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“Yes.” I settled in the center, happy.
“May we come in?”
I nodded and curled up on my side. Now that the nest was good, I was even more tired. But happy too. Jace stretched out behind me, peppering kisses over my arms and shoulders before becoming the big soon. The rest of them were with us. I felt it. Heard their purrs. Listened to their contentment.
“Love you,” I murmured, words slurring a little with tipsy exhaustion, and I was asleep before they said it back.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
________
JACE
The water in my bathroom still ran, Sloane humming as she took her time. I smiled to myself, having made good on my promise to take her in my shower, and grateful we opted for the water heater which never ran out when we updated this house. It meant I could savor my Omega as long as I wanted.
Sitting down at my desk in a towel, I opened some emails while I waited for Sloane. We were headed to the theater today for some preliminary things before rehearsals fully started again.
One of the emails was the press release of our bonding.
Slate City Ballet congratulates the Lys Pack and Sloane Glass on their bonding.
I smiled when I saw our pack name, and I doubted there would be a time when I didn’t. The four of us met on a small production, shortly after Ash and Roman graduated. Roman was on the scenic team, brought in by Ash, and Gabriel was trying his hand as an executive director. We all learned pretty quickly that obscure ballets from over a century ago weren’t the way to the heart of an audience.
But we knew instantly we were pack, and we took the name Lys from the balletLe Lys. OrLilies. A beautiful little show that brought us together, and that was about it. I looked back at the release.
SCB is overjoyed to announce the bonding of principal dancer Sloane Glass with the Lys Pack, which includes SCB’s new executive director, Gabriel Black, principal dancer Asher West, physiotherapist Jace McKenna, and renowned sculptor Roman Hughes. The scent-sympathetic pack encountered each other at the beginning of the season and never looked back. On behalf of the Slate City Ballet, congratulations to all of you, and good luck!
Several pictures from the ceremony were posted. The moment Gabriel bit Sloane, her face dreamy with happiness. She and I on the dance floor, wrapped up in each other. One of the photos of the five of us together, and Asher carrying her through the tunnel of sparklers. It was a good release, and all of our emails and messages were full of congratulations from friends and people we barely knew.
I even got a lukewarm congratulations email from Ian, which was confirmed by the others saying they got it as well. Fun.
The last couple of days had been lovely and lazy, most of it spent in the nest with our girl, with breaks to play with Mango and to surface for food. But reality was coming back in, and I didn’t mind it. Reality meant we were settling into a life with each other, and that made me happier than I could verbalize.
Ash knocked on the door, his phone held up. “You decent enough to say hello to Will?”
“Sure.”
He walked over to the desk and held the phone in front of me. Will grinned and waved, “Hey, Jace.”
“How are you doing?”
“I’m good. Hoping to see all of you in person.”
“Really?”
Ash nodded. “He wants to come down for a couple of days. I just want to make sure Sloane is okay with it.”
Sloane knew Will too, from their school days, so I doubted she’d mind.
Will and Ash grew up together, with similar environments. One of their teachers put them in the dance classes she taught purely to keep them away from home longer and out of trouble. It stuck.
I didn’t think she imagined her act of kindness resulting in two professional ballet dancers, but it was proof that a simple decision could echo a thousand times.
“It’ll be good to see you,” I said. “Are you going to go to class while you’re here?”
“Might as well,” he said. “I want to see what Ash has been telling me about Ian. Cause it’s hard for me to believe.”
I made a face, and they both laughed. “Yeah,” Ash said. “Will worked with Ian a few years ago at the Jupiter Ballet.”
