Now they're both looking at me. Garret looks annoyed as he glares at me and then looks pointedly at Kelly’s bleeding knees. Apparently, my triumph isn’t amusing. So, we can mark him down as considerate with a huge stick up his ass.
Good to know.
Kelly, at least, is smiling at me. Shit, she is the sweetest girl I ever met. I watch her as she looks back over at Garret, running her hand down his arm, and intertwining their fingers. Trying to soothe his irritation. Still, he takes the crate from my hands and roots around until he finds gauze pads and tape, and some ointment. He gently wipes away the blood and dabs on the antibiotic before patching her up with a combination of gauze pads, medical tape, and adhesive strips.
I’ll concede that if he makes her happy, we can keep him. My lip curls up in an involuntary snarl at the thought of sharing my pack with anyone else. But whatever they need, they can have, as long as they’ll still have me. Watching Garret as he stareslongingly at Kelly, there is one quick thought that makes me smile. Now she has two alphas to keep her safe and protected, and to help her if she wants to try to take a knot.
My cock stirs at the thought of that, and I need to stop now before I make a damned fool of myself.
Time for a change of subject!
“So, breakfast? Anybody have any requests?” I might sound a tad too chipper considering how little sleep I’m running on and the situation at hand.
Kelly blushes, that sweet pink covering her cheeks before she stammers out, “Sorry, I started getting stuff out for pancakes. I wanted to surprise you…and I got sidetracked.” She gestures towards her legs, and then at Garret’s hands.
I completely forgot he got yanked out of the truck earlier. I don’t even realize I’m doing it until I’m dabbing ointment on his scraped up palms, putting the gauze pads on, and taping them down. My work looks shoddy in comparison to what he did for her knees. Fuck it, I’m used to only patching up myself. He’ll live regardless.
He looks up at me, his face a bit flushed and embarrassed. “Look, Sam…I, um. I appreciate the help. And, don’t get me wrong, you’re very attractive. You’ve got that whole silver fox thing going for you. But. Uh…I’m here for Kelly. I don’t like guys…like…likeguys.”
I must be getting slow in my old age, because it takes about thirty seconds, and Kelly giggling beside me on the counter before I realize what he’s trying to tell me, and I snort laughter—which is not attractive. I slap him none too gently on the arm, not enough to hurt but he needs to understand a few things. “Not a problem, man. I think you’re kind of an asshole anyway. But if Kelly likes you and wants you, that’s up to her. Everything that happens is up to her. You get me? Andifshe wants you, thatmakes you pack. It’s on me to make sure the pack’s taken care of.”
He nods dumbly, rubbing his arm with the back of his bandaged hand. I didn’t hit him that hard. That’s ok, if she wants him to stick around, I’m sure he’ll find his place. Plus, if I still have a spot at the fire station, I think he might make a good addition.
I offer Kelly my hand to hop down off the counter and usher her into the bedroom. “Well, now that the awkward bullshit’s out of the way, let’s go make some pancakes. Unless you need pants first?”
Chapter 39
These pancakes are going to be as chewy as a damned rubber boot. I should probably start over and mix with less aggression but shit. Teddy loves pancakes, and I figured I could take over from Kelly since she wasn’t here, maybe do something to help me get back in his good graces. Now my frustration's just led to a mess and bullshit pancakes. I could fix these for everyone else and then make Teddy his own…but I would need to serve him last. Shit.
If he’d only accept my apology, or at least let me apologize properly. I don’t even know. It started because when I woke up, I was the big spoon…unfortunately it was in a trio, and when I tried to tug my omega away from Kelly, he got defensive. I can’t even put all the blame on him. I know he’s hurt. But I need to find a way to fix this.
He won’t even entertain the idea of coming back with us. He says he won’t leave his pack—but there’s no bite, so he could. If he really wanted to. I can’t believe I’m being thrown over for a beta, and a girl at that. If this is a family thing, where he wants kids, I’m probably screwed. Maybe we can find a female alphafor our pack who he’d go for. Then Sam could keep Kelly, and Teddy could come with us. Heck, maybe Garret would even hit it off with said lady alpha. He’s pretty flexible.
Not that I’ve ever seen him with anybody, but maybe he’s just not interested. Is it messed up that I don’t know if my brother is asexual or just picky? It doesn’t matter, Teddy is so obviously ours that he can’t even argue about it, I know he felt it too. I saw him chasing Kelly through the damned store after Teddy’s scent. He thinks she’s the one he wants, but he must be confused, she’s not even an omega.
Teddy left me alone when I started cooking, I don’t know where he went. Giving up on the batter, I check the fridge for any sort of berries or anything I can top these with that might make them salvageable. This isn’t helping my frustration.
Footsteps sound behind me. Thank goodness Teddy’s back. I can try to fix this. “So, what do you like on your pancakes? I don’t see any strawberries, are you still good with just maple syrup and way too much butter?”
Instead of a reply, I hear Sam’s deep growling voice. “What the hell happened in here?”
Ok, so on top of my aggressive mixing, I may have also made a bit of a mess with my measuring, but I was going to clean it up. Still, that’s not Teddy. Straightening up, I turn to face the alpha that owns the kitchen where my life is currently falling apart. He really is attractive, and I can see why Teddy’s drawn to him, he has that commanding presence going on. Oh look, he brought the beta too.
Yeah, no.
Still, Garret follows her through the door, and she accepts his hand when he winds his fingers through hers. Maybe it won’t be so hard to keep her away from my bear. I reach up, rubbing the spot over my heart. When I turned eighteen I got a small tattoo of a teddy bear there. Garret knows about it, and he probablyunderstands, but nobody else has seen me shirtless in years. It isn’t as obvious now with all the coverups, but it was my first. Of course, Dad freaked out. I doubt I’d have to have gotten any of the rest of my ink if he hadn’t seen that one.
Sam glares down at the mixing bowl like it’s personally affronted him. He picks the spoon out of it and I watch the batter fall in a thick, smooth sheet from it. That doesn’t look quite right, I thought this was supposed to be kind of lumpy, but not too lumpy. Shit.
“Yo, man, what recipe did you use for this?” Sam asks, still staring down at the bowl.
This is embarrassing to admit. “I…uh…I didn’t? I mean, I used to watch the dads’ chef make breakfast, so I just tried to do what they did.”
Shit, ok, that sounds a lot worse when I say it out loud.
Teddy will be so disappointed if I make these for him.
Sam sighs, rubbing the end of his nose. “Ok, well, I don’t want to just pitch it, cause it’s a waste of food, so we can try making up a few after we get everybody fed. For now, hand me out a clean mixing bowl, they should be over the stove. Kelly, can you please go find Teddy? I want to make sure he gets food. We don’t want him getting sick again.”
