Page 170 of Pucking Feral: Part Two

"Call me baby again and I will⁠—"

"PACK BONDING!" Whiskey announces, flinging both arms around Plague and me simultaneously and crushing us together.

My face is pressed into Whiskey's collarbone.

Plague's elbow is digging into my ribs.

"This is assault," I snarl into his neck.

"This is cuddling."

"I don't fucking cuddle."

"You do now, bro!"

I shove him off, but not as much as I should.

Whiskey flops back against the pillows with a satisfied grunt, one arm still hooked loosely around Plague, who has given up the pretense of resistance entirely and is lying there with his eyes closed.

My phone vibrates somewhere in the blankets.

I fish it out.

IVY

That picture is now my lockscreen

Goodnight boys

Like the three of us all belong to her. Like I've been hers this entire time, part of the package despite everything, and I'm the last one to figure it out.

I stare at the message for longer than I have any right to.

Whiskey cranes his neck to read it. "She put us as her lockscreen? Bro. Bro."

"I'll change it when she isn't looking," Plague grumbles, half-asleep. Clearly doesn't care enough to drag himself out of the… cuddle pile.

I don't, either.

It's warm. The rumbling purrs starting up in Whiskey's chest vibrate through all three of us. The only other sounds are the quiet tick of Plague's alarm clock and the soft musical sound of Ivy giggling somewhere up in the loft above us.

Whiskey's arm tightens around Plague, and his arm ends up flopped across my waist again. He's already snoring, and Plague's breathing has evened out, too. If he's not already asleep, he will be soon.

I could, and should, move. But this time, I let it happen.

Because I don't actually hate this.

And that's the worst part.

Chapter 35

Ivy

The loft is perfectly quiet and dark, just us now.

Wraith sets our takeout containers on the nightstand and waits there for a moment, hands at his sides. The scarf Plague gave him is still wrapped around his lower face, the fabric dark against the white bandages and scars visible above the edge.

He looks exhausted.