“Are you ready to go?” Noah asks while Archer continues to stare at me lasciviously, and this sudden wave of unbridled lust continues to course through me. “Miles and Ben are already there and waiting.”
“Oh, yeah, yes, of course. Let me just grab my purse, and I’ll be ready,” I say. Inside though, I’m thinking if I already lose all control when one alpha is close by, what’s going to happen when I’m with all four?
I’m terrified, but also dying to find out. It’s going to happen anyway. So why not today?
I have no idea where they plan on taking me, but if it means spending more time in close quarters with Archer, I am almost certainly going to need that special gel the doctor sent.
Even if I’m scared, even if I’m nervous, I’m also more excited for this than I have been for anything else in my life. Anything ever.
I want them.
And I hate myself for that, but not enough to stop.
When I come back to the living room with my purse in hand, I find the guys in the middle of a heated exchange. Noah’s fist is curled up in the fabric of Archer’s shirt. His face is red and angry, teeth clenched. Archer has both of his hands held up in surrender, but there’s a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. Makes me wonder whether these two pack brothers even like each other at all.
Noah catches sight of me and releases Archer. “Ready to go, sweetheart?” he asks so evenly it scares me. How could he go from threatening Archer to smooth-talking me in five seconds flat?
Something’s not right here. Not right with them.
If anything, this proves just how much I actually belong.
NOAH
It was my idea to take Violet up in one of our private aircrafts. I figured it might serve as enough of an adventure to dispel any remaining awkwardness she’s feeling around me and the others. Because while each of us only has to focus on getting to know her, Violet is expected to forge new bonds with all four of us, both apart and together. It’s a huge ask, and I get that.
Treating her to a private aerial tour of Anchorage today was my idea, and, yeah, I was hoping to get a bit of credit for bringing us all together for one of the first formative memories of our relationship.
But then Archer had to go and fuck it all up with that Vulcan mind meld shit of his. I swear, ever since we were kids, he’s only had to look at a woman the right way to get her tripping over herself to please him. To do anything and everything he might ask.
The worst part? It works on us guys too.
It works on everybody. Fucking everybody.
He’s the reason our business is so successful. He’s the reason we’ve been able to form a new pack instead of being forced into the existing structure around here. He’s the reason we have everything—including Violet, I’d wager.
But it doesn’t stop me from being pissed at him now. Once, just once, I wanted to be the one to bring us something good.
But I can already see Violet is twitterpated just like a cartoon forest animal with big hearts in her eyes. I doubt she can even see me with Archer still standing in her frame of vision.Fucking Archer.
That’s what Violet clearly wants to do right now. Fuck Archer. Meanwhile I have half a mind to fuck him up.
He may be the one with all the right moves, but that wouldn’t be enough to protect him if I wanted to pound his ass. In our little operation here, Archer is the brain, Miles is the heart, Ben is the funny bone, and I’m the muscle.
It’s always been that way, and it’s always going to be that way. Because no matter how pissed off I get at Archer, I’m never going to challenge him.
He’s done too much good for us. He’s my brother, and sometimes siblings wail on each other. Kind of like I want to do right now as the five of us pile into the truck, me behind the wheel, Miles navigating, and Violet sandwiched in the back between Archer and Ben.
I watch their reflection in the rearview mirror as Archer takes her wrist and rubs it over his neck, their two scents mingling together.
“Is this your omega mark?” he asks, turning her arm to reveal a dark clover-like mark a bit larger than a quarter. It rests on the inside of her upper arm, a place generally not visible.
Violet studies the mark beside Archer. “It’s how I got my name, actually. Even though my mother’s name is Sage, she wasn’t originally planning on naming us all after colors. But then I came out with a five-petaled violet slapped on my skin, and she knew then and there.”
“Wait, you’re all named after colors?” I interrupt, not wanting to let Archer steal a private moment with our girl when all of us are here to share. “How many of you are there?”
Violet meets my eyes in the mirror. Her expression is hard to read. “Seven,” she answered. “Violet, Jade, Scarlett, Sapphire, Amber, Cyan, and Raven.”
Ben lets out a low whistle. Even Archer looks surprised.