Attending every single yoga class I teach, lingering in the back of the room out of the way like I asked them to on that first day.
Their constant presence is soothing, calming, healing and… eroding.
Each day a little more of my resistance wears away, I start to see what it could be like if I were to go with them. Only it might be even better, because we could be closer, spendevenings cuddled on the couch watching movies or embroiled in a Mario Kart competition. We could dance in the kitchen while making dinner together. I could curl up in their laps while I sketch and just let them hold me.
And maybe I’m weak, or maybe it’s just my omega nature, but I find myself imagining it more and more, fooling myself into believing it would be good… manageable. Even if they bond someone else.
After all, I would have them, wouldn’t I? Some small part of them is better than none.
Isn’t it?
So when Court pokes his head into the living room of the Calloway pack house and invites me to a pool party, I… don’t say no.
Even though I know it’s not going to be a party, so much as the six of us, hanging out intentionally for the first time in days.
Piers is in the kitchen when I come down, dressed in a light pink bikini and a pair of cut-off shorts I stole from Haven.
He smiles when he sees me, his eyes going heated as they skim over every inch of bare skin on display. “You look gorgeous, little bird.”
I finger the end of my messy fishtail braid and pretend like the compliment doesn’t make my chest get all warm. “Thank you.” I move over to the island and take in the sheer volume of food. “Did you make all this?”
He shakes his head. “No, some of it we ordered in.” He looks up at me almost shyly. “We wanted to make sure you had access to all of your favorites.”
And they really did. Everything that I’ve ever eaten and hummed over is here.
“Can I help?”
He pauses in sprinkling cilantro over the delicious looking steak tacos. “You’re meant to be the guest of honor, sunshine.”
I shift on my bare feet, eyes moving over to the glittering pool and the four alphas lounging in the water. Well, Forsythe is lounging. Court is splashing, trying to get Grieves and Thayer to join him in some kind of game.
All of them are bare chested and sun soaked and look far too good for my own good.
I’m a little worried about what might happen if I go out there right now.
Like, I might just strip off my bikini, hold open my arms and beg them to just fucking take me.
And I’m definitely not ready for that.
So I tell Piers honestly. “I’m not quite ready for that honor. Not… I just need a minute.”
He gives me a knowing look and jerks his chin at a cutting board with a carton of strawberries next to it. “Those need to be cut for the strawberry shortcake.”
Giving him a grateful smile for giving me a reprieve, I get to work, focusing on the task, while Piers hums along absently next to me, putting the finishing touches on the food.
His phone buzzes. His humming cuts off as he pulls it out and looks at it. The spoon he’d been holding clatters to the counter, splattering some kind of green sauce on the marble.
“Piers?”
“Hm?”
“Is-is everything okay?”
“Isadora,” he says distractedly, making everything in my body go cold, and the urge to retreat, retreat, retreat, grows.
I push it aside and keep hulling the strawberries as calmly as I can, even as my scent sours. “What about her?”
“She claimed me for the pack,” Piers says, a little furrow in his brow as he stares at his phone.
