Page 90 of Shaped By Discovery

My eyes fall to where she lies on the bed. My room might fit all of us, but unfortunately, the same can’t be said for my bed. It’s big, but so are we, and right now, it appears to be at its limit. Serena lies in the center, sandwiched between Sol and Storm, with Pike draped over their legs, and I’ll be damned if they don’t look cozy. However, I have a feeling the twins' legs will be numb from Pike laying on them when they wake up.

It’s funny how they gravitate to her even without their bond in place. The pull to her is so strong that even without it, they’re goners. I’ve been there.

When they returned, Pike had been on the ground just like the rest of us. We’d fought and argued about who got to sleep in the bed, and in the end, she decided none of us deserved it. She doesn’t give a shit that we’re twice her size and probably double her strength. She couldn’t care less that we’re alpha predators or even that I’m the prince and this is my room.

Serena’s never given a shit about any of that, and I’m not really surprised she shut us down after we argued like children for over an hour. However, her tone seems to have changed with Storm being back. Arguing might keep us out of the bed, but it looks like we also might be able to earn our way into it. Either like Sol did by taking her to Storm or even just slipping in later like Pike, though I think his wolf gets him extra points. He has the whole adorable puppy shit he can use to his advantage. I can’t exactly shift and cuddle her. I would take out most of this tower if I tried. I’ve done it, and it’s not pretty.

“You need a bigger bed.”

I whip around to find Blair sitting at the table near my bookshelf, his gaze trained on a book that rests open on the table.

How someone so big can be so quiet is beyond me. He needs a damn bell.

“Yeah, somehow, I still don’t think that will solve our problem,” I tell him after swallowing my initial panic.

He doesn’t look up, but I swear I see the corner of his mouth kick up just the slightest bit.

“He’ll come around… eventually,” he says, and I don’t need to ask who he’s referring to.

Lyle.

None of the guys had been very fond of me at first, but Lyle seems to hate me a little bit extra. Blair seemed mostly indifferent, more worried about Serena than his own jealousy. The twins were also a little hesitant initially, but I think they're warming up to me now. And Pike, well, I’m not so sure about Pike, if I’m being honest. He usually seems okay with me, but I don’t know for sure. More often than not, he seems happy by default.

“No. I won’t,” Lyle says as he pushes into my room, clearly having overheard Blair. He carries a large tray full of different breakfast foods, from pancakes to eggs and everything in between. It’s far more than the kitchen usually makes, and I wonder if that’s my mother’s doing or his.

I can picture him down there bullying them into making a million different things. Not that I wouldn’t want the same for Serena, but I probably would have done it nicer.

“Shhhh,” Pike hisses from the bed, sounding like a snake and being arguably louder than we are. “Rena needs sleep.” He cracks an eye open and looks toward one of the windows before his face scrunches up in disgust.

“Isn’t it too early for you guys to be arguing already? Don’t you have literally anything else to do?” he asks, rolling back over before we can answer.

Blair huffs a laugh but doesn’t say anything, but one look at Lyle lets me know he won’t be as quiet. He never is.

“The only reason you don’t want to wake her is because you don’t want to get up,” Lyle says, rolling his eyes so hard it’s a wonder they go back into place.

Pike turns back around so fast that his hair smacks him in the face, leaving him with a mouthful of it.

“Bullshit!” he shouts, spitting out hair before throwing it up in a lopsided bun with a huff, clearly irritated with it. “Don’t try and act like you're the only one who gets to care. You want to crawl up her ass and keep her all to yourself, but you can’t, and it’s eating you up inside, isn’t it?”

I’d thought he was joking, but when he springs off the bed and stalks toward Lyle, his face is so deadly serious that he almost seems like a different person.

“Watch it, Pike,” Lyle warns, his voice low but no less harsh as he watches his approach, unmoving.

I look between them like I’m watching a game of tennis, going back and forth before the sound of a chair scraping on the ground pulls all of our attention to Blair. He stands behind the table he’s been at since I woke. Unlike before, his attention is no longer on the book. I expect him to intervene, but his focus isn’t on them. Instead, he looks toward the bed.

It only takes me a second to catch on, but it feels like a second too long when I look over and spot Serena waking. She sits, pulling herself up high on the bed to rest against the headboard, before lifting her arms and stretching with a yawn. Her hair is a mess of blue strands, and she swims in my shirt. But by the gods, I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful as her.

It feels like my heart skips a beat watching her, here in my bed, in my shirt, alive and home, with me. I don’t give a damn who I have to share her with. A million years with Lyle hating me seems like an easy price. Hell, I can’t think of a single thing that wouldn’t be worth it. Not after all these years, not after watching her lie unconscious for five days.

“How are you feeling, Little Rabbit?” Blair asks, pulling me from my thoughts. I blink and find him already standing near the bed.

I wonder if he would kill me if I suggested a bell. Something tells me he enjoys his ability to move around undetected too much to allow it.

“I’d be better if I didn’t have to wake up to more arguing,” Serena says sweetly, smiling up at him before glaring at Pike and Lyle. I swear, even in his human form, Pike looks like a sad puppy. His shoulders sag, and he looks down at the floor. On the other hand, Lyle stares back at her without even a hint of remorse.

“If there wasn’t arguing, would you even believe it was us?” Storm asks from beside her, his voice muffled, half buried in the pillows still. He lifts his arm, draping it across her waist before pulling her toward him and burying his face into her side.

A smile pulls at Serena’s lips, and I watch as she tries and fails to keep a straight face.

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