The downside of it being the middle of the night is that my senses are extra sensitive, making my sister’s girlish shriek drive a metaphorical icepick directly into my eardrums.
Sabrina’s even less awake than I am, struggling to make sense of my sister’s excitement. “You're thrilled that I slept with your brother? Er, brothers? You clearly need a hobby, Ems, or maybe a therapist.”
Em snorts. “Very funny, Miss Public Indecency. Besides, are you kidding me? I've always wanted a sister, especially one that’s as entertaining as you.”
Realizing that she isn’t going to hang up on her, I sigh, tossing back the blanket and getting to my feet. “Be right back; bathroom.”
She shoots me a thumbs up, rolling over and dozing while carrying on a half-hearted conversation. “Babes, it was great and all, but you're getting ahead of yourself, here.”
Emmy’s voice is smug as shit, and quite frankly, pretty annoying right about now when I’d rather be sleeping. “Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that, sis. They’re hopeless romantics, the lot of ‘em. Don’t let them fool you. You’re the first person they’ve ever invited to a family dinner, let alone amulti-family dinner.”
Attempting to tune them out, I head down the hall to take a piss, leaving the door cracked for some muted light so that I don’t need to blind myself by turning the lights on. Washing my hands, I reach for the hand towel and pause, a faint glint catching my eye. Frowning, I flip on the lightswitch, blinking repeatedly until my vision adjusts to the harsh, fluorescent lighting. The room’s still empty, and I write it off as a trick of the light, reaching to promptly flip it back off. Before I can make contact, another glint has my hand stilling, breath turning to lead in my chest.
Down to my boxers, I stare at my wide-eyed reflection in the mirror, mouth suddenly going bone dry. Afraid to break the spell, my hand trembles as I tentatively reach up to my shoulder, brushing my fingertips over the silverish blue ring. Stretching the skin to inspect the bite mark, it doesn’t change, barely upraised like scar tissue.
Heart sprinting into overdrive, I fumble to turn on the faucet in my haste, yanking the hand towel off of the bar and soaking it. Scrubbing the hell out of the area in a panic, the only thing that changes is the appearance of raw, red skin irritated from my assault surrounding the mark, making it dramatically more noticeable.
“Shit.” Dropping the sopping wet towel in the sink, I rake a shaky hand through my hair. “Shit. Fuck.” Gripping the counter, I bow my head, sucking down ragged breaths and battling the urge to throw up.
This is fine, everything’s fine. No need to freak out.
I’m freaking out.
Shoving away from the counter, I rush down the hall back to her bedroom. Crawling across the mattress, I pluck the phone right out of Sabrina’s hand and interrupt their conversation mid-sentence. “Night, Em.” Hanging up, I toss it onto the bed.
Hovering over her, I stare down at Sabrina’s face and try to make sense of everything, or at leastsomethingat this point. She doesn’t have a damn clue. If she knew, she’d never have walked into Victor’s house unclaimed. We’ve been watching her for weeks and she’s never once shifted, never given any indication that she could tear someone apart if-
Sweet and non-confrontational, but defending herself when necessary. The way she mouthed off to an alpha that she should have been terrified of because she instinctively knew that it was safe to do so with us surrounding her. How easily she accepted the idea of dating all of us like it made perfect sense, a relief, actually. And how she’s so withdrawn and wary around humans, but latched onto us without reservation like we werehome.Familiar and safe. She may not know, but that doesn’t cancel out her instincts driving her actions.
At a loss for words, I palm both of her cheeks, pressing a fierce kiss to her lips to buy myself a few more seconds to think.
She has no idea what she’s done. She’s going to hate me, hateus. Fuck, Bo is going to be a wreck when he realizes.
Chuckling, she slides a hand up my chest. “Stop for coffee on the way back? I never wake up that quickly; color me jealous.”
Tongue tied, I search for words, but I’m at a complete loss, coming up absolutely blank. As her nails prick my skin, my cock jerks in response, but it’s the writhing feeling in my chest that has me suddenly breathless. It knocks the wind from my lungs as my heart skips a beat, an invisible lurch twisting my chest like something, or someoneis trying to force his way out.
“You know what sounds fun?”
She raises an eyebrow expectantly, stroking her leg along mine, the scent of her arousal rising. “Round three?”
Biting the inside of my cheek, I take shallow breaths, keeping the right head in the game. “A road trip.”
Scrunching up her face in confusion, she asks, “Did you hit your head on the sink? It’s barely after two in the morning. We’ve slept, what, three hours? If that? And I’m supposed to be in the office by nine.”
That place is all glass windows. It’s too open, too many people. Reid can hold his own, but he doesn’t get as much field time as the rest of us. She can’t go back, not now. Gotta think, gotta think.
“Reid reached out and he seemed off.” Her eyes flick to my phone that I left on the other nightstand the entire time that I was gone, silently calling me out on the lie, so I tap my temple. “Call it twin telepathy. I don’t know if it’s because he was on the backburner all night, or if something happened after we left, but would you be upset if I drove us back to the house to check in on him? I’ve got a bad feeling.”
I’ve got motherfuckinganxietyand very well might vomit,but she doesn’t need to know that. I just need to get her home, somewhere I know that she’s safe so I have some time to figure this out without ruining everything.
“Of course not,” she says, offended and reaching for her phone, face scrunched up in concern.
Eyes widening in panic, I lunge for mine, hitting the speed dial to call my twin who answers on the second ring. “You son of a-”
“My darling brother, don’t fret. I’m bringing our emotional support girlfriend home tout suite so that you shan’t suffer alone.” He pauses his tirade instantly, knowing me well enough to be aware that when I switch to formality, something’s up. As he listens intently, attempting to read between the lines, I keep my tone teasing and lighthearted as Sabrina pulls on some jean shorts. “Give it to me straight; on a scale of stubbed toe, to that year Mom gave our fathers that awful jewelry that they all had to pretend to like for the rest of forever to spare her feelings, how upset are you?”
The silence is absolutely deafening as I tuck my phone against my shoulder so that I can yank on my pants. Sabrina finishes getting dressed, and I’m hyper-aware of her not only listening in, but her every movement. My chest aches, desperately urging me to throw her onto the bed and fuck her senseless, to make her claw at my skin, dig her teeth into my flesh...
