Avery growled. “What did you do this morning?”
Fuck. He didn’t know what had happened with Kara yet. Now was not the time to have him flip the fuck out on us.
Tate raised an eyebrow in my direction and Cal was picking at something on the front of his t-shirt. It was my job to protect our pack bond, and I’d done nothing but harm it over and over again.
“Is someone going to answer me?” Avery gripped the edge of the counter, his knuckles turning white where there was skin and not ink.
I cleared my throat. “Tate and Cal fell asleep with her when they got back last night, and this morning I walked in after they had some fun with their hands, and I...”
God, just the thought of it made my dick instantly hard, and my knot pulsed with the need to take her.
Avery looked like he was about to jump across the island and choke me. “You what, Alvaro?”
“He had a tasty omega snack. Well, until the doorbell rang.” Cal sighed wistfully. “And there Tate and I were being good alphas and not going that far.”
Avery’s nostrils flared. “You tasted her?”
“I did.” I adjusted my dick in my pants, wondering if I had time to go take care of it before the agents returned.
Avery’s eyes closed, his hands still gripping the counter. “What did she taste like?”
“Like hot chocolate on a cold day. Like the last bit of chocolate frosting on the plate. Like...ours.” I couldn’t keep the growl out of my voice. “She needs to be ours.”
Avery groaned and lowered his forehead to the counter. “We can’t lose her.”
I straightened, my eyes pausing on each of them. “We won’t. If it’s the last thing I do as leader of this pack, I promise you she’ll be ours.”
Now to figure out how to do it.
* * *
The agents left mid-afternoon after the pack assessment. They observed us while we were hooked up to the same machines as before, solving puzzles, communicating using a back-to-back drawing game, and sharing compliments and complaints about each other and the pack.
There had been a few moments of frustration and anger, but I could see the want on everyone’s face. Wewantedto work as a pack and get through the hurdles we faced. I just didn’t think it was enough to be permitted to do the fall match.
“I need a fucking nap,” Cal muttered, going to the refrigerator. The man worked out like an Olympian and ate like a garbage truck. “Oh, hey! You saved our tacos.”
“I did.” Avery grunted, elbowing him out of the way, grabbing a beer, and heading toward the stairs. “I’m going to game unless we are planning on whisking Kara away to a private island.”
He was already retreating into himself, and I didn’t want that to happen again. I’d seen some of the happy Avery we once knew peek out during our assessment, but it had already disappeared.
“First off, leftover tacos are going to taste like shit. Just eat the meat. Second, Kara is back at her sister’s now and we still have her Squishmallows.” I had been wracking my brain for a reason to go talk to Kara without seeming desperate or making her feel uncomfortable.
“The Gnomes aren’t going to like the four of us marching up to their place and going inside with their omega there alone.” Tate sat on the couch and grabbed the controller. “We should call them first.”
My phone buzzed in my back pocket, and I pulled it out. “It’s the vet.” I’d gotten an update mid-morning that Gizmo was doing much better and once the vet checked him over, he might be able to come home. “Hello?”
“Hello, is this Alvaro Estrada?” I could hear a dog barking in the background.
“Yes, it is.”
“Gizmo is all cleared to go home. He is lethargic, but that should clear up by tomorrow. You got him here fast enough that there was no damage from what we can tell. The vet will give you more instructions for his care when someone comes to pick him up.”
I sighed in relief, and a heaviness that had been weighing on my shoulders lifted. “Thank you. Someone will be there soon.”
“The Gizminator all better?” Cal shut the refrigerator empty-handed. He’d had the damn thing open long enough.
“He’s still going to be out of it, but he can come home. Do you two want to go get him? Then you can pick up a snack. I’ll go take the Squishmallows to Kara and feel her out.” If we all went down there, it would attract way too much attention and piss off Kayla’s pack.