Page 36 of How to Rescue Your Surprise Baby

Instead of scoffing at Telos’ love for dinosaurs like he usually did, Mav nodded, breathing in. “Okay.”

Telos squinted at him. “You’re being suspiciously nice.”

“I need some time to think about this.”

“And then what?”

“I don’t know.” Mav sighed, scrubbing his face. “How long were you—?”

“I’m not telling you that.” Telos barely managed to clamp down on his pulse.

“Look, I’m—I’m sorry. About everything.” Mav looked down, his shoulders drooping. “Give me time.”

He looked truly sorry. Telos’ heart tugged.

He wasn’t supposed to feelmorefor Mav.

“We don’t have time for this,” Telos said, turning away so his heart wouldn’t betray him again. “We’re on a mission.”

“Yeah.” Mav released his arm and wandered off. Then he approached Telos again, stuffing something into his hand. “I’ll see where Crush and Duke have gone.”

He slipped out of their room. When Telos looked down, he found Mav’s old, crusty shirt in his hand.

He was so surprised that he almost dropped it.What the hell is happening?Why had Mav... willingly given Telos his shirt?

Telos watched the door, half-expecting Mav to come barging back in. But Mav didn’t.

He pulled on the rest of his clothes. Then he pressed Mav’s shirt to his face, sniffed it deeply, and stuffed it into his bag, under a pile of his own clothes.

Telos left the room, back straight, shoulders up, like nothing earth-shattering had just happened.

Mav was with Ace and Raptor in one corner of the suite’s shared living room, scrolling through something on his phone. The brothers looked up when they heard Telos, their grins wide and shit-eating.

Telos froze. He’d completely forgotten about their teammates earlier. Just how much of the fucking had they heard? Were they going to judge him for being on the bottom?

He scrubbed his face and swallowed his groan. He was an alpha. He could do this.

“You’re finally out and decent,” Ace said good-naturedly, his eyes flashing dragon-red. “That was... quite the show.”

Telos scowled and lifted a shoulder. “Just scratching an itch.”

“Yeah, one you had to scratch immediately,” Raptor drawled, giving Ace a fist bump. “You couldn’t even wait to do the debrief first.”

Mav looked up and met his eyes. Telos tore his gaze away, but he couldn’t stop the blush from crawling up his neck.

“Duke got so tired of waiting for mission updates, he and Crush went out for some food,” Ace added with a laugh.

Telos winced and pulled out his phone. “I’ll tell them I’m ready. Until then, I need some father-daughter bonding time.”

“I’ve already messaged them,” Mav said.

Telos fumbled with his phone. “Well, good.” He turned abruptly and headed for the small dining area, frowning when Raptor wolf-whistled.

Mav punched Raptor in the shoulder, hard enough that Raptor stopped immediately.

“Ow,” Raptor grumbled.

“Shut it,” Mav growled. Then he sneaked a look at Telos, like he wasseeking Telos’ approval.

---