13. Lars
13
LARS
Finn’s footsteps sounded on the stairs and then he slipped into the kitchen, heading straight for the coffeepot and pointedly avoiding looking at me.
I leaned back in my chair, staying quiet as I sipped my coffee. Finn would speak when he was ready.
Finally, he ran out of things to pretend to add to his coffee and turned to me.
“Where’s—” Something caught in his throat and he paused to clear it, taking a sip of coffee. “Where’s Easton?”
“He ran out to get coffee and breakfast for Olive before we head to the lighthouse.”
“Olive?” he asked.
I wanted to roll my eyes but contained myself. The fact that he hadn’t been bothered to learn her name was unreasonably irritating to my alpha, who wanted to climb to the top of the lighthouse and shout to the world that she was mine.
“The new lighthouse keeper.”
“Right.” He looked down at the floor. “I’ll apologize to Easton when he gets here.”
I nodded slowly. “Good.” I took another sip of coffee, wishing it was a pumpkin spice latte. Hopefully Easton remembered to get me one. “He needs to apologize to you, too.”
Finn’s eyes widened, and I huffed a deep breath. “What he did was shitty. We don’t work like that. We’re a team.”
A flash of emotion crossed Finn’s face before he covered it by chugging his coffee. My brothers were a mess. I had to remind myself that they hadn’t been as lucky as me growing up. I had four amazing moms who were bonded in a committed pack. Finn’s mom had died when he was little. He’d had amazing grandparents in Fredrik and Carina, but he lost them, too. And Easton’s parents weren’t worth a shit. We’d thrown a party when his mom finally moved out of town.
The front door clattered open, and Easton rushed in. I leapt up to grab the drink carrier out of his hands before he dropped it. Easton had grown about a foot in a month after he revealed as an alpha, and he’d never quite gotten used to his body.
“We should leave,” he said. “I don’t want to keep Olive waiting.” He realized Finn was in the kitchen and froze.
The two of them stared at each other and both said, “I’m sorry” at the same time. Easton threw the bag of pastries aside and pulled Finn into a hug.
“I thought you’d be excited about the grant. I just want you to be happy,” Easton said.
“I know,” Finn said. “I’m sorry for yelling.”
They clapped each other on the back and pulled apart.
“So you’re okay with this? If you’re really not, maybe we can back out of the contract.”
Finn scrubbed his face. “No. You got one thing right—it would kill me to see those idiots from Briar’s Landing doing the restoration. I’ll get through it.”
I snuck a sip of one of the lattes Easton got. He whipped his head towards me and fixed me with a glare. “Those are for Olive.”
I raised an eyebrow. “All four of them?”
“I got all four of their specialty flavors. I didn’t know which one she’d like best.”
I turned the coffee cup to see I had gotten the pumpkin spice latte. Perfection. I took another long sip.
Easton huffed. “Fine, let’ s just go.”
I grabbed the cooler with the lunches I’d packed for us and pulled on my jacket, sticking a pair of mittens in my pocket. Just in case Olive was outside again and got cold.
The sun was shining brightly and there was a light chill in the air as we walked to the lighthouse, but I got overheated quickly. The drawback of being so massive. By the time we got to the front door, I’d pulled off my jacket.
Easton knocked, and this time, the door opened. Olive was there, dressed in a rust-colored sweater that looked more like a crop top. I couldn’t stop staring at the little strip of skin between the sweater and her leggings. I wanted to unwrap her like a present.
“I brought you a latte and breakfast,” Easton said excitedly, thrusting the drinks and bag of pastries at her. I’d put the pumpkin spice latte back in the drink carrier, and my alpha roared when she picked up the cup I’d been drinking out of and took a sip. Her lips touched the exact spot mine had been. Her cheeks turned pink, and she mumbled thank you. Then her eyes flitted to me and her blush intensified.
“These are my pack brothers,” Easton said. “Lars and Finn.”
Olive’s smile fell and her eyes widened when she looked at Finn. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Finn spoke.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
She blinked, and a blank mask fell over her face. “Right.” She turned back to Easton. “I can show you around back?”
An uneasy feeling wormed in my chest. What was going on between her and Finn?
I followed behind our group as Olive led us around the side of the house to the entrance to the lighthouse. Easton was chatting away, unbothered that the shy omega offered only quiet one-word responses. Finn’s shoulders were hunched and I wanted to pull him aside to ask what was wrong, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t get an honest answer. Maybe I was just imagining the weirdness between them. If coming back here brought up memories for me, I couldn’t imagine what it was like for Finn. It had to be hard .
Olive opened the door to the lighthouse and gestured for us to go in.
I scowled. “You should keep that locked. It’s not safe to leave it open.”
The omega met my gaze with her big brown eyes. I wanted to sink into them. “I just unlocked it because I knew you were coming over.”
Easton and Finn disappeared inside the lighthouse. I paused at the entrance and cupped her chin. “Good girl.”
Her cheeks pinkened, and I got the slightest whiff of her scent. My chest rumbled with a growl that I didn’t even try to cover. I wanted her to know how much she affected me.
We packed inside the base of the lighthouse, the space a little tight with the four of us. These first few days would be all about planning the restoration. The lantern had gone through a major repair about a decade ago, but the interior masonry and woodwork were deteriorating from the salty ocean air.
“We’ll start our restoration plan, but we’ll make sure to stay out of your way as much as possible,” Finn said, eyes fixated on a rusty path on the wall. Olive’s shoulders curved in and she crossed her arms.
I narrowed my eyes. Only a lifetime of knowing Finn told me this wasn’t his normal standoffishness. My alpha wanted to pin him to the wall and make him be nicer to the sweet omega who was wilting beside me.
Easton was looking between Finn and Olive, obviously catching on to the odd tension in the space.
“I’ll just leave you all to it, then,” Olive said.
Before I could respond, she slipped through the door that connected the lighthouse to the inside of the cottage.
Easton looked crushed, Finn looked irritated, and all I wanted to do was stand by the door, inhaling deeply in an effort to get Olive’s scent.