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I look down at his hand, thankful there is a layer of army green canvas between our skin. I look up at him. “Let me give you my number. You don’t have to use it, but I just… I need you to have the option. Please.”
I step back, dislodging his hand from me, and it hangs there in the air between us. “I’ve always had the option, Davis.” His eyes brighten when I use his name, all pretending gone. “All of your phone numbers are locked away up here.” I tap on my temple. They made me memorize them when I was a teenager, just in case I ever needed them and I didn’t have my cell phone, or if the battery ran out. No matter how much I tell myself that the numbers are useless and can be deleted from my memory banks, they persist. “I could have called you at any time over the last seven years,” I say, moving just the slightest bit closer to him, leaning up until my mouth is closer to his ear. “I just didn’t fucking want to.”
I step away from him, ignoring the flash of hurt on his gorgeous face, ignoring how that blow to him makes me feel shitty, too. I scoop up my bag and stride out of the cafe, pretending I don’t hear him when he calls out my name.
Rule 7: There’s nothing wrong with a little light stalking
“Come on, you slowpoke!”
A soft hand curls around mine, pulling me faster. My thumb stokes over the skin I know so well, better than my own. Vee has only just recently started being physically affectionate with us. Or maybe it’s the other way around. We’re finally letting her be affectionate with us.
She’s sixteen. Almost seventeen now, and our whole fucking world.
Now that she’s getting older, it feels less creepy to be totally in love with her.
I look up from our joined hands, over the tanned skin of her lithe arm, up her freckled shoulders and to her light brown ponytail swinging with every step she takes. “What’s the rush, angel?”
She glances over at me, hazel eyes sparkling and I feel it in my chest, the start of a bond. The one that will eventually tie us together forever. My teeth ache with the need to pierce her skin, to grow and cement that bond right fucking now. “They’re waiting for us.” Her pink lips curl into a sweet smile.
Fuck. She’s too young for me to be having those kinds of thoughts. I’m too young. Only nineteen. It’s too early to be claiming anyone. To tie her down.
Not that she would mind. I know she wouldn’t. But we’ve talked about this. She needs to finish highschool, go to college, figure out what she wants to do besides just… be with us. If I bit her now, she would probably thank me for it. She would be happy, honestly. But any bond that formed might not stick, not when she hasn’t presented yet. And if she doesn’t present at all and remains a beta, like we think she will be, it’ll be stronger if she’s older, if we form a bond between us without a bite first.
Sylvie stops in the middle of the path, and turns to look up at me, her teeth sunk into her bottom lip. “Asher?”
I use my grip on her hand to pull her closer, while checking the area around us. Tall pine trees, rocky ground, scrubby brush. I realize I know this place and I know this memory. Davis’s birthday in the height of summer heat. All he’d wanted to do was go swimming and cliff jumping. So we’d made our way out of the city to one of the few places nearby we could do it.
Vee and I are on our way to the top of the cliff to jump off… together.
A dream. I’m dreaming.
Doesn’t mean I won’t live in this moment while I can. That I won’t take advantage while she lets me. My free hand hooks around her neck, pulling her even closer. Vee’s little hands move up to rest on my chest. My bare chest. I’m only in a pair of swim trunks and sneakers. She’s wearing a white bikini that makes her sun kissed skin look even darker, more rich.
“What, angel?”
Her chin tips back, and I can see the indecision written on her face. She wants to ask for something, but she’s afraid to. Not sure how I’ll take it, if I’ll reject her. She should know by now we won’t deny her anything. Not if it’s in our power to give it.
“Ask me,” I demand, the hint of my alpha bark coming out. Shit. I haven’t quite got the hang of that yet. I didn’t mean to bark at her.
Vee doesn’t seem to mind, a delicate shiver working over her body as she moves closer to me. Goddamn it. The feel of her soft body against mine is torture. I’m about three seconds away from having a painful erection that won’t see any relief for hours. Her lids flutter closed as my fingers tighten on the nape of her neck.
“Vee.”
She looks up at me. “You… did Ford tell you about Connor?”
A low rumble sounds from my chest. It’s possessive as hell as I tug her closer. Ford did tell us about Connor. About how he stole her first kiss from us, how she tried to push him away and he wouldn’t let her. The only reason Connor isn’t in the fucking morgue right now is because his dad is friends with the Werth pack.
As it is, he ended up with a broken nose, two black eyes. And a broken hand. The one that held Vee in place while he took from her.
I still think he got off too easy.
“Yes, Ford told us about Connor,” I say now, struggling to keep my alpha under control.
I don’t miss the way her mouth quirks up and her cheeks flush. Our girl likes it when we get possessive of her. “It was my first kiss, Ash. And I wish it hadn’t happened.” Another growl pulls from me, only to cut off when she looks up at me and blurts out. “Will you kiss me?”
I blink at her, stunned. Her cheeks flush, and she drops her hands from my chest, looking down and shaking her head. “Nevermind. It was dumb. I just thought…. That’s the only memory I have of a kiss and I want to replace it-”
She cuts off when my mouth touches hers, slants over her lips. Electricity shocks through me, making the semi I was sporting turn into a full on erection. Vee whimpers, pressing closer to me, fingers scrabbling against my chest like she needs something to hold on to until she slides them up to lace into the hair at the back of my neck.
