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Golden warmth, bubbly and wonderful, slipped through her. An effervescent rush that tickled along her skin until she melted into Rey and buried her smile against his shoulder. Lips unerring, she mouthed the deep scar there.
He was hers. The very idea of it had tears welling in her eyes.
Somewhere in the mixed-up jumble, things began to click. All the little pieces falling into place, an optical illusion that suddenly made sense. It was far from perfect, but it was a real beginning. No lies, no force. Just them.
Not just for her, either. Rey watched her with a deep-seated curiosity, as if each day brought him some new morsel of knowledge about her. He talked with her, continued to let Devin help with the screwed up forms the latest office manager sent. He treated her like something more than just a thing to be owned.
His only real point of contention was letting Devin out of his sight for even a moment.
“I don’t know about that,” Beau said with a snort, falling into the chair opposite them. He tossed a stack of folders and papers onto the coffee table, letting them fan out in colorful disarray.
“I thought you were coming for dinner,” Rey grumbled as he slid off Devin, though he dragged her close with his arm around her.
“Since you won’t come in, this is my dinner hour.” Beau curled his lip, scratching at the rough stubble decorating his jaw. “Between the girls, the staff, and Margo on a rampage, I’d much prefer cuddling with that one all night over going back in, butc'est la vie.”
Devin gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth. Tugging her feet out from under her, she started off the couch only to be dragged back against Rey’s side.
“I have to start cooking!” Devin smacked Rey’s hand.
“Aw, she was going to cook for me, Rey. How fucking domestic!”
“Short notice, but we’ll make it work,” Rey said as he scooped Devin up into his arms. Carrying her into the foyer, he let her slide down the length of his body as he reached for her coat. Movements stiff, he pushed her arms into the sleeves and pulled the edges together to begin buttoning the long pea coat up.
“We dressing her now? Because I don’t agree with the frumpy jeans.” Beau leaned against the jamb, an indolent grin tugging at his lips as his heated gaze swept over Devin.
“They’re not frumpy,” Devin said, distracted as she watched Rey’s nimble fingers do up her jacket. “Are we going to the club then?”
“No,” they answered in unison.
“Okay… Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise,” Beau interjected. Loudly. He sent a dazzling smile in Rey’s direction before descending on Devin. Giving a hard tug to a wayward curl, he leaned close to growl at her ear, “A very. Big. Surprise.”
“Not funny,” Rey snarled with a stiff jerk on Devin’s coat to settle it on her shoulders.
At least he let her put on her own shoes, palm a warm weight on the back of her head as she took a knee to tie up the laces. Popping up to her feet, lips eager and eyes bright, she looked between the two Alphas. “Well, come on. Let’s go.”
“You’re not even going to guess where?” Beau looked almost crestfallen as he whisked past them. A tap on the door alerted the men outside before Beau opened it.
A new measure of security, apparently, though Devin didn’t understand why the going outside part needed a super-secret signal. It was people coming in that had caused all the damage.
“Even if I got it right, you wouldn’t tell me.” Devin squeaked as Rey swept her legs out from beneath her, cradling her against his chest. Leaning close so the others wouldn’t hear, she hissed, “Put me down before you hurt something!”
“I’m never letting you go,” Rey rasped, holding her all the tighter before grunting at the men guarding the door. His not-so-secret signal for them to get the hell out of his way.
* * *
“You know, most men don’t mean creepy, dark places when they say they have a surprise.” Devin loathed the tremble in her voice, hated the way her hands shook, but she couldn’t help it.
They’d brought her to some underground space with thick cement walls that echoed back her every ragged breath. Too much like the subterranean prison she’d so recently woken in. A bare bulb swung from a frayed cable, its light given and taken away at the whim of a frigid breeze.
“Hang on,” Beau called from somewhere up ahead, deep in the shadows.
A huge bang made Devin scream, the sudden flood of light sending her skittering backwards until her back slapped into the wall. The solid presence comforted her as she blinked away tears at the brilliance.
“You’re okay,” Rey ground out between clenched teeth, slamming his palms on either side of her. He caged her in the protective circle of his body as he leaned close.
His heat poured into her body. The bond a living thing as it raged, adding a riot of furious warmth coursing through her veins. It didn’t so much wrench away her fear as ignite it, sending it up in a puff of smoke and oily ash as Devin dropped her head to rest against him.
