"We are." Raff pulls me closer with the possessive, boneless energy of a man who has decided he is not moving for anything short of a natural disaster.
I look at Perrin's inside out shorts, then at Elowen’s wild hair, and I feel a warmth spread through my chest that has nothing to do with Raff's bond or the afternoon we just had.
We are all so stupidly, recklessly happy right now.
It's been like this for days.
Someone is always sneaking off somewhere with someone. The office, the laundry room, the back seat of the Cadillac that one time that nobody has formally acknowledged. It's a miracle any of them have gotten any work done at all, and honestly the miracle is mostly Odette, who has been running the shop completely on her own.
“Packs need to bond early on,” she said to me yesterday when I called to see how she was doing.
"Hey, Raff?" Perrin says, reaching for his pockets and then stoppingwhen his hands find nothing but inside out fabric. He looks down at his shorts, then up at the room, his flush deepening by several degrees.
"Did Cliff and you have fun?" Raff asks, nodding at Perrin’s shorts.
Perrin looks down at his left leg. Looks at the tag. Then looks back up at Raff.
"We were in a hurry," he says a little defensively.
Cliff steps in the room two seconds later, and he looks just as wrecked as Perrin. The alpha is flushed with his dark hair sticking up in a hundred different directions. He's pulling his shirt down as he walks in, and he scans the room once before his eyes find Raff.
"Something came up," he says.
"Are you wearing your shirt inside out too?" I ask.
Cliff looks down. He's not. But he checks, which tells me everything I need to know.
"The boys boosted a few cars last night," Cliff says, moving on without acknowledging my question. "Four of them. We need to get to the shop and ghost the trackers before anyone starts looking."
Raff sighs next to me, the long-suffering exhale of a man being ripped out of bed.
"Fine," he says. He releases me slowly, like he's doing it against his will, then he sits up. He looks at me. Then at Elowen. "Don't have too much fun while I'm gone," he says, and I half expect the alpha to pout.
"No promises," Elowen says.
Cliff leans down and kisses me before he goes, his hand cupping the back of my head. When he pulls back, his dark eyes are very direct.
"Listen to Perrin," he says.
I smile up at him. "Is that a command?" I tease.
"Yes,"he says with a firm nod.
I hate it immediately.
My whole body registers the command like a switch being flipped, settling into it before I've had the chance to object, and I make a face that communicates exactly how I feel about that.
Perrin grins.
"Don't." I glare at my brother.
"I didn't say anything," Perrin says, in the happiest voice I think I’ve ever heard from him.
Once everyone is dressed and ready, Raff and Cliff leave, and the house goes quiet the way it does when the alphas are gone. It’s still warm, but something is missing.
“What do we want to do?” Perrin asks as he pulls his shorts up, finally putting them on the right way.
Elowen's stomach growls.
