Page 48 of The Alpha: Part One
God, I hope I can have this. I'll give up my council seat. I don't care. Corso can keep it, or appoint someone else, it doesn't matter. I'll relocate to this territory. Whatever I have to do to keep this.
~
Desir’ee comes squealing and giggling into the kitchen the next morning while I’m making coffee. I’ve been here for almost two weeks and I’m really starting to dread having to leave when the twins come back for a few days of respite. I know it’s inevitable, but I’m going to pretend like it isn’t until I have to go.
“Ben and Michael are coming home tonight!” she exclaims, coming up behind me to squeeze me in a hug. “They only get to stay for two days, but they’ll be here before dark!”
I’m glad they’re coming home. It means that they’re alright. They need and deserve the break, and they probably need Desir’ee as much as she needs them. I’ve done my best to be here in their stead, but I’m not her alpha. They’ve marked her, created bonds with her. The three of them need each other.
There hasn’t been any more sex between Desir’ee and me, but I’ve slept in her nest every night since we did have sex. She decided that she couldn’t sleep alone anymore, and that it was stupid for me to sleep on the couch; so I have another thing to be miserable about until I come back when the twins need to leave again. I’m not sure how I’ll ever get used to sleeping alone in cold sheets again after being snuggled in a warm nest for so long.
“Why are you sad?” she asks, giving me a quick kiss on my cheek before going to her usual seat at the table. “Won’t you be happy to see them?”
“Of course, I’m going to be happy to see them. I’m not exactly thrilled with their choice of profession. I want them home. I’ll just miss being here, that’s all.”
Her face falls into a scowl, not a pout. “Where are you going?”
“You won’t need me if they’re here. I’ll be back when they have to go again, don’t worry.”
Her scowl deepens. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying right here.”
I get Desir’ee a glass of juice from the fridge and put it in front of her, then pour myself a cup of coffee and sit at my usual seat across from her. “Michael and Ben are going to want to spend some time with you without me here cramping everything.”
Now comes the pout. I secretly love the pout. It’s the sexy end of adorable. “I don’t want you to go.”
I give her half a smile. “I’ll come back when you need me, I promise.”
“I need you to stay here. That’s what I need.”
Chapter twenty-two
Michael
I can smell the difference in her the moment I walk through the door. Even though we knew what could happen when we asked Seth to stay with Desie, and agreed that asking him was the right thing to do, it’s still jarring for his scent to be woven throughout our house; and it’s downright unsettling to smell him on Desie. Even more unsettling than the mere presence of Seth’s scent is the fact that it’s a pretty damned appealing combination. You’d think the addition of gun oil, steel, and warm wood to our usual scent of sweet mint and magnolias on a hot, stormy night would be weird, but it’s perfect and I’m not sure how to feel about that. I’m typically the one to lose my temper or get jealous, but today’s tantrum is all Ben, and it’s probably triggered entirely by the new combination of scents, all layered with the hint of sex. He’s snarling before I can do anything to stop him from saying or doing something he’ll regret. Something we’ll regret.
“You fucked her,” he growls when Seth stands up to greet us when we walk in.
Before Seth can say anything, Desie throws her hands on her hips and glares at Ben. “Stop it.Ifuckedhim. And we’re keeping him. So, just stop it, right now.”
Ben turns to me, but all I have for him is a shrug. He’s on his own. We expected this, I don’t know why he’s suddenly upset about it.
“He’s not a goddamned stray, Desir’ee,” he barks, squaring off with her like it’s going to do any good.
“He is, actually; and now he’s ours. We made a special, high-effort dinner to celebrate you guys coming home for a couple days. Your favorite,Benjamin.Don’t be a jerk.”
Ben scrubs his hands down his face and sinks onto the couch. We’re both exhausted from two weeks of fairly literal hell at the foot of the mountain. I doubt he has the stamina to fight against the inevitable right now, even if he had a true argument.
“This is a new couch,” he mumbles, leaning his head against the back of it and closing his eyes. “What happened?”
Seth looks at the floor and opens his mouth to respond but Desie answers. “I ruined it.”
I snort and flop down beside Ben. “I bet you did. We needed a new one, anyway. Do I have time for a nap before dinner?”
“No,” Desie says, offering me her hand to help haul my ass back up. “But you two don’t take long to eat. Then we can take a nap.”
I pull her down into my lap. I don’t care if she smells like Seth. Fuck, I might even like it. She giggles as I nuzzle into her neck, but it turns into a needy moan when I lick across the marks Ben and I put on her. “If we go to bed, baby, it won’t be to nap.”
“Come on, Michael,” she urges. “Food first. We worked hard on it.”
