“I’m a little late. Sorry. I nearly threw my phone in the ditch. The damned thing never stops ringing.” He was wearing a dark-blue button-down shirt rolled up at the sleeves, revealing some of his pack tattoos. Samson was the only one who had them, but I envied him. Maybe I would get one of my own eventually. He held a store-bought cake and a bottle of wine in a canvas bag.
One day, I hoped to get the man into the kitchen. I bet he would be a mess, but a fun mess. Of course, with every single—single as in unattached—female in the pack bringing him pies, cakes, and casseroles, he had no real reason to learn to cook. I tried to think if it were healthier food I wouldn’t mind, but that would’ve been a lie. I sort of wanted to rip their fur out with both hands.
“It’s no problem. We’re glad you came. Come on in.”
I took the bag from him, and he stalled right inside the house, looking down on me. “Um, thank you all for inviting me.”
“Of course.” I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “One day, I won’t have to invite you at all.”
He blushed, and if it wasn’t the most adorable thing in the world, I didn’t know what was. “Get on in here, Samson. My lasagna is ready!” Gigi interrupted our little moment, but hope bloomed in my chest it was the first of many moments between us.
“Yes, ma’am.”
We went into the kitchen where Tris was helping Gigi get the lasagna out of the oven. Her homemade garlic twists were already steaming hot in a basket on the table, and there was tiramisu in the fridge.
If the rest of the night went to shit, at least I had chocolate and sugar to bury my sorrows in later.
“Come on and sit down,” Gigi ordered. Tris and Samson sat across from each other as did Gigi and I. She served out perfect slices of lasagna, and I didn’t get the first bite in before she spoke. “Now, what are we going to do about keeping my granddaughter safe? Because I’ll be damned if something happens to her before I get a great-grandbaby.”
I scoffed. “Oh, so once I produce a child, it’s fine if I die.”
“Pretty much.” She smiled to take the sting out of the words, but I wasn’t sure what to think. “So, boys, what do you say? Time to get over yourselves, don’t we think?”
They tucked into their dinner and ignored her question. She shrugged and ate, and after her square was gone and she’d taken the last bite of her garlic twist, she wiped her mouth. “Time for this old lady to leave the room so you three can get down to business. Not that kind of business, mind you. At least, not on the kitchen table. I’m going to take a walk. By the time I get back, some kind of plan is going to be in place. Are we clear?”
Gods above, if I could have half of Gigi’s moxie by the time I reached her age, I would consider myself blessed.
She kissed my temple and left me alone with Samson and Tris. Normally, this would be how one of my fantasies started but, today, it made me kind of nervous. We needed to work things out, not get into a knock-down-drag-out.
“I have a plan that might work for all of us.” Samson spoke first, shocking the hell out of me.
“Let’s hear it.”
He adjusted his posture and sat up straighter, his alpha showing again. Technically, both my mates were alphas, but Samson was the alpha. “I propose, Christie, you, and Gigi all move into the alpha house with me. That way, everyone is safe and Christie isn’t coming back and forth here to be with…her mate.”
Tris chuckled a bit but then quieted. “How is it going to work? I mean, am I even allowed to stay at the alpha house?”
“I am the alpha, and I say yes. It is for the good of…Christie.”
I looked from one to the other. It would at least temporarily resolve the question of which house we lived in. We were still not moved into one or the other of Tris’ and my rental. “And how is it going to work with the jealousy and you two not biting each other’s heads off? That’s the real question.”
They both looked at me like I’d grown an extra head. “Well, my only suggestion on that front is there be no sexual contact under my roof for the time being. That way, we take the matings off the table in order to focus on the pack issues and keeping Christie and Gigi safe. Period.”
Tris flinched. “Ouch. That sucks for me.”
It wouldn’t be easy, but it would probably prevent bloodshed. “Fine. But can you agree to get along? I can’t take it when the two of you are at each other’s throats.”
“I can. Samson?” Tris was the first to respond.
“I can, for her. I would like you all to move in as soon as possible. The rooms are ready.”
I laughed and tinkered with the leftover lasagna in my plate. “Had this all planned, didn’t you?”
Samson, in a move so not like him, took my hand across the table. “I hoped, female. I really did hope.”
