Page 28 of Follow Your Instincts

“He said you were beautiful, but I’d say you’re more breathtakingly gorgeous,” he said, putting a finger to his lips and considering me. “Maybe stunningly breathtakingly gorgeous.”

I laughed, blushing. “You were talking about me?” I asked, turning back to Soren.He’d called me beautiful?

He was blushing a bit which sent my heart into overdrive. “I came home smelling like you,” he said. “Ben, in particular, had a lot of questions.”

“We all did,” Lucas corrected. “Soren was worried about you, of course, but you do smell pretty incredible, and it was hard not to notice.”

“Lachlan was more concerned about punishing the Alpha that attacked you than how hot you are, but his priorities are messed up,” Ben said.

Ugh, Todd, I thought. In the days since his attack in the precinct, I’d done my best not to think about him. Now, the memory of his acrid, citrusy smell came rushing back along with a kernel of the terror and helplessness I’d felt that night.

Lachlan growled, and my head snapped up to meet his gaze.

“Don’t fucking talk about him, you’re upsetting her,” he said, turning to glare at Ben.

“No, actually, I want to know what’s going on,” I said, annoyed. I wasn’t a baby who needed to be coddled. “Did he get fired?”

Soren sighed. “Not yet. Admin leave pending an IA investigation, which will take way too long. I suspect they’ll be wanting to talk to me and you to get statements soon.”

Lachlan growled again, but cut off the sound quickly and didn’t say anything. The silence that followed was a bit awkward. The other three seemed great, but he was sogrouchy.

“What about you guys? I know what… Soren does, obviously, but how about you?” Saying Soren’s name out loud made me flush again, and he shifted back on the couch, crossing his legs.

Ben smirked at us. “I’m a personal trainer. I started my own business so I could train rich people in their fancy apartments instead of grinding it out in a gym. It’s how I met Lach - he hired me and we ended up clicking, so I joined the pack,” he said. That explained his physique. His long-sleeved t-shirt was clinging to some very well-defined muscles.

“We’ll have to work out together sometime,” I said, without really thinking. “I usually go for a run every morning, it would be nice to have a partner.”

Ben’s face lit up with his widest smile yet, and he grabbed my hand again. “I would fucking love that, Maggie.”

His scent intensified, and I clenched my thighs together against the sudden rush of wetness I felt.

All the Alphas growled - a low, predatory sound that only ratcheted up the sudden madness of desire that was sweeping through me. I wanted them all in that moment, their skin and scents on me and in me. I choked back a whine and clenched Ben’s hand harder, like a lifeline in a storm. My perfume was going wild.

“Enough of that,” Steffi said sternly, but she was smiling. I’d completely forgotten she and Andreas were in the room. “May I suggest a subject change? Or maybe we could take a short break before things get out of hand.”

“Sorry,” I said, releasing Ben’s hand and sitting further back in my chair.

“No need to apologize, Maggie, we’re the ones with bad manners,” Lucas said. Lachlan was gripping the back of the couch so tightly I thought he might rip a chunk off. “You just smell very, very good.”

“You all smell very, very good to me, too,” I said.

“That’s quite enough chat about scents, dears, let’s move on,” Steffi reminded us briskly.

“So, work, Lucas, what do you do?” I said desperately.

Lucas shook his head, as if clearing it. “I’m retired, actually,” he said.

“Aren’t you a bit young for retirement?” I asked.

“Lucas is doing his false modesty bit,” Ben said. “He wants you to know he’s a multi-millionaire software developer who sold his company for a shit ton of money, but he’s too polite to say it like that.”

I laughed again. “Congratulations! So did you take up golf or sailing?”

“Cooking, actually,” Lucas said, unfazed by Ben’s snarkiness and still smiling at me. “I was going stir crazy with nothing to do after I sold my company. They kept me on the board, but that doesn’t mean anything. And I was feeling useless, so I started learning to cook.”

“I just started learning too, here at the Center, for similar reasons,” I said. “Not the millions of dollars part, the stir crazy part. But I seem to be gravitating more towards baking than anything else.”

“I’m a terrible baker. Maybe you could show me some tips?” he asked, and even though the question was casual, I felt an unspoken weight behind it.

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