Page 90 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

“We met in a bar. Don’t know if you knew that,” Adra started.

Lyric shook her head and settled in for story time.

“It was after… everything with my old pack. Drowning my sorrows, that kind of thing. I was probably the most miserable looking guy there, minding my own business, when someone sat down beside me.” Adra glanced down at her, a fond smile curling his full lips. “Emerson had brought his two brain cells over.”

The alpha in question scoffed. “Oh please. I charmed the pants right off you.”

“I was desperate, it didn’t take that much work.”

Lyric giggled at their banter, trying to remember a time when she’d been around them while they were so… relaxed. On the bus there was always an air of carefulness. But that air had dissipated along with their clothes.

“Anyway, this alpha walks over, takes a seat, turns to me, and says… how’d you word it?”

Emerson cleared his throat, and Lyric glanced over just in time to witness the rare appearance of a blush. “I said, ‘An alpha who looks like you, sitting here all alone like this, is just odd.’ And then he responded…” Emerson rolled his head in Odd’s direction, and Lyric followed with her gaze.

“‘Well that fits just great then, because I’m Adra. But some call me—’”

“‘Odd?’” Emerson finished.

“And it stuck. I mean, if you think about it, I am kind of odd,” he said with a half smile.

“No, you’re not,” she answered just a tad defensively.

He shrugged, shifting beneath her body. “There’s no shame in it. I’m an alpha, but I have a pretty feminine name, and I’ve always been known for being… not alpha-ish. It’s just how I am.”

Lyric realized then that was what had drawn her to him. His gentle nature, his sweet smile. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but that’s my favorite thing about you.”

“Of which there are many, I’m sure,” he drawled. If Lyric wasn’t staring at him, she probably wouldn’t have noticed the way he swallowed and glanced to the side.

“Humbleness is one of his best attributes,” Emerson retorted dryly.

A chuckle bubbled past her lips and she nodded. “Of course.” Lyric sobered as she studied him carefully, letting her gaze roam over his features. Had she imagined the doubt flashing across his eyes? “It really never bothers you?”

He answered with another shrug. “If you’d like to call me Odd, please do. It doesn’t bother me.”

“I dunno,” she hedged. “I might stick with Adra.”

“You could always try ‘god,’” Emerson suggested, “since that’s whose name you were screaming just a—”

Lyric lifted herself up and slapped a hand across his mouth. “Don’t say it.”

Heat licked through her as he lapped at her palm, and she lowered it to his chest.

“I have to say I’ve become quite fond of my nickname,” he murmured.

Lyric cocked her head to the side.

“I believe you shortened it to ‘Em’ a couple of times.”

Heat rushed to her cheeks. “Well, can you blame me? Emerson is such a long name, it’s a mouthful.”

She registered the innuendo two seconds after Emerson did and put her palm over his lips again. “Don’t say it!”

But it’s true, her subconscious supplied. He is a mouthful.

Lyric’s eye twitched, but she suffocated her amusement before it could bubble up her throat into laughter. Once she was certain he was going to keep his mouth shut, Lyric removed her palm and wiggled down comfortably between them. Her back was to Emerson, and he shifted behind her, placing a hand over her hip and moving his thumb back and forth. She curled into Adra, resting her hand on his abs.

Their heat weaved around her like a knitted blanket, and she melted into their touches. Part of her wished she could cuddle with them in a nest… but this was good enough.