Page 84 of Bailey-Rose: The Complete Duet

The guys were quiet as Vili handed me my pain medication, which I took, gulping down the rest of my tea. Vili let his fingers glide through my hair, brushing it back and out of my face. “Are you okay, kitten?”

With a half-hearted smile, I nodded, then sank against Gareth’s warm, comforting body, allowing myself to be enveloped by his sweet tea and lemon scent. “I just can’t believe I didn’t see it before now. We dated for six months, so shouldn’t that have been long enough to know if someone is batshit crazy?”

Warrick shifted to sit on the ottoman so he could see my face. “Have you heard about the three-month rule?” I scrunched up my face in confusion. “All right, I’ll take that as a no. Well, there is a theory that it takes a person three months before they start showing their true colors to someone they are dating. At that point in your relationship, you left for three months to finish school. So it’s possible you didn’t know because he could still hide the crazy.”

I rolled that thought over in my mind, trying to see if that made me feel any better. While I was at school, we mostly talked in short bursts on the phone, over video chat, or through text messages. Anyone can fake their personality for such a short time, even after three months have passed. This knowledge didn’t make me feel better, but it did keep me from beating myself up.

“What do you say we watch a movie until your meds kick in?” Gareth suggested. “I believe next on our list of Disney movies is Peter Pan. Personally, I think it’s one that if you fall asleep during the middle, you won’t miss much.”

During my time in the hospital, Crew told the guys about my hobby of picking some tangent to turn into a movie marathon. I’ve done it by director, theme, word in the title, anything to give me a goal to accomplish while I was stuck in bed. This time, I let the guys pick since they would be subjected to the choice as well. In a surprising turn of events, they chose Disney movies in order by release date, and they weren’t talking about just the animated files. They truly meant anything created by Disney.

“You also said that about Treasure Island, but you were glued to the screen the entire time,” I reminded him.

He nipped at the shell of my ear, making me gasp as a pleasant tingle ran through my body. They’d taken me off my suppressants and put me on birth control since I agreed I was in no shape to risk the chance of getting pregnant. Not that I was getting any action with how sore I still was, even with the special treatments Dr. Arbour had me on to speed up healing the past few days.

“It’s dangerous to tease me, Gareth,” I warned. “You heard the doc. The accelerator will help me heal but also removes medications lingering in my system. There are no suppressants left to keep my heat at bay, and that has left me incredibly sensitive.”

Gareth nuzzled my neck, pressing a soft kiss there. “So you’re telling me I could get you off with a flick of my tongue?”

Instantly, my mouth went dry, and my pussy was soaked from hearing the offer. “Gareth,” I whimpered.

Sitting up, he looked down at me, realizing I was not kidding about how horny I was. For the first time since I was thirteen, I haven’t been on suppressants. Dr. Arbour warned me I might feel like a randy teenager since my body hasn’t had to regulate my hormones until now. All of us were under strict instructions that sex wasn’t allowed to happen until Dr. Arbour gave the all clear.

“Holy shit,” Gareth swore. “I’m so sorry, baby girl. You were being serious, and I clearly wasn’t listening.”

“Fuck, do you smell that? Is she perfuming?” Ulysses asked. “This absolutely can’t happen right now. Gareth, why don’t you give her a little space, and I’ll message Doc.”

“Good idea. I’ll grab the neutralizing salts,” Warrick announced.

Neutralizing salts were used mainly by Alphas who needed to get a scent out of their head. It was meant to be used during rut if they had to interact with others outside their pack. Warrick returned with a small glass jar and held it under my nose so I could take in a few deep breaths. To my surprise, it cleared my body's fixation on Gareth’s scent and the promise of what he offered.

“Wow, that stuff is impressive. His scent is totally gone, wiped from my memory,” I said as I let my head flop back onto the couch. “That was close, a little too close. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing I would like more than to get lost in the lust-filled fog of a heat and let you guys ravage me. Yet somehow, I don’t think it’s a wise choice now.”

“Sweetheart, if you’re trying not to create that situation, I highly suggest you don’t paint such a vivid picture like that for us,” Yun warned, a low, rumbling sound mixing with his words.

Twisting my head to look at my Alpha, I saw his brown spice-colored eyes zeroed in on me. In their depths was equal part hunger and dominance. As much as I wanted to stare into them forever, I knew it would only spark the flame I’d just put out, and none of us could afford that.

“Someone said something about Peter Pan?” I squeaked out, slapping a pillow over my face. “I think now would be a great time to watch something so wholesome and absolutely not at all suggestive.”

“I don’t know, those mermaids, though…” Warrick commented in a teasing tone. Peeking over the pillow, I glared at him. “Teasing, Care Bear. I’m just teasing.”

Soon, we were all lost in the world of lost boys and fairy dust before I fell asleep in my nest of couch pillows. Who knew I would actually need an entire bin full of pillows to get comfortable after this surgery? Lucky for me, I had some amazing Alphas who didn’t bat an eye at taking the entire thing to go.

My surprise Gareth promised was delayed a few days because of crazy weather. It was being flown in, and with all the canceled flights, it took a bit for the airlines to sort themselves out. Despite all that, today was finally the day, and Gareth got confirmation my surprise had landed and was now en route to our home.

I was so excited I couldn’t keep still, so I did my walking for the day out in the backyard. After three days of rain, it was nice to be outside feeling the fresh air and sunlight on my face. Before the incident, I hadn’t spent much time exploring the property, but now it was a good excuse. From the back patio, you could see the pool, but what was hidden was a small garden the groundskeepers looked after. There was also a walking path along the border of the property paved with compacted gravel.

“What’s Numoland like?” I asked Vili, who’d joined me on my stroll. “You’ve been in Preidon for three years now, right?”

“Yes, my kitten, it three years last month,” Vili answered. “Numoland is vast, green, and many mountains. They say we hardy people because we live off the land. I say when you good to the land, it good back to you.”

“Do you miss it?”

Vili slowed to a stop, and since we were holding hands, so did I. He looked up at the sky and closed his eyes as if he was drinking in the peace our quiet surroundings offered. “I miss places and things sometimes, not people. The people there should stay there, let me live free here.”

Stepping closer, I rested a hand on his chest. “You mean your family should stay there and leave you alone?”

In the sunlight, you could see more of the copper tones in Vili’s strawberry-blond hair which always seemed to be mussed. It had me curious to see if it might be curly if he let it grow longer. Lowering his gaze to meet mine, I couldn’t help but smile at the joy in his caramel-colored eyes. His golden-rimmed glasses only helped to set off his features while making him look smart and sophisticated—which he was.