Page 79 of Unforgivable

Lyri

I haven't been this sore in a while. In a long time, really. Everything aches deliciously. Something very profound shifted in Genom last night. It's been creeping up on me, slowly, and now it's here.

I'm sleeping with three males. My she-wolf thinks she owns them. I've let them creep into my heart, and they've settled in there, pitched some tents, and dug a well.

I laugh at my terrible metaphor. The ranch life must be getting to me. Gingerly I step into the shower, washing my body with a wince every once in a while. I let the water wash over me, rinsing for much longer than I usually do. I don't like to waste their water, but this morning calls for a long soak.

"Beautiful?" Ezra's voice calls out from the bathroom door. I hear banging and shifting around in the bedroom. "You OK?"

"Yeah," I reply softly, shutting off the shower.

I step out and wrap the towel around my body. My hair is drenched, dripping water down my back. If I don't tame it, the short cut will curl haphazardly all over my head.

I walk into the bedroom to find the bed stripped clean and the window wide open.

"Airing out Rhet," Thjis explains to me with a smirk thrown Ezra's way.

"He hogged you last night. It was my night," Ezra pouts. Deliberately. I feel a giggle bubble up at the sad-puppy look on his expressive, handsome face.

"Oh, my poor Sunshine," I coo. His pout becomes more pronounced.

I reach up on tiptoes and kiss the tip of his nose. I'm too short to do that to Rhet or Thjis unless I get a stool. It's kind of nice to have a male who I can reach as if I'm not vertically-challenged.

"Dry your hair, baby. Before you get sick."

I toss a smile at Thjis. "It's just wet hair, Bear."

He grunts. So eloquent whenever he doesn't get his way. I glance out of the window and feel my mouth fall open in shock. "What time is it?"

"Just past noon," Ezra laughs at me.

"Noon? Stop it, Ez. It can't be that late!" I've never been the teenager who slept in. I always had too much to do.

"I tuckered you out last night," a husky voice murmurs from the doorway. Sharp blue eyes undress me, making the giant bath towel feel like it's about as large as a washcloth.

"Hi," I whisper lamely.

All three males chuckle. I feel my skin heat in a blush. I wasn't this shy with Ezra and Thjis. Of course, they're different. They're... safer, somehow. I'm not sure if it's because of my Shaming and Rhet's role in it, or maybe because he had a truemate that he loved and probably still loves. Perhaps it's because part of me is still reminded of Daan whenever I look at him.

Maybe it's the fact that they know I'm a rejected she-wolf, and they don't know who my truemate is. Rhet... maybe he should have been a Gamma, those smart wolves who become the police detectives of packs. He makes me nervous because I know he's smart.

Acid churns in my stomach. I open my mouth to say it, to tell them who did this to me, who ruined my life and threw me so off course that I ended up with a bunch of males a decade older than me.

I close my mouth. Open my mouth. Close my mouth. Open-

Ezra kisses me. I fall into him, my Sunshine. This is much better than a painful confession. He tastes like pork. Mmm... it's lunchtime. Being in the kitchen all the time means he snacks as he cooks. It's a little remarkable that he's not fat around the middle, wolf or not.

He pulls away. "I'm hungry," I tell him.

"Of course you are. Lunch is ready, love," he says.

"Hair, first," Thjis orders. He kisses my cheek before rubbing a dry towel on my hair. Ezra lets me go for his brother to pamper while he sorts through the closet.

I haven't even looked in the closet. I always just grab clothes from the dresser. I wear them, then wash them and put them back. I'm more familiar with the pup's closets than I am with my own. It's amazing how much clothing pups dirty up in a week.

"Here, love. Let's celebrate Rhet popping his cherry," Ezra calls out from the closet.

A pretty dress, black and white with red cherries all over it, flies out of the closet door. Thjis roars with laughter while Rhet calmly walks to the closet door and grabs Ezra, dragging him to the floor and punching him in the gut a few times.

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