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She surprised me, though, when she looked sideways at me with a grin and said, “I can’t wait to hear how GG’s suggestion went. From the intense scents around the treehouse when I dropped off the food, I’m guessing it went well?”
I’d confided my plan to ask Dio to meet me at the treehouse with Ava and Cary. I tried not to be the one blushing this time, as I remembered just how well that had gone. “Uh huh,” was all I gave her.
I grabbed the tray of eggs and showed her how to crack them without getting shells everywhere and gave her a few to practice on in a fresh bowl. When she’d gotten the hang of it, I showed her how to whisk them with some milk and season them.
I looked up from watching her whisk and noticed Maia standing by herself, patting Bear by the back door, watching us all. Her heat must finally be over. I yelled her name as I dashed over to her and threw myself at her, forgetting to keep my distance. She wrinkled her nose, like Ava had, but hugged me back.
I teased her with a half a dozen rapid-fire questions about what she’d been up to and where the guys were, but I froze when I heard footsteps approach the door to the dining room. I knew instinctively who it was.
Dave walked through, followed by Dio and Sam. They were all dressed nearly identically, with black tight fitting t-shirts, black military pants that hugged their thighs and black boots. They all moved as if they were in sync too, the same way Leif did with his mates. It took my breath away. Damn, they looked fine.
I only barely noticed Cary slink in behind them. His eyes were sliding away from Ava when I spotted him.
“Maia, I thought I heard Lexie yell your name. Where’s your pack? Are they here?” Dave asked.
It surprised me he was using the term pack so openly, but we were all family here. He was moving toward the door to look past Maia as he spoke, but she put her hand out to stop him and shook her head.
“No. I let them sleep.”
“Damn, I’m going to have to wake them. We need them if your heat’s broken. We’ve still got trouble.”
Maia seemed to blush at Dave’s mention of her heat, and I snickered at her.
“What’s going on?” She tried to raise her eyebrows at Dave, the way I always did with the guys to get them talking, but she looked more startled than demanding. Dave just looked confused. We were going to have to work on her eyebrow skills.
Before Dave could answer, Dio piped in while casually leaning on a bench and munching on a stolen piece of bacon.
“The trouble with the Palace isn’t over. Ronan said they’ve been studying you, and they think you and Ava are both important. We’re worried they’ll try and grab you both again. It sounds like they had been waiting to start their tests on Ava and they won’t be happy she’s gone. Plus, we need to figure out what to do with the men we captured during the attack.”
Dave glared at Dio, who shrugged with fake innocence. Maia had a far-away look in her eyes. She glanced over at Ava, who had followed me over. Ava leaned towards Maia and whispered, “We can’t leave them in there. We need to get them out.”
Get who out? Were they talking about the other omegas at the Palace?Before I could ask, Sam distracted me when he approached his sister. Their interaction had me transfixed.
Sam ruffled her hair like she was a kid again. “Are you okay, Mai?”
She nodded, seeming to take a deep breath. “Of course.”
He eyed the bite marks on her neck. Two were fully visible, while another two were partially visible on her cleavage. She shrugged and answered the question he hadn’t asked.
“My pack claimed me,” she said, as she sat up proudly.
Sam just nodded and Maia seemed almost confused for a moment, like she’d been expecting an argument.
“Have you been helping Lexie and Dave secure the farm?” Maia asked him as she reached out subtly and stroked his arm lightly, as if she was afraid he would disappear at any moment. The way she looked at him with light shining in her eyes, but hesitancy in her movements, it was clear she had idolized her brother, but was a little unsure about where they stood now.
Sam turned to me at the mention of my name, and I blushed before turning away quickly. I felt a lot of eyes on me suddenly and tried to busy myself drying some cups that were already dry on the rack.
Maia rescued me when she mumbled, “Uh, incoming.”
A heartbeat later, thumping footsteps came barreling through the dining room, and the swinging door was flung open. Leif, Damon, Hunter and Max came bursting in, attempting to get through all at once, looking panicked and only half dressed. I burst out laughing.
“Sunshine,” Leif growled as he manhandled the others out of the way and stomped over to Maia, wearing only one shoe and no shirt. He picked her up, wrapping her in his giant teddy bear embrace. “We felt your anxiety. It woke us up, but you were gone.”
“Who upset you?” Damon growled from behind Maia, where he had his arms wrapped around both Leif and her, but was glaring at everyone in the room.
“Dio did,” Sam piped up with a smirk. Dio choked, spluttering out protests along with half his stolen bacon, while Damon glared at him. Oh, so Sam had a cheeky side. I wanted more of that.
Max and Hunter distracted my ogling of Dio and Sam, as they knocked everyone else out of the way and crowded into the group hug with their pack.
