Chapter 28

[ 1,142 words ]

Pillow princess

28: 28.

Pillow princess Aria

Visions of the afternoon before danced through my mind as I woke from my nap.

It was surprisingly tiring to come four times in a row.

None of my past boyfriends ever took that much time with me.

They kind of just got in, got off, and passed out.

Not Barric and Theo.

We were on those mats for I don’t know how long.

My face heats as flashes of the morning run through my mind.

Theo’s soft, clever tongue, Barric’s thick fingers.

It felt like they were everywhere all at once, and my wolf reveled in the attention.

I have to admit, so did I.

What’s even more surprising is that they didn’t once insist on going further or asking for reciprocation.

Barric had simply kissed her and said not to worry about it.

I blink, taking in the sounds around me like Barric showed me.

There is movement downstairs.

Clinging of dishes.

Laughter.

The tapping of a pen.

I got up and headed downstairs, spotting my brother instantly.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“Should I be offended that you don’t want to see your brother?” Liam comes to him and wraps his arms around her.

“Don’t be dramatic.” I look at Kade and Ronan, who are sitting on the sofa, and raise an eyebrow.

“I’m talking about all of you.

Barric and I are usually alone, so is this another talk or something?”

“Or something is a better word for it,” Ronan says, his nostrils flaring.

My wolf presses forward, wanting to get close enough to send the two males properly.

Mate, she says.

Get closer.

Are you serious?

I ask with exasperation.

Don’t act like the thought doesn’t excite you, she snipes back.

Bitch.

“Is she giving you a hard time again?

Theo asks, coming from beside me.

“How did you guess?”

He smooths his finger between my brows.

Liam stiffens beside me.

“The pissed look on your face,” Theo chuckles.

“Did I mention she’s an asshole?” I mutter.

“Then she’s perfect for you,” Liam says.

I elbow him hard.

He grunts but doesn’t look hurt.

Good, another thing to add to my wolf list.

I can hit them as hard as I want without feeling bad.

“Dinner’s ready,” Barric called.

I narrow my eyes at all of them, not liking the fact that no one answered my question of why they were all here.

On my guard, I walk to the dining room.

I can feel the men behind me.

Like a sixth sense, or heightened senses in this case.

Liam takes the seat on my right, and Barric takes the seat on my left.

Kade and Theo sit across from us with Ronan at the head of the table.

Barric places a large hand on my thigh, gripping it in a way that is just as much comforting as it is possessive.

“Hey,” I whisper.

“Mmm,” he says, like he doesn’t have a clue what I’m talking about.

“Uh, you can have your hand back.”

“I’m good,” He responds evenly.

“That seems like a good segue into our conversation,” Ronan says stoically.

“Theo and Barric informed us that they explained the mating claim to you early because your wolf was vocal about it.”

Oh God.

They didnt tell them about…

Did they tell Liam?

I feel heat lift to my face, and a small part of me wants to shrivel and die.

A disgruntled grunt comes from Liam.

“Can we just get this over with?

It’s disgusting.”

Kade smirks at him unoffended.“Your brother is still a bit touchy that fate put us all together.”

“How would you feel if all your best friends had a claim on your little sister?”

“He’s got you there,” Barric shrugs.

“Alright, let’s get back on topic here.

How do you feel about it, Aria?”

“How am I supposed to feel?” I ask questioningly.

“I’ve been furry for all of what? One and a half days. I’ll be honest here and say I don’t think I’ve formed opinions about much.”

Theo’s eyes catch mine across the table.

“There are a few things you have opinions on.”

I pick up a roll and chuck it at him.

“Ass.”

Kade looks between us like he knows exactly what Theo means.

Shit.

Shifter senses.

Did they smell the orgasm on the workout mats, or was this just part of their discussion.

My wolf gives a haughty little scoff.

Our males will please us.

Had no idea you were a pillow princess.

But wait, that left me with another question.

Does that mean that we would all get…intimate together?

I mean, I had no problem being part of the Barric and Theo sandwich, but four males?

My eyes seek out Ronan’s like a junkie looking for his next fix.

He sits at the table watching me.

His expression was unreadable.

The power in his honed body feels more evident now.

The physical embodiment of gravity, with a pull so encompassing, my wolf is helpless to it.

It is only now that I’m starting to understand what being an Alpha is to a shifter.

It’s protection, safety, and belonging.

“There’s something else I wanted to broach with all of you,” Ronan says.

“ I’ve put a lot of thought into Aria’s shift and the presence of the council. I think our best move would be to announce that she’s had the change to the council.”

Shock runs through the room.

“How the hell did you reach that concussion?” Theo asks.

“Simple. The Assembly is watching Aria, waiting for something we don’t yet know, but we can lure them out by playing offensively. We’ll tell them she shifted. Once she is an official member of the pack, we put them in a position where they can’t act unless they suspect her of a serious crime.”

Barric frowns in thought.

“And im assuming this also means we don’t let then know about her designation.”

“Correct,” Ronan states.

“Why not? What’s so wrong with being a sypher? Shouldn’t you guys be happy about it or something since they all kind of died out?” I ask.

If the assembly is so focused on protecting and sustaining the shifter race, I would think they’d host a party at finding out Sypher did, in fact, exist.

“A, mom was in hiding,” Liam says carefully.

“ I started to think about things when you shifted. Did some research about it, and several things aren’t adding up.” He glances at Ronan, and he nods his head.

“She didn’t want anyone to know she was a sypher.

Not even the Assembly.

Think about it, if it were just the threat of hunters, I would have thought she would trust her own kind to keep her safe.

She didn’t.

She ran and hid us with the humans.”

“Do you think they’ll do something to me?” I ask.

“I think we don’t know what she was running from, and I’m not prepared to gamble with your life.”

“Neither am I,” Ronan seconds.

“So we lure them to us. Hand feeds them just enough to react,” Kade drums his finger on the table.

“Exactly.

We need to find out as much as we can before we make any moves.

Until then, the story is simple: Aria shifted; her ability to block the call is because she is a faint and now she is going to be part of our pack.”

“And when they come?” Barric asks.

Ronan meets everyone’s eye before locking on to mine, “That’s when the games begin.”

If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.