Chapter 40 #2
"It was not already cracked," Perrin’s voice rises.
"It was cracked when I picked it up."
"Rafferty."
"Slightly cracked."
Odette closes her eyes for exactly two seconds, then she downs the last of her wine and sets the glass down with a decisive click. "Thirty-two years," she says to no one in particular. "I have been cleaning up after that child for thirty-two years."
She pushes back from her chair and stands, drawing herself up to her full six feet.
"Do not touch anything!" she yells. “I’ll get the broom.”
Something else breaks, and there’s a long pause, before Cliff grumbles, "Sorry.”
Adam presses his lips together, but I don't even try.
A laugh tears out of me. I place my hand over my full belly, tipping my head back.
Adam abandons all pretense of composure a half second later, dropping his forehead to the table with his shoulders shaking.
The kitchen has descended into what sounds like a full military operation, with Odette issuing quick instructions. Perrin apologizes in a tone that suggests he's not entirely sure what he's apologizing for, as both alphas talk over one another.
"They're a mess." I wipe the tears out of my eyes.
Adam nods, smiling at me with such a warm, sweet expression.
I let out a soft sigh as I admire the omega.
The big windows behind him frame the lush backyard filled with the evening light.
Sitting in front of it, Adam looks like something out of a painting. He's handsome in a way that sneaks up on you. Not the immediate, overwhelming impact of Cliff, or the sharp, tattooed intensity of Raff. Just quietly, genuinely handsome that gets more apparent the longer you look.
He and Perrin obviously look a lot alike.
They have the same warm honey-brown eyes, the same sharp cheekbones, and the same easy way of occupying a room. But side by side, the differences are as clear as the similarities.
Perrin looks like someone built for the world.
Adam looks like someone the world should be more careful with.
"Come on." Adam pushes back from his chair and comes around the table, stopping beside me with his hand extended. "The sun's about to set, and I refuse to miss it."
I look up at him, at his outstretched hand and his warm eyes and the last of the evening light catching the side of his face through the window, and something in my chest is so full it almost hurts.
I'm happy.
Like completely, almost embarrassingly happy, in a way that still catches me off guard sometimes because I went so long without it that I forgot it was supposed to feel like this. Like warmth that starts in your chest and works its way outward until it's sitting in your fingertips.
My bond hums with a soft pulse of Cliff’s own contentment, and then something brighter as he catches the edges of what I'm feeling. His happiness doubles, his emotions feeding mine feeding his, a quiet loop of it moving through our bond like a current.
I take Adam's hand.
The omega leads me around the table to the glass-paneled back door on the far side of the dining room. He pushes it open, and the warm evening air spills in around us as we step onto the deck together.
I stop at the top of the steps and just look.
The backyard is beautiful in the evening light.
The lawn is so green it almost doesn't look real, Adam's careful, patient work showing in every even stripe and trimmed edge. The hydrangeas along the fence line are heavy with blooms, white and pale blue, catching the last of the setting sun.
Beyond the fence, a running path curves through the neighborhood in a lazy arc, winding past a small park and a pond that sits perfectly still. Its surface reflecting the pink and gold of the sky above it. Mature trees dot the path at intervals, their shadows stretch long and thin across the grass.
Further off, the neighboring houses sit back from their own lawns, warm light beginning to appear in windows as the evening settles in. They’re close enough to see, but far enough that the backyard almost feels private. Tucked in.
Adam steps off the deck and onto the lawn, pulling me with him. The grass is cool and dense against the soles of my feet. Each blade presses up between my toes, and I curl them, feeling the soft earth.
"I like to come out here in the evening," Adam says, looking out toward the pond. "When the weather's good. I sit here and watch the day go."
"I can see why." I close my eyes, inhaling deeply as a breeze moves through the yard.
The smell of cut grass and something impossibly sweet fills my lungs. I turn my head slightly toward it, realizing the sweeter thing is Adam. His omega scent, still new and bright and not yet fully settled, drifts toward me like something freshly opened.
He smells as lovely as he looks.
I open my eyes and turn to tell him that, but stop when I realize Adam is looking right at me.
"Can I ask you something personal?" he says.
"Of course." I lean a little closer.
Adam is quiet for a moment, like he's deciding how to phrase it. "What does it feel like?" he asks. "Having a bond with someone." He glances at me sideways. "With Cliff."
"Oh."
Guilt immediately hits me.
Adam still doesn't have a bond with Raff, but there’s no way I can refuse to answer. It would only upset him more.
"It's like." I lick my lips, trying to pick the right words.
"You know when you walk into a room and you can feel if someone is in a good mood or a bad one before they've said a single word?
" I look up at the omega. "It's like that, but from the inside.
Like having a second heartbeat that isn't yours.
Sometimes it's just a hum, something low and steady that tells you your mate is close and okay.
And sometimes it's louder than that. Like right now.
" I press my hand to my chest as something warm pulses in my bond and the corners of my mouth lift.
"Cliff felt me laughing in there and it came back through our bond, and I felt him smile from two rooms away. "
Adam has gone very still beside me, his hands in his pockets. "That sounds beautiful," he says.
"It is," I whisper, not sure what else to say.
Adam leans down and plucks a single blade of grass from the lawn. He slips it slowly between his fingers, not looking at it, giving his hands something to do.
"Sometimes I think I feel something," he finally says.
"Like a flicker. Right here." He presses two fingers against the center of his chest, right below his sternum.
"But then it's gone, and I can't tell if it was real or if I—" He stops. "I want to feel him so badly that I think my mind is playing tricks on me." His voice doesn’t crack as he says it. It’s just a sad fact that he can’t control.
I press a little closer to his side.
"I keep thinking,” he looks down at me, “what if my body is too wrecked to actually form one?
" His voice drops lower, like he’s worried someone might overhear.
"My scent glands are underdeveloped and my hormones are out of whack.
Hell, I even slept through my first heat.
" He lets out a short, weak laugh. "What if I'm too broken for a bond to work properly? "
"The doctor said it would take time," I say, trying to be optimistic. "And your heat was incredibly overwhelming just to witness. I can only imagine how hard it was to feel."
I reach down and take his hand in mine.
He's so warm, his fingers wrapping loosely around mine without thinking about it. His hand is bigger than I expect every time, the knuckles prominent, the skin slightly rough from years of working out.
"Your bond could still form," I say, squeezing Adam’s hand. "Don't give up hope yet."
The omega gives me a pointed, almost teasing look. "It's been over a week since I was bitten." He forces a smile as he lets out an exaggerated sigh. "Honestly, it's fine. I've always been a late bloomer." He flicks the blade of grass onto the ground. "Twenty-six years late, apparently."
I open my mouth.
Then close it.
Because the truth is I don't know what to say, and telling him it'll definitely be fine feels like it could be a lie. And I’m done with those.
So instead I wrap my arms around his middle, pulling him into me.
Adam is only a few inches taller, which means he folds himself easily around me. His chin finds the top of my head as his arms come around my shoulders, holding me close.
"Life is pretty spectacularly weird and cruel sometimes," he says as he presses his nose into my hair. "But you already know that.”
"Understatement of the century," I snort softly against his chest.
We stand in the cooling grass, holding each other.
Adam’s hand moves up and down my back, steady and warm, and after a moment I feel his face turn into my hair. He breathes in, slow and deep, scenting me.
"You know," I say after a moment, "you should probably be grateful that you and Raff aren’t Raff isn't in your head yet."
Adam pulls back slightly. "Yeah?"
"Because then you'd have to feel his mood all the time." I look up at him, and smile. “That man is horny approximately twenty-three hours a day, and listening to that would be a nightmare.”
Adam bursts out laughing, his chest shaking with it. "And the other hour?"
"Sleeping," I say. "Probably dreaming about being horny."
He laughs again, hugging me a little tighter, and I feel it move through his whole body, warm and real, the kind of laugh that loosens everything it touches.
"You know," he says, his voice settling back into something quieter, "you are painfully kind. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"Constantly," I say. "It's exhausting being this wonderful."
He smiles, but it's softer now, the humor fading as his hand comes up and cups my cheek.
He tilts my face toward his, and when he speaks, his voice has dropped, serious and soft at the same time.
"I mean it, Elle," he says. "You're smart and funny and.
" His eyes move over my face slowly. "Unbelievably sexy. "
The two words land somewhere low in my belly and stay there, spreading outward like heat from a fire. I feel my breath catch in a way I can't entirely hide.
There's something about the way Adam says it, without any performance behind it, a simple, certain fact, that makes it hit so much harder than it would coming from anyone else.
His thumb traces my cheekbone as I stare up at him.
“Such a pretty girl,” he whispers as his honey-brown eyes drop to my mouth and then back up. “I really love having you in this pack, Elle.”
Without thinking, I push up and press my lips to his.
Adam kisses me back, his lips moving against mine with a softness that makes my heart ache. His tongue traces the seam of my lips, waiting for me to open. When his tongue slides into my mouth, it's gentle, exploring, tasting me as if he has all the time in the world.
I can feel the faint tremor in his hand where it cups my cheek, the slight hesitation that tells me he’s as excited as I am.
My bond with Cliff hums with curiosity, a warm awareness of what I’m feeling, but I ignore him for now. I’m too busy soaking up my omega.
“You taste so good,” I moan into Adam’s mouth as I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
Adam’s arm slides around my waist, as his other hand pushes into my hair at the back of my head. He tilts my head, moving me.
While I love kissing my alphas, there’s something so quietly intense about making out with Adam. He kisses me like he's been thinking about it all day.
There’s no rush. No primal drive.
We simply savor each other.
When we finally pull back, the sun has finished setting somewhere behind us. We’re both breathing slightly unsteadily, foreheads pressed together in the blue dusk, and then I hear it.
A low, amused sound from somewhere near the house.
Adam looks first, and his expression drops. "What do you want?"
Perrin is leaning against the back doorway with his arms crossed and a grin on his face that tells me he has been standing there for quite a while.
"Oh nothing," he says. "I came to tell you that the cake is served." His gaze zeros in on Adam. “But I completely understand if you want to stay out here and rut our omega in the backyard for the neighbors to see. It’s very alpha of you.”
Adam's hands drop from my face immediately, and I have to actively stop myself from pouting about it.
“Come on.” Adam grabs my hand and pulls me toward the house without another word. "I hate you," he whispers to Perrin as we step through the back door.
"You love me," Perrin says serenely, falling into step behind us.
"Hurry up!" Raff's voice carries from somewhere in the kitchen. "The cake is going to get warm."
"Olive oil cake doesn't get warm, Raff!" Perrin calls back. Then, louder, "We were just letting Elowen enjoy the sunset." He turns and gives me a wink. “She was enjoying it too much for me to interrupt.”
I grab the back of Perrin's hair and pull him to a stop.
The beta makes a surprised sound as I force him down to my level, then I press my lips to his quickly. When I pull back, his eyes are wide and his mouth is slightly open.
"Stop teasing," I say pleasantly, releasing him, "or I'll be forced to tease you ten times worse tonight."
Perrin stares at me, his ears going so red so fast it's almost impressive.
"Okay," he says, his voice coming out approximately half an octave higher than usual.
Adam looks at us over his shoulder, takes one look at his brother's face, and smiles so big it reaches his eyes.