Page 159 of Home to the Hollow

Keeping my eyes pressed shut, I shift and bury my face in Tilly’s neck. I know that voice and the thundering sound of paws slapping on the hardwoods that preceded it. The Guardian is back, and the answer to who let the dogs out isher. I consider murdering the purple haired troublemaker until I remember what supes she’s packing.

I’m brave, but not stupid.

“Seer! What in the hell are you doing and when did you get back?”

That’s my girl, hiss-whispering as she tries to avoid waking all of us up. The Doc is curled around her other side, and the pup is under the covers with his head on her stomach. I’m fairly certain Tilly’s aware of all of theotherthings waking up even as she’s trying to keep her bestie from disturbing everyone’s slumber…again.

“I got back last night, and I came over to play with the kiddos. No one was up, so I did food and exercise, but they were so hyped up when we came inside that I lost control!”

Bullshit.

“We don’t have a kitchen full of strangers, do we?”

“No, Peanut. Julia and the guys are at my place. I don’t think we’re comfortable enough as a pair of polycules to wake up in the same space.”

Pair of… Hades, give me strength.

Luckily, I’m saved by Tilly’s groaning at her words and Wolfie popping his head out from under the covers. “If you’re going to make her sound like that, we’ll need an hour before we join you. And you, pumpkin, will need to evacuate the premises.”

I’m really starting to enjoy how our girl’s sass is rubbing off on him.

The three of them banter back and forth for a few minutes until I feel a wave of insecurity and fear hit me. It takes me a minute to realize that it’s coming from Tilly—one of the first parts of our unfinished mate bond to appear. I don’t want to interrupt, so I nip her earlobe lightly, hoping it will distract her. She shifts her hip into my morning erection and I swallow the groan threatening to escape.

“Well, I suppose we are pretty fucking cool,” Jolene mutters.

Hamilton decides to make himself known by sliding his arm across our pile, tugging everyone closer. That asshole is trying to start a dick chain, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let him with the Irish lass as an audience. I open my mouth to snark at him, but mydrugarsighs happily and my ire goes out the window. I’d give her anything she asked for when she makes soft sounds like that.

“Ahem!”

I lift my head and prop my face in my hand as I glare at the intruder. “O’Flanagan, I’m going to count to five and if you aren’t gone by the time I finish, you’d better be okay with my bare ass. I have to piss, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to hold it while you act like a five-year-old.”

That should get rid of her.

“Oooh, scary man. I’ll have you know I’ve got plenty of arse of me own at the moment, and though I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your command, I ate this morning. It’d be a pity to have brekkie all over the lovely hardwoods.”

My eyes narrow as Presley buries his face in Tilly’s shoulder, snorting at her threat. The pup ducks back under the covers and mydrugarbats her lashes at me, pretending to be all innocent. Well, they’ve picked the wrong dog in this fight. If they think I’m letting the Lucky Charm get a leg up on me this morning, they’re dead wrong.

“That’s it!” I throw the covers off everyone, roll to my feet and head for the bathroom. I put a little shake in my ass just to prove my point, grinning to myself as I hear the shrieks and complaints.

If you can’t run with the big dogs, stay on the porch.

* * *

By the timeI get out of the shower, I smell like the bergamot and peppery scented shit the pup always wears. I’m certain the full line up of men’s toiletries in Tilly’sen suiteis his doing, and I shake my head as fondness fills my veins. Wolfie is a true submissive, through and through; he enjoys taking care of the people he loves as much as he does being taken care of. It’s growing on me, and I have no idea how to feel about it.

Forgoing the towel, I head straight for the closet, only to find Tilly and the pup standing in the middle of it. She looks absolutely miserable, staring at her feet like she’s failed a test. I realize she must have told him about Haggerty, thinking we were all going to cut and run on her. I’d like to kick her dead parents, but instead I decide to make light of the situation so she understands that none of us are upset with her.

“When you finish telling the pup that you let the Irish knob dive through your pot of gold, I’ve a mind to grab some pizza.” I flash them a brilliant grin as I pull some sweats and a tee off the hangar.

Tilly’s head turns slowly, almost like she’s going to pull a Linda Blair, and I worry that I chose the wrong time to be playful. She manages to squawk a few times and I wink at her as I step into my boxers. Wolfie gives her a sheepish look, and the expressions on her face changes to a furious glare. “If you knew, you should have said something when we got home last night. I worried myself to sleep and I was just contemplating what I’d look like in the town stocks with a big red A on my ass!”

“Tilly, you wouldn’t have worried if you’d just told us,” I reply as I pull on the sweats. “We promised you we were in this for the long run, even if it means an irksome idiot is going to tag along. You didn’t do anything wrong. People like all of us…”

Presley shouts about my phone buzzing from the other room, and I sigh. I don’t know which of my vocations is looking for me, but not answering isneveran option.

“Come on, sugarplum. We’ll all get dressed and you can be pissed at us while we eat,” the pup coaxes.

Jolene rolls her eyes at us both, grabbing clothes off the racks with a growl. “Fine. But I get to drive.”

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