Zach chuckles. “Isthatwhy I get an email receipt for that Italian place down the street from my house every Saturday?”
My sweet Hunter looks increasingly confused. “What...No…”
Zachary lists off last week’s dinner on his fingers. “Saffron risotto, Caprese salad, and lasagna, if I’m not mistaken.”
He’s not.
Hunter’s expression has morphed into something close to a wounded puppy, but we all know he’s joking. “It was homemade withlove. I could taste it.”
I take pity on him and lean over to give him a kiss. “Sorry, Hunt. I think you were tasting the copious amount of butter restaurants use. I don’t cook. Ever.”
“Don’t worry, buddy,” Zachary teases him in a honeyed tone. “I’ll buy you lasagna whenever you want.”
“You always make me feel like aprincess,” Hunter says with mock dramatics.
Alric lets out a boisterous laugh at his friends. I’m stunned with how devilishly handsome he is right now. I’ve never seen more than a half smile from him. It was something I didn’t know I needed to see. I want to make him happy all the time.
He notices me watching, mouth agape. “What?
“I’ve never seen you laugh before.”
Alric shrugs, the sun setting around us. “You all make me happy.” His words are simple, short, but hold so much truth to them.
Maybe that’s all being a pack is truly about, making each other happy.
By the time we return, the sun is about to set and I’m exhausted. I even skip dinner, only wishing to sleep. Alric tucks me in and brings me hot tea, Zachary and Hunter cuddle with me. An alpha on each side keeps me warm and comforted, their scents luring me to the sweet surrender of my dreams.
Hours later, I’m woken up by my faux heat, the pressure on my core leaving me desperate for an alpha’s touch, but there’s one scent missing. I crawl out of bed, careful not to wake the others. They both frown in their sleep when I leave, but I’ll be back.
I want to have fun with them, too, but I need Alric to join us first.
The house is dark but his room isn’t far, his tantalizing citrus scent deepening with each step, and I walk faster towards it.
He has a small lamp next to him, reading a thick book that he immediately puts down and sits up straighter when I close the door behind me. Alric appears pleasantly surprised by my midnight visit. I pad across the decorative rug and straddle him, rubbing my hands over his broad, bare chest.
“What is it, omega?” His tone is slow and so fucking sexy, his fingers digging into my hips. I fling my T-shirt off, nipples pebbling with the colder air and now our underwear is the only barrier, my slick soaking the material.
“Fuck me, alpha,” I beg, needing him inside of me.
My mouth waters, knowing how thick he is, and long, too. If he’s not deep inside me in the next sixty seconds, I’ll explode into a sexually frustrated fireball and burn this villa to the ground.
He kisses my neck, sending a bolt of bliss down my spine, slowly making his way up, leaving no flushed skin in his lips’ path untouched, until he reaches my ear and whispers, “No, honey, not tonight.”
I shrink into myself. Did I mishear him? “No?”
He sits back in the bed, leaning against the headboard. “No.”
It’s not said harshly, it’s just a simple word.
The omega side of me recoils at the rejection, but I’m not going to indulge in whatever game he’s playing. There are two other alphas around here who will happily give me what I want. I move to get out of the bed, refusing to let the whimper rising up be heard, but he pulls me back, grabbing my waist to settle me on his lap.
“The next time I fuck you will be during your heat, while I’m knotting you with my teeth in your neck, bonding you to me forever.”
I laugh to hide the hurt.
That’s not even something I think I can give him and he knows it. Dating after this is one thing, but a bond is the ultimate form of connection and control.
I don’t want it.
