Page 80 of Unforgivable

"Rhet, stop it," I say. I'd be more worried, but Ezra is laughing, so I know Rhet isn't hitting him hard.

Rhet stands up, dusting his hands off, and picks up the dress. "It's very pretty, Angel," he says to me. With a smirk, he peels off my towel, making sure to brush against my sensitive skin as he does. I sigh, feeling cared for, as he dresses me, smoothing out the fabric and layering sweet kisses on my neck and lips as he does up the buttons.

Thjis and Ezra have stopped laughing. Ezra is still on the floor, eyes glowing with lust. Thjis steps forward. "I should take a look-"

"No," Rhet scoops me up and carries me to the door. "She needs to eat."

I see disappointment flare in Thjis' eyes. "I am sore," I tell him. "Later, you can examine me."

He brightens, and I feel Rhet's chest rumble with laughter.

---

Ezra

I place Lyri's dish in front of her. It's heaped with all of her favorites. Yeah, I know, I'm competing with my brothers for her love by using food, but what else can I do? Thjis is taking her riding down to the lake this afternoon. Rhet kept us awake all last night with Lyri's moans and gasps and-

I spin back to the counter to hide my erection. I jerked off so often last night that I may have given myself carpal tunnel. My jealousy is seething just under my skin, but then she speaks.

"Sunshine, what are you doing this afternoon?" she asks me.

"It's my turn to run the fence line, beautiful," I tell her. "The southern border is the least protected because there's no one down there, so we run it less. We have to secure some fence lines and clear some debris down that way."

"Oh," she swallows. "What fence lines do you run the most?"

"The ones closest to the pack and the mountains."

She picks up a bite of pork when suddenly, her face pales. "Today's the barbeque," she says in a horrified gasp.

"I already sent Beta Max our regrets," Rhet says, not stopping shoveling his face full of food.

"You did?" Lyri's hazel eyes dance with sadness and relief.

"Fuck them," Rhet says mildly.

She nods, not meeting any of our eyes, "where are the pups?"

"At Ezra's parents' house," Rhet tells her.

Her eyes dart up and widen on me. My fingers tighten on the spoon in my hand. It's not that I'm hiding my family from her, but my relationship with my parents and siblings isn't the best. I went off the rails when I shifted MateLess, and they were just... not as supportive as I would have hoped.

"Oh," she says. "Should I... are they coming here?" she starts to look around, probably trying to determine if anything needs to be cleaned.

"They aren't invited to Genom," I tell her bluntly.

"Oh, Ez," she says softly. Standing, she crosses the kitchen to me and wraps her arms around my waist. I envelop her in my embrace, letting her soft, sweet scent soothe the angry wolf inside of me.

"Can you tell me about it?" she whispers.

My brothers are silent, watchful. They know the story. Hell, we all know each others' pitiful pasts. You get wasted with males too often, and secrets spill pretty easily.

"My parents never really understood what I was going through. They...ah, I got really reckless, did some stupid shit when I was younger," I confess.

She smiles at me, "I've heard rumors, Sunshine." I wince, but she just strokes my cheek in comfort and kisses my chest all better.

"Then... basically I overheard my dad say something about how I must be undeserving of a mate, that I... um... that my behavior was proof of that," I say in a croak.

Lyri gasps, "are you serious?!"

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