Chapter 28 – June
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
JUNE
It’s the next morning before Arin lets me leave his bed. I gave him a list of three foods that sounded nice for my heat — and, in exchange, he gifted me one of his shirts for my nest. He even managed to coax me into considering the fact that I might just feel better if I spend the next few nights in the nest.
I am considering it, even as I get redressed with him, ending up in Seth’s shirt and my leggings again. Arin slides an arm around me as we step into the kitchen together. The nest is just so far from the rest of the house and I don’t relish the thought of sleeping up there all alone.
Opening the fridge, I rummage around for a moment before pulling out the extra pancake batter and holding it up to Arin. “It’s really handy to have a chef in the pack.”
He glances over at me, his smile softening as he stares at me. “Yes, it is.”
It takes me a second to process my own words, freezing in the middle of making the first pancake. Arin moves around, slicing up fruit, the clock ticking closer to lunch than is really socially acceptable to still be eating our first meal of the day, but my heart aches as I realize how easy the sentence escaped.
No running , that was Arin’s caveat.
He glances up as he slices an apple, looking over at the pan. “You’re burning it.”
“Oh shit .” I look down sharply, jerking the pan away from the heat and grabbing a spatula, prodding at the charred pancake burnt to the pan. “Oh no .”
Arin laughs as he comes up behind me. “Be careful, don’t burn yourself — how did you manage to scald it to the surface? It’s ash , Juniper.”
“I don’t know!” I start to laugh, leaning back against him as I look down at the destroyed pancake, the ruined pan, and the sheer ridiculousness of the entire situation.
He wraps an arm around me, pushing my hand down to drop the pan back onto the stove. It clanks before I turn in his arms, lifting up on my toes to kiss him softly. My body sinks against his chest with the touch of our lips, like nothing else matters except his hands eagerly moving to wrap around me.
There’s a quiet voice in the back of my mind, purring happily. My hindbrain preens, whispering the words, Prime — home .
Arin cups my face, kissing my slower, unknowingly making my heart sing.
When I pull back, his eyes flicker over my face, his expression gentle as he tucks my hair behind my ears. I smile at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him tightly, mumbling sheepishly, “I’m sorry about the pan.”
“I can afford another one.”
I laugh, shaking my head at him. Pulling away, I turn and reach for the pan again to figure out if I can clean it up — but I stop short when I see Seth leaning in the archway to the kitchen. There’s a giant shit-eating grin on his face. Bennett lingers behind him, his eyes landing on me as his lips lift at the edges.
The small smile quickly fades, though, when he sees the stove.
“ My pan !” Bennett exclaims as he strides into the kitchen.
I back up closer to Arin, grimacing. “I’m sorry.”
The other alpha makes a mournful sound as he prods at the ruined bottom of the cookware, the pancake so stuck it makes a squeaking, crunchy sound.
Seth rubs Bennett’s back. “We can buy another one.”
Bennett sighs heavily, looking up at me. “What in the world did you have the stove set to?”
I glance down at the knobs, frowning. “High?”
“For a pancake ?”
I press back against Arin unconsciously, turning my head slightly. “Protect me?”
He wraps an arm around me firmly, without question. Arin’s hand splays across my stomach as his eyes narrow. “This just means you should teach her how to cook a few things, right Bennett?”
Bennett looks up from the ruined pan, then takes us in. “Yes, and the first lesson is that pancakes don’t need to be charred into hockey pucks .”
Seth rounds the island as I try to hide my snicker. He reaches for me, the grin still on his face, but Arin growls just slightly, pulling me out of reach of Seth’s hands.
I flush, glancing up at him. “Are you territorial?”
Arin pauses, then has the good graces to look mildly embarrassed. “Potentially, I don’t think I’ve ever had a reason to be before now.”
I lean up, unable to help myself, pressing a kiss to his jaw. Seth groans from beside us and I turn to look at him.
He pouts. “I saw you first .” I let out a bark of laughter as he steals me from Arin’s arms, eliciting another growl from the alpha as Seth whisks me to the other side of the counter, past Bennett poking at the ruined pan. Seth bends down, kissing me sweetly, his voice barely audible. “You good?”
I nod, kissing him back as I smile against his lips. “Mhm, all okay.”
“You smell like minty green tea.” He laughs as his hands squeeze my sides. “Don’t let any of them kill me when I inevitably have to kidnap you from their territorial asses.”
“I promise. I’d never let them hurt you.” I kiss Seth’s nose, pleased that our faces are almost equal, our heights evenly matched compared to mine and Arin’s, or even mine and Bennett’s. The warmth in my chest blooms, but there’s a small feeling that something is missing as I sink into Seth’s arms.
Arin picks up an apple slice, holding it out to me. I reach for it, but he pulls it back and shakes his head, pressing it against my lips.
I scoff at him. “I think I can feed myself.”
Arin steps closer, his fingers brushing my lips. “You won’t want to when your heat sets in, we might as well start trying now before you bite my hand off later.”
I scowl at him, but open my mouth.
Arin puts the apple slice on my tongue, tilting his head down as he whispers, “I can’t wait to make you take Bennett or Seth like this. Maybe both of them. The last to come gets your cunt.”
I nearly choke as my eyes widen, jerking back into Seth as the smell of my perfume floods the kitchen. “ Arin .” I cover my mouth, trying to chew the apple at the same time Seth wraps an arm around me, groaning and burying his head in my neck.
“If you fuck in this kitchen, you better not break any more of my cookware.” Bennett drops the pan into the trash can, sighing heavily. “It’s ruined. I can’t salvage that.”
I pull away from Seth, feeling genuinely bad as I move over to Bennett. Sliding my hand over his back, I rub it, my heart tugging. “I’m so sorry, I’ll get you a new one. I should have been paying more attention but I got distracted.”
Bennett tilts his head down, kissing my forehead. “If anything, Arin is right. I’m giving you cooking lessons. How have you kept yourself alive for nearly thirty years?”
“Take out?”
“Oh.”
The kitchen goes quiet and I startle. Turning sharply, I freeze at the sight of Theo filling the doorway to the kitchen. He’s in gym clothes, his eyes darting around the room in a panic.
“You’re all in here.” Theo fidgets, and then his eyes find me. He stares for a moment, pressing his lips together, almost like he’s nervous , before he nods once and hooks a thumb over his shoulder. “I got you stuff for your nest.” He blurts the words. “Or… whatever you might use it for. I brought it all downstairs. But now I think I should have just left it up there. It doesn’t make any sense for it to be down here. Sorry about that.”
I stare at him, opening and closing my mouth.
“I’ll just return it —”
“No.” I leap forward and Theo flinches . Closer, I can see the sheer panic on his face. His eyes dart behind me and someone’s warmth heats my back. Getting a hit of mint, I stand up straight. “Theo is going to show me what he bought.” I announce it to the room, my eyes staying on the big alpha, thinking of all the bags he was stuffing into his room days ago. “Lead the way.”
His eyes widen as he steps back out into the foyer. I follow him and have to suppress my shocked gasp. Random piles fall over, triple the amount of bags that Seth bought me all scattered across the floor. Theo looks ready to bolt as he points at random piles.
“Those are blankets. Those are pillows. That’s a white noise machine. There’s clothes in that one, because I know you don’t have a lot here and I thought pajamas would be nice.”
I nod slowly, taking it all in as I bend down to the first bag. I pull the softest blanket out, getting a hit of rain off of it. The fabric is a deep blue color, reminiscent of the eyes of the alpha hovering above me.
“Why?” I whisper the word, my heart lurching.
His voice breaks as he steps closer. “You need it.” Theo fidgets, then his expression shuts itself off from me. “Keep what you want, anything else can be donated to an omega help shelter —” He takes a step toward the front door. “I’m going to the gym.”
I kneel in the foyer, utterly baffled as he runs away from me, yet again. As the front door slams behind him, I reach into one of the bags to find a well-worn sweatshirt, absolutely drenched in his petrichor perfume.