Page 89 of Reclaiming Home

“Last night went okay after Brodie returned to you?” he asked, expression shrewd as hell.

“No, it didn’t. It turns out I got jealous,” I admitted with a shrug. “We talked it out. It wasn’t rational.”

“Matters of the heart rarely are.” His tone and expression suggested he was talking from experience.

“I’m fine. We’re fine. All of us, I mean.” I smiled.

“If that changes, let me know. Maybe I shouldn’t feed from Brodie anymore.” He tilted his head, watching my expression. “It was the feeding, wasn’t it?”

I snorted, amused. “Yeah. I didn’t expect it to be an issue but apparently it really was.”

“I get that.” Then he seemed worried. “You do know there’s nothing like that between—”

I lifted my hand to stop him. “I know. It’s okay. If I feel bad at any point, I’ll let you know, I promise.”

A different kind of vulnerability entered his gaze. “And the D/s?”

I immediately shook my head. “No, no. That’s totally fine. That I can understand. I’ve had nonsexual scenes before. My logical brain can logic it.” I grinned. “It’s the stuff I couldn’t understand before I saw the after effect.”

He grinned. “I’m going to assume you’ve never donated blood, then.”

“No. Well, except for the medical kind of donating for other humans.”

“If you ever want to—”

“No. I think I’m fine. Let’s just say that there’s no inter-pack feeding unless someone volunteers. Holden maybe.”

And there it was. His name made Rian blink rapidly a couple of times, as if that was the only reaction he couldn’t hide fast enough.

“Yeah, I guess we’ll see,” he said dismissively.

“You wanna talk about it?” I asked.

When he looked at me again, he shook his head minutely. “No. But thanks. If that changes….”

“Hey Kye? Can you come in, too?” Carys called out.

“Duty calls.” I got to my feet, then went and gave Rian a sideways hug.

“I’m going to go shop for expensive electronics,” he announced, making me laugh.

“Alrighty. See you later.”

Acouple of days later, Alpha Ramirez’s baby was well enough that Holden took the afternoon off work to go with Brodie. Since Holden had run with their pack before, it was apparently polite to go make friends and allies with the Ramirez pack. I stayed home, wanting to host Alpha Ramirez and her immediate family and enforcer beta—much like Holden was for Brodie—at a later date, given today went well.

Ben, too, was off work, and about an hour after Brodie left to meet Holden in town to continue to their visit, Ben and Max decided to do a perimeter check.

What made it extra fun was that they shifted to do it. I assumed there would be much frolicking in the woods during this “perimeter check,” but chose not to embarrass Max. Ben wouldn’t have minded the teasing, but his brother was more sensitive, and I didn’t want to hurt him.

They dashed out of the house and ran toward the path, nipping at each other like puppies.

Chuckling, I closed the door behind them and went to read on the couch.

All of our fireplaces were now in working order, and the warmth was welcome already, let alone later when actual winter arrived.

Rian was upstairs, but Carys joined me, halfway dozing off in the other corner of the couch with her feet on my lap. She was still tired from the therapy session, which had taken a lot out of her even though it had been mostly positive.

She and Max were going to study together, and her therapist was supportive and very happy with their support system in general. Max was even considering therapy after talking to her and seeing that therapists weren’t scary, especially if you found the right one.

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