Page 36 of This Pack of Ours

“So, like, if you hadn’t been sick, d’you think?—”

“Ezra,”Jhin barked, and I sat up straight, spine tingling.

Holy fuck.

I absolutely couldnotget hard in the middle of a date because of one stern reprimand. Luckily, no one seemed to notice.

“I’m justasking,” Ez said, but then looked a little guilty. “Sorry, yeah, probably wouldn’t have gone ahead if you’d been there.”

“Yeah,” I said, fiddling with the tablecloth and trying not to think too hard about it. Because Juni might have been faced with the choice of them, or sedation and shehatedsedation. Which means, it wouldn’t have been a choice really, and so I could have been there with them during her heat.

Fuck.

And what had she told me?

It was like a heat is supposed to be.

And shit, she’d also told me she’d shut Jhin up at the start by ripping open his pants and sucking his dick.

I grabbed my water and took a sip, almost spilling it down my front.

I looked up to see that Juniper was following Vander out onto the balcony.

Ez squeezed my shoulder.

“Aw, I’m really sorry, Kit.” He looked really worried as he met my eyes. “Didn’t mean to stress you out.”

“Don’t mind him. Ez’s mouth runs about twice as fast as his brain,” Adrian assured me.

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s fine,” I said, putting a smile back on my face. “We get that a lot. She’s really… you know.” My eyes found them on the balcony again, where Vander was actually talking to her. An idea occurred to me.

“So, when we were in the coffee shop, before Juni got mad and left… it was because I, um, told her I’d be okay with like, a dual bond.”

I glanced up at them nervously.

“Which I know was like, me assuming a lot without even knowing you guys,” I rambled, nerves getting the better of me. “I mean, I don’t even know if this is gonna work for sure, but I want it to, because you guys seem really nice, and Juniper even liked you, and Juniper doesn’t likeanyalphas.”

I paused and took a breath.

“And you guys like her too, right?”

“Duh,” said Ez. Jhin was looking at me intently, and Adrian’s gaze had wandered back to the balcony. Vander was heading back over, and I tried not to let his presence derail me.

“Okay. I just… I thought we could give her some time for this to settle. She said she didn’t want to just join us as an extra. So maybe you guys could like, not put any pressure on her, but just get to know her a little more, too? And if things go well, I could ask her again when everything isn’t so tense, because I think if she can trust that you guyslikeher, and not just as a, um, a pity bond, she might change her mind.”

“You would truly want that, Kit?” asked Jhin. I opened my mouth to tell them the truth; that I didn’t know how to do this without her, that’d I’d be devastated to leave her. But that was too much.

What if they thought I didn’t want them without her, and then she didn’t join us, anyway? Or what if they felt like theyhadto convince her and put way too much pressure on her?

“Yeah, she’s my best friend,” I said instead. “I think it’d be good. If you guys like her too, right?”

Vander sat back down and gave a derisive huff. Jhin shot him a disapproving look.

“You don’t feel upset… or jealous of that?” Jhin probed.

I shook my head.

“Nah, we haven’t had any omega spats since…” I stopped, turning pink, because I’d been about to tell them about the biting. “Um, when we first moved in together.”

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