Page 61 of This Pack of Ours

Adrian shushed us.

Ez didn’t seem to be worried about my scent at all, and I found myself relaxing after several minutes. Kit and I usually watched movies together, so it felt normal, even though we usually cuddled a lot more.

Ez didn’t seem to be able to sit still, and every time he shifted, I was reminded of how close he was. He’d grabbed one of the popcorn bowls and took to handing me and Kit handfuls every once in a while. He finished it astonishingly fast.

We were nearing the middle of the movie when he gave a big yawn, resting his arms on the couch behind him. The couch was old and sagged in the middle, which meant I was falling into him a little.

I watched as his hand came to rest smoothly on Kit’s shoulder, slowly guiding Kit toward him until he had Kit’s head on his chest. Kit gave a happy little sigh, turning so his hand was resting on Ez’s chest, too. I fought down a bitter stab of jealousy, turning back to look at the screen where Rook Harrison’s character was finally taking his shirt off.

Huh. That usually happened a lot sooner. They’d hear about that from the critics.

I was distracted, wondering how much makeup they’d had to use to cover Rook’s new chest tattoo, when I felt a brush against my shoulder. I glanced up to spot a very sneaky Ez with his tongue partly sticking out of the side of his mouth, his other arm on my shoulder. As our eyes met, he abandoned all subtlety and just tugged me over so my head was next to Kit’s on his chest.

Kit glanced up at me and rolled his eyes, but before I could pull away his hand interlaced with mine. He turned back to the movie, and I knew I should probably leave, but really it felt so nice, especially as a faint purr started in Ez’s chest beneath us.

I swallowed thickly.

He’d only started purring when both of us were there, even though he knew I was gold pack now. Like he truly wanted to have both of us here with him.

None of us moved as the credits rolled, and then Adrian stood up and stretched, grabbing the remote and turning the TV off. He switched on the lamp beside him and it was only when he looked at us that I stood quickly. I ducked away from Ez and Kit, my face burning as his gaze landed on us. I tried to make the movement casual, like it was normal to cuddle with your friends during a movie. I mean, me and Kit did it all the time.

Ez yawned again.

“That was the best movie ever,” he announced, his hand still on Kit’s shoulder. Me and Kit often finished movies curled up like that.

Kit lifted his head with a smile, and his hand wound through Ez’s hair as he pulled him in for a kiss.

I abruptly turned and headed for the bathroom, a sickening wave of bitterness lingering as the image stuck in my mind.

ELEVEN

JUNIPER

I’d snuck out once most of the pack were asleep, starting the car and driving over to the Safe House. I’d texted Luna so she knew I was coming. She’d only started working for us this year, but she was really dedicated.

“Hey, boss,” she said, opening the door. She always looked great, her black curls sleek and shiny, and her makeup immaculate. “Thought you were sick today?”

“I was the victim of alpha overprotectiveness,” I said, stepping past her into the building. My head was still throbbing a little bit. “How’s everything here?”

Luna shrugged. “Two omegas. One has a heat buddy in there, so she’s good. We had one more who wanted proper sedation, so we shipped her out.”

Sedation was risky.

We had the setup for it here, but our policy was to safely move them into a heat clinic spot as soon as we could. Sometimes, the omegas didn’t want that, and wanted us to manage them the whole time. There were ways of shortening a heat, but that was particularly dangerous, especially since we weren’t medical professionals.

Despite me explaining all this to the omegas that came through here, we’d had a couple of cases we’d had to send to the ER.

I knew what we needed to make it better. We needed more drivers than Daisy’s pack dads. We needed safe, clean drugs. We needed to be able to medically train all our Safe House hosts, so they knew what they could manage and what was an emergency. I had a document on my laptop that was a vision of everything we would need. I should have deleted it and replaced it with one that outlined how much we could cut and still operate safely.

I dropped off the contacts into the Safe House stash and flipped through some emails, my mood souring.

“So, is it true that Kit’s new pack is living with you guys?” Luna asked, taking the seat beside me. Her blue eyes were sparkling with curiosity.

“No,” I said flatly. “They’re just staying over because their place got flooded, and Kit is way too nice.”

“Oh, I knew Kit would be happy to have them. It’s the fact you agreed that had me shook.”

I shrugged.

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