Sebastian is nodding enthusiastically. “Yep, yep, all of that. Um.” He reaches under the table and squirms on the chair. “Fuck, it’s uncomfortable to sit at the table with a hard-on.”
“Gods, will you two pump the brakes? She hasn’t given us an answer yet,” Carter snaps. His expression turns serious. “Does that change your decision, sweetheart? Your pill might not work if your hormones override it, and we sure as hell don’t have enough condoms in the house for all of us to last the whole full moon.”
“Condoms are tricky during a heat,” Sebastian adds. “We might be too out of it to remember, sorry. It’s not a chance I’d take if you’re totally against the possibility of kids.”
“I’m not,” I blurt out. My cheeks are flaming hot, my heart pumping fast. “I want kids. Lots of them. But I thought it was too soon.”
Carter nuzzles his cheek against my temple. “It might be. But we’re in this for life, Emma. And whatever you decide, we’re here for you.”
Troy leans in, his expression sly. “And besides, even if you get pregnant now, we’ll have nine months to get to know each other before the baby arrives.”
I stare at him, wondering how to explain to this big werewolf that this isn’t how things are supposed to go. I’m the product of a relationship between two people who didn’t know each other at all, so I really should know better.
But the insistent feeling of safety tells me this is different.They’redifferent. I glance from Troy to Sebastian. Neither of them would ever leave me if they found out I was pregnant. They want this—they want me.
“Okay,” I say. “I-I agree. We don’t know if this heat will affect me like that, but I’m not afraid of…the consequences.”
Sebastian snorts. “That’s a romantic way of putting it.”
“I’m not afraid of getting knocked up by my three new boyfriends,” I correct myself. “Is that better?”
“Much.” Carter kisses the side of my neck, his arm tightening around me. “Now eat your dinner, Emma. You’ll need all the strength you can get.”
Chapter
Eighteen
CARTER
Emma finishes her soup, scooping up the last bits of vegetables from the bottom. Sebastian and Troy watch her every movement with unblinking focus, both their bowls still half full. I cough and motion for them to finish up, and Troy grabs his bowl and drinks straight from it, gulping down the food.
“Stop that,” Sebastian hisses, nudging him with his elbow. “She’ll think we’ve been raised by wolves.”
Emma snickers at that, then relaxes back against my chest, her body soft and warm. “A wolf joke. I would think you hate them.”
“We do,” Troy rumbles. “Sebastian is the only one who cracks them.”
She glances from them to me. “So how was it? Living with a pack as kids?”
Since Troy and Sebastian already told her their life stories, as she’d said earlier, I know she’s asking more about me.
“Well, I told you my father was the alpha,” I begin.
“And his father before him,” Troy jumps in.
“And hisfather before him, and so on, and so on until the end of time,” Sebastian intones and lifts his hands dramatically.
Emma giggles, and I retaliate by throwing a wadded-up napkin at Sebastian’s face. He bats it away and winks at me.
“As I was saying,” I pick up, raising my voice a little to commandeer their attention, “we were the alpha family. So that meant we were always under scrutiny, which…might not have been the best, in retrospect.”
Emma frowns. “How so?”
“It means Carter grew up thinking that leaders never fuck up.” Sebastian leans back in his chair and taps his fingers on the table. “We’ve been working with him for years to let go of his perfectionist tendencies.”
“And loosen up a little,” Troy adds, a smirk curling his lips.
“Would you two clowns shut up?” I growl, though there’s no heat to my words. They’re right, of course, and one of the reasons why we’ve kept our pack small and refused to join any of the larger compounds is that I didn’t want an audience to our life.
