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I lifted her bags where they were. “Your things are here, and Jace is making you a smoothie for breakfast.”
“I’m okay.”
“Little one, you are going to eat breakfast.” Gabriel stood at the door, dressed to go. “Ash told us you don’t like to, and I understand why. But if I can’t stop Ian from forcing you to rehearse for twelve hours, I’m going to make sure you’re eating enough to survive it.”
Sloane was small, like most dancers. She still had to eat.
She sighed. “Okay.”
“Good girl.”
A tiny whimper she tried to hide came out of her, and she curled closer to Roman. I raised an eyebrow at Gabriel. He smirked.
Toys and she liked being called a good girl. God, the things I was going to do to this woman when we finally went to bed.
Roman finally opened his eyes and buried his face in her neck. “Good morning.”
Sloane sighed. “This is nice. Let’s do more of this.”
“Waking up?”
“I was thinking about sleeping in and cuddling, but sure.”
I nodded. “That’s on the docket for ‘as soon as humanly possible.’ But we have to go soon. I let you sleep as long as I could.”
“Okay.”
Instead of staying to watch her dress—I should receive a fucking medal for resisting that kind of temptation—I grabbed her smoothie from Jace and waited by the front door.
She came down a few minutes later, dressed and bleary. I gave her the to-go cup. “Don’t worry, Jace makes good smoothies. And this cup is tight enough for the bike.”
Sloane nodded, staring through my chest. I saw a shimmer of tears and hauled her into my arms. “I’ve never dreaded dancing,” she whispered. “Am I really that weak that two twelve hour rehearsals broke me?”
I growled. “It’s not just two, sweetheart. We both know that. And fuck me, you’re not weak. We’re going to get you through this. And then we’re going to spend as much time as you want in bed. Promise.”
“Okay.”
Kissing her temple, I took her hand and led her outside, sending up a silent prayer that I could stop myself from killing Ian for the rest of this process.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
________
SLOANE
The next few days were a blur I barely remembered.
If the pack hadn’t devoted absolutely everything to taking care of me and Asher, I wasn’t sure I would have been able to do it.
I wasn’t the only one. All three of Dion’s Alphas started dropping him off and picking him up, the look in their eyes the same as the ones my pack gave me.
My pack.
The thought made me smile whenever it popped into my head.
Addison was there for Claire too, now that she’d recovered from her cold. Hell, outside the theater door in the evenings there was a crowd of people waiting to take their dancers home. I’d never seen anything like it except on show days.
In the rehearsal room there was growing frustration and resentment. None of us could say anything because we’d agreed. Sat down with Ian and signed the waiver.
