Chapter 18 Square Roots and Knots
Square Roots and Knots
The sheets smelled like Thorne, like spices and the forest. I climbed into the middle and flopped onto my stomach. Sawyer slid in on my left, his legs tangling with mine as his palm rubbed over my lower back.
Thorne snuggled up to my other side, his fingers tangling in my hair as he brushed it back from my face. “Good night, Vixen.”
I hummed a response, feeling a little overwhelmed with both of them giving me all of their attention and affection.
Sawyer kissed my shoulder and then rolled onto his back to sleep. He always fell asleep quickly, and I lulled myself into a half-asleep state listening to his deep, even breaths.
Thorne stayed silent, and I flipped onto my side, squinting at him through the dark. His jaw was tight, his eyes open, staring at the ceiling.
“Go to sleep,” I whispered.
His eyes flicked to mine, and then he made a visible attempt to relax, his eyes pressed closed.
After a moment of silence, he answered, “I can’t sleep knowing you aren’t completely safe.”
Sighing, I reached out, brushing my hand down his bicep, over his corded forearm, until I could weave our fingers together.
“I’m reasonably safe for now. And we will figure it out. You need your rest for tomorrow.”
Turning his head, he leveled me with stormy eyes filled with worry. Frowning, I smoothed my thumb over his brow, pressing into the crease.
“Besides, if you fall asleep, maybe we’ll have another dream together,” I whispered, my words lifting as I grinned.
Thorne cuffed my wrist with his fingers and drew it to his mouth, biting down on the meat of my palm, below my thumb. Heat curled low in my stomach at the scrape of his teeth and the warm softness of his lips.
“It’s likely the only time I’ll get you to myself for a while, so be it.”
With a brief kiss, he released me, his chest rising and falling in a deep breath.
Relaxing, I closed my eyes and focused on the slow, steady breathing of both of my men.
Eventually, I drifted off.
If I shared a dream with Thorne, I didn’t remember it. I woke with my head on Thorne’s outstretched forearm, his hand cupping the back of my neck, as Sawyer pressed into my ass with an arm around my waist.
Unsettled by how natural it felt, I disentangled myself and headed to finally take a shower. The feel of Thorne pounding into me while Sawyer spilled down my throat was branded into me, mixed with a swirl of anxiety over Thorne’s brother.
The hot water washed away the tension from my shoulders and back. Scrubbing my nails over my scalp, I tried to sort out my feelings. Both Sawyer and Thorne were sleeping in the next room, and I wanted to throw myself at both of them.
I’d known Sawyer almost half my life, and loved him just as long. But Thorne had this hold over me. The fated mate bond. No matter how much I wanted to pretend it didn’t exist or didn’t matter, it dragged me toward him like a moth to flame. The idea of leaving Thorne made my insides twist and ache.
What the hell was I supposed to do? They were begrudgingly sharing me for now, but Sawyer made it clear he wouldn’t accept that forever. Thorne happily would, but he was raised in a pack with entirely different social rules and norms.
And then Cole—saying that we would all four be together happily. He seemed entirely sure. I had no idea what to make of that.
The shower curtain rustled, and Sawyer stuck his head past it. “Hey, babe. I gotta head back into town. A client called, and the normal guy can’t help. It’ll only take an hour or two.”
Spinning, I threw my arm across my breasts. “Oh! Are you sure that’s safe?”
“Thorne wasn’t happy, but he agreed to let me use his truck. That might have been just to shut me up so he could go back to sleep.”
“Please be careful,” I said.
His gaze skated down over my body. “If I didn’t have to run, I’d be in here with you. You look delicious, all wet and slippery.”
“Sawyer!”
He grinned, winking at me before he tugged the shower curtain back into place.
My teeth clenched together as I held back my grin. He was too charming, and it messed with my logical brain. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tipped my head back and rinsed out my conditioner, leaving my hair slick and shiny.
After drying off and pulling on clean clothes, I found Cole in the kitchen. He set milk and cheese beside a familiar carton of eggs.
“What are we cooking?” I asked.
“Whatever you want,” he said, cocking his head as he faced me.
“Looks like scrambled eggs to me. Let me cook for you guys. I want to be helpful.”
Holding his hands up, Cole stepped back. “I won’t complain.”
Sliding open the nearby drawers, I found a pan and a spatula. Cole provided butter from the fridge, and I got to work cooking scrambled eggs while Cole tossed frozen sausages into the microwave. As if we needed more sausages around here.
Reaching into the bag of cheese, I sprinkled some over the eggs and then went back for a pinch more to pop into my mouth.
“I saw that,” Cole said, leaning over me. “Looks good. Guess you’re not a bad cook. Not that Thorne will let you, if it’s up to him.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said, twisting to scowl at him. The move brought my neck closer to his face.
The moment he breathed in my scent, his pupils blew out and his lids drooped. “Fuck, you smell good.”
Unsure what to do, I froze. Cole ducked his head, running his nose over the crook of my neck and then up the side. Part of my brain was screaming at the contact, because this was Cole, not Thorne and not Sawyer. The rest of me was melting under the gentleness of his touch.
“You smell like him,” Cole murmured, and the words shook me out of my haze.
Straightening and facing forward, I focused on the eggs and tried to ignore him. A hand trailed lightly down my spine, and then he was gone, digging through the fridge to find juice.
Exhaling, I tried to shake off the encounter. I was rescued by Thorne. He trudged across the living room and sank onto one of the barstools, resting his chin in his hand.
“You look like hell. Hope you didn’t stay up all night messing around,” Cole said.
Thorne grunted, clearly not a morning person.
“Unfortunately not,” I said, flashing a flirty grin at my fated mate.
His gaze sharpened, and he sat up taller. “I can make up for that.”
“It’s breakfast time,” I replied, brandishing a spatula at him.
Grabbing plates off the shelf, I shoveled eggs into three portions. Cole added sausage and moved them to the far counter, sliding one in front of Thorne.
“Your little mate can cook,” Cole crooned, leaning his elbow on the counter and picking up a fork.
Walking around the counter, I slid into a seat beside Thorne and grabbed a fork, stabbing a bite of egg and popping it into my mouth.
It felt comfortingly domestic eating with the two of them, like I’d known them forever instead of just a few days. Having Thorne dick me down probably added to that familiarity.
“Alright, now that my mate is fed, I want some time with her,” Thorne announced.
“What?” I yelped as he scooped me up and carried me back toward the bedroom. My pulse sped up, and a flush crawled up my neck. “What are you doing?”
Grinning, Thorne deposited me on the bed. “We need time together.”
“We slept next to each other. I feel fine.”
“Not for the bond. I want to get to know you,” Thorne said, placing one knee on the bed. His eyes roamed over me. “Did you think I was bringing you back here to fuck you?”
Laughing awkwardly, I scooted back until I could lean against the headboard. “Yeah, that’s what it seemed like.”
“I’m happy to do that first, if you want to,” he said, crawling across the wide bed to reach me.
“That’s okay, I’m good,” I squeaked.
Laughing, Thorne dropped onto his back, one knee bent. “I loved hearing about your life when we went on our date, but we didn’t get much time. There’s so much I don’t know about you.”
Without thinking, my hand went to the top of his head, my fingers carding through his messy hair.
“Well, how about we make it a game?” I asked, unable to ignore the electricity dancing up my arm at our contact.
His rash actions had planted the idea in my mind, and as much as I wanted to talk about things, I also wanted him.
“What if we played truth or dare, except instead of random dares, you have to remove an item of clothing?”
Thorne tipped his chin up to look at my face. “Really?”
“Yeah. Here, you can go first, and I’ll take it easy on you. Did you go to college, and if so, what did you study?”
“That sounds like two questions,” he challenged, rolling over to his stomach. One of his arms wrapped around my thigh, his palm hot on my skin as he rested his cheek on the top of my leg.
“Are you going to answer, or do I get to see you shirtless again?”
His laughter was a huff of hot air across my thigh.
“Yes, I did go to college. Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources.”
“Oh, a science guy. Very impressive,” I said, smiling.
“What about you?” His fingers trailed over the inside of my thigh, tempting me to refuse to answer just so I could remove some of the clothing between us.
Exhaling, I admitted, “I did a bachelor’s in communications. Basic, but it seemed useful. I can’t say I’ve needed it, but who knows?”
“You’re excellent at communicating,” he said. “The speaking part, at least. Listening? Not so much.”
“Hey!” I jerked my knee, trying to knock him off me, but his grip tightened, holding me in place.
His smile widened into a genuine, pleasureful grin that had warmth curling in my stomach.
“Okay, so what are you planning on doing now that you’ve left your pack? Like a best-case scenario?”
Thorne resumed his gentle stroking of my skin. “Best-case scenario? Hunter becomes reasonable and we can go home. But I think we all know that isn’t going to happen. So I guess I’d like to form my own pack, somewhere with beautiful forests and mountains like here.”
“That sounds nice.”
He hummed his agreement.
“Well what do you want to do, what’s your dream career?” he asked. “If you even want to work,” he amended.