Page 102 of The Rust in Her Hair

I only wish Adrian and Mack had been here too.

I want my whole pack in this bed. I want to belong to every last one of them at once, but I’m sure there’s some kind of unspoken order within packs. Which means Nico had to be first.

At least, I hope that’s what it was, and Adrian and Mack didn’t leave because Nico mated me. That can’t be it.

I hope.

Moving quietly, I turn the knob and slip into the hall, going straight to the bathroom. Once inside, I ease the door shut behind me. Every muscle in my body groans as I sit down and relieve myself. There’s even a dull ache inside me, and my entrance is beyond sore when I clean myself up.

I kind of like it.

Once I’m done, I wash my hands, then check myself out in the mirror.

My hair is a mess, but my cheeks are flushed pink and my eyes look bright. And, right there, beneath my left ear, is Nico’s mating bite. It sits high on the throat where no collar could ever cover it. The skin is broken and raw, ringed deep purple and red in the shape of Nico's teeth.

It's perfect.

I'm still smiling like an idiot when I step back into the hall and hear two voices coming from the living room.

Adrian and Mack.

Adrian is home. Thank goodness. I just wish I knew where he went last night or why he didn’t come into the bedroom.

Maybe I went about this mating thing all wrong, and he’s pissed. Maybe Mack is pissed too that I didn’t talk to them beforehand and instead offered myself up to Nico without a second thought.

Hell, I didn’t even have much of a first thought.

I simply went with the only thing that popped into my head, stripped down, and waited on the alpha’s bed.

I hear Mack’s deep tones and I creep to the mouth of the hallway and peek out at them. The two alphas are on the couch, side by side in the soft morning light.

Mack has one arm slung along the back of the cushions, his blond hair falling into his face, and he's leaned in close, murmuring something into the side of Adrian's face that I can't hear. Whatever it is, that teasing grin is all over his mouth.

Then Mack turns Adrian’s head and presses his mouth to the alpha’s.

Adrian huffs a laugh against Mack's lips at whatever he said, then kisses him back, one hand coming up to rest on Mack's jaw.

Heat pours through me at the sight of them, followed by deep worry. I definitely should have talked to them.

I don't move, just watching them.

Their scents drift down the hall and wrap around me, pine and clean rain tangled up with warm hazelnut, and my whole body goes soft and greedy at once. Slick gathers between my thighs before I can think to stop it, and I press my knees together, watching the two of them love on each other in the quiet. I want to be a part of it so badly that my chest aches.

Inching forward, I take half a step, and the floorboard groans under my foot.

Both their heads turn to me.

Mack sees me first, and that handsome grin widens. "Mornin', sunshine." He shifts, putting some space between him and Adrian. Then he pats the spot. "Come and sit."

Heat floods my face at being caught staring, but I pad into the living room anyway. Adrian's blue-gray eyes track me the whole way across the room, soft and a little shy.

I round the coffee table and sink down into the space Mack opened up, settling between them. Their big thighs bracket mine, Adrian warm on my left, Mack solid on my right, and both their scents fold over me at once.

I missed both of them so much last night.

"You disappeared last night," I say to Adrian, trying to keep it light. "I thought you might—I don’t know." I shrug, not sure how to ask if my scent made him run screaming from the house.

What if the kiss we shared in the kitchen meant nothing?