“Jealousy happens.” I reached for Ivy’s thigh again before reminding myself not to and tucking my hands in my lap instead. “We’re all alphas here, so the competition can get especially intense some days. However, Ivy is a master at finding the balance between us. It’s one of the reasons why packs seek out an omega.”
Lukas and Dem nodded in agreement as Preston set down a tray of sandwiches.
“So you rely on Ivy to balance you all out…” Justin added, crossing his arms.
“We don’t rely on her; she’s just naturally very good at it,” Preston answered, picking up a sandwich.
“Do you make her do all the chores too?” Justin asked with raised eyebrows.
“Why would we possibly want Ivy to clean anything? Chores would make her miserable,” I scoffed. Maybe I should have answered that better.
“We hire a cleaning company twice a week to help us out with chores,” Dem replied, shooting me a look to behave.
“So tell me what nesting means exactly,” Jonah said as she leaned forward and picked out a sandwich.
All four of us looked to Ivy to answer this one. Surely, she’d be the judge of what her mom could handle.
“Mom, really. I know you’ve looked this up on the internet,” Ivy shook her head.
“I’m just curious. Do you all have a nest here? Can I see it?” she replied. Again, all our eyes turned to Ivy.
“I do have a nest in this house. You may not see it,” Ivy gestured no. “The boys haven’t even been allowed in yet. It’s a secret so far.”
“But you all sleep together…” Jonah started.
“Mom!” Ivy turned bright red as she shifted uncomfortably on the couch next to me.
Absent-mindedly, I reached for her waist to pick her up, wanting to put her on my lap and comfort her. Her eyes grew big at me as I paused, trying to hide my intentions bybrushing invisible dirt off her shirt. Lukas laughed at me from the other couch.
“So what happens if Ivy changes her mind and wants to leave?” Justin asked as he picked up a sandwich and sniffed it.
“No one is keeping her here against her will,” Dem replied, folding his fingers together. “We respect anything she wants to do, including leaving if she wants to.”
“It would break our hearts, though,” Preston replied quietly as he held Ivy’s hand.
“Awe,” Jonah sighed, smiling at Preston’s gesture.
“But what if she outgrows this company and wants something bigger?” Justin asked. “You four are clearly not going to follow her.”
All four of our words collided as we tried to answer at the same time.
“I’d follow her anywhere she wants to go,” Preston replied.
“Same,” Lukas added.
I laughed. “There’s not going to be a company bigger than us soon.”
Dem finished quietly, “And I’d fold this company if that’s what she needed.”
Ivy held up her hands with a laugh. “You’re all very sweet,” she said as she glanced between each of us with a smile. “But I’m all in on Arco Ballet Company. Plus, wefound out pretty quickly that we can’t dance with non-scent-matched partners anymore. There would be nowhere for me to go unless I wanted to do corps work again.”
“You can’t dance with other partners?” Jonah asked.
“No, it causes extreme emotional distress in me to see one of my packmates touch another girl. We found that out the hard way a few weeks ago when Preston was cast to dance with a different partner,” Ivy replied, looking at Preston. “Do you feel the same thing would happen to you all if a different guy tried to partner with me?”
“Yes,” all four of us answered in unison. I didn’t even want to entertain the idea of someone else touching Ivy.
Jonah held her hands up to her mouth. “That’s so fascinating and just weird. I can’t imagine what all this feels like.”
