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I watch her look around the crappy, small apartment, not really focusing on anything as she picks at her nails absentmindedly.

“You deserve to be somewhere better. I wish I had more to offer you.”

Her eyes meet mine with a bit of panic lacing them.“Are you…kicking me out?”

“What? No, never. You know you can stay as long as you want to. I just wish my place was nicer. At least you’re safe there, though.”

I watch her relax a little bit, but she’s still thinking too hard. “I feel like I’m intruding in your private space.”

I shake my head at her. “I like having you there.”

I see a smile, a true one, however fleeting it is. “Can we talk later about what it is we’re doing?”

I glance out my window at the alphas who are pacing in front of my door and decide they can wait a little bit longer. I’m not in a rush to assuage them in any way. All it takes is the memory of Calai’s face after our altercation with Gavin and the sound that his fist made when it impacted her body, and my will strengthens.

“What do you want to be doing?”I answer a quick email before my boss can yell at me for not being productive, but I’m quick to return my full attention to what I wish were my full-time job.

“I…I’m dying to kiss you,”she admits. “But at the same time, it feels like…I shouldn’t be having those kinds of thoughts about you.”

Fuck yes, she should be. “And why is that?”I ask with a way-too-big grin on my face, which seems to reach through our screens and tug at her own mouth.

“You’re my stepbrother. Won’t people think that’s inappropriate?”

I drum my fingers against the desk, wishing I could reassure her without coming off too intense. But I’m not sure that’s possible. There’s an abrupt knock on my door and I hold up a finger to Calai and gesture towards my door, stepping off-screen to go to the alpha.

“Well?” Colter says. I think. Lip reading is really never a great tool, and I’ll only use if there are no other options. Maybe he asked me if I smell or is telling me someone fell? Nah. We’re just going to assume it was my first guess.

I shake my head and hold my hand up in a placating gesture, almost feeling like he deserves a pat on the head when he backs out of the room on the first try so I can lock the door. Huh. Alphas are kind of like dogs, aren’t they?

I get back to who I really want to be talking with, picking up an expense report as I do so that it at least looks like I’m working if anyone were to be really creepy and peek through the openings in my blinds.

“Co-worker? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be bothering you at work. Wait. You called me.”She narrows her eyes at me, and fuck I just want to grab her and kiss that look off her face.

“I did. I uh, got some visitors. Your alphas are here, and they’re begging to see you. I told them to leave my office so I could call you, and I told them I wouldn’t trick you into contact if you weren’t ready. You want me to send them packing?”

“They’re…there? Like…right now? Was that who was at your door?”

I nod, then flip the camera on my phone around and narrow in on the blinds where Kit is still currently pacing in front of. When the camera is back on me and my hands again, I put the phone back in its stand. “We should make them sweat a little bit first. We can drag this conversation out as long as you want to. And then I’ll still send them packing.”

She shakes her head at me, but her hands are wrapping around her body like she needs the support. “Should I talk to them? I’ve been texting them on your phone, but…am I doing the right thing?”

“Are you still hurt and angry?”

A nod. “But I need to talk to them at some point.”

“Probably, but if you’re not ready, that doesn’t mean it has to be now. I can give them a message for you, and we can do this again whenever you feel ready. Oh, I almost forgot. You okay with Parker coming over tonight? I just found out he left Gavin, and I don’t feel comfortable taking you over to his house, but I really need to see him and talk to him, check in with him and make sure he’s okay.”

“I don’t have to be that needy. You should just go visit with him. I doubt he’ll want to leave Owen right now if he broke things off with one of his alphas.”

“I won’t leave you either. It’s not up for debate.”

“I’m back to wanting to kiss you,”she tells me.

“What else can I tell you to make that happen? Would you believe me if I told you I saved a puppy from being hit by a car on my way into my work building this morning? Or that I helped a senior citizen carry something heavy?”

She laughs, and it kills me that I’ll never know what it sounds like. “Did you, now?”

I nod, all serious now. “Absolutely. Maybe the car was too far away to hit the dog and I merely pet him, and maybe the senior citizen was my boss who was trying to grab down a box of paper reams from the supply closet, but still.”

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