“If you say so.” He shrugged. “Besides, I’m not interested in Daryl.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“I’m not.” Ignoring her knowing look, he added, “Cam wants all his betas to have the level of trust and respect that Mike, Daryl, and Alec have. Getting me and Daryl to do whatever tasks Alpha Cornell deems appropriate is a step towards that.”
“Fine, fine.” She held her hands up. “I won’t mention it again.”
Good. Because Jason didn’t need to be harbouring those kinds of thoughts about Daryl when they were going to be in each other’s pockets for the next fourteen days. Trying for a subject change, he asked, “What’s Sara going to do while you’re gone?”
“She’s coming with me.” Rachel said, smile turning soft.
“Oh?”
“Cam said it’d be too hard on us to be separated so soon after bonding.” She flushed, colour high on her cheeks, and Jason barked out a laugh.
He might not have experienced a bond himself, but he was well aware of the pull, the need to be together—usually naked. “That should be interesting. Being in such close quarters with your unit as well.”
“Oh, shush.” She slapped him playfully on the arm. “Since Alpha Cornell’s her grandmother, it makes sense for Sara to stay with her. Avoiding temptation. But knowing she’s close by should help alleviate some of the separation anxiety we might experience.”
“Mhmm.” Jason raised his eyebrows, and Rachel laughed.
“I don’t know what you’re insinuating. We can control ourselves.”
“Hey.” It was Jason’s turn to hold his hands up. “I’m not saying you can’t, but I remember the week after Mark and Alec bonded.”
She scrunched her nose up. “I’m sure I don’t want to know.”
“Let’s just say I’m surprised they had any energy left for anything else. I’ve never seen two people smile so much.” Jason laughed at her expression.
“But Alec’s so . . .” She waved a hand in the air. “He’s not as bad as Daryl, but I can’t imagine him smiling all the time.”
“Really?” He grinned at her. “You know, every time I mention Sara . . .” Rachel’s smile was immediate, as though a Pavlovian response, and Jason pointed at her mouth. “See?”
“Yes, fine, I get your point. But I like to think we’ve got enough control not to embarrass ourselves in front of my unit and the alpha council.” Her cheeks flushed again. “Well, let’s hope so anyway. I can’t afford to be distracted.”
None of them could.
Yet another reason why thinking of Daryl as anything other than his fellow beta was out of the question.
“Right.” Rachel set her mug down on the worktop. “I’d better go. I’ve got a few last things to take care of before we’re due to leave.”
“Yeah, me too.”
He followed her to the door and gave her a quick hug. “See you in a few hours,” he said stepping back and offering her a smile. “It’s going to be an interesting two weeks.”
She laughed and winked at him. “In so many ways.”
CHAPTER THREE
“Hey,” Daryl greeted as Jason joined him on the pavement, suitcase and rucksack in hand.
“Nothing conspicuous about us.” Jason laughed as he gestured at the line of cars parked outside Cam’s building.
Technically they could have all squeezed into four vehicles, but no one thought it was a good idea to mix Jenn and Rachel’s units on a three-hour car journey. So Jenn took the first two cars, Rachel the next two, and that left Daryl and Jason in the last one.
Daryl pointed to the boot of his car. “Stick your stuff in there and let’s go.”
The other cars had already disappeared around the corner as Daryl pulled out onto the road. He went to put on some music, then in a rare moment of compromise turned to Jason. “There’s a load of playlists on my phone.” He pointed to where it sat on the console between them. “Pick whatever you want.”
