17. Lycan
Lycan
I woke up to the sounds of Poe and Ava talking quietly and laughing at something just between them.
The scent of coffee and bacon floated toward me, and I rubbed my face as the memories from last night soared back.
Poe kneeling for Ava. Kneeling for me. Bent over the table.
The smell of Ava’s slick mixing with Poe’s cum.
The way they’d smiled at each other in the shower while suds slid down their skin.
A tiny sliver of shame threatened to rear up before I could smother it.
I’d fucked up. I couldn’t control my selfish desire to have both of them, and in doing so, I’d taken Poe without any thought to the consequences.
Yes, I wanted him. I’d always want him. But there were years of baggage between us, and I’d swept it under the rug like it didn’t matter.
Out of sight, out of mind, and all that shit.
It should have felt like a mistake, but that didn’t sit right. I didn’t want it to be a mistake.
I sat up and glanced at them, memorizing the sight of their dark heads huddled together.
“Your mouth is going to get you in trouble, Trouble,” Poe whispered before shoving a strawberry in his mouth with an adorable grin. He sat in his boxers with fading scratch marks on his chest that disappeared over his shoulders.
“Your mouth got you in a lot of trouble last night,” Ava teased, wrapping a thin white sheet tighter around her shoulders.
If I had to guess, she still had nothing on underneath, which suited me fine.
Whatever they were talking about was probably going to make me want to yank it off her and eat her for breakfast.
Poe sniggered and licked his lips, eyeing her with a dangerous stare. “You seemed to like it.”
“Maybe you’ll like what my mouth can do, too.” My wife curled her lips, sipped her coffee, and Poe’s gaze dropped lower.
That fucking green-eyed monster roared in my blood, and my skin burned as my wolf raised his hackles, determined to defend his territory.
But…which one was that? My wife or my ex?
Or maybe I just wanted to be involved? I pinched the bridge of my nose and pushed to my feet with a groan, my muscles protesting the two nights on the floor.
“Uh-oh,” Poe said. “You’ve done it now. Woke the beast.”
“Good morning,” Ava chirped.
I grumbled something that sounded faintly like, “Morning,” and leaned down to plant a kiss on her lips.
She returned it with a sweet one of her own and a beautiful grin.
Then I went to Poe and leaned down to do the same.
He straightened, and for one horrifying second, I thought he might back away.
Instead, he stayed still while I pressed my mouth to his, the contact sending electricity through my nerves.
He softened into the embrace but quickly turned back to his breakfast. Before I could read into that, my bladder screamed for relief, so I stole a piece of toast off Poe’s plate and walked to the bathroom.
“Hey!” he shouted after me, but I laughed and kept walking.
Serves him right.
What the fuck did he think would happen this morning? Of course I wanted to kiss him. I had my cock in his ass last night. Taking his perfect mouth was the lowest on a long list of things I wanted to make up for.
Just as I was finishing up and washing my hands, three hard knocks echoed from the front door, and I stalked out of the back just as Poe peeked out the window. He had his gun in one hand, thumb on the hammer, and the other pressing Ava behind him.
“It’s Bas,” he said.
I cracked the door.
“Morning,” I said, stepping out to the porch. Ava and Poe were half-naked, and if I was territorial when it came to them together, I definitely didn’t want a shifter from another pack seeing either of them like that.
“Good morning,” Bas said, crossing his arms. “You all recovered, then?”
“Back to one hundred.”
“Perfect. On to business.”
Right. The Copenhagen Bastards had asked for my help with their upcoming run because I’d already had a run-in with Evelyn and any Scorpion vampires that may have followed her here.
I’d agreed. It seemed like a small price to pay for a safe place to shift and fuck my wife.
I hadn’t counted on also fucking my favorite brat, but hey. A win was a win.
“Of course,” I said. “How long will we be gone?”
“One night. Maybe two. Depends on how the deal goes,” Bas explained.
I could deal with that. Any longer and my wolf would lose his mind. I trusted Poe with my life…with Ava’s. But I didn’t like the thought of being away from them for so long.
“I know you need to head to London by the end of the week,” he continued. “I promise to have you back by then.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “Let me get dressed, and I’ll meet you at the clubhouse.”
“Thanks, Lycan,” Bas said, holding out his hand.
“No, thank you.” I took it. “The Helena chapter owes you for your hospitality.”
“Bahhh.” He waved that away. “What’s a favor between Bastards, huh?”
I laughed and patted his shoulder. “We appreciate it all the same.”
“Hmm.” Bas grinned and walked off the porch, stopping at the end to turn back toward me. “Make sure you shower before you come up. You reek like both of them, and the bonding scent will distract the brothers.”
“Oh?”
“You know how it goes in a pack like this.” His smile widened. “They gossip more than a couple of old ladies at a knitting club, and you three are the latest news. Everyone’s trying to figure out what your deal is.”
I drew in a deep breath, scenting both Ava and Poe on my skin, as he stalked into the woods.
“Yeah, me too,” I mumbled before heading back inside. Poe still had his gun in his hand, standing in front of Ava. She peered over his shoulder, blinking curiously.
“You’re leaving?” she asked.
“It’s only for a night or two.” I put my hands on my hips and tried to ignore the twinge in my ribs telling me I shouldn’t. Whatever this was between us was still too new, too fresh, for me to leave. I needed to stay and nurture it, but duty called. “You’ll be safe here.”
I went to move around them, but Ava grabbed my wrist to stop me.
“You can’t leave now,” she said. “We’re four days out from the meeting with Scott, and I’ve only secured five of the six deals we need. All of that falls apart if we don’t get Fitz.”
I brushed her hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead. “You’ve got it all figured out, Trouble. You’ve been one step ahead of him the entire time.”
“I don’t think I can do this without you,” she muttered, and that almost broke my resolve.
“Where’s the frigid Vanderbilt bitch, huh?”
She sighed through her nose and pinned me with a pointed glare. “You know what I mean.”
“Poe’s here,” I said. “He’s got a better mind for strategy, anyway. I’ll be back before we leave for London.”
“Evelyn’s still out there,” Poe added, drawing my attention to him. “And she’s got a witch who can invade your mind. She told us we had until the full moon, which has now passed. She’ll be gunning for us.”
“I’m riding with the Bastards,” I said, but he straightened his shoulders, and I understood what he meant. If the Bastards were leaving with me, who would be here to protect Ava? “The grounds are warded, just like the homestead.”
“That didn’t stop Marx from killing Holden,” he said. The “or taking Maeve” went unsaid. Something passed between Poe and me, a form of communication bred from years of trust and intimacy.
“We shouldn’t split up,” he said with his eyes.
“I know,” I replied. “What choice do I have?”
He agreed. I didn’t have a way out. We owed the Copenhagen chapter for our stay.
Even if we didn’t, I’d still help them. The Bastards were in this together, bound by blood and sweat and oaths.
We didn’t just pledge ourselves to Kodiak when we took a patch.
We vowed our lives to every Royal Bastard in the world.
What kind of male would I be, what kind of Bastard would I be, if I didn’t honor that the same way I would expect any of them to?
“Three days?” he asked.
“At max,” I said, glancing back at Ava. “Figure out how to kick the Earl’s ass, and when I get back, you can tell me all about it.”
She nodded and stepped away, bringing her back in contact with Poe’s chest. I took one last moment to memorize the sight of them like this, thoroughly debauched and waiting for me, before going back to the bathroom to take that shower.
It started like any other ride. I used the same bike I’d borrowed to take Ava to the pub, and followed the pack toward the edge of their territory.
Thurjin had the road here, but he’d have been an idiot not to use me.
I took sweep for the first leg. Last bike, eyes on our six, the cargo riding center where anyone who wanted it would have to come through five of us to get it.
Last night was amazing, and leaving them took an act of will I wasn’t sure I really had.
But maybe it was good to put some distance between us for clarity.
Even if I was a selfish prick, it couldn’t go on like this.
I’d married Ava in a drunken haze right before her transition, and despite one conversation the next morning, the annulment hadn’t come up again.
It didn’t seem like she was in a rush, and I didn’t know if I was either.
Still, that thirty-day deadline loomed large up ahead, and eventually, we’d have to deal with it.
And Poe…I didn’t know what the fuck was going on there.
I wanted him, but I smelled his bonding scent anytime he was around Ava, even the first time they’d met.
She seemed to like him, too. Their wolves had played the entire night of the full moon, and even if she’d let me wrap myself around her the next morning when we made that nest in the living room, they’d gravitated toward each other in sleep.