I hope that will be enough.
I still can’t believe Hestia asked us out.
Okay, maybe technically she didn’t ask us out, but shedidkiss Magnus and confessed she liked us. That’s basically begging an alpha to take care of her, and our pack was all too happy to oblige, damn the consequences.
If dating in secret means I can touch Hestia the next time she comes down in that seductive sweatshirt, showing tantalizing slivers of skin thanks to the many holes in it, then I’m all in on our covert courting plan.
Charm steals a chip off the tray before I can swat him away. Hestia should get first pick.
I glare at him, but since he doesn’t reach for more, I let it go.
“The movie is cued up, and I saved a few others to the list, so we’re ready for a marathon,” he says.
The rest of our packmates filter in, waiting for Hestia to join us.
I check the camera feed, even though I get notifications when she opens the door to her rooms. Hestia isn’t out yet, still cleaning up after our workday.
“What was the rest of your plan for getting Hestia to date us, anyway?” Charm asks Cato.
“There were several steps we didn’t get to. One of them involved you lot going shirtless too, tempting Hestia into wanting us so desperately that she initiates things. We gotlucky she likes us enough to throw herself at you even without stripping for her. Obviously, once she did that, we were in the clear. HR can’t get mad since the ‘vulnerable’ trainee is the one who made the first move, proving we didn’t force her into anything. However, if you want to keep our relationship a secret, I have no problem amending my Plan to include that. Sneaking around adds to the excitement,” Cato says with a smirk.
We stare at him until Magnus finally says, “Thatwas your plan?”
“Yes,” he says proudly.
“Seducing our trainee is not a loophole,” I say.
“That’s not a plan!” Charm says.
“It most certainlyisa Plan, and a great one at that. We get our omega, HR can’t complain about it, everyone is happy,” Cato says.
“It doesn’t matter who initiates the relationship, it’s still not allowed! I don’t know why I believed you when you said you had a plan. You’re lucky Hestia already agreed to date us in secret,” Charm growls.
Cato’s smug look doesn’t waver.
“Letting Hestia make the first move was the best option,” Orion says. “But they’re right, the company won’t care who started things. They could argue we coerced her into it.”
“Exactly,” Charm adds.
“The technicalities aren’t important, we still achieved my objective of dating Hestia by Yule,” Cato says, brushing off their words.
Charm is still glaring, but I just shake my head. I don’t care if Cato wants to take credit for our omega finding us irresistible, or if he wants to come up with insaneplans that only make sense to him. All I care about is being with Hestia.
Now I don’t have to pretend I’m not obsessed with her.
My phone dings, and I rush to grab the food trays, telling the others to bring up the rest.
I neatly arrange the snacks in the screening room while Cato collects Hestia.
Tonight, she looks just as cute in her white sweater and knit pants as she did in that sweatshirt and almost nonexistent shorts.
“You look beautiful,” I say, wrangling her away from Cato for a hug.
Hestia hugs me back and shyly says, “Thank you. You guys look great too.”
This isn’t the fanciest date, but we put on nicer clothes than we usually wear in the evenings. Even Cato has different sweatpants on—they’re thinner than his typical style, clearly a special seductive date night outfit.
I help Hestia get settled and pile blankets around her. Magnus gets the cheese for her nachos, and she selects her toppings.
