Page 45 of This Pack of Ours

"And you weren’t asleep because…?”

“You think I can sleep with four alphas in my house?” He didn’t need to know about the alarmed motion detectors. Or the baby monitor.

He was silent for a moment, but he didn’t look confused. Instead, he kind of looked like he felt bad for me.

A horrible thought struck me, and as I blinked, I realized I wasn’t wearing my contacts. Shit. Now heknewI’d been illegally hiding my eyes.

Perhaps he saw my expression change, because he twitched a bit.

“I’m sorry," his voice was soft. Pitying.

“Fuck off,” I snapped, opening my eyes to glare at him.

“You know… I’m not going to report you, right? I don’t care what colour your eyes are,” he said hesitantly. I sniffed.

He finished putting a dressing on his bite wound.

“Look, just don’t use my blankets.” I clutched the mass of fabric tighter to myself.

He raised his hands defensively.

“I have no idea how to tell if something is yours. Everything here smells like youandhim. It’s like you’re one person.”

“If it’s fluffy, it’s Kit’s.” I jabbed my finger at the pile of other blankets on the love seat. Literally every single other blanket there was fluffy.

Jerk. Had to pick mine.

My omega wanted me to scent mark them, but I doubted any of the Argo pack wanted to deal with my sour cherry spice anymore than they already had to.

He dragged the cushions off the love seat and set them on the floor, before taking one of Kit’s blankets and laying it on top. Then he turned off the light.

I lay there, listening to him breathing for a while.

“Adrian?” I whispered. Maybe he was asleep.

“Mm?”

I took a deep breath. “Don’t tell the others. Please. About… my eyes.”

“I won’t,” he replied. He sounded a bit nervous, too. “C-could you not tell anyone… about me hugging you like that?”

“Fine,” I said, but found myself smiling in the dark. I pulled my blanket around me and started drifting off.

“Juni?” I woke up to Kit’s whisper. I looked up, groggy, my head still pounding. He had opened the bedroom door and was hovering above me, looking at the couch in confusion. “You okay? I woke up, and you weren’t there." He bit his lip and climbed over the couch, snuggling in beside me. “And why is the couch here?”

“I had to rescue my blanket,” I mumbled, drifting off again.

ADRIAN

I’d half-woken to her scent, the gentle brush of her body against mine. The scent of cherries and almonds leached into everything around here. It was inescapable, and my dreams had been filled with omega bodies—mostly Kit’s but heavily featuring Juniper. In this dream, we’d convinced her that she was ours, too. In that moment, half-asleep, I’d been going on instinct alone. She’d been draped over me, her body soft and warm. My cheeks heated thinking about it.

And then I’d been jolted awake in a panic, her in my arms, every cell in me needing to protect, to keep her safe.

I could have gone my whole life without hearing an omega purr in terror. She’d sunk her teeth into my arm, and then there’d been that sickening crack as she’d hit the ground.

I looked at her sleeping face, a strand of dark hair stuck to her pink lip.

I didn’t blame her. I doubted there was any gold pack in the Gritch who would survive without those instincts.

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