Page 114 of Savage Surrender

I nod against Weller, though I’m not sure either of them can feel it. My eyes close again.

The next time I come up, somebody’s heart is beating too fast right next to my ear.

I listen to it for a while without opening my eyes. A warm hand is spread wide across my back, holding me so close that every breath I take has to make room.

Honey. Cedar.

Freddie.

My nose drags over his chest when I breathe him in. His skin is bare, smooth heat with the faint scratch of hair against my cheek.

There’s another body fitted along my back.

Owen is naked behind me, his chest stuck to the damp fabric between my shoulders and one bare leg wedged between mine. His face is buried in my hair with his mouth against the hot skin at the back of my neck. His arm circles my waist, his hand fisted in the front of my shirt.

Tristan and Weller are still in the blankets, but only in the scent left behind.

I move my foot an inch. Owen’s leg tightens around it.

“Princess.”

The word is mostly breath. I don’t think he’s awake. His nose pushes deeper into my hair, and the hand at my waist opens long enough to slide beneath the hem of the shirt. His palm settles over my stomach, hot skin against hot skin.

I cover his hand with mine.

He goes loose behind me all at once, his next breath leaving against my neck. Then he curls closer until there isn’t any space left along my back.

Freddie makes a rough little noise in his sleep and drags me toward him. My arm has ended up around him too, my hand resting between his shoulder blades. His shoulder jerks beneath my palm, and his grip loosens for half a second before his arm locks around my ribs again. His other arm is trapped beneath my neck, and his fingers have tangled in my hair. I should probably fix that before he wakes up with no feeling in his hand.

His mouth presses into the top of my head.

“I’m so fucking sorry.”

My fingers freeze against his back. Freddie stops breathing too.

I slide my hand down and wrap it around his waist, pulling him closer. His chest presses into my sore ribs, but I don’t stop until his breath shudders out and his body folds around mine again.

For a while, the only sound is all three of us breathing.

“Your mom?”

“Your brother and his pack took her in. They made sure she was going to be okay, and then they dropped her off where she wanted to go. She’s been seeing someone.”

His lips move against my hair. My body gets heavier against his.

“Stay.” Owen’s mouth brushes the nape of my neck. “Please.”

I ease back into him, slowly, until his forehead settles against the back of my neck. They’re both too hot. Sweat gathers where our bodies touch, and the blanket has worked its way down around our legs.

The next time I wake, my bladder hurts. But I can already tell both of them are going to take it personally when I leave.

Freddie makes a soft, unhappy sound.

“Shh.” I rub my wrist against his neck until his face loosens again. “Go back to sleep.”

Owen is harder. The second I ease our last inch of touching skin apart, his fingers reach and grab the shirt.

“No.” I hold the inside of my wrist beneath his nose and smooth his eyebrows down, but then my bladder squeezes again.