Page 178 of Harley & Her Ferals

Laurent knows ballet and ballroom dancing (and has proved in many sexy ways how flexible he is). But he’s never danced in a club to modern music before.

He looks adorably flustered and bewildered by the moves that River is showing him.

Feral and I are curled together on the end of the bed.

I’m wearing the kitten pajamas that Harbinger chose to tease me. It helps me to feel connected to him. My feet are warm in the cozy socks.

Feral is watching the two men with half-hooded eyes like he’s half considering hunting and then pouncing on them.

They both bring out his primal play side.

At the moment, however, I’m holding Feral back because River seems so genuinely relaxed and happy as he opens up about his past in a way that he rarely does.

It makes a bubbling joy rise through the bond.

I rest my head contentedly on Feral’s shoulder.

I wish that this moment could go on forever and this night would never end.

Only, I know that it will have to.

“There are loads of festivals in spring. All members of the packs attend together. Everyone celebrates as equals. There’s music, dancing, and everybody dresses up in beautiful costumes.” River’s face is expressive. His gestures become even more dramatic. “Ah, and the food! The gelato the same flavor as my bella! The pistachios are heaven in a nut.”

Laurent arches his brow. “Then how can we miss that? I’ll be expecting a delicious Sicilian dinner. And dessert, of course. What monster doesn’t order dessert? It’s a date.”

River stumbles like he’d been lost in his dream and hadn’t expected Laurent to join in or act as if it was possible that not only would we succeed in making it Above, but that we’d go on real dates.

He looks uncertain.

“Our plan is going to work,” Laurent insists.

River pulls Laurent into a faster dance. “Then it’s a date with all of you.”

“I w-want gelato.” Feral licks down my neck. I shiver, when his tongue teases around my sensitive bond bite. “Chocolate chip ice cream like my Omega.”

My inner Omega glows.

My Alpha wants to eat me, and not in the way that he does, which makes me shake, convulse, and come multiple times becausefuck, Feral’s tongue is as strong as the rest of him.

Plus, is ruthlessly relentless.

Laurent discovered the same thing, when he woke up this morning.

Afterward, Laurent lay on his back, panting and staring unseeingly like Feral’s tongue, rather than pistachios, was heaven.

“I’ll be honored to give you your first ice cream, mio re.” River glances over his shoulder at Feral and me, as he slips his arms around Laurent’s shoulders. “I miss proper Italian food. Sometimes Lion would have pizza delivered, when he was working late, or when he was younger and had high up Alphas from other packs around for sleepovers. I was only allowed to do the chores, however, while they had fun. I could tell Lion didn’t even like the other Alphas. It was simply a way to network. Still, he’d save me some cold pizza. Lion is brilliant, see?”

My expression tightens. I struggle not to say anything.

By the Battles’ standards, Lionzio has treated River better than a ward should be treated.

Lionzio refused to punish River. He turned a blind eye to his breaking the rules. He gave him a workshop, cold pizza, and access to more property than most Companions are allowed to own.

Yet River is the man who I love.

Could I have been happy to eat hot meals, while only giving River cold scraps afterward?

On the other hand, I haven’t been broken in the Discipline Cells. I wasn’t forcibly adopted into a mob family.

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