31. Poe
Poe
I sat in front of the alpha’s desk while he studied me, his dark eyes narrowing at the bite marks on either side of my neck.
It had been almost two weeks since we returned from London, and in that time, word had spread like wildfire about the triple bond.
That was the thing about living in close quarters with so many shifters.
Everybody talked. Nothing stayed secret forever…
not that we were trying to hide it, not that we even could.
Two sets of bite marks announced themselves from across the room.
I’d filled Kodiak in on everything I’d seen at the ritual, recounting the mating as fully as I could remember it.
He drummed his fingers on the desk and raised an eyebrow.
“You were reluctant to go to Copenhagen,” he said. “You argued with me for twenty minutes.”
I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat. “I did.”
“And?”
Clearly, he wanted an apology from me, or at least a verbal confirmation that I’d been wrong, that he was alpha for a reason and he knew this pack better than anyone else ever could.
“I stand corrected,” I said.
He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “Try again.”
“You were right,” I admitted, cupping my throat so I could touch both marks at the same time. “How the hell do you do that? How do you know so much? Things people don’t even know about themselves?”
Kodiak sighed and rubbed his palm over his bald head. “It’s a heavy burden, being alpha. Everyone pledges to me. I carry the blood of the pack. It carries mine. I close my eyes, and I see a web, a tree, everyone connected to everyone else.”
“Must be exhausting,” I said, focusing on the bags under his eyes and the drawn muscles around his mouth. “When do you sleep?”
Kodiak barked a laugh. “Sleep? What’s that?”
Maybe it wasn’t my place. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. But someone had to say it.
“You shouldn’t carry so much alone,” I said. “It’s lonely at the top, but you don’t have to stand there by yourself.”
He clearly hadn’t expected that. Both eyebrows shot up, and his wolf sent a warning growl through our pack bond.
“I just mean,” I clarified, “you should delegate more. Maybe take a mate.”
“My mate’s dead,” he said.
The mother of his children, Kendra, had died in a car accident eleven years ago.
Though they weren’t officially mated by bond or mark, Kodiak believed she would have been his mate had she lived longer.
I wasn’t sure I bought that, but what did I know?
All this time, Lycan had been my mate, but it took meeting and falling in love with Ava for magic to take the reins.
“That’s what you say,” I continued. “But that sounds like an excuse not to put yourself out there. As the king of excuses, it takes one to know one.”
Kodiak sighed. “I’ve called Church after the next new moon. Bridge is hanging around until then to give her official report before heading back to Asheville. Lycan told me his side of things, but I think the pack needs to hear it from everyone. There are a lot of pieces to put together.”
Maybe I’d stepped too close to the sun with that one, and his quick change of subject reminded me of my place in the pack.
I wasn’t a high-ranking dominant wolf. Kodiak would never disparage me for it.
Everyone in the pack had a purpose. The hierarchy existed for a reason.
But I wasn’t in a position to tell the alpha to get laid and vent some pressure.
But it did seem like a deflection, like I’d hit something tender and sensitive, and he didn’t want me to see any more than I already had.
“As for your triple bond, I’ve never seen one like it before,” he continued. “But it hums and glows like any other mating bond in the pack. It’s strong. Stable. I don’t sense any threat to the pack.”
I’d say I was relieved, but I already knew that. My bond to both Lycan and Ava was the purest thing that had ever happened to me. In a lifetime of running and scraping and survival, knowing I had the two of them so deeply rooted in my soul grounded me in a way I never expected or believed it could.
“I’ll perform the mating ceremony at the next new moon,” he said, “and officially welcome Ava into the pack.”
“Thank you, Kodiak,” I said, nodding before pushing to my feet.
“Thank you, Poe,” he said. “I won’t forget this favor. And trust when the alpha says he owes you one, you can expect repayment in full plus interest.”
I smiled and turned to walk to his door. Just as I pulled it open, a tall strawberry-blonde shoved past me, her heels clicking on the floor, her emerald eyes flaming with righteous fury.
“Can you tell me why Royal Unlimited is refusing payment to our Canadian investors?” Guin put her hands on her hips and glared down at Kodiak, who pinched the bridge of his nose and scoffed.
“Guin. Come on in. Take a seat. I always have time for you.” His sarcasm made me grimace as I carefully shut the door behind me.
Channing pushed up from the wall opposite the door, raking her gray eyes over me before cracking a grin.
“So you mated the idiot after all?”
“Shut up,” I groaned and turned to walk down the corridor. She fell into step beside me.
“It looks good on you,” she said. “You’ve lost a certain ghostly presence that’s been haunting the hallways for months.”
“If you have time to track me down just to insult me, you have time to find someone else to annoy,” I teased, shoving my hands in my pockets.
“Can’t a girl be happy to see her best friend all mated and settled down and disgustingly happy?” Channing flashed her brilliant smile, but that twinkle in her eye suggested an ulterior motive.
“What do you want?” I stopped and turned to face her, my wolf skeptical.
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Alright, fine. You caught me. Let’s say…hypothetically…I got back together with a much older officer who may or may not have been injured in Europe.”
I listened as she vented her romantic troubles, swearing not to tell anyone, especially not her brother. She was my sister-in-law as well as my best friend, maybe my only friend. So I kept her secret and gave her the best advice I could.
“If this is what you really want, don’t run from it,” I told her. “Trust yourself.”
She nodded and hugged me. Lycan would probably lose his mind when he found out his baby sister was fucking Serpent, and would probably tear the guy’s throat out before making him swear to treat her with the utmost respect.
But I had to admire her courage. I just hoped it didn’t come back to bite her in the ass one day.
After that, I went to Lycan’s cabin, now officially my home. Ava and I moved our stuff in a few days ago after spending most of our time here nursing Lycan back to health. This close to the full moon, he was nearly at full strength again and would be after the change.
I grinned as the scent of coconut and cedar filled my nose, wafting onto the porch from under the door.
Ava’s sweet slick hit me next, followed by Lycan’s pheromones and a sizzle of heat echoing through the bond.
I smothered a small flame of jealousy in my ribs, an annoying flicker that might never go away.
I loved watching them together. I loved that they loved each other as much as I loved them.
Each of us had our own relationships with the others that complemented the one we had together, but it still twinged when I couldn’t be with them like this, when they took from each other while I was otherwise occupied.
That did not diminish my anticipation for what awaited me once I went inside.
I opened the door and swallowed the taste of them on the air, letting it fill my lungs and stomach.
My cock kicked into action, already hard behind my jeans, as I kicked off my boots and walked down the hallway to the primary bedroom at the back of the cabin.
I leaned against the doorjamb and crossed my arms, taking in the feast for the senses in front of me.
Lycan sat on the two-seater sofa opposite the bed, holding a book open with one hand, his elbow on the armrest. Ava, completely naked, sat in his lap, her knees on either side of his hips, a cellphone to her ear.
“I understand you were waiting to see how the market went,” she said, “but we’ve already hit our capacity limit, and we don’t have capital to spare.”
Whoever was on the other line continued their argument, but Ava shifted her gaze to me and smiled. The salty, sweet aroma of her wet cunt gave her away, drifting through the air to wrap its delicate tendrils around my self-control.
“This looks fun,” I whispered.
“Welcome home,” Lycan murmured with a smile, closing his book to rest it on the couch next to him. “How was your debrief with Kodiak?”
“Fine,” I said.
“McAlister, I have to go,” Ava concluded. “I’ll consider your proposal, but don’t get your hopes up.”
“How was your afternoon?” I stuck my tongue in my cheek, amused. “Feeling better?”
“Much.” Lycan grinned and brushed his fingers through Ava’s hair as she pressed end on the call and tossed her phone aside. “Come on, pet. Time to play.”
She moaned and put her hands on his shoulders, rocking her hips.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Lycan said. “None of that. You’re a cock warmer, not a cock grinder.”
“Please,” she whined. “It’s been so long.”
Lycan laughed. “It’s only been twenty minutes.”
“That’s forever.” She leaned up to kiss him before turning to face me. “Your mate’s being a bully.”
I laughed and pushed off the wall to walk closer so I could press a kiss to her temple. “Careful. He’ll make you pay for that.”
Lycan hummed. “Her cunt’s very distracting. Couldn’t even make it through a whole chapter.”
“Oh, you poor thing,” I teased.
He grabbed the back of my head and brought me closer so he could claim my mouth in a desperate, hungry kiss.
“Good thing you’re here now.” He pulled away and nodded to the bed. “Clothes off. On the bed. It’s your turn.”