41. Brylee
41
brYLEE
Starlight twinkles merrily above us as we sprawl on Kylian’s comforter atop the highest hill at Eros Academy, a picnic dinner of Chinese takeout spread before us and a few practice tanks dotting the valley beneath our feet.
Abandoning the disaster that was the cottage—Alpha Team X as a whole is clearly not the most coordinated in the category of domestic chores—the guys quickly devised a plan B. And so, while Ridge and Luka cleaned up, Kylian escorted me up here and Colter disappeared to procure food.
Now, we’ve all reassembled, and the four of them keep lavishing attention on me. I’m wearing Ridge’s jacket, Luka’s coat is across my lap like a throw blanket, Colter has pulled me onto his lap, and the scents of all four of them are so intense that I’m nearly delirious as they sneak soft glances in my direction.
How can they be so brutal and ruthless but also so utterly sweet and devoted? It’s a dichotomy that doesn’t make sense, that I shouldn’t be able to wrap my head around, but somehow, the two contradictions don’t seem to matter much right now.
“Noodles?” Luka tilts a box in my direction, and I nod, watching as he uses some chopsticks to load up one section of my plate.
“Bet you like orange chicken better, don’t you?” Kylian pipes up, showing me the box he just opened.
“I like both, but neither are my favorite,” I state as Kylian pulls the plate Luka started for me and adds to it.
“Hmm.” Ridge’s eyes scan down my frame speculatively as if he can discern my favorite dish just by looking at me. Those blue eyes of his could strip away just about any secret if he truly wanted, and I blush as I glance away in order to avoid giving into the temptation to tell him. I’m interested in his guess.
“Beef and broccoli,” Kylian spouts off competitively. At the first shake of my head, he rattles off three more options. “Kung Pao, sweet and sour pork, fried rice?”
From behind me, Colter launches a chopstick at Kylian and nails him right in the forehead. “Let someone else guess.”
Luka stifles a chuckle as he opens another container but doesn’t offer a guess. I sneak a glance over at Ridge to see his reaction, since he was the one who originally brought up the topic, only to find that gaze still burning through me.
Trying to hide how much he affects me, I raise my brows.
But it’s Colter who surprises me by leaning down and whispering in my ear, “Egg rolls.”
I nod just as Kylian’s brow furrows.
“Wait. What was his guess?”
Shrugging just to bug him, I tease, “You’ll never know.”
Like flicking on a light switch, that phrase instantly riles up the competitor in Kylian. He rises to his knees, my plate perched on one hand as he leans forward until his face is just a hair’s breadth from mine. “Oh, I’ll know all your secrets one day, Brylee. All of them.” It’s not a threat. It’s the most tender promise anyone’s ever made me, and I lose the ability to blink or breathe for a millisecond.
Fully aware that he’s shocked me into silence, one side of his lips tilts up in a cocky grin as he retreats and hands me my plate.
Then, as if nothing happened, he sits back down among the others and simply states, “Well, I like cashew chicken the best. You other fuckers better find something else to eat.” And then he sticks his chopsticks right into a newly opened box and starts gorging on it.
The meal goes on with small talk and tiny revelations. I learn that Luka was forced to play piano like I was as a child and that he also loathes it. Kylian rock climbs. Ridge used to dirt bike through the forest as a kid and had to hide as a tornado ripped right by him once. And Colter…likes to visit his grandmother’s house once a month when he can.
Collecting all these little tidbits of information is a little like collecting shells on the beach, tiny treasures that I know I’m going to take home with me. And there’s a sweet innocence to this night out with them that I never expected. It’s so disarming and utterly charming, and I find myself unable to resist them.
As they talk, each one of them takes the opportunity to touch me whenever possible. Simple touches. Just a brush of hands when collecting my empty plate. Wide gestures that happen to brush up against me. Kylian even taps my shin when he makes a point.
All the while, their scents and their clear fondness for each other leave me dizzy and lightheaded. I’ve read about the intensity of scent matches before, and I’ve been around these professors together on multiple occasions, but only when I’ve been heavily dosed on suppressors that dim my scent or among massive groups like in class or at the ball—where other scents cloud the air.
Alone with all four of them?
Nothing else seems to exist as I drink in the type of adoration I’ve been craving my entire life.
I don’t know how I could ever have mistaken anything else for this feeling.
Everything I’ve felt before pales in comparison—absolutely fades to a ghost-like apparition.
Of course, I didn’t really believe a scent match would ever happen for me. That this phenomenal certainty could somehow fill up all the jagged holes that time has carved into my consciousness.
How is it possible that things just feel right?
That I trust them?
It makes absolutely no sense.
I should be running for the hills. Saying that I honorably upheld my end of the bargain with Luka—or exploit a loophole by claiming we’re not in their house but outside—and scurrying away from them as fast as my wobbly knees can take me.
But I’m not.
Instead of doing the smart thing—the safe thing—I’m leaning back against Colter’s broad chest, soaking in his body heat and smiling at Kylian as he tells me a story about a prank he pulled on Luka a few years ago.
“So, I zip tied a harmonica underneath his car.”
“No.” I glance over at Ridge, expecting to share a skeptical look, but the blond man merely nods.
“He did,” Ridge confirms.
Kylian picks his story back up as he waves an egg roll for emphasis. “I did, and it was epic. Every time he’d drive somewhere, there was a humming noise.” He mimics a harmonica before breaking into amused chuckles at his own cleverness. “I kept telling him I thought his air conditioner was failing. He’d let me work on the car, and I moved the harmonica to a different spot.”
My hand flies to my mouth to cover a grin as I glance over at Luka. “You didn’t figure it out?”
The brown-haired neat freak gazes through narrowed eyes at his packmate before turning to me. “Oh, I did. Took a left on the way to the grocery store, and the car made a noise kinda like a kazoo.” He demonstrates, sliding his pitch up and down. “But Kylian’s conveniently forgetting my revenge.”
Kylian merely gestures for Luka to share and then takes a bite of his eggroll as my attention swivels over to his packmate.
“Next time I made brownies, I gave Kylian a special one—made entirely of espresso grounds. He ate the whole thing in one bite.”
“Yes, but that backfired on you when I puked.” Kylian shrugs nonchalantly.
I glance over at Ridge, wondering if he participates in these shenanigans. “And you? Did you get involved in this battle?”
He leans back on his hands, staring out over the landscape. “Nah. Someone’s got to keep their head on straight.”
“You mean someone’s got to be the boss?” I ask innocently.
His response is anything but innocent as those blue eyes cut over to me and his expression changes to absolute panty-melting dominance. Even his scent sharpens slightly as he says, “Exactly.”
I grow wet with slick instantly, my lower belly heating, intense neediness expanding within my chest and making my fingers curl. My nails end up digging into Colter’s thighs, and I know he can tell just how affected I am when I feel him start to harden beneath me.
Every single member of Alpha Team X freezes, their pupils blown out as they inhale the way my scent sweetens.
My thighs tremble and my back threatens to arch of its own accord until I’m presenting myself to them…so that their hands, their mouths, their dicks go right where I need them.
Fuck.
This is going too far.
I stiffen, fear icing over my omega instincts and turning them into something that burns painfully rather than lustily.
The guys seem to respond to my mood change instantly, their postures relaxing, gazes sliding away. Even Colter’s chest retreats from my back, giving me the space I need to breathe.
Inhaling, I chase a sense of calm even as I cringe, realizing that I ruined the moment. Trying to regain a little of that lightheartedness, I say, “Well, I’m here now. So you don’t have to be the boss anymore. I’ll be taking over that role.”
Amused grins appear on their faces, and Colter slides his body up against mine once more as Ridge says, “Sassy omega.”
“You wouldn’t want it any other way,” I state.
“True,” he acknowledges.
And I actually believe him.
All at once, it hits me that I might have found the one group of alphas who don’t want the world’s most subservient omega.
The only problem is…they’ve also found the world’s most broken one.
If this is ever going to work, I’m going to have to heal.
But I’m not sure how.