Page 118 of Specter Bred

"You heard her."

I frowned.

"Wait, her?"

Maeve folded her arms.

"And your knife this time."

I looked between them.

"Are you both serious?"

Graves stepped closer, broad enough to block half the field from view.

"Very."

Maeve jabbed a finger into my chest.

"I'm not letting you use mine if you forget yours again this time."

I sighed.

"Yes, ma’am. Yes, sir."

Somehow, in under thirty seconds, I’d managed to get bossed around by two alphas at once. And judging by the way Graves glanced at Maeve after she ordered me around, they liked it just fine.

To be honest, I was completely lost. I’d always known Graves felt more for Maeve than he let on, but last night hadn’t just confirmed my suspicions, it had blown them wide open.

He didn’t just like her.

He wanted her.

Badly.

And somehow, instead of tossing me aside like I’d always assumed he would, he wanted to keep me in the mix. That part I hadn’t seen coming. Not from an alpha like Grizzly.

Apex of the damn food chain.

I figured if he ever made his move, I’d be roadkill, flattened and forgotten while he hauled Maeve off over his shoulder like some caveman claiming its mate.

Instead, he’d looked me dead in the eye and asked if I could share. I guess pack instinct overruled possessiveness. Alphas shared when it strengthened the unit bond. Omegas too. Betas were the only designation left clinging to monogamy these days.

And now I realized exactly where that left me.

At the bottom of the hierarchy.

Maeve bossing me around was already enough to keep me on my toes. Now add Graves into the mix? Yeah, I had a feeling I was about to be ganged up on. And the worst part? Some traitorous little part of me was actually excited about our new dynamic.

By 2000, Maeve and I were standing at the edge of Midland Forest with packs on our backs, fully kitted, and staring at Graves in the dark.

The outpost lights glowed faint behind us, barely visible through the trees. Graves stood waiting in full field gear, broad arms crossed over his chest, looking like he’d been carved out of the damn wilderness itself.

Maeve stood beside me, stiff and quiet, not her usual sharp-tongued self, and I knew why. After what happened in Graves’s room last night, things between the three of us felt...

Charged.

Graves hadn’t touched her since, hadn’t looked at her longer than necessary, but the tension was still there. Thick enough I could feel it just standing between them.