“King… how did we get there?” I laugh at the absurdity of his logic. Some days it’s near impossible to keep up with how this man thinks.
Behind me Tyson stands, placing his hand on my lower back probably feeling my antsy mood and trying to soothe it away. “It’s an easy jump, Tristan. And I see where King is comingfrom.Like him, I assess risks and outcomes but we vocalise them differently.” Unlike King though, Tyson walks to his brother and wraps his arms around him to hug the living daylights out of him, before doing the same to Maverick.
“Congrats.” He smiles before the happy go-lucky look falls from his face and he steps in their space again. “Next time you both don’t fill me in on a pretty fucking important development that impacts our pack, I will have issues. I should have been told. I never would have done anything but support you.”
“Jesus, Tyson, settle down,” Steel hisses. “What is it with you being so on the edge? What happened?”
“It’s not knowing that sort of thing that puts us at risk, Steel. You know how manipulative Rex is.”
“Says you.” Steel’s eyes fly to me.
And Steel directly referencing me as Tyson’s secret pisses Tyson off even more, making him rumble a low warning towards his brother.
Steel’s mood snaps, all his warmth evaporates. He takes a step closer, right up into Tyson’s face. “I do fucking know. I know better than you. I know better than Mav. I know what a cock Rex is and what he is capable of, so, fuck you for being a prick.”
And before I know it, I’m in the middle of a sibling squabble, using my hand on each of their chests to keep them from going to blows. “Settle down or King really will lose his shit. We’ll all be made to sit in the corner like naughty kids,” I whisper loudly. Smiling encouragingly, because I think I’m being funny, but I’m also hoping my bad joke will be enough to break the surging tension.
“Killer!” King’s Alpha bark ricochets through the cabin, making me compliant within a heartbeat. “Ass here now!” There is nothing I can do to stop my feet moving at a million miles an hour until I am next to him. And then he makes my head spin trying to keep up with him again.
“Ohhh.” He grins evilly, looking down at where his thumb trails over his claim. “I like how you’re even more responsive to me now.”
I get lifted up and put on the island bench between all the food and him. It’s no surprise he puts me on the other side, further away from them. His body becomes an impenetrable wall, shielding me from the others. I guess it’s no real surprise because King being overly protective and possessive is nothing new.
“Once you’re all done, I need a hand,” King calls before snatching a knife out of my hand, glaring a warning at me. “We’ve got an annoying mate to cook for.”
Tyson apparently isn’t done though, and he ignores King’s attempt at moving on from the situation he caused in the first place. I twist around my protective detail to watch Tyson. “Steel, I’m sorry. I had no right to have a go like that. I know you’ve done things I don’t know about to keep me, Mav, and the girls safe. But things are different now.”
Steel nods once at Tyson’s apology before scrubbing his hand down his face. “I get it. But tone down the little bro thing, it’s going to get old quick.” And then he’s done, he’s back to being himself. I can see it in the way his shoulders relax, I can scent it in the air, which again confirms both how close Steel and his brother are but also how small the cabin is. His butterscotch scent is on its way to being normal again now that everyone is over being loud and aggressive.
“Do I take it you’ve decided to do this?” Tyson swirls his hand around the room, clearly meaning us being together.
“I’m thinking about it more than I was a few days ago. Tristan and I are working together on a few things and she’s good being my WIP.” Steel smirks.
Which in turn makes both Maverick and Tyson smile in relief and hope. And it’s like a sweet movie moment, exceptwith happy Alphas, and brand-new pack connections that I can actually feel. And the connections I have with Tyson do unexpected things to my body like making my panties soak in seconds.
King takes an overly exaggerated lean my way with a noisy inhale for a few minutes before making a low humming noise of appreciation in the back of his throat. The sound rumbles through me like a caress, hitting me right in the core.
“Well, that’s new, isn’t it?” He growls without looking at me, going back to cutting up a pile of steak.
The others talk quietly between themselves, laughing too. Each time they do, I relax but I also get a growing sense of the dynamics of our pack. Which is freaking weird, the concept I mean. Only days ago, I was coming here for a secret getaway with my Alpha and all of a sudden I’m claimed and have part of a pack, with the other Alpha talking about joining us. It’s a good place to be. A very good place to be.
Maverick is the first to join us in the kitchen, but he doesn’t take the spot King has set up. Instead he grabs the chopping board and bowl and puts them on my lap before sliding me over the bench to make room right in front of me. And then he clasps his hand over the back of my neck and draws me close to lick his way into my mouth, giving me a slow, sensual kiss that leaves me squirming on the counter. He pulls away way too soon.
“How come you let me live after hearing me crack on to your girl?” Maverick asks conversationally to King while cutting the vegetables I hand him.
“I couldn’t give a shit either way. Honestly, I’m comfortable knowing I’ve got this woman forever. If Tris didn’t want you around, it would have been a different story.” But then King is wicked fast and jabs the knife in the chopping block, inches from Mav’s fingers. “Can’t figure out for the life of me why you haven’t gone to chat with the photographer cunt who touched her, givenyou’re her scent-match Alpha and you’re working in the industry and all.”
Maverick’s body ripples with tension, his blackberry sweetness sours as he looks for answers in my eyes. When I’m not that forthcoming, he turns slightly to King without taking his focus off me. “What photographer?”
King hums again, and where before it was sultry and smooth, now it’s acidic and full of derision. “You might need to start being a bit more direct when asking those questions. You need me to show you how?”
I gasp. “King! Jesus, we had stuff going on. I wasn’t going to involve Maverick.”
“Everything takes a back fucking seat if you ain’t safe. And I’ve told you time and time before.”
“Who?” Maverick snaps. And this question is aimed at me. He’s never used any sort of Alpha influences besides his scent on me, and it’s not what I’m used to from him.
But I’m also not about to give any of my Alphas an inch—these bossy bastards will have me chained and tethered to them 24/7.
