Theo blushed and bit his lip. The whole lip-biting thing almost succeeded in distracting me from his chagrined expression.
“What?” I asked when none of them answered my question.
“Who says we’re not bonded?” Cam asked.
I raised my eyebrows. “Where are your bond marks, then?”
Ben groaned, covering his face with his arm. “It’s too early for this story.”
I glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. “It’s three o’clock in the afternoon.”
“Well then, I’m way too sober for this story,” Ben grumbled, trying to shove Cam to the side so he could get closer to me. Cam was not having it and pushed him so hard he almost toppled out of bed.
I scowled at Cam’s antics, but he just smiled and kissed me on the cheek.
“That was cold, brother. Cold,” Ben growled, popping back up in a seated position.
“I don’t know why you’re acting embarrassed,” Theo said. “It was your fucking idea.”
“True,” Ben said, a mischievous glint in his eye. He pulled my legs onto his lap and started massaging my calves. “But I also distinctly remember being absolutely wasted, and you two went along with it.”
Theo rolled his eyes and put his arm around me. “We bonded once we left North Woods. One night, we got really drunk and just went for it. Maybe not the smartest decision in hindsight, but we were sad and alone and, I don’t know, guess we wanted the emotional connection.” He pressed his face into my hair and my heart twinged at how vulnerable he sounded.
I wanted to ask more questions about why they left their community, but I held back. I could tell it was a tender subject, and they hadn’t pushed me to share about my past. I hoped they would tell me when they were ready.
“So, where are your bites?” I asked, studying their bare chests as if the marks would pop out at me. Also, it was an excuse to stare at their bare chests.
“Remember that we were drunk. And Ben thought it was fucking hilarious,” Cam grunted.
“What can I say? I wanted to be a pain in their asses for life,” Ben said with a wide grin.
It took me a minute to register his words. “You bit each other in… the butt?” I asked. Usually, bond marks were placed on the neck or in a similarly visible location.
“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it,” Ben teased.
“Fine, maybe I will,” I flirted back.
I stilled, realizing what I had said. We hadn’t had a conversation yet about bonding. I was scared to let myself think about what it would be like to be connected to my alphas’ emotions in such an intimate way. I’d never thought I would be good enough for a pack like this.
Ben smoothed over my mini internal freakout with a sweet kiss on my forehead.
“Just putting it out there that I would like my next bond mark to be highly visible where everyone can see it,” he said, lips brushing against my ear.
I shivered, eyeing his neck as I imagined myself sinking in my teeth, marking him forever. The thought sparked something low in my belly.
Cam grunted. “The healing process was a bitch.”
A sharp laugh burst out of me as I realized what he was alluding to. Bond marks needed to be tended to by licking the bite for several days. Imagining the three alphas, stone-cold sober, having to drop their pants for each other and lick each other’s ass cheeks was too fucking much. My laughter increased until tears were streaming down my face. Theo moved the tray out of the way and then tackled me.
“You think that’s funny?” he growled, his eyes bright.
I quickly schooled my face into a not-even remotely convincing serious expression. “No, not at all. Nothing funny about this. Nope.”
“Brat,” Cam said, a smile stretching across his face.
“You need to eat more,” Ben said, snagging a bowl of strawberries for me. I tried to eat a few, but my cramps returned and I finally pushed them away.
“You full?” Cam asked, his brows furrowed as he stared at the almost untouched tray of food.
