Page 21

Sex, during wild, hot, dirty sex.

“Okay…” I dragged out, nervous for an entirely different reason now.

He cleared his throat, his stare going to the floor for a second. “So only one of our pack needs to bite you in front of two witnesses to make it legally binding. After that, it's a chomp-at-your-leisure kind of policy.”

My face was probably as red as Emmett's ears, and still, I couldn’t help but laugh at his joke. The humor was definitely helping to break the tension.

I leaned forward, grabbing the pen and signing the papers, my heart thundering. “All right, so where are we⁠—”

“In the other room. The guys are waiting, and I assume Emma is there. She’s set up to be one of the witnesses. I’ll show you the way.”

I followed Emmett out of the main room and down the hall to another conference room in the same building. Milo grabbed at the shiny glass walls and gold accents as we walked by, attracted to the bright lights and colors. As we reached the end of the hall, Emmett gestured in front of him as he pushed open a door, and I stepped inside.

Emma was indeed there, as was the rest of Pack Winters. I felt their eyes land on me, a combination of nerves and intrigue hitting me. After a moment, I forced myself to walk forward and met the group in the center of the room, to the side of the long table on the other half of the space.

“Are we all good?” Emma asked, her brows up as she kept her tone light and professional.

“Yes.” I nodded, squeezing Milo against me. “Sorry about that. I just…wanted to be sure you were really all okay with this.”

“We are,” Marshall replied. “I assure you.”

“All right, perfect. This is our other witness…” Emma gestured at an older man I hadn’t noticed, who looked like he was definitely being paid to be there. “…and both of us will be signing as witnesses on the paperwork. Right, so usually, it's the pack leader who does the honors,” Emma said and smiled at Marshall, sweeping her hand toward me.

But Marshall swallowed visibly, ducking his head before looking up and failing to meet my eyes. He cleared his throat after a moment. “We agreed as a pack that Emmett should be the one to do it,” he explained in a gruff voice.

My heart kicked against my ribs, my stomach sinking. Did Marshall not want to…

Doubt crept along the edges of my mind, and I started to shake, taking a step backward despite myself. I understood this was all so new and everything, but…there was something about Marshall’s expression. He was on edge, but I couldn’t tell if it was discomfort with me or something else.

“And I am ready and excited to do so.” Emmett’s words cut in, pulling my attention away from Marshall. He smiled brightly, not looking nervous in the slightest. He did look excited, and that was more than enough to ease the tiny sting caused by the change in plans.

Emmett walked up to me, and I stared at the floor for a second, trying to collect myself.

“It feels weird doing this in front of people,” I whispered, heartbeat loud in my ears.

Smiling, Emmett lowered his chin so he could look me in the eyes. “I would say, imagine them naked, but that may traumatize us,” he whispered, glancing over at the slightly slimy-looking witness.

I bit back a laugh. “Okay, how do we do this?”

Emma started to speak. “Well⁠—”

“Summer and I will decide how we go about this,” Emmett interjected. And something about him being the one to direct this made the butterflies in my stomach stop flapping so wildly.

“Marshall,” Emmett said without looking away from me, “would you please take Milo? I sort of need his mama for a minute.”

Marshall came over, smiling at the baby as he took him from me. He looked glad for the distraction, but as our eyes met for a moment, I could see the intense heat behind his stare, and my spine went all tingly. Then Emmett was stepping closer, his brown eyes just as intense as he gazed down at me.

“Wrist for wrist?” Gently, he reached for my arm, and it was floating up toward him before I consciously told it to. Still, I nodded, and Emmett presented his forearm to me. “Do you want to do it at the same time so that…well, so that we’re not standing in front of everyone for so long?”

Relief flooded me, and I nodded. “Yes, thank you. I think that’ll make it a bit less awkward.”

Emmett smirked. “But only slightly.”

We both laughed, and then together, we silently lifted each other’s wrists to our mouths. I couldn’t hear anything over the beating of my heart. It was so incredibly weird to be doing something so intimate in front of people, you know, aside from the other alphas who would probably be involved in the bond biting in any other situation. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the rest of the room, and then I felt Emmett’s breath wash over my skin.

Goose bumps broke out across my skin, and his scent was so close to me again, all that sweet yet tart fruit scent with a deep spiced undertone. It was enough to have me wanting more of it, and I parted my lips, hovering them right over Emmett’s pulse point.

“Three…two…” he whispered, my focus solely on him as I tried to ignore the people standing around us. “One.”