Chapter 25
The Next Day
Cliff
Adam is still in his pajamas when I find him in the kitchen.
He's standing at the counter with both hands wrapped around his coffee mug, staring out the tiny window over the sink. The early light catches the side of his face. His blond hair is sticking up slightly on one side.
He looks so beautiful it makes my chest hurt.
"Good morning," I say, moving in behind him. I press my lips to the back of his neck, my hands finding his waist.
He tips his head forward, giving me more room. "Morning."
I kiss my mating bite, then the curve of his shoulder, before I reach past him and steal a sip of his coffee.
"Hey." He pulls it back without much conviction.
"Thanks. I needed that."
"Get your own,” he says, smiling.
"Yours tastes better." I turn him around by the hips and lean down to kiss him properly. He lets me, his free hand finding the front of my shirt, fingers curling into the fabric. When I pull back his eyes are still closed for a second, his mouth curved slightly at the corners.
"You're in a good mood," he says.
"I slept well." My hand drifts down, grabbing a handful of his perky ass. "Someone wore me out."
Adam's nose crinkles as he smiles wide. "You're the one that wore me out. I might not be able to sit for a week." He pretends to frown.
"Sorry about that." I kiss his forehead. "I didn't expect my knot to partially inflate."
I move to the coffeemaker and Adam leans against the counter beside me, pulling his mug to his chest.
"I looked it up," he says casually.
I glance at him. "What?"
"This morning. While you were still asleep, I looked up an alpha knotting a beta.
" He takes a sip of his coffee, his eyes sliding sideways to mine over the rim.
"It's actually pretty rare for an alpha to knot a beta without an omega in the room.
" He pauses, and I can hear it underneath the casual delivery.
The quiet pride of someone who has discovered they are the exception to a rule. "It basically never happens."
I look at him for a second. At the way he's trying very hard to seem like he's simply sharing an interesting piece of information he happened to come across.
I set the coffeepot down and cup his face in both hands, tipping it up.
"Adam."
"What?"
"You have always made my body do things it has no business doing." I kiss him, savoring the feel of his soft lips against mine. "That's not new."
His cheeks go warm. He ducks his head the second I release him, suddenly very interested in his coffee again, but he's smiling. The real kind.
It's the best thing I've seen all morning.
Then I feel something in the back of my mind.
It's faint at first. A low hum of wakefulness, like something surfacing slowly. Then a flutter of deep uncertainty.
Elowen is awake.
And two minutes later, she appears at the bottom of the stairs.
She's wearing one of Raff’s shirts, her dark hair loose and slightly tangled from sleep. Her feet are bare on the hardwood, and she's moving carefully, like she doesn’t want to draw too much attention. Her eyes find me first, then Adam, and she offers a small, tentative smile.
"Good morning," she says.
"Morning." I hold up the coffeepot. "Want some?"
Her face does something quietly relieved at being offered something so ordinary. "Yes, please.”
I pour her a mug and set it on the island.
She moves to it slowly, pulling out a barstool and sitting with both hands wrapped around the ceramic, her shoulders slightly drawn in.
Through the bond, I feel her trying. Trying to seem easy and unbothered and like she wakes up in strange packs' kitchens every morning of her life.
She's not pulling it off entirely, but I appreciate the effort.
"Did you sleep okay?" I ask.
"Really well actually." She gives me a real smile this time, small but genuine. "Your beds are obscenely comfortable."
"Adam picked the mattresses," I say.
Adam glances up from his coffee. "Memory foam," he says simply. Then he looks back down.
He's not being cold or rude. It's…careful, like he’s not sure how to act.
It makes me want to pull him into the other room and hold him until whatever is knotted in his chest comes loose.
But I don't. Because he's handling it on his own, and he deserves the dignity of that.
Feet move through the house, coming from the gym down the hall, and Raff appears a second later.
He's in a pair of athletic shorts and nothing else, a towel slung over one shoulder, his tattoos dark against flushed skin. He's breathing slightly harder than usual, and I swear there’s a swagger in his step.
Two seconds later, Perrin materializes behind him.
The beta is very pink in the face. His curls are damp at the temples, and he's pulling his shirt down over his stomach, fidgeting to make sure it’s pulled all the way down.
I want to make a comment about fucking in the gym, but I keep it to myself, taking a long sip of my coffee.
Raff crosses the kitchen without breaking stride, moving directly to Elowen. He drops a hand onto her shoulder as he passes, squeezing once, then leans down and presses his lips to the top of her head.
"Good morning," he says. "I'm glad you slept in."
Elowen tips her chin up to look at him, and the tentative set of her shoulders eases by a fraction.
Perrin goes straight for the coffee, pulling a mug from the cabinet. He's almost got his color back. Almost.
"Hey," the beta says as he pours his coffee. "I meant to ask.” He looks at Raff over his shoulder. “Where’s all my stuff?"
Raff leans against the counter and crosses his arms. "What stuff?"
"My comforter. My pillows." Perrin turns around. "My green throw."
"Elowen needed them."
Perrin's whole face changes. His eyes cut to Elowen, and something delighted and immediate moves across his expression, like a kid who's been told there's a puppy in the other room.
"You made a nest?" he says. “With my blankets?”
Elowen's cheeks go pink. "I didn't make a nest," she says. "I just—the pillows were helpful. But you can absolutely have everything back. I'll bring it all down after breakfast."
"No, you won't," Perrin says with a wide smile. The man looks so damn happy.
"Perrin, it's your stuff—"
"Keep it." He waves his hand as if she's being ridiculous. "I don't need it."
"I'm not going to take your comforter.”
"You're not taking it, I'm giving it." He settles onto the barstool beside her with the ease of someone who has already decided this conversation is over. "There's a difference."
Elowen opens her mouth.
"He could sleep on a block of wood," Adam says flatly. "He'd be fine."
Perrin points at his brother. "That's true. I genuinely could."
Elowen looks between them, and something in her face shifts, the careful uncertainty giving way to something that looks almost like amusement.
"Keep the blankets," I say, settling it. "We have plenty."
Elle wraps both hands around her mug and looks down at the counter. "Thank you," she says quietly. To all of us, I think. For more than the blankets.
Through our bond, I can still feel a flutter of unease, but underneath it, I can feel that she’s happy.
"So." Perrin rests one arm on the island, and looks up at me. "What's the plan for today? Are we opening the shop?"
"No." I set my coffee down. "I want everyone to stay close to home today."
Raff looks up from where he's leaning against the counter. "In case Angelica comes?"
"In case Angelica comes," I confirm.
"And if she doesn't?" Raff raises one brow. "Are we going to stay home forever? Because I have a business to run."
"She's coming," I say. "There's no way she'll let what happened at the Morder go unchecked. She needs everyone to know she handled it.” I look around the kitchen. "She'll show up. It's a matter of when."
The room goes quiet for a moment, everyone sitting with that.
"I was hoping to go to the grocery store," Adam says softly. "We're almost out of everything."
"I'll take you," Raff says immediately.
"No need,” Adam says. “I can go by my—"
"I'll take you," Raff says again, firmer this time, and Adam doesn't argue.
"Um," Elowen mumbles, and every head turns toward the omega.
She's sitting very straight on her barstool, both hands around her mug, her chin lifted slightly like she's bracing for an argument.
"I really need my things from my apartment," she says, keeping her voice steady and measured.
"I have clothes, and I have photos." She pauses.
"Pictures of my parents. They're the only ones I have. "
The kitchen goes very quiet.
Through our bond, I feel something from her that's different from the unease she's been carrying all morning. I don’t know how I know it, but I can feel that this sweet girl doesn’t have much in her life, and she’s terrified of losing any of it.
Every instinct I have wants to say no. It's not safe. We don't know who's watching, but I can’t tell her she has to abandon what’s left of her old life.
If she's going to build something here, she needs to be allowed to bring everything with her.
I look at Raff.
He's already looking at me, waiting. His expression is neutral, but I can see it in his eyes—he wants to take her.
“That’s not a bad idea,” I say. "We can pay off the rest of your lease and pack up all your things.”
Elowen blinks. For a second she simply looks at me, like she was so prepared for the argument that she doesn’t know what to do with herself anymore.
“Um.” She clears her throat. "That would be really good," she says softly as a warm smile spreads across her pretty face. "Thank you."
Next to her, Perrin is smiling exactly the same. Warm and a little relieved, like he’s beyond thrilled to see her so happy. "I’ll go too," the beta says immediately. "I’m happy to help carry things."
“I really don’t have much,” Elowen says with a nervous laugh. “All I need is a ride, and I can be in and out in ten minutes.”
"We’ll all go," I say as I look right at her. “But first, I want every inch of your skin covered in scent blockers.”
"Yes, sir," she says.
And then she's off the barstool and up the stairs before anyone can say another word, her bare feet quick on the hardwood, her coffee sitting forgotten on the island, still steaming.
Perrin looks at her mug, then up at the ceiling where we can hear her moving around overhead.
"Well," he says. "She’s eager to go." He takes a long sip of his coffee, then sets the mug down and pushes off the barstool. "I'm going to grab my shoes." He looks at Raff. "You need to put a shirt on."
"I was going to," Raff says, already following him toward the stairs.
"Were you though?" Perrin teases.
Their voices fade as they head up.
I look at Adam.
He's staring at the counter, his thumb tracing the rim of his mug. His jaw is set, the way it gets when he's having a conversation with himself that nobody else is invited to.
"Hey." I angle my head down, catching his eye. "Come here." I hold one arm open, beckoning him close.
Adam places his mug on the counter without a word.
Then he steps into me, his cheek finding my chest, his arms sliding around my waist. I close around him, one hand moving slowly up and down his spine, the other cupping the back of his head.
He's warm and solid and he smells like home, and I press my lips to the top of his head and hold them there for a moment.
He doesn't say anything, and neither do I.
We simply stand there in the quiet kitchen while the house moves around us, footsteps overhead, the distant sound of drawers opening and closing.
"You don't have to come," I say quietly. "If you want to stay home, stay home. No explanation required."
Adam exhales through his nose, then he leans back, making my arms fall away from his body.
"I don't know why I feel like this," he says. His voice is low and a little rough, like he’s annoyed with himself.
"I know it's not her fault. I know that.
And I know she's—" He stops. Swallows. "I don't know why it's so hard to accept her into the pack. I mean, I didn’t give a shit when Perrin joined and he’s my damn brother.”
"You don't have to know why," I say. "Tell me where you're at."
He's quiet for a moment.
Then he pulls in a long breath, his chest expanding, and something in his face settles into a decision.
"I'm going to give her a real chance," he says. "I promise. I mean it." He meets my eyes. "I just need a little more time to get my head around it. But I'm trying, Cliff. I really am."
I cup the back of his neck and pull him in, pressing my lips to his forehead and holding them there.
"You are the first beta I ever loved," I murmur against his skin. "You made me and Raff a proper pack, and nothing will ever change that. Not ever."
His fingers curl into the front of my shirt.
"I know," he says after a moment, his voice muffled against my chest. "I know that you love me and no one is replacing me.”
"Good." I bring my hand down hard on his ass, the crack of it sharp in the quiet kitchen. "Because you're irreplaceable and I'll spend the rest of my life proving it."
Adam laughs against my chest, then he huffs dramatically. “Fine.” He looks up at me, rolling his eyes with a wide smile on his face. “I'll come to Elowen’s apartment."
I can’t help but smile too. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." He straightens up, smoothing down his shirt.
Then he tips his chin toward the kitchen.
"Someone needs to make sure Perrin doesn't try to carry everything in one trip and throw his back out.
" He shakes his head. “And I want to be there if Perrin finally builds up the nerve to touch her.
Knowing him, it'll take six months and a formal written request, but you never know.”