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“I ran into Ciara in the lobby of the hotel,” I admitted, not looking at my packmate as I spoke. “We got into it.”
Enzo was quiet for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. “And did you get the closure you wanted?”
Enzo had seen all of my panic attacks and had dealt with my trust issues when he and Artie had opened their pack to me. The fear that I would wake up one day and they would be gone rode me hard for the first year until we made the decision to bond me into the pack.
“Yes—no—I don’t know,” I said, putting my face in my hands and rubbing it hard with a sharp inhalation of breath. “It might have made me feel worse. She said she never wants to see me again.”
Enzo was silent for another moment before he sighed and shook his head. “Well, I think that might be a problem if we do end up moving to Seattle. But she’ll have to deal with it.”
“She’s not a bad person, Enz.” There was more reproach in my voice than usual when Enzo criticized Ciara.
The other alpha’s lips pressed together into a tight line. “Maybe not, but she’s human embodiment of a fucking tornado. You’re usually the solid one in the pack, and here you are looking like she’s broken your heart all over again. Hell, even Artie is talking about how good she smelled. Are you forgetting that we picked up all of the pieces of you three years ago and glued you back together like you were Humpty Dumpty?”
I hadn’t forgotten and I was grateful for how patient my packmates were with me.
“Why are you two yelling at each other?” Artie’s sleepy voice came from the doorway where he stood rubbing at his eyes.
“Sorry, babe,” Enzo said, crossing the room and pulling the omega into his arms. “We didn’t mean to wake you.”
Lucky and Charm pushed their way into the room behind the embracing pair, Charm hovering right next to Artie’s legs while Lucky started playing with one of the chew toys on the floor with far too much energy for how early it was.
“Well, you did.” Artie yawned as he accepted a kiss from Enzo before leaving him to come to me.
I opened my arms automatically, sighing with relief as he settled into my lap and snuggled in close, his orange scent filling my nose.
“Mmm, you smell good,” Artie murmured, pressing his lips to the column of my neck. “Like an apple pie.”
His words undercut what Enzo had said earlier about Artie also liking the way Ciara smelled.
What if you somehow manage to bring all of them together into one pack? a tiny, selfish voice whispered in my head. Then you get the best of every world.
I shoved the voice down deep and pressed a soft kiss to the top of Artie’s wild bedhead.
“I saw her,” I told him quietly as there was no point in lying. “And she read me the riot act.”
“Well you did ghost her a bit,” Artie pointed out.
As if my feelings about Ciara weren’t split enough, Artie was usually the one to play Devil’s Advocate when we spoke of her.
“That’s not the point, Artie,” Enzo said to him with a heavy sigh.
Artie stuck his tongue out at him, earning himself Enzo’s first smile of the day.
“Let’s talk more about it over breakfast,” I told him softly, pressing another kiss to the side of the omega’s head. “I picked up Quinn’s.”
Artie’s expression lit up and he scrambled up off my lap with a crow of delight.
“You’re the sexiest man I’ve ever met, Leith Dougall!” he called teasingly over his shoulder as he hurried back out into the hall.
I knew the way to every omega’s heart was through their stomach, and Quinn’s made some of the best breakfast around.
For a moment, as we ate breakfast together and chatted as if it were any other morning, I could forget about the beautiful alpha with dark eyes and a shattered heart that I wanted nothing more than to put back together.
Chapter nine
“Should I put this box in the office?” I heard Leith call to Enzo, his voice echoing off of the bare walls of our new flat—apartment I silently reminded myself as I felt around in my giant box of nesting materials.
“Yeah! And can you head downstairs and tip the movers for me?” Enzo replied, followed by the sound of something crashing to the floor and a flurry of curses from my alpha.
