Page 7 of Vibing Unity

But I wasn’t going to just be easy for them either. I let out a bit of a huff and teleported up to Hudson’s bathroom. He raised an eyebrow at me, but I ignored him and started undressing. I left my clothes in a pile to collect later and throw in my hamper before strutting towards the shower… And closing the door in his face.

“Cold, shorty,” he chuckled.

I snorted. “Says the man who pulled away from my kisses andoutsourcedgiving me attention. I wanted to giveyouattention because today was awesome and it’s something huge handled. Fine, that’s fine.”

“I want my reward to be involved in this,” he tried.

I let it go because I heard the slight shake in his voice. They were all worried about my chemistry with Neldor after we caused a fucking earthquake having sex.

And we hadn’t had sex since like they had reason to be worried. More like I was a bit miffed that Neldor thought we just would, and—too much was going on.

Stefanie got hurt.

I had anuncle.

Finals.

Yeah, too much. I hadn’t even had sex much with anyone.

How did that happen when I had five men in my life?

A portal opened and Neldor came right through and started taking off his clothes. I simply snorted at his presumptive behavior. Fine, he’d gotten permission—or an invitation from Hudson—but it just felt off.

Maybe I was just raw.

Yeah, that was probably more it. I was… Part of me still heard him in my head saying being with me was easy.

I flinched when he joined me in the shower, my mind in the past.

“What’s going on, baby doll?” he asked without touching me, his breath warm on my neck. “I thought you were playing and being sassy. This feels like more.”

It did. “I don’t know. I’m just raw with everything going on.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Did I do something wrong?” he hedged. He sighed when I shook my head.

Hudson snorted. “Well, you’re not doing something right. Get the fuck out of my shower and away from my mate if you’regoing to sigh like she’s the problem. River thought something was up here, but I thought he was just jealous.”

“He is,” Neldor muttered, but not in an argumentative way, more just he didn’t want to ignore it.

“Get out,” he growled. “She’s covering herself.”

Shit, I was.

Actually, I was covering from both of them. The moment I realized that, I teleported to my bathroom and turned on my own shower. I put up a barrier so they couldn’t come into my room and took a long shower to think about what I was feeling. Something was going on with me and with them.

Then it hit me, and I felt… Petty? Childish?

I wasn’t sure, but it seemed valid, but also like—I felt a bit like a woman in a movie looking for a fight. When I realized that, I finished the shower and threw my hair up in a towel and put on my robe. Then I took down the barrier knowing they were both waiting outside of my room and walked right past them.

I went to my study and clicked on the custom-order light that Lucca had ordered that said “Time-Out: I’m Upset!” I cleared my throat when they both stared at me. “I just don’t know if I’m valid. I would like to talk to Julian before explaining. Please.”

They were quiet a moment before Neldor replied. “I think I want to know why him. Why are you talking to him about whatever is going on withusbefore—”

“He’s working the most on his communication with the therapist,” Hudson put together. “It’s not about you guys being mated, right?”

My head shot up and my eyes went wide. “No, not at all, beastie. I would never—” Relief hit me when he nodded. “I thought Katrina, but she has some fancy date with Taeral. Plus, she would meddle more and…” I licked my lips. “I might bebeing petty or taking this further than—making it more than it should be? I just want to check.”

“Okay, anything you need, shorty,” he agreed. “Can I have a kiss first?” He sucked in a harsh breath. “Okay, so it’s bad enough that you don’t want to have kisses right now.”

---