“Love you too.”
Aaron moved in when Slade and Finn left the room. His hand went to my waist somewhat shyly, like he wasn’t sure he had permission to, so I came closer and put a hand on his chest.
“Thank you,” he said, and I could feel the vibration of his words down my hand. “I... I can’t think of pretty words, so I’ll just say it. That speech, including me in your pack, it damn near broke me.”
“Aaron—”
“In a good way. Sorry, should have made that clearer. It’s like it smashes through who you were so you can become something else. Look, I’m not saying this right. I just wanted you to know, I still feel like I’m in the petitioning stage. Not because of anything you or the guys are doing, but because I don’t think I’m there yet. I need to prove to you I should be by your side. And, Jules, I want to do that.”
“I...” I stared into those hazel eyes, full of a warmth I could almost wrap around myself. “Thank you.”
“Now, I’m gonna jump in the shower before Slade uses up all the hot water.”
“I’m not part of your pack, I think everyone acknowledges that,” Sylvan said as he edged towards the door. “But that was well done, Julie.”
“Just as you foresaw?”
“Better.”
The door was closed with a click, and a quiet fell over the room. I had thought of another speech to give, but I was pretty much out of rallying the troops energy, so I pulled my shirt off over my head and tossed it on the floor, hoping actions spoke louder than words.
“Stop,” Brandon said when I went to undo my jeans.
“We need to—”
“I know, just let us.”
A kind of tension rose inside me as all of them clustered closer. Hands went to remove my bra, my jeans, then my underwear, until I was stripped bare. For a second, I held back that need to be involved and touching them, and just stood there, naked. The automatic fear—that I was not enough—rose as the moment stretched on, but I forced myself to look past my conditioning and see what was actually there in the room with me.
They want you, like you want them.
Because they have to, because they have no other choice.
They could choose each other instead, but they choose you.
I nodded to myself and then moved to Brandon, pulling off his t-shirt. The bite looked red and angry, a small trail of dried blood on his shoulder, but it served to only enhance the savage beauty of his body. I looked up to see how he was coping. Did it hurt? But his lips moved forward, wanting to brush against mine.
“Not yet,” I said with a smile. When I looked over, Jack was doing the same to Hawk, though he was well-practised. The other man’s shirt was already off, and my eyes ran across his chest, noting the way the tattoos had started to gleam.
“Like what you see?” Brandon said. My eyes raked down his chest when he spoke, and I nodded. Like was such an inadequate way to describe my response to their bodies. Reverent may have been closer to the mark.
I watched Brandon’s pupils blow out as I undid his jeans, sliding them down his hips. “Commando,” I purred as his hard length sprung free.
“I had a feeling I wouldn’t need underwear today.”
I wondered at that, at the intuition that seemed to allow him to sail through all of this with a surety none of us possessed, but he pulled me against him when I got to my feet, so that I felt him at my back as I turned to look at Hawk and Jack.
They were already naked, kissing, hands in each other’s hair as they fought to deepen the caress. For a moment, I saw a brief overlay of those coltish bodies in the photos Jack had taken and then collected the remnants of.
“We’re going to need to work out a way to deal with the fact we have a couple in the pack,” I said.
Brandon’s hands trailed up my sides, sending shivers down my spine.
“And that’s what this is, isn’t it?” he said
“It’s a start.”
“And what do you think, when you see them clawing to get closer to each other?”