Page 148 of Sunshine

“I hope you’re okay with this bond the next time I flip out about something.” I frowned, remembering the downside of them being able to know what I was feeling.

“Of course we are.” Logan rolled over. “I’m going to make us some food.”

“It won’t be any worse than when I’m on a call.” Julian pushed some hair out of my face. “And the intensity of the emotion gets easier to block out when you need to, like how you’re not constantly thinking about how bright the sunlight is.”

We got out of bed, dressed, and stumbled into the kitchen. The waffle batter was beyond help, so we decided on a massive breakfast of bacon, toast, eggs, hashbrowns, and a fruit salad.

I kept wanting to pinch myself, I was so happy. So deliriously happy. Julian kept himself glued by my side, and I loved feeling how much joy and comfort he took from touching me.

Any doubts I had about being “just a beta” were gone.

After we finished breakfast, we settled onto the couch.

“Chill time?” Julian looked at me. “We could watch cooking shows and let Logan judge the contestants.”

“That sounds perfect.” I was exhausted, but in a good way, and I was sure Julian felt the same. He pulled the blanket off the side of the couch, and the scent of our sexy times from the day before rose around me, potent.

I shivered, telling myself we needed a break. I was a little bit sore from taking Logan’s knot, but it was so deeply satisfying I didn’t care.

I picked up my phone, decided to text my family more details, and my stomach sank.

I had twenty missed text messages from Talia, and four missed calls.

Julian looked over my shoulder. “Whoa.”

Dread deflated some of my joy as I scrolled through the messages. She texted me late in the afternoon after I’d told Holly I’d been bonded, asking if we could hang out again after work. She mentioned bringing baking supplies over and we could experiment with cupcake flavors. An hour after that, another text about bringing food over. By the third and fourth one, it was a long rant about how she really needed me.

It devolved from there. She kept texting me, saying I was obviously ignoring her, and she was sorry about being friends with Becca, but that didn’t mean it was okay to ignore her now.

Julian was shamelessly reading over my shoulder, and I let him. Logan and Luca had gone silent.

I felt guilty for being upset so early into the bond, but all I got them was concern and support. They weren’t secretly upset, or disgusted. They wanted me to be happy and didn’t like it when I was upset.

I sighed and put my phone down. The end of the text message string was Talia telling me she stopped by my cottage, and when she saw I wasn’t home, she assumed I was at Pack Kahele’s house, and she hoped I was having a good time. Since I was clearly busy, I could call her whenever.

I put my head on Julian’s shoulder. This was going to be a Thing.

“Somehow,” Julian said quietly, “I doubt she’s gonna calm down if you tell her the reason why you were out of contact for eight whole hours is because you were bonding your new pack.”

I made a noise and rubbed my face against Julian’s chest. He was ridiculously comforting. Luca sat down on my other side, and Logan hovered.

“You’re not wrong,” I said.

It didn’t happen often, but there had been a few times over the years Talia was extremely upset about something and if I couldn’t drop everything to console her, she was very hurt.

“She’s going to be really happy for me, but also still hurt I wasn’t there.”

“Is she though?” Logan frowned. “She’s going be even more hurt that you’ve got a pack now and she doesn’t.”

I winced. I wanted to say for sure, yes, she would be happy for me, but lately things had been confusing between us.

“Is it bad of me to want to pretend that I didn’t check my phone?” I groaned. “I’m so perfectly happy right now.”

“That’s not bad.” Luca kissed my cheek. “I’ve kidnapped you back to my lair, and I’m not letting you go.”

“Talia will probably stop by my job. I might as well tell her why I’m going to be home all day.”

Getting the best sex of my life, I silently added.

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