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“He’s definitely coming around,” I said, unable to hide my smile. “I’m not sure what pushed him over the edge yesterday, but he came over and we had a really good talk. And we have a date planned.”
“It was Atlas,” Dean admitted. “He had a ‘coming to Jesus’ moment with all of us in a group text.”
I gasped and nearly stumbled. “Holy shit, your brother texted you?” Just from his smile alone, I could tell how happy that made him.
“That was my reaction, too,” he said. “It was within the group chat at first and then he sent me a message afterwards. Things are still rough. We can’t just fix two years of tension in one night but we sent a few random texts here and there. It’s nice but we haven’t spent any time together in person.”
“I’m proud of you guys, that’s amazing,” I said earnestly. It had been on my mind heavily lately. The fact that two of the people in my pack were at odds, especially two brothers with a lot of baggage, didn’t bode well for our future.
Especially when both were too stubborn to fix it.
He gave me a squeeze and this time, I brushed my nose over his shoulder, breathing him in without shame. Not one of them scent-marked me yet, so I was simply taking care of the matter myself. It was like I couldn’t get enough of their scent lately. I wanted to rub myself on them, pull them in and never let go. Just a touch and my body was burning for them.
Then it hit me.
Heat.
Could forming a pack jumpstart a heat?
I wasn’t due for another few months. It was hard to tell with suppressors when exactly it would hit, but I could easily narrow it down to a range. Now I had no clue what to do. Usually, I would just take the stronger doses that they give us the week of my heat or ride it out myself. Now I had a pack.
We haven’t even been in a room together, let alone discussed how a heat might look for us.
Yay for awkward conversations.
“Do you want to just come back to my place for a movie?” Dean asked. “I’m kind of ‘peopled out’ today.”
“Oh, you had that open house, didn’t you, how did it go?” I dove headfirst into the distraction. Avoiding it for a little longer wouldn’t hurt.
He gave me a little squeeze as if thanking me for remembering. Not that I had on my own.
“Surprisingly well. A few of them said they came from another open house in the area and were sent our way. I have a feeling my brother had something to do with that. I meant to text him and I got distracted. It was like wave after wave of families and couples coming in to see this property. I haven’t been back to the office yet, but I’d say we probably have a few callbacks at least.”
Atlas was trying to mend the divide.
“That’s great. And yes, if you don’t want to go sit down somewhere let’s just grab some quick burgers or something and go back to your place for a movie. I’d offer mine but Micah and Collin are working on some plans tonight. We don’t want an alpha looming over us.”
“My place is empty,” he said quickly. “It’s nothing too impressive but…” He trailed off when I poked him in the side.
“Stop it, it’s going to be great.” I continued snuggling into his side as I pulled out my phone to scroll through my streaming apps. There had to be something worthwhile on one of them. I wasn’t even sure what kind of movie he was into but if I found a few he could help narrow it down.
Dean froze so abruptly that I nearly dropped my phone, barely catching it and opening my mouth to say something when a familiar scent joined us.
Having the twins side by side I’d never noticed before that their scents complemented each other.
Dean’s was earthy and fresh, the forest rain mixing with Atlas’s citrus and spice. Everything about them felt safe and cozy and I wished I could bottle that for later. I had to bite back a whimper as heat surged through my body.
“Atlas,” I finally said when I’d regained composure. That and they had yet to break the intense silence between them.
They were staring at each other, faces neutral, and I was starting to get worried.
Atlas was the first to give in, his shoulders sagging slightly as he reached over and swept his fingers over my cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he said. “I was just trying to figure out what to do for dinner. It was a long day of open houses.” He gave his brother a wink and I felt Dean relax a little bit more.
“Thanks for the help today, my open house was busy,” Dean said. “It definitely made it successful.”
“No problem,” Atlas said, sounding surprised at the gratitude his brother showed.
