Page 49 of The Alpha: Part One
“Fine,” I sigh. I pass her over to Ben. He needs the attention more than I do at the moment. “Give Ben some kisses while me and Seth set the table.” I nod at Seth to follow me and round the corner to the kitchen.
He comes in and starts getting plates and glasses from the cabinet while I go for the silverware. We don’t need more than forks, but it’s the ritual that’s important, not the cutlery. We’re about to sit together at our table as a nearly completed pack. The only thing missing between me, my brother, and Seth is the pack bond; and it’s only a matter of time before it snaps into place. Hopefully, Seth will be able to work through whatever his troubles are so he can put his mark on her and then we can register with the WCC. We’ll probably need to register with the East Coast Council, too, seeing as he’s a sitting councilman.
“Is it okay?” Seth asks quietly as he puts a plate down at Desie’s usual place.
I put a fork and napkin next to it and smirk at him. “That you fucked our girl?”
He actually blushes. It must be a ginger thing. I’ve never seen a man blush so much. “I mean, yeah. Is Ben upset?”
I follow him around the table with my forks as he lays down the rest of the plates. “No, he’s just surprised at the difference in her scent. It’s fine. And besides, she fucked you, right?” I wink at him so he knows I’m joking. I’ve never met anyone twisted up as tightly as Seth Pratchett.
“Well,” he starts, and has the nerve to look bashful, “to be blunt, she did.”
“Oh my. Did sweet, innocent Desie take advantage of you?”
He finally smiles, and turns back to the cabinet for the glasses. “A little bit. It was hard to… I had a hard time.”
“Like before?” That was horrible. Seeing Seth in pain like that after Desie’s heat was awful. I hope it wasn’t like that when me and Ben weren’t here to help her handle him.
“Not quite,” he whispers, looking toward the hall. “But it could have been. She’s really wonderful.”
“She is.” I get a pitcher of water from the fridge and some ice from the freezer and put it in the center of the table. Our table isn’t huge, but it’s plenty big enough for the four of us.
Ben walks into the kitchen carrying Desie over his shoulder and sets her down next to her chair. He looks at Seth and nods. “I’m glad.” Then we have dinner, and it’s an amazing thing. I’ve heard of packs who had a difficult time with their bond falling into place, or waiting for a long time for everything to connect. We aren’t going to have that problem. Seth has been falling naturally into place since we walked across that restaurant together the night we met.
Desie pulls us down the hall to the bedroom as soon as we finish dinner. Seth tries to hang back in the living room, but she isn’t having it. She drags him into the bedroom to stand beside the nest they’ve apparently been sleeping in since Ben and I have been gone. Whatever happened between Desie and Seth didn’t happen in here. The scents filling this room are warm and happy, but that’s all they are. I was, however, expecting a well used bed, not a nest made of our laundry and blankets. That’s not something that happens outside of her being in heat.
“You made a nest?” I ask. If she went to the trouble of making it, it was necessary and important.
She nods. “It just kind of happened. I had been upset for days and when Seth finally brought me home, it just happened when I was making the bed. It felt wrong to take it apart, so I didn’t. Seth likes sleeping in it. It’s big enough for all of us, I made sure.”
I know she did. Omega measurements run on instinct and maybe some kind of magic because they’re always perfect. “I love it. I like sleeping in your nests, too.”
“Me, too,” Ben chimes in. “But we’re not about to sleep right now.” He turns to Seth. “No offense, but are you up to this?”
Seth swallows and tilts his head. “I don’t know,” he says sadly. “I was planning on staying away so I wouldn’t be in the way, especially if you and Michael were uncomfortable with me being here.”
Ben laughs. “I can and would fuck Desie on a stage at the amphitheater, you’re not going to bother me. Will this bother you? Before…”
“I know,” Seth says. “I know. I’m not sure. I don’t think it will bother me since Desir’ee and I worked through a couple things. But I don’t know about, um, joining.”
He’s purple. He’s a grown-ass man standing in front of a nest blushing so hard that he’s almost purple. It’s ridiculous, and hilarious. And I think I might enjoy it a little bit too much.
“You’re not joining,” Desie chirps and pulls off her tee shirt. We all whip our heads in her direction and she rolls her eyes. “You’re practicing. The same rules apply. You have to ask. You’re going to sit right there and hold my hand every time I reach for yours. And if you need some relief, well, either you, or me, or we will take care of you. Right now, I just want you to try to get comfortable being in the same room with us. If it’s too much, all you have to do is say so. Understand?”
“I understand,” Seth drawls, and pulls the chair from the desk to the side of the nest.
I don’t understand the concept of Seth having rules, though. Obviously, whatever agreement they had before was successful, but rules? “What do you have to ask for?”
“Everything,” Seth says softly. “If I want to see something, touch something,tastesomething, I have to ask for it.”
“Do we have to ask?” Ben asks.
“Do you want to?” Desie answers.
Ben opens his mouth, to say no, I’m sure, but then he closes it, his eyebrows drawn together. Then he looks at me. “Maybe I want to ask.”
“Not this time,” Desie says. “That’s too much asking. You want to play a game, but Seth actually needs it. I’ll play an asking game with you later if you want to ask for things. I’ll make you ask for all kinds of things, Benny.”
