13. Adrien
“Remind me why we didn’t lay them out in that cute little kitchen of hers and devour them whole?” My husband questioned with a groan.
“Because they need to know that we want them for more than that,” I reminded him. “It killed me to kiss them and then pull away, but I don’t want them to get the wrong idea.”
“What?” Vance questioned. “That we’re so desperate for them we want to rut them all day long? To feed them and take care of every little single thing they want? Because news flash, Adrien, that”s exactly what we want, and they’ve given every indication they want that too. Trying to stay away from our mates is just torture.”
“If you had your way they’d already be moved in and she”d be pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen? No?”
Vance growled, his hand coming to rest against my thigh possessively. He pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, letting out a harsh breath before looking away.
“I don’t want to do it any longer,” he said in a low voice.
“Do what exactly?”
My heart beat faster at his tone, and I steeled myself for his next words.
“I don’t want to take the blockers. Not anymore, Adrien.”
I knew why he wanted to stop. I’d seen the way Claire had burrowed into our arms, her nose searching for our scent even if she wasn’t aware of it.
“C’est bon, mon chéri.”
“Really?”
“Yes, it’s fine. If you want to stop taking blockers, then I support that decision,” I said, making sure not to lose the car in front of us.
The four of us were headed out on a secret date. Of course, the pair refused to tell us where just yet.
Unfortunately between my coupe, Riley’s single cab truck, and Claire’s tiny sedan, there was no way we could take one car comfortably. Something we’d need to rectify immediately.
We’d need a car that would fit the whole pack. It was a dream that seemed obtainable now, and I couldn’t deny the trajectory of where things were headed, especially now that they’d agreed to the courting.
“Adrien?”
“Quoi?”
“I asked if you were going to stop as well?”
I shook my head, my grip tightening on the steering wheel just as a call came through overhead. It was a French phone number, a country code I knew by heart, and I quickly declined it.
“I’m not going to stop taking the blockers, not now,” I said, answering his question.
Vance was quiet for a moment, and I could almost hear the questions on his lips, my inquisitive husband always wanting to know more. It was one of the things I loved best about him, and it helped him create the numerous fantasy worlds he wrote.
“I think you should consider it, but it’s your decision to make,” he said lightly.
I reached for his hand resting on my thigh. “You’re a good partner, mon chéri, better than I deserve most days.”
I knew the words he didn’t say, that if they agreed to courting, then they’d need to mark our scents to seal the deal, mine included. But it was my scent that had cast us out last time, the final straw for my family before they all but disowned me.
“You should give yourself more credit, Ady. You’ve given up everything and still managed to give us everything.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” I said. Vance was modest about his accomplishments, even if he’d been featured on several prominent lists and helped finance our life just as much as I had.
“And that won’t change, even if we let our walls down,” he said, turning to face me in the confines of the car. “Who called?”
“Luc.”
“And why is Luc calling? I thought we settled all of the paperwork while we were still in France?”
“Je n’ai se pas,” I said with a sigh. “He left a message yesterday and all it said was to give him a call. I don’t even know how he found my new number.”
I’d known Luc since I was a boy, he was an old family friend and our family’s attorney. He’d dealt with some of the messier paperwork of my parent’s decision, and while he was a good man, I wasn’t in a rush to be pulled back into anything connecting me to home.
“Let me know when you plan to call him back,” Vance said. “I want to be there.”
A wave of gratitude washed through me. “Thank you. I just want to try and focus on our pack before dealing with it.”
“I like the sound of our pack,” Vance said as we finally reached our destination.
Both of us quickly exited the car, going to open the doors for Riley and Claire. I helped her down from Riley’s truck, the feel of my hands on her waist and her hands on my shoulders as I helped her out of the cab, testing my resolve once again.
“This is unexpected,” I mused as I looked out over the small pond. The afternoon sun was hitting the water just right, the light sparkling over the surface as the soft breeze stirred the water. It was cool enough outside that it didn’t look the least bit inviting to dive into. Had it been summer, I might have reconsidered with how beautiful it was. But knowing the two spontaneous mates we were courting, I’m sure they had a plan.
“It’s our place,” Claire said simply. “We wanted to share it with you. I can see those worried expressions on your faces but there’s no need, Riley and I do this a lot.”
Riley was already pulling a fire pit from the back of his truck while Vance helped, the sassy beta instructing him how to hold it and where to go. I watched an amused smile form on my husband’s lips. He wasn’t used to being bossed around, and this beta did it so casually. Riley was going to be in for a turn of events once we finally took what was ours.
“You said you wanted to court us, and we wanted to make sure you knew that we like to keep it low-key too. Not every date needs to be super fancy. It’s one of the perks of being in Holiday Hollow. You’ve seen the small-town charm, and now you get to enjoy the hidden gems. This one is the first of many,” Claire said excitedly. Her cheeks flushed from the cold and the thrill of showing us something so important to them.
How could we do anything but love it with that level of enthusiasm. The fact she was willing to share something they both clearly cherished meant she was indeed, all in.
Vance and I stood back as Claire and Riley set up four camp chairs and brought over a cooler. When Riley pulled out campfire forks, I almost lost it.
“I have a feeling we’re about to eat junk food, and they’re going to love every moment of it,” Vance laughed quietly.
“It’s nice that they appreciate the big and little things in life,” I countered, taking a deep breath as I looked away from the campfire forks. They both seemed to thrive on quality time, and my mind was whirling with ideas on how to spoil them. The pair wouldn’t want us to spend money on expensive gifts often, they’d prefer us to do things like this.
“Then it’s time we experience Holiday Hollow from a local’s perspective,” he agreed.
“Yes, exactly,” Claire said, startling us both. Sometimes her movements were so quiet we wouldn’t have known she was coming without her scent. And that was currently being whisked away by the breeze. “There’s a lot more to this town than you think. Now grab a seat.”
We did as we were told, even taking a roasting fork when they handed it over. Riley was an expert at making a fire and had it roaring in minutes, which was very impressive. The two worked like a fine-tuned machine with each other which was a joy to watch, and they didn’t hand out the treats they packed until the fire was nice and hot.
“This is a Claire and Riley specialty,” Claire announced as she put a strawberry on my skewer and hers while Riley did the same for Vance and himself. She plucked a big jar of marshmallow fluff and swirled the strawberry in it. “Now, put it in the fire.”
The air filled with the smokey scent of the fire, the sweet roasting strawberries, and the intoxicating aroma of our future pack. Maybe Vance was right. It was time to let blockers go so we could intertwine our scents with theirs, mark them for the town to see.
In time I’d do it.
I froze as Riley brought his marshmallow to his mouth and took a bite, licking the sticky sweetness from his plush lips. Then Claire let out a little moan of pleasure that had my attention snapping to her. Vance’s hand gripped my thigh as we watched them devour their treats, trails of marshmallow being tracked by their pink tongues. This was a new level of torture I hadn’t anticipated.
“Adding this to my kink list,” Vance said roughly. “You two are going to kill us.”
“That’s the plan,” Riley countered with more than a little sass.
“This is only phase one,” Claire said with an equally mischievous grin. “We’ve got a whole Holiday Hollow experience planned.”
That had me pausing. “Aren’t we supposed to be courting you?”
“You’ll do more than your fair share of courting in the future, alpha,” Claire said, the designation sending a thrill through me. “What we need to know first is how comfortable you both are with going out together in public. We are your official modified welcome wagon now, but I know the two of you haven’t really been out much since you moved here.”
“If you had, I would have stalked your asses sooner,” Riley said pointedly.
“You would have stayed steadfast in your resolution to support your best friend first,” I countered. “This way, you still got to have your moments with Vance, and Claire and I got to find our way through our misunderstanding.”
Claire smiled a sweet smile that had my chest swelling. “Touché.”
“What do you think, Ady?” Vance asked me. “Are you ready to get out there and really experience Holiday Hollow like a local?”
I could feel his excitement and hope in the bond, see it in all of their eyes, and I didn’t want to let them down. While I was still cautious, our past experiences leaving a sour taste on my tongue, I reminded myself I had yet to encounter that here.
“Oui, consider me in.”
“You won’t regret it,” Claire said. “One more, and then we’ll go.”
I looked pointedly at the roaring fire, and Riley rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about that, alpha. We’ll put it out and come pick up the pit later. It’s safe here.”
With a chuckle, I held up my hands in defense. “You can’t blame an alpha for wanting to keep their pack safe.”
“From fires, thieves, and anything in between?” Riley teased. “When really they should worry about our impending meet and greet with the family. Technically it’s a future pack until y’all get through the shenanigans of courting in Holiday Hollow, you might change your mind.”
“Is it wrong that I’m so excited for that? It’s going to be the entertainment of the year,” Claire grinned as she prepared another round of strawberries, this time drizzling chocolate sauce over it and packing the leftovers away.
I vowed the next time she used chocolate sauce it would be of my own making. Preferably we could enjoy it off of each other.
When we’d finished the treat, and I felt more than a little overloaded with sugar, we finally started packing up. Before Claire could pass me, I stopped her. She looked up at me, lips parted in surprise.
“You’ve got a little something here,” I teased, brushing my lips over her lips before darting my tongue out and clearing away the chocolate. She deepened the kiss before I could, and it took everything in me to pull away before we ended up with grass stains on our bodies.
“So, where to next?” Riley said as he cleared his throat and adjusted himself in his pants. “And why is no one cleaning my lips?”
“You didn’t have chocolate on them,” Vance teased.
With that challenge, Riley dropped the cooler, opened it, took out the chocolate, dabbed it on his fingers and spread it on his lips like lip gloss. The level of dedication to his teasing was admirable.
“Whoops,” Riley said.
“Oh, here, let me get that.” Vance’s words were little more than a possessive growl as he pulled the beta to him. Riley let out a shocked yelp that quickly turned into a moan. Vance’s lips could render you speechless, and it seemed they affected the beta the same.
“Well, damn. Now I need a cold shower,” Claire muttered as she took the cooler before I could grab it and finished putting it in the truck bed.
”Follow us,” Riley choked out as Vance released him, and he staggered away. It was the first time I’d truly seen him stunned, and we were both laughing softly as we closed ourselves in our car.
“They are playing with fire,” Vance said with a sigh.
“Oh, they know exactly what they’re doing,” I chuckled. “I think they’re growing tired of taking it slow.”