24. Ember #2
Rian went to help with the vegetables, and I was glad the kitchen was big enough for all of us. A kitchen island dominated the center of the room, with a massive stove, refrigerator, and another section of cabinets and countertops.
“Have you always been a chef?” Rian asked Alejandro, pulling some cutting boards out.
“Pretty much, yeah.” Alejandro grinned, his dimples showing. Both West and Rian gave him a look filled with lust, their scents getting stronger. I smirked.
Alejandro told them about his career in cooking, filling them in on working with Logan in Hawaii and now here in California. The conversation shifted to West’s interest in computers.
“Have you been doing programming for long?” Rian asked, chopping a bell pepper. “Also, what are we making?”
“Shhh,” I said. I stood close to Ben, almost touching his side.
I’d managed to avoid being given a job, so I figured I would milk it as long as I could.
“Alejandro makes us guess. We’re just his little sous chefs until he starts pulling out seasonings.
And even then, he sometimes pulls out extra to throw us off the scent. ”
Rian looked amused. “That’s adorable.”
Alejandro gave the other omega an innocent look, slicing chicken breasts. “Surprise is the spice of life.”
“Mine has too much seasoning sometimes.” I rolled my eyes. “West, tell them about your love of computers but don’t rat us out. The statute of limitations still hasn’t expired for some of those websites.”
“I know,” West said. “I won’t get us caught. Ember and I have both been doing computer programming since we were teenagers. Along with her younger brother, Terran, we tried to break websites for fun.”
“Since you were teenagers?” Alejandro looked delighted. “How long have you two known each other?”
We’d spoken about personal things with the alpha, but we hadn’t talked about anything super deep. Or painful. It wasn’t a secret, exactly, but it would kill the happy mood quickly.
West nudged Alejandro. “Since we were teenagers, weren’t you listening? Stop picturing me naked and pay attention.”
“I can do both,” Alejandro purred.
West’s scent spiked, but he pretended to be annoyed and stepped back.
Instead of seeming irritated, Alejandro’s scent just got stronger. He liked the hunt too.
“How did you two meet? In school?” Rian glanced at me and my stomach dropped.
In physical therapy was a loaded answer. Because the natural follow-up was what were you in physical therapy for, and the assumption was we were there together for the same reason, even though we weren’t, and the conversation spiraled out of control from there.
I didn’t want to kill the mood by talking about the plane crash, my parents’ death, the months of physical therapy. And that wasn’t even touching the reason why West had been at the medical center.
My face must have been talking too loudly because Rian frowned. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“Not prying. It’s complicated,” I said, glancing at West for help.
He just shrugged, the traitor.
I decided to answer, but not give the entire reason. “We met in physical therapy.”
Rian immediately looked at my arm. He hadn’t missed the massive scars, even if he was too polite to ask about them.
“After that we were inseparable, and West basically moved in with my family.”
I edited out West’s stint in foster care before moving in with me, in the interest of our comfort.
“Oh, speaking of,” Rian said. “Not that this matters at all, but I was curious since you’re both omegas. Did you take West’s last name, or did he take yours?”
It was really sweet of Rian to treat me and West like we were already a pack and therefore had settled the last name debate. Most packs took the omega’s last name.
“I took hers,” West said.
Because he wanted nothing to do with his crappy family, but that was also going to be oversharing.
“And you two are O’Shea, obviously,” I said.
“Yep.” Rian brought some more vegetables over to Alejandro, brushing by the alpha as he went.
Alejandro, the sneaky devil, was on to something. Cooking gave us a shared activity to talk about stuff while also giving us the chance to steal touches. I wondered if this was what Sunshine did with her pack.
“How did you two meet?” Alejandro asked, giving Rian a smoldering look.
“He seduced me,” Ben and Rian said at the same time. The rest of us laughed, even West.
“Not true,” Rian said, shaking his head. “I was a young musician, looking for a studio. He was much older?—”
“Five years is not much older,” Ben put in, but Rian ignored him.
“—and showed me the ways of making music. The album wouldn’t have taken so long if we didn’t take so many breaks for sex.”
Ben shifted closer so we were finally leaning against each other, his spicy woods scent mingling with the fresh green smell of vegetables. I glanced at the alpha, but realized he wouldn’t see me looking. Which gave me an excellent excuse to stare at his long eyelashes.
West cocked his head. “You have an album out?”
I hid my squeal. I folded my arms over my chest, instead, the news wanting to burst out of me. But I would let Rian tell if he wanted to.
“I do, only one.” Rian grimaced. “I still play guitar, of course, but it’s easier to back up other people’s songs.”
“Are we allowed to know which it is?” Alejandro looked at me. “Mi carina, you look like you’re going to explode.”
“Nope, I’m good.” I couldn’t stop smiling.
It seemed like a small miracle, to know that Rian was Burns. Man, the hours I’d spent lying in a dark room, crying to “Echoes in Stone” and “Roses and Ruins.” And “Ashes in the Wind.” His husky voice undid me, unraveled dark places of longing and pain inside me.
“You can tell them,” Rian said, looking amused. “You’re happier about it than I am.”
“Rian is Burns,” I said quickly.
West’s face lit up immediately because of course I’d made him listen to From Ashes on repeat for months. Years.
Alejandro frowned. “Name a song?—”
“‘Echoes in Stone,’” I said. “Or ‘Breathe Beneath the Earth,’ that got a lot of radio play. Also ‘Dust and Desire.’”
“I love those songs.” Alejandro looked at Rian, impressed. “Very talented.”
Rian gave me a sheepish look. “You know my discography better than me.”
“Of course I do. From Ashes was my entire life.”
“It was,” West said. “She played the entire thing over and over, for months.”
“Sorry, friend.” Rian clapped him on the shoulder. “I could have done better.”
“It’s a flawless album,” West said. “I just like variety once in a while.”
“Not when the part that hurts me didn’t hurt me enough the first time,” I said. “Then we have to listen to it again.”
“You put ‘Roses and Ruin’ in every single playlist you make,” West pointed out. “Even the ones that are supposed to be bubblegum pop for cleaning the house.”
“Sometimes you need something to bring the mood down a bit,” Ben said.
“Exactly,” I said, brushing my hand down his arm. “Thank you. Listen to the sound producer; it’s his literal job.”
“He plays around with mixes. Don’t be too impressed.” Rian came over to give Ben a quick kiss. “It’s like a kid in the candy store, if the candy store had faders.”
“Guilty.” Ben put his arm around my waist. My omega instincts wanted to clap and sing at having them so nearby. Fucking finally .
The conversation switched over to music, and I was glad we managed to share personal info without being forced to open up about all the horrible crap we’d been through. Rian obviously had issues with music, and I wished I knew what it was, but he would tell me in time.
Or not. I wasn’t exactly eager to tell them all my parents died in a plane crash I’d barely survived. They wouldn’t judge me, but they would look at me differently.
Alejandro put the chicken and veggies into a frying pan.
“We’re having chicken fajitas.” I raised my hand like I was on a game show. Being in the kitchen cooking with these men was making me happier than I’d been in a chocolate store. Like everything inside me was champagne and starlight, bubbly and bright.
“So close, mi vida.” Alejandro pulled some mirin and soy sauce out. “So close.”
“Stir fry,” West said, pumping his fist in the air.
“Oh, sure, now you guess,” I grumbled. “Waited until the sauces came out. That’s cheating.”
Juliet Vale’s “Half of a Heartbeat” came on over the speakers and I squealed. “Oh my god, yes, this is my jam.”
“You have a lot of jams,” Rian said. His hair was falling out of its manbun and I wanted to play with it so badly. I resisted, valiantly.
“Lucky for you,” I snarked back. I turned to Ben. “Let’s dance.”
“You get to lead,” he said, looking delighted.
I started singing along. “Half of a Heartbeat” was on a ton of my playlists, and it was the perfect sing-along song. It was bawdy and loud, with a thumping beat and lyrics about love being her drug.
I scooted in close to Ben, not quite touching him except for my arms around him, rocking my hips back and forth. I wasn’t trying to be sultry, but the beat and the lyrics made me want to shimmy.
“We’re going to be doing more than dancing if you keep that up,” Ben said, his hands on my waist. He moved with me.
I shivered, singing along, emotion welling up inside me. I was so happy, so content. Everything was perfect, and the best way to express this was through song.
I wanted their scents on me, and as I sang, I shuffled us closer to Rian. “Passing you to your omega,” I told Ben, putting Rian’s hands on Ben.
I switched to West, who immediately matched my movements. We’d had a dance party that turned into a fuck party more times than not and he knew each movement I was about to make. He sang along with the chorus when the song repeated, “Drunk on the rush, high on the pain.”
He twirled me to Alejandro, taking the spatula and passing me to the alpha. Alejandro pulled me against him as I sang, bumping his hips against mine as I belted out the song like an anthem. He pulled me close, burying his face in my neck and giving me a little nip that made me miss a note.
Alejandro twirled me, bringing me back to Rian and Ben. Rian sang along, keeping his voice husky and in his own vocal range. Part of me worried this was too far, too extra for even them.
Singing along and dancing with them when we weren’t even pack? I wasn’t a professional singer; I did it for fun. They would think I was too weird.
But the worry disappeared as Rian stepped up to me, singing along as the music stopped and it was just Juliet’s voice, repeating the bridge of the song without backup.
The song ended with me in Rian’s arms, Ben swaying behind him, and West and Alejandro behind me.
I wanted to jump up and down. I had too much energy and I didn’t know what to do with it.
“You should come downstairs. We can play around,” Ben said, breathing hard. “We play ‘guess that song’ a lot.”
I looked at West and Alejandro. “That would be fun.”
We went back to cooking, back to talking about our jobs and hobbies, but energy simmered inside me. We sat down to dinner, and it was filled with jokes and laughter, and for the first time in a long time, it felt like I could really be myself around people who weren’t my family.
Instead of scaring me like it probably should have, I just felt giddy and light, like I was made from air.
After dinner, Rian asked if we wanted to go downstairs into the studio. West said yes before anyone else did.
I fought not to grin at my omega. Things were clicking together.