Page 81 of This Pack of Ours

“Hi,” I said, peering up at him.

His face was still red as he shot a death glare at Ez. “I can totally kick his ass if you want me to,” he muttered, but he didn’t move away, his eyes roaming over my face. I could see the muscles in his arms, taut where he was steadying himself, and thought back to the other day when he’d rolled up his shirt sleeves to show more of his tanned skin. I wanted it off, I wanted to see the expanse of his chest, trace my fingers down his abs…

“You‘re really pretty,” he blurted out, and I could practically feel the heat radiating from him. “Or like—handsome?—”

“Either’s fine,” I said, giving him a smile. God, he was too sweet. “Thanks for helping set this up for me.”

“Course,” he said, the blush creeping to his neck.

I pushed myself up a bit more, bringing our faces closer, and he leaned toward me?—

“Time’s up!” said Ez gleefully, popping up by our side. “Should have really taken the chance…”

He laughed as his face was shoved aside by Adrian, who pressed down for a kiss. It was a gentle kiss, sweet and brief. Almost shy. Then he pulled up, tugging Ez away with him.

“Come on, let’s give him some time to settle in.”

“Aw,” Ez whined as Adrian tugged him away. “This is the thanks I get for being an awesome wingman?”

They left me alone, with nothing to distract myself from the lack of Juni. Or the buzzing horniness their brief kisses had left me with.

Adrian was clearly better at reading the room than Ez was, but honestly, I wished they’d both come back and just fuck my brains out.

I sighed and looked around again. I walked up to the closet and opened the door, tugging out one of Juni’s old shirts from the bottom before hurrying over and shoving it under a pillow in my nest. I curled up on top of the familiar smell of sour cherry and spice.

I wasn’t ready to let her go yet.

* * *

Juniper had come out from the spare room, her headphones in. I’d been hoping to talk to her about the whole nest thing, but headphones meant she was in a bad mood and not ready to discuss anything yet. She glared at anyone who looked at her. Jhin had come back, checked in with Juni, and then started moving the rest of their stuff over to the nest room.

I was going over to see if they were done, and my hand was on the doorknob when I froze.

“Who thefuckfinished my Greek yogurt?” Juniper shouted from the kitchen.

Alarm bells sounded in my brain.

Oh shit, that was me. I’d meant to replace it before she noticed, but I forgot. I heard her slam the fridge door and acted on instinct.

Flee.

I wrenched open the spare room’s door and ran inside, crashing into Vander. I’m sure he was shooting me a murderous glare, but right now I was much more afraid of Juniper.

“Hide,” I hissed, shoving him back toward the closet. I felt his arm on my back, resting protectively, but didn’t have time to register that as I pushed us both inside and shut the door.

“Kit!” Juni shouted. “I swear, if this was youagain?—”

Fuck.

Juni was still emotionally unstable—we all were—and she took food theft very seriously. I remained absolutely still, barely letting myself breathe as she opened the door to my room.

Vander gave a quiet snarl from above me. I gripped his shirt, squeezing my eyes shut and silently pleading with him to not give us away.

It was silent, then my door closed forcefully.

“Where are you going?” I heard Ez ask. Juniper snapped something at him, and then I heard the front door slam.

As I heard her footsteps clomp down the stairs, I let myself breathe again, and was flooded with Vander’s sharp frosted scent. He was so tense and twitchy against me, stress leaking out into the scent that surrounded us.

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