Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Louis
I was insanely jealous and fucking pissed at Syke.
Not that I had any right to either of those feelings, but it was the truth.
I lay awake all night, staring at my ceiling, imagining what Hailey and Eric were doing at Syke’s apartment and getting hard at the thought.
I cursed myself—and Syke—then jerked off.
Rinse and repeat.
Now I was overtired and grumpy, and I still had to get out of my bunk at the center and go to work. I’d have to look at Syke’s smug face and smell Hailey on his skin and probably Eric too.
They were mine.
But they weren’t.
Groaning, I climbed from the bed and stumbled to the shower. I needed to clock in for the day, make some breakfast for the guys, and stare at the elevator doors until Hailey appeared.
Ilyas did the overnight shift on the phones, so he’d head to bed after breakfast until lunchtime, and we’d all start again. Syke had negotiated to take tonight’s hotline shift to get last night off to debauch Hailey, so at least I wouldn’t have to pull an all-nighter while I was this exhausted.
Climbing from the shower, I put my uniform on and headed to the kitchen. I tried to cook breakfast every morning because it was usually the quietest time to sit down and eat, and a big meal would sustain everyone through the rest of the day if things got busy and we couldn’t stop for lunch.
I was sautéing mushrooms for Otis when Syke appeared in the common room. He looked perfectly put together, and I was a little happy that he didn’t smell like Hailey. Maybe she hadn’t gone over there last night.
Judging from the slight curl of his lips, though, I wouldn’t bet on it. “Morning, Louie.” He sat at the table, and maybe I slammed the pan down a little too hard, because he raised an eyebrow. “Rough night?”
I glared at him. “Probably not as good as yours.”
He grinned widely, and I wanted to punch him in his slightly pointed teeth. “Undoubtedly not as good as mine.”
I clenched my jaw. I had no right to feel this possessive. They weren’t mine. It was jealousy, that was it. I didn’t own them. They didn’t even know I wanted them. I was being unfair… but I didn’t care.
They might not have been mine, but they shouldn’t have been Syke’s either. “Don’t talk about them like that.”
Syke frowned. “Like what? Look, Louis, I am basically feeding from the negative feelings you’re throwing at me like a buffet, so unless you want to tell me what’s wrong, I’m not going to sit here while you make passive aggressive comments that make no sense.”
I tossed the spatula down. “They are mine.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Hailey and Eric?” I nodded. “Uh, do they know that?”
I shook my head, because how could they know that?
I hadn’t even admitted it to myself until just now.
“They feel like mine. My wolf feels like…” I trailed off with a grunt, because how did I explain this to a demon or to anyone, really?
“It feels almost like my wolf has made them pack since we nursed Eric back to health, and I became responsible for keeping Hailey safe every night. I feel like their alpha, except they aren’t wolves, aren’t pack, and don’t even want me. ”
Syke frowned. “They definitely want you.”
“What?” I moved the pan from the heat before I burned the mushrooms.
“They want you. The desire that wafts off them when you’re near is enough to make me wonder if I’m part incubus, because it’s delicious.”
I flushed. Sometimes I could smell their lust too, but they’d also been dancing around their own relationship for the last two weeks, so I assumed it was the desire they felt for each other.
“There’s a lot of difference between wanting to fuck me and wanting to tie themselves to me forever as some kind of pack.”
“Why?” Syke asked lightly.
“Why what?” I cracked eggs on the cast iron pan.
“Why do you want them to be pack? Is it because you think they are hot, or because you think they are weaker than you and therefore they need your protection?”
Frowning at the eggs, I sighed. “No, though I do feel protective of them. Something about them just fits, you know? Hailey is so giving, her heart is so big, and she’s so light despite all the things she’s been through in her life, and she is stubborn, and funny, though I don’t think she realizes it.
She’s also nurturing, even though I don’t think she realizes that either.
And Eric, he fights his instincts every day to be better for her.
He loves her but takes everything at her pace because he is a good mate.
He’s kind, which must have been such a disadvantage in his clan.
Together, they scream pack at every instinct I have, but they are only just finding their feet, and I can’t force another bond on them. ”
“Maybe you should tell them that. Oh, wait, you already did.” Syke grinned, and I felt my heart drop to my balls, because he’d been masking their presence with his magic.
Fuck. They heard all that. “I invited them to breakfast before work,” Syke shared, a smirk on his face.
I turned slowly, and Hailey and Eric stood in the doorway to the common room.
Fuck.
I looked at Syke, and I was pretty sure my eyes promised death. “Uh, morning? Do you, uh, want some breakfast?”
I sounded so unsure of myself, and my wolf growled inside my head.
He wanted me to get it together, but he didn’t understand.
There weren’t really many mixed species packs in the world, even now.
Despite the way humans had reacted to our existence, there was just as much bigotry in the creature world.
My eyes ran over them, ensuring they were safe. There was a small love bite on Hailey’s chest, and a much bigger one on Eric’s neck, barely hidden by the collar of his button up.
Hailey opened and closed her mouth a few times, and Eric squeezed her hip where his hand rested. “Breakfast sounds good,” he answered for them both, nudging her in. I wanted to crawl into a hole.
I made them both a plate first, taking it from Syke’s portion because he was a fucking asshole.
I glared at him behind their backs, and the bastard just smiled at me.
Otis appeared, and any conversation about packs and desires vanished.
He looked at Hailey and Eric, his eyes clocking the love bites the way mine had, and he shot a look at Syke. He seemed wildly unapologetic.
Sighing heavily, he sat at the table across from Syke. “I got an email from the archdemon’s office. They’d like to come by today to discuss a matter with you,” he told Syke.
The demon just rolled his eyes. “Good thing we didn’t waste any time. Does no one have anything better to do than track down that piece of shit?” he grumbled, stabbing his eggs.
On that, we had to agree. This was bullshit.
Ilyas appeared, patting me on the shoulder when I handed him his plate. At least it had been a quiet night by way of calls. It was a waxing crescent moon, and that always helped. It wasn’t a particularly magical phase of the lunar cycle for creatures.
Otis muttered his agreement to Syke’s words, and I finally made my own plate and sat at the table.
I couldn’t look at Hailey or Eric. I was embarrassed, and I was a little worried that if I met their eyes, they’d see the truth—that I meant every word.
We’d have to talk about it eventually, but there was time.
If I had my way, there’d be eternity. We’d get Syke through this trial with the arches first, and then I’d work on a way to convince them that they belonged with me forever.