Angus shrugs. “Yeah, right. Like you weren’t enjoying being the little spoon all morning.”
“Whatever.” Marco shakes his head, trying and failing to hide his red face under his shaggy dark hair.
I arch a brow at him. “Little spoon, huh? Maybe I should have stuck around.”
Marco lifts my chin and kisses me again. “Don’t get any ideas.”
“Why not? That could be hot. Like, really hot,” I say, eyeing them both. With all the times the three of us have romped in the sack together, they’ve never made a move in that direction. But now the mental picture sends a rush of heat right to my core.
The two of them glance at each other awkwardly and look away. Angus punches Marco’s shoulder and continues walking.
The three of them call themselves brothers, but they aren’t biological siblings. Van is definitely the leader of their little pack, though they have said many times that they haven’t lived by pack rules for some time now, whatever that means. Van did have a biological brother, a twin named Tobias who was killed by Damon Underwood, vampire founder of the Society of Ancient Magic, headmaster of Blakeborne university, and the man they’ve come here to kill.
Van marches past us, his breath coming in white puffs. He doesn’t look at me, he just starts undressing, laying his coat out like a blanket on the snow and folding the rest of his clothes inside. He’s not at all shy about being naked in front of me or the others, none of them are. Though I really do enjoy watching them get ready to shift.
My phone chimes again, this time with a call instead of a text. I pull it out of my pocket to switch it off, but it slips out of my hands into the snow. Marco grabs it and hands it back to me as the ringing stops and a pair of texts come through.
“Is everything all right?” he asks, noticing my discomfort.
I nod and try to smile, but the way he looks at me makes me want to throw myself into his arms. Marco wouldn’t turn his back on me because of what my father did, would he? I mean, when we first made love, he confessed his own secret to me, worried that he wasn’t worthy of my love, worried that I had changed my mind.
Part of me knows that he wouldn’t turn away. But I can’t shake the fear.
Marco wipes away my tears with his thumb and crouches down to my eye level. “Hey. What’s all this?”
I shake my head, forcing myself not to cry. I’m being ridiculous. “It’s my sister. She keeps asking me why I am not there with them for the holiday.”
His brow furrows and I know he’s curious about that very same thing. But he won’t ask. He didn’t ask what happened when Porter Allbright attacked me, and he isn’t going to ask about this. “You don’t owe anyone explanations about anything. If you decide to share your reasons, then you’ll do it on your terms. When you’re ready.” He takes my phone and switches it to silent and then slides it into his coat. “This will keep. You don’t have to make any decisions about it right now.”
“Thank you,” I whisper. “I can’t go home. There’s so much… Kate said that…”
He presses his finger to my lips and shakes his head. “You don’t have to explain to me, either. Until and unless you’re ready.” He turns to the others. “Good news, boys. Joely’s staying with us.”
“Awesome.” Angus’s smile lights up his face. “Isn’t that awesome, Van?”
Van blows into his fists and glares at me. “You guys coming, or what? It’s fucking freezing out here.” He moves toward the trees and in a flash his body shifts into his giant dire wolf. Van’s human feet morph into huge paws, and his white fur shines golden in the sun.
Angus watches Van bound away as he undresses. “Don’t worry about him, Joely. He wants you here as much as we do.”
“I don’t know about that,” I say. I glance into the forest after him, but I’ve lost Van with all the snow.
“You know you can stay for as long as you like.” Marco steps out of his boots and hurries to undress. I can’t help but admire the two of them, standing naked in front of me.
“We have an extra room you can use,” Angus says.
Marco holds up his hands. “Wait a second. I’m pretty happy with the sleeping arrangements as they are.” He pulls me to him again and laughs.
“Oh really?” I say, playing. My face flushes because the last few days have been spent with Angus and Marco in Marco’s king-sized bed.
Angus grabs my hand. “I’m serious. I love having you with us. But staying doesn’t mean you have to… every night… you know?”
“Ride me?” Marco says with a waggle of his brows, which makes the three of us laugh.
“She rode you last night,” Angus says.
Every night at sunset, the boys have taken their wolves for a run, and they’ve taken me with them. I take turns riding on the backs of Angus or Marco, since Van is clearly not interested.
“Very funny. But, Angus is right. It’s his turn. Wouldn’t want it to seem like I am playing favorites.”
“You don’t have a favorite?” Angus asks with a wink.
“You’re all my favorite,” I say. And I mean it. Even Van.
The sky is starting to glow now as the sun drops closer to the horizon. It’s Solstice Eve, one more day before the shortest day of the year, and I’m not at home with my family for the first time
