change the world,” Kai grins. And it’s not a question, it’s a statement, which is so him.
And without having to explain how I’m going to make these changes, or justify my reasons, I have his complete support.
“There’s a but, Kai,” I smile, leaning in for a quick kiss. “I’ll work my ass off to get those changes to happen. But the second the Triplet Law gets overturned is the day I decide whether I keep Verdune or break it down and sell it off. And it will be a snap decision because I am not willing to spend the rest of my days working unless it’s in a business that exactly fits to the vision of the life I want. Especially when the alternative is spending time exploring life with my pack.”
“You’re a beautiful hardass. I love it,” he says, pulling me back in for a longer kiss. He stops us before we get too carried away, although he teases me with a promise of christening my nest bed back at the Estate.
Kai wraps me in a soft fluffy towel that’s so long it drags over the ground as we walk back to the room we’ve spent the past few days in, he guides me back into my nest but then leaves me to nap for a little while.
I get woken up by Dare making out with my belly-button, and sweet apologies it’s time to leave in between promises of what he’ll do to me when we get home. Promises that sound very similar to Kai’s earlier ones too. By the time I’m dressed and wearing something from each of them, the helicopter is packed, and The Great House is immaculately cleaned and locked up. This time I get to sit up front next to Ramses as he flies us home, although I miss most of it burying under blankets that smell like my mates and drifting off into a nap.
A squeeze on my knee isn’t what wakes me up, it’s a big old juicy orange flavour smooch on my cheek, followed by Ramses blowing a raspberry there.
“You’re scaring me,” I mumble, pushing him away. “You’re not usually this… happy,” I tease him.
