Page 52 of Pack Baines

Sure enough, we spend the rest of the night tucked away in my new nest, learning one another’s bodies, our likes and dislikes. I’m even blessed with little check-ins from the others, seeing their smiling faces and inhaling their individual scents, setting me at ease just as effectively as Geo does. I’m one happy fucking omega by the time I fall asleep, tangled all around my beta, inhaling soft hints of fresh air and sea salt.

***

“I have to go,” I laugh against Geo’s mouth, providing a poor attempt to actually separate from him, despite being in public.

Geo grins against my mouth, hugging me close to his body as he leans against his car, making absolutely no effort to release me despite the glaring fact that I have only a handful of short minutes to get to my first class.

Pulling me into another kiss that sears my very soul and does things to my nether region that I will be deeply embarrassed about later, Geo growls against my lips, and I damn near melt into a puddle, lost in our own little bubble.

A bubble that a bubblegum pixie pops with her very presence and unwavering spunk. “Oh, we’re into PDA. Love that for you and all, but damn, girl. You’re creating your own fog of perfume around you.”

“Fuck’s sake,” I snicker against Geo’s mouth, finally pulling away, but not before he gets one more kiss in. Still in the cradle of his arms, I turn and smirk at my apparent best friend and quip, “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company this morning?”

“I don’t need a reason to hang out with my bestie and her beefed-up beau,” she smarts, grinning as she flicks her pastel hair over her shoulder. It hangs in sheets of pretty colors down her backand over her shoulders today, the pink strands matching the pale-pink skater dress she wears with chunky black boots that would surely hurt like a bitch if she were to use them to kick a motherfucker.

“Bestie, huh?” Geo chuckles from behind me, finally standing and releasing me from his hold. “I thought we were your best friends, Firecracker.”

Rolling my eyes, I point at him and say, “Childhood besties.” Then I point at Silver. “Self-appointed bestie, I had no choice there.”

“It’s better that way,” Silver chimes in, and I can’t help but snort.

“I have to go, anyway. Stop distracting me, you big shit,” I grumble, turning to offer Geo one last lingering kiss before backing away quickly, stealing his opportunity to wrangle me back under his spell. “I’ll see you later.”

“Have a great day, baby,” he grins, winking before bending into the car to retrieve his gym bag and watches as Silver and I walk side by side into the building where our first classes are held.

“Sooo,” she drags not even five seconds into stepping into the building. “Who was that hunky beefcake and where can I find one?”

Just as I open my mouth to answer, I’m cut off by my mirror in man form, Munro jogging lightly to catch up with us. With a grumble that sounds grumpier than usual, he damn near snarls, “You need a lobotomy, more like. You don’t need a hunky beefcake.”

“You’re so right,” Silver sighs. “I need, like, five of them. So, who is he?”

Ignoring the glare Munro sends the pastel pixie beside me, lips twitching because it seems to me that a certain tatted beta is jealous, I answer, “That’s Geo. Childhood bestie turned… pack?”

“Are you asking or—?” Munro starts.

I shove him. “Why don’t you shut up?”

He laughs, the storm cloud above his head vanishing for a split second, before it comes right back and he glares at Silver as she laughs. Jesus Christ, I hope this shit doesn’t last. As amusing as it isto watch an oblivious Silver and a secret-crush-harboring Munro, being stuck in between the two will undoubtedly get old, and fast.

“So, you have a pack?” Silver interrupts, genuinely sounding interested.

Her question brings an immediate smile to my face, one Munro pulls a funny face at, and I shove him again while I answer. “Yeah, they’re mine. We were childhood friends and we got separated. I’ve just recently found them again.”

“Aww,” Silver practically swoons. “That’s something straight out of a romance book, Kitten. How do I get my own romance book?”

“Fucking hell,” Munro growls, right before he grips my leather jacket and drags me into our first class just in time, snapping over his shoulder, “Get to class, bubblegum princess.”

Silver simply rolls her eyes and shouts, “See you later, Kitten. See you never, grumpy guts.”

Then she’s gone and the door to class is shutting us in, and I’m forced to follow Munro to our seats in silence, watching him the entire time. He practically falls into his seat, shoulders dropping as he stretches out with an air of nonchalance I don’t buy.

Sitting beside him, I lean back in my chair and wait until our professor begins his lecture before I dutifully inform, “That wasn’t very live, laugh, love of you. Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?”

Munro sighs. “It’s nothing.”

“Sure, and Earth is flat and we’ve never gone to the moon,” I sass, smiling when he glares. When he turns to face the front again, likely to ignore me, I nudge him with my elbow and offer, “You can talk to me, you know? We’re practically the same person. If you can talk to anyone, it should be the female version of yourself.”

Munro snorts, and it draws the attention of our professor, and only when he looks away and continues on his spiel about different methods of photography, he quietly confesses, “The place my pack and I are staying at are selling and the new landlord isn’t taking on tenants. Within the next three months, we’ll behomeless, and there aren’t any places available to rent around here that don’t cost a kidney and maybe a limb. And then Silver…”

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