“Thank you for getting Clover home safe. I know that we’ve been leaving you all a lot lately. We appreciate you putting your life on hold so that we can start ours.” Thank fuck for Mick showing up. He always knows how to say things. He makes it seem so pretty.
Jean nods his head and it’s enough of a dismissal that we all head upstairs to see Clover.
The door to her room is closed. Her scent is even thicker now that getting closer to her space. It is making my already hard dick painful. My cock is sticky as it makes a mess of my boxers.
I want to be holding Clover in my arms, kissing those sweet lips of hers. Feeling her curl up against me. The way her little nose rubs against my throat to scent me.
Fuck.
McKinley was right about how she was perfect for us. I bet he would be absolutely insufferable about how he was right.
He’d get away with it too if the Omega stayed.
Vaughn reaches around me, knocking on the door.
“I can smell you. Come in, please.” Her voice sounds sleepy like she was just about to go to bed and we caught her drifting off..
When Vaughn pushes the door open, she is laying on the couch. She is in Apollo’s hoodie, the Otter’s logo across her chest with his number on the sleeve. Her head is on he arm as she lounges like the goddess she is.
Clover sits up, smiling at us when we come inside her space. Her eyes slightly hooded and her scent perfuming wildly.
Oh shit.
We were absolutely out of our depth with this one.
Mama Joy whispers something to her before she gives her a hug and starts walking towards us at the door. She grabs me.
Me.
As if I’m the adult in this situation and drags me into the hallway. I do not like to be away from Clover. Especially when she is smelling like she is now. Mama Joy must know that.
“Griffin, I need you to listen to me. I need you to look at me and hear what I’m saying.”
Oh shit.
This is a serious conversation and I have a boner.
Not my best showing.
“Clover needs you to lead as Alpha. McKinley won’t have the bark or purr to control her. Vaughn is still dealing with everything from his family and can’t guide her like she needs. Apollo isn’t here right now to take the lead and if he was I’m not sure he would come from a place that wasn’t pure emotion.” She is looking at me like I’m an Alpha.
I mean, I am an Alpha. I just haven’t ever had someone look at me like I was the one to make things better. I’m not pack lead material. To be the one who needs to lead now is giving me hives.
Mama Joy is waiting for me to reply.
“I care about Clover.” Licking my lips, I try to find the words that need to come out, “I’ll do whatever I can to make things easier for her. Is she lucid enough to consent to things? Or should we just treat it like she needs care?”
My heart is beating a million times a minute.
A nod of approval makes me finally take in a breath. I hadn’t realized that I hadn’t been breathing before that moment.
“I’d wait until tomorrow for her to consent. She’s been touch starved most of her life. You can do skin on skin contact and some light touches. She wants to feel you all. Just don’t go too far. If you care about her, really care about her, you’ll know the limits.”
Is this a test? It feels like this is some sort of test? And I hate it.
Of course I care about Clover.
Am I really that much of a fuck boy that people think I can’t have real feelings about someone? That doesn’t make me feel great.