Page 11 of This Pack of Ours

He held out the flowers Adrian had picked, and she just stared at him for a second before her eyes lowered to the bouquet. She snatched it from his hands and turned, walking further inside.

She threw down the flowers on the table like they’d stung her.

“You can come in," she said, not really turning to us while she waved us into the kitchen.

She was sharp. Sharp scent, sharp voice, sharp curves on her slender body.

Ez caught Adrian’s eye and grinned, almost bouncing past him as he tried to follow her to the kitchen, impervious to the murderous vibes she was giving off.

Jhin yanked him back and stepped in smoothly with a vise-like grip on his arm, leading us toward her.

She muttered something about water before she left to set up.

She practically fled to the first door off the corridor, leaving behind an intoxicating smell of cherries.

“She’s giving off very mixed signals,” Adrian said, glancing worriedly at the flowers.

Jhin shrugged.

“This is very last minute. She’s probably stressed.”

Jhin thought that becausehewas stressed that it was last minute.

“I would be too if I opened the door to Vander’s ugly face,” Ez said, his mischievous eyes darting to me. Once, I’d have smacked him for saying something like that, and it’d often devolve from there until we were wrestling on the floor. It had been a long time since we’d done that, though, and instead I snorted.

“D’you think she’ll change her mind?” Adrian asked.

I wasn’t worried. I smelled her when she saw us. She was definitely interested, so it was a real asshole move to act so cold.

“Did she want us to follow her?” Adrian asked, looking uncertain.

“We’ll wait,” Jhin said.

A low whine came from the room that made all of us twitch toward it, followed by more perfume. Ez took half a step, then raised an eyebrow at Jhin.

“We’ll wait," he said again, letting a bit more force into it. Ez rocked on his feet.

How was she setting up? Had she shed the dress yet?

I was picturing her sitting up on a dark bed; the dress hanging loosely off her shoulders. Open at the front, baring her smooth skin, and her long legs tucked underneath her. My heart was racing, and I stifled a swallow as I imagined her moving, looking up at us with hooded, dark eyes, her thighs coated with slick as the dress fell from her frame?—

A slender hand wrapped around the doorframe, and her porcelain face came into view, expression pinched.

“Alpha,” she said, and instead of looking angry now, she looked concerned. As she stood there, her expression shifted into pain.

My instinct reared up, and I took a step toward her. Couldn’t let her be hurt. Even if just for this heat, she was ours. To care for. To protect.

I tamped down the urge. Violently.

Ez was at her side, though, his hand resting on her arm, steadying her, because of course he was.

For a moment, it worked. She looked up at him, and that sharpness was gone. But then it returned; her hand gripped Ez’s arm, tight, and the red spots on her face bloomed. Her sharp scent perfumed into the room, and she let out a small gasp, her knees buckling.

Ez caught her, Adrian by his side, and Jhin was hovering. I twitched forward, once again feeling the powerful urge to be close, to touch her, to help her.

“Nest," she hissed, her fingers digging into Ez’s arm hard enough they’d leave a mark.

Fuck, would she do that in bed? Images of her clawing my skin, fingers pulling my head back, tugging my hair as she mounted me, surged straight to my already rigid cock.

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