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“Fuck his family,” Archer says but it’s quieter. He punches the steering wheel. “Fuck.”
I appreciate the sentiment, and a strange rage fills my chest, too—he’s ours, he should be with us, not looking at other packs—but the fact remains: we never made an offer.
“I thought we shouldn’t rush things,” I whisper. “I thought going slow was the right way. And I was wrong.”
“We all were,” Kyrian says. “You both thought I didn’t want it. That slowed us down.”
“Don’t you dare blame yourself,” Archer says, Kyrian’s self-loathing distracting him from his fury. His drive to protect us is stronger than his anger.
There’s a reason we love Archer.
Okay, several reasons, but this is one of them. He puts his pack above everything else, always, like a true leader and mate.
“Guys,” I say. “We shouldn’t be arguing about this here in the car, and…” I nod down at Brinlee and mouth the words “scaring her” to my alphas. “And we should go up, make some hot chocolate, relax on the sofa. We’ll talk to Sawyer.”
She shoots me a questioning look.
“He hasn’t chosen yet, has he? Then we’re still in the race. Or rather, we will be, once we make him an offer.”
“Oh, he’ll be thrilled,” she whispers. “He likes you guys so much. But what if his family won’t let him join you?”
“We’ll crush and burn that bridge when we reach it,” Kyrian says with a toothy grin.
“And as for you, Brin…” Archer starts. “As for you, we should make you comfortable for the night.”
I don’t text Sawyer again. I don’t call him, either. Last thing he needs while visiting another pack is me bothering him. There’s a time and place for certain things, and I want him sitting with us, in privacy, to discuss pack business.
And like Archer said, as for Brinlee… She’s skittish. Something more is bothering her, apart from her scumbag of a boss at the club. After all, she’s out of there but she’s still strung up with tension.
She may be worried about her new job, I remind myself. She doesn’t know us enough to trust us, after all. She won’t relax until she gets to know us better, and until she can see for herself that we really want a dancer for the bar, not a sex slave.
Though that last part had a nice ring to it…
Bad boy, Roman. Down. Wait for your turn.
Still. There’s something she’s hiding, a thorn in her soul. I need her to trust us so I can hopefully remove it, and then we can make our offer to her, too.
It’s about time…
34
ARCHER
Sawyer with another pack.
What the fuck?
The fury tearing through me is new and unprecedented. I hadn’t realized I’d already mentally included him in our pack until now. Asking him was supposed to be a technicality—not because I assume that every man or woman I desire is automatically ours, but because I could see the desire in his eyes, feel the connection between us.
Nobody told me we were out of time.
I want to put my fist through a fucking wall, but I can’t, because Brinlee is with us, and she’s looking at me like I’m a rogue space-bear, or some other monster from the sci-fi books Roman enjoys. I need to tone this feeling down, calm myself.
Roman is right. Kyrian is right. Tonight, we should focus on Brinlee. Make her feel safe. Get to know her. Talk. Fucking cuddle together on the sofa.
All the good stuff.
Yeah, I’m a top alpha, I love rough sex and taking control of situations, I love running the bar with an iron fist, but I also like to hold my mates and take care of them. Cuddling is an aspect of that.
