Chapter 12
“ N ervous flier?”
Ava had a death grip on my hand as the plane started to taxi down the runway. “A bit.”
I’d lowered the barrier between our seats as soon as we got to them, and with the way she was holding on to me, I was pretty sure Ava would’ve preferred to crawl directly into my lap if the flight attendant would’ve allowed it.
“Come here.” I tucked her head against my shoulder and cupped her cheek, leaning my head on top of hers. “Deep breaths for me. We’ll be there before you know it.”
I counted down the inhalations and exhalations for her, feeling her warm breath against my skin, letting her steep in my scent.
“That’s my good girl.”
She squeaked as the plane ascended, her little nails digging into my hand.
“You’re okay. Keep breathing.”
Ava tucked as close to me as she could get while still wearing her seatbelt. Bryce held her hand across the aisle. Micah was too far to reach her, but once we were in the air and the seat belt sign was turned off, he wedged himself in next to me, offering her one of the fruit snacks he had packed.
She let him feed them to her, and by the time the package was empty, her grip on me had loosened.
“Feeling better, sweetness?” I asked.
Ava nodded without speaking.
“Do you want to try sleeping for the flight?” Micah asked.
“Not a terrible idea.”
Trying to keep out of the way of the flight attendants, we got Ava bundled into her seat with the blankets we had each packed for her. She didn’t have a ton of room to curl up, but we got her comfortable enough that she fell asleep quickly.
Bryce looked totally at ease on the plane. Since he was at a conference, I could only assume he was pretty familiar with air travel.
“Do you travel a lot for work?” I asked.
“At least once a month. Sometimes more. They’re not going to be happy if I have to stick close for a while.”
“Probably even less happy with you going on parental leave on such short notice,” Micah added.
“Pretty good chance I won’t have a job when I get off it,” Bryce replied.
“That’s illegal,” I pointed out.
Bryce shrugged. “They’ll cite poor performance when I get back, less commitment to the job. Or they’ll have a fake restructuring. But they’ll be paying me for a year either way and I’ve been there long enough I’ll get a good severance package.”
“You sound weirdly okay with that,” said Micah.
“A couple days ago it would’ve devastated me. My work was basically my entire identity, but my priorities have changed pretty drastically this weekend. I’m not going to sideline Ava and the baby if my job can’t see my value.”
I had to respect the hell out of that.
“Between all our incomes,” I said, “we should have no problem taking care of Ava and however many kids she wants to have.”
“I have money outside of my job,” Bryce explained. “The odds of us ever having to worry are slim to none. Short of my father finding a way to undo my trust fund, we’ll be fine.”
I had grown up solidly middle-class, and Micah closer to the upper portion of that. Luke had started middle-class and slid down that slope the longer his mother’s addiction ruled their lives. I could see why he might be threatened by someone like Bryce rolling up with a bank account full of more money than Luke had probably ever seen. He needed to stop seeing Bryce as competition and more as part of the pack. Ava wasn’t going to love Bryce more because of his money, but she might love him more if Luke couldn’t get his shitty attitude under control. He would always be her scent match, but that didn’t guarantee him a place in the pack if he was going to clash with a bonded member.
For all we knew, Bryce saw the three of us as competition, an already established pack he was on the outside of, regardless of the fact that he and I were bonded to Ava. I would have to make an effort with both sides, make sure Bryce felt like he was part of things, and get Luke comfortable with the fact that Bryce wasn’t going anywhere and wasn’t anything to be threatened by.
We talked about the city and all the things Bryce loved about it through most of the flight. He told us that he had a penthouse in Tribeca, but it hadn’t prepared me for how fucking ritzy that neighbourhood was.
Micah whistled low as the four of us arrived in a sleek SUV ride service. “Damn.”
Money looked different all around the country. The same amount that could get you a gorgeous apartment in New York might buy you a sprawling estate somewhere else. I’d have preferred the space, but I could see the allure if someone liked the metropolitan feel.
Ava had stared out the window the entire drive, absorbing everything the city had to offer. I wasn’t sure what was going on inside her head now that she was seeing where she had been intending to move for Andrew.
“It’s so much louder than I expected,” she commented.
“The apartment has really good soundproofing,” Bryce promised. “You won’t hear anything from the city while you’re inside.”
The doorman greeted Bryce happily when we stepped out, and Bryce paused to chat with him. Another point for Bryce being a decent human being. It was the bare minimum to be kind to workers, but a lot of people missed that memo and I was glad my new packmate wasn’t one of them.
Micah and I grabbed the bags while Bryce navigated Ava into the building. The floors were white marble and somehow pristine despite all the footsteps they must carry through a day.
Bryce swiped a card that allowed him to push a button for the penthouse and we rode the elevator up alarmingly high. I had never considered myself to be afraid of heights, but I could feel it creeping in as the numbers on the panel went up.
The elevator opened into a tidy lobby space with only a door for the roof access and Bryce’s apartment in it. I couldn’t imagine having enough money to get this level of exclusivity.
The apartment itself was like something straight out of a magazine. I was pretty sure the name of this style was industrial, but Bryce had hints of warmer charm in a lot of the fabrics and hardware. Ava’s head swiveled this way and that, taking in our temporary home. She went straight for the windows and immediately took a hefty step back. After following her, I didn’t blame her one bit. That was a long way down.
“Can we close the blinds?” Ava asked.
Bryce pushed a button on a wall panel and blackout blinds slid down the dozen windows, overhead lighting replacing the sun. He had so much metal in the decor. The railings, the light fixtures, exposed Edison bulbs and sharp corners on most of the furnishings. It wasn’t omega-friendly at all.
Ava snuggled up against my side, and I laid an easy arm around her shoulders.
“Can I see the bedroom?” Ava looked to Bryce, and he swept over, leading her to the far end of the suite.
At least the bedroom was a bit cozier. The bed was big enough to fit all of us, though the room felt enormous. Ava frowned, absorbing her surroundings.
“Everything is probably more open than you would like,” Bryce said. “I can change anything you want.”
After being in our apartment, Bryce’s penthouse felt uncomfortably large. It would take a lot more than ordering a few things to make it suitable for an omega long-term.
“That’s silly,” said Ava. “We’re only here for a few days.”
“You’re gonna have to think further into the future than that,” Micah told her. “If you’re not comfortable in a bondmate’s home, he’s going to need to know that. You might not have to pick your forever home, but you’ll need somewhere for a while once the baby comes. Wherever you choose has to be comfortable for you.”
“I don’t want to be a bother,” Ava insisted.
“Sweetness, you are the furthest thing from a bother,” I told her. “We want to make sure you have a good experience. If you want to stay in New York, we’re going to have to do some serious work on this place to make it omega-friendly. There’s nowhere for the whole pack to stay even if it was just me, you, and Bryce. Because, no offense, while I do intend to spend most nights in bed next to you, I do need my own space to decompress if it’s going to be longer than a week. And if you want to come back to Vegas and stay there, we’ll probably move so we can have a nursery, and a proper nest.”
Ava chewed her lip, a subtle burnt edge to her scent. “It’s so much hassle.”
“It’s not. If you’re not happy somewhere, your pack isn’t going to be happy, and your baby isn’t going to get the best version of you.”
“I’ll put this place on the market tomorrow if you hate it,” said Bryce, tugging Ava into his arms. “We can look at other options to rent.”
Our omega relaxed against Bryce, taking a deep breath and letting her forehead rest against his chest. “I feel really exposed here. Even with the blinds closed, it doesn’t feel quite right.”
“I’ll contact my realtor tonight.”
“I feel bad that you have to.”
“Don’t. I want you to be happy.”
She looked up at him with shiny eyes. “Thank you.”
I was glad she said something because as fancy as this place was, I was not looking forward to moving into it. A third-floor apartment was about as high as I wanted to get.
We ended up ordering dinner and eating it inside Bryce’s giant walk-in closet because it was where Ava felt the most secure. Once she was fed and relaxed, surrounded by walls of his neat suits and shiny shoes, she turned to the three of us.
“I feel like we’re speedrunning a relationship. I know we’ve already jumped over a few steps, but could we backtrack a tiny bit?”
Micah tipped his head, examining her. “What do you mean?”
Her cheeks flushed pink, her sweet pecan praline scent filling the small space.
Interesting.
“Could we start with a kiss?”
Tension flooded the closet, all of us frozen.
Micah recovered first. “We can start with anything you want.”
Ava’s pupils dilated, her scent turning even sweeter as Micah leaned forward and took his kiss. When Ava’s gaze slid to me after Micah pulled away, he leaned back far enough for me to reach her. She tasted as perfect as I remembered, her skin soft against my fingertips, her tongue sweeping tentatively against my lips. I took more than I probably should have, especially when we were meeting over Micah, but she gave readily and I couldn’t help myself.
Then it was Bryce’s turn and he devoured her with an edge that all the money in the world couldn’t hide. Ava’s small sound of delight had my whole body taut. I couldn’t get ahead of myself. She had only asked for a kiss, not for us to take her to bed. I remembered the way her body had yielded to mine. All of our scents filled the closet until the air was so thick with them I was dizzy with all the desire floating around me.
“Are you after more than a kiss, sweetness?” I asked.
Ava shyly nodded.
Micah nudged her chin up with two fingertips. “You tell us exactly what you want.”
Ava licked her lips, staring at him like she wasn’t sure what to make of him.
“Would you rather I take the lead?” Bryce asked.
“That sounds easier.”
Micah and Bryce shared a look. I already knew more than I ever wanted to about Micah’s sex life, but Bryce was a mystery. How would he want to play with our omega? And more importantly, how would she let him?