Chapter 7 #2
“At least his incessant texting worked,” Connor said.
I set my pizza down on my plate. “It didn’t work. We’re not mated, or anywhere near that. She’s more likely to break things off when they get back on Monday than she is to agree to take off our fucking glasses.”
“You’re still wearing them,” Wyatt pointed out, gesturing to my face.
I tugged them off and tossed them aside. The crack of plastic told me I’d thrown them harder than I meant to. I didn’t have the energy to care.
Breaking them had an unanticipated consequence. All of the guys were now staring at me. Most of them with their eyes narrowed.
I wasn’t known for having a temper.
Enzo and Austin showed up, with dessert in tow. Double chocolate cookies Austin had made. Normally, I would’ve been drooling, but I was barely interested.
“Why did Maya send us over here?” Austin asked, as he and Enzo squeezed into the gap between Connor and Wyatt.
“I guess she thought none of you had the pleasure of eating worthwhile pizza recently. She’s like that about food.”
None of them looked convinced.
I didn’t sound convincing. My ability to sell bullshit had faded alongside my energy.
The front door opened, and we all turned as Finn waltzed in. The fucker wore a satisfied look on his face. He was definitely late because he’d been screwing his mate.
As a true testament to the pack’s collective sexual satisfaction, no one brought it up.
“What are we talking about?” Finn asked, plopping down between Nico and Graham with three slices of pizza stacked on top of each other like a fucking sandwich.
Maya would’ve either been truly horrified or truly fascinated. I itched to ask her which.
“We’re waiting for Ethan to tell us why Maya sent us over here,” Connor explained.
“I told you, she’s trying to educate you on pizza. Probably thinks you’re primitives.”
Austin grinned. “Maya doesn’t care what the rest of us eat. She probably thinks she’s spoiled you with good food.”
“She has spoiled me with good food.”
“We’ve got all night, and nowhere else to be,” Wyatt said, leaning back against the couch with his arms draped over the tops of the cushions.
“Most of us have never been away from our mates this long, either, so I’m sure we’ll be too lonely to go home in the morning,” Graham agreed.
“Speak for yourself. I’m not going home alone at all,” Connor said easily. “I’ll stay until Zoe’s back on Monday night.”
“Enzo and I can hole up in your spare room,” Austin put in. “It’ll be like a vacation for us.”
I mentally counted the number of days I’d have to hold out if I was going to keep it from all of them.
Friday night.
Saturday.
Sunday.
Most of the day Monday.
Fuck.
They had me, and they knew it. There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d be able to sit here for three full days with them just waiting for me to tell them.
I sighed heavily. “I should’ve fought Kai off when he showed up to drag me here.”
“You’re not small, but you can’t take Kai,” Finn said. “The number of bruises I’ve had from that fucker’s fists is legendary.”
“Let him dream. Something’s obviously going on,” Graham said, elbowing Finn in the abdomen.
“Just tell us, man. Get it over with. Nothing good comes from holding that shit in.” Wyatt advised.
I was tempted to make a joke of what he said, but I didn’t think that was going to get me out of the conversation.
So I leaned my head back instead. “Remember how you can lose your mind after getting rejected?”
“She better not have fucking rejected you,” Finn growled. “You’re obsessed with each other.”
“She didn’t. It’s been going on a lot longer than that.”
“What has?” Nico asked.
So, I told them.
All of it.
They asked—or growled—questions while I explained, but when the explanation was over, they were all dead silent.
“So, you’re hiding the extent of it from Maya too,” Wyatt said flatly.
“She doesn’t want to know. It wouldn’t change anything even if she did. She’d just feel bad.” I dragged a hand through my hair. It was already a mess. Matched the rest of me.
“I’m calling bullshit,” Graham leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. “You’re not telling her, because you’re scared.”
A bunch of the guys made noises of agreement.
“Of course I’m scared. I’m fucking terrified.
When she finds out how bad it is and refuses to be around me, it’s going to fucking kill me.
Not just because the wolf is going to take over completely, but because I’m really fucking in love with her,” I growled back.
“There’s no way any of this ends well for me.
I’m just trying to enjoy it while I can. ”
“You’re telling me that a woman who asked us all to come talk to you, and commanded us to get a certain kind of pizza for your sake, isn’t just as in love with you as you are with her?” Finn asked skeptically.
“She’s a snob for good food.”
“What’s the worst thing that can happen if you tell her?” Austin asked. “She breaks up with you for a few days, misses you, and asks you to come back? She’s obviously not going to reject you.”
“She can’t stand it when I lie to her, so yeah, she could reject me when she realizes I’ve hidden how bad it is. And she still doesn’t want to seal a bond, so what does it matter? I’m not going to manipulate her into anything.”
“Ethan will decide what to do about his mate.” Nico stood. “We’re on your side, regardless. I think what we all need right now is a nice, long pack run.”
I didn’t want to shift.
I was fucking scared I was going to get trapped in my wolf.
I guess all I could do was trust that he still thought I had a chance with Maya.
So, I agreed.
The rest of the guys did too, and we all headed out to shift.
The run didn’t necessarily bring me peace, but it did make me feel slightly more okay with whatever was coming for me.
And fuck, I hoped it was Maya.