Page 32 of Unforgivable

"No one woke me up?" Inuit stomps into the kitchen with the grace of a wolf with a thorn in its paw.

"No one wants to wake up the beast," Ezra deadpans.

"Whatever," he slouches into his seat. "'Morning, Lyri. Morning, pup," he raps his little brother on the head with his knuckles.

"Ow!" Sarj tries to growl at his big brother. Inuit growls back, sounding almost-grown already.

"Inuit, don't growl at your brother," Lyri scolds gently.

He grumbles something incoherent but sits and starts to chow down his food. See, we need her.

"So, Inuit, do you ever talk to Lyri's sister, Penny?" I ask.

Lyri perks up, her interest immediately caught at the mention of her little sister.

"Nah, she's cute and all, but a female. We don't hang out," he wrinkles his nose as if he smells something rotten.

Lyri looks like she's torn between amusement and annoyance at him. "I'm female," she settles on. A sad look crosses her face. "Do you not like me, Inuit?"

I take a sip of coffee so that I don't laugh out loud. Inuit's mouth drops open, a piece of bacon dangling on his lips. Eyes wide, he stares at Lyri in something close to panic.

"No! I like you! I mean, not likeyou like you, that's gross. I just... you're nice to have around, I guess."

Lyri loses her composure first, bursting into feminine laughter that makes all us older males start to laugh with her. Inuit pouts until she leans over and kisses his cheek in apology.

"Sorry, Inuit, and thank you for liking me but not liking me."

Brightening, he smirks at me and winks. My laughter stops. Well, damn, that little shit just got a kiss, and he's a fucking twelve-year-old!

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Lyri

As Rhet carries me into the living room, I have to reassess my judgment about his abs. They're more than nice. I can feel them, hard as stone, under the curve of my butt. The slightest curiosity peeks through my consciousness. What does he look like without a shirt? I must have seen him naked that night. I can't... I can't really remember. Strange, when I try to remember, all I see is shadows and his blue eyes staring at me.

He puts me down on the couch. "I'll be right back with your letter," he says.

I watch him leave, taking the opportunity to glance down the hallway and see that he walks in through the door on the left. I wonder if that's Ezra's room? The pups have the loft at the top of the two-story living room. Behind a central fireplace is the hallway leading to the older males' bedrooms. I've never been down there.

Once again, I start wondering about this agreement I've entered into. Will I have carte blanche to just waltz around? Am I supposed to? Maybe they expect me to clean and stuff when I'm feeling better. Or, will their rooms be off-limits? So many questions and I don't have the nerve to ask most of them.

"Here it is," Rhet emerges at an almost-jog from the bedroom with the sheaf of papers in his hand.

"Is that Ezra's room?" I ask him.

He nods. "Yeah. I'll show you the rooms after we clean, sanitize, maybe burn some furniture, who knows?"

I laugh, then sober when a thought occurs to me, "are you trying to hide the scents of other females?"

His eyes widen, and he smirks at me. I blush. Wow, I sound so jealous! "No," he reassures me, "no females come back here. We're not saints, Lyri, but with the pups here, we weren't comfortable bringing random females to our home."

"I'm random," I point out.

"Not anymore," he shoots back as he sits, arranging us so that I am sidesaddle in his lap as if we're on top of Wheat.

I decide to tease him a little so that I can forget that I'm on his lap. "So, you're saying I was random?"

He brushes my forehead in a kiss, "I thought you were beautiful and strong over a year ago. But, I couldn't exactly walk up to you and flirt, could I?"

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