Raff's mouth falls open.
For a solid two seconds he stares at me. Then something shifts behind his eyes. His lips press together like he's trying very hard not to smile, and he pushes off the dresser, crossing the room to sit beside me on the bed.
"Perrin?" He says our beta’s name like he needs to hear it again to believe it. "OurPerrin? The guy who agonized for three months before he even agreed to hold my hand?"
"That Perrin."
Raff runs a hand over his buzz cut, his dark gray eyes wide. "And she was?—"
"On her knees. Choking on his cock. Before she even knew his name." I can’t help but smile, knowing how turned on this is making him.
Raff exhales slowly, almost a moan, as a flush creeps up the back of his neck. “I fucking hate that I missed that,” he growls softly and my cock grows.
“It was so goddamn sexy,” I whisper as I bring my hand to the back of his neck.
All I can think about is shoving the alpha onto his knees, and making him beg for the details while he sucks my cock. He'd love it. And the thought alone makes my dick throb against my zipper.
"Did he look like he was loving it?" Raff turns to me, his hand landing on my upper thigh. He squeezes hard as his gaze drops to my mouth. "Did he come?"
But before I can answer, the bathroom door down the hall creaks open, and we hear footsteps. Adam's lighter tread, and Perrin's heavier one. There’s a murmured exchange between the twins that I can't make out, then Perrin's footsteps move toward the living room and Adam's come toward us.
Raff straightens up and clears his throat. The flushon his neck doesn't go anywhere, but his face rearranges itself into something neutral.
"We’ll talk later," I whisper.
"Absolutely later," he says, struggling to contain his excitement.
Then the bedroom door opens, and Adam slips inside. The beta stands right inside the door for a moment, his hand still on the knob, looking at us like he's not sure he's welcome.
His dark blond hair is damp, the ends curling slightly against his neck, and he's wearing one of Raff's old high school T-shirts. The collar is stretched wide, hanging off one shoulder. He looks small in it. Young.
My alpha instincts roar to life, and I have to fight the urge to rip that fucking shirt off his perfect body and fuck him against the door.
My body is a fucking mess. My heart pounds from the fresh bond, territorial fury from the fight, and now this raw, primal urge to claim what's mine.
I force a breath through my nose, reminding myself that Odette is right down the hall, and I really don’t need her ripping into me right now for making too much noise.
“Um…bathroom’s free.” Adam’s eyes slip over me, then Raff, making it clear that we both need to wash up.
I don’t blame the beta. We’re both covered in blood, sweat, and dirt.
My body protests as I push myself up off the bed. My cock is rock hard, trapped uncomfortably in my jeans. I have to adjust myself as I stand.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Raff do the same.
Adam's gaze flickers down, catching both our movements. A faint pink stains his cheeks, and he looks awayquickly. His shyness is so out of character it's like a punch to the gut.
The beta is never this timid when it comes to sex.
It speaks volumes about how much he's struggling right now.
I caress Adam's cheek as I pass him. Raff does the same, letting his hand linger for a second longer.
Twenty minutes later, we're clean. Or clean enough. The hot water stung every cut and scrape on my body, but it felt good to wash the day off. Raff found butterfly bandages in Odette's medicine cabinet and closed the gash above my eyebrow while I stood there dripping on the bathmat. The graze on my bicep is wrapped in gauze that's already spotting red, but it'll hold through the night.
We make our way down the hallway in borrowed sweatpants and nothing else. The house is dark now. Through the living room doorway, I can see Perrin stretched out on the floor beside the couch, a pillow under his head and a blanket pulled to his chest. Elowen is still curled on the cushions above him, motionless. Neither of them stirs.
Adam is already in bed when we get inside, tucked under the covers on the far side, facing away from us. He looks asleep, but I know better. His breathing is too even. The kind you do when you're trying very hard to seem like you're not awake.
