by L. P. Maxa
What came after that talk was nice. Better than nice, it was fantastic. Riley had made her come, over and over again. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her body, her kisses and her cries. Every time she’d come down, catch her breath, he’d amp her up again. She definitely wasn’t complaining. If that was what it took to keep her body in check, she was all for it.
They’d gone from friends to so much more in the matter of one evening. She supposed that was the way it always went though, right? One minute you were living your life, drinking, partying, having threesomes. Then bam. The universe hit you upside the head with your person. Tons of people married their best friend. Her new shifter life wasn’t really all that different. Other than the supernatural magic that made her boyfriend turn into an actual wolf.
“Let me guess, you’re starving, hungrier than you’ve ever been in your entire life, and you need food and coffee before you simply perish?”
She laughed lightly, rolling onto her stomach to meet his smiling eyes. “Don’t take my lines, sourpuss.” She kissed his lips, because she wanted to, because she could. “Am I allowed to go downstairs? Will Jasper be okay?”
“As long as you pay attention to how you’re feeling, pay attention to your body, you should be able to sense when you need to come lock yourself up here.” He grabbed her face in his hands. “But you’ve got to stop worrying about Jasper, okay? Your safety is what’s important to me. You are what’s important.”
She knew he wanted her to be selfish in this, to think of herself and not worry about anyone’s feelings but her own. That wasn’t possible though. She cared for Jasper, and she hated being the reason that things weren’t copasetic between them. She didn’t know if it was because she’d been intimate with him, or that he was an extension of Riley’s family. Either way, she cared. Jasper mattered.
She nodded. “If I get horny, I come lock myself in this room and text you to come make it better. Got it.” She winked. “So far, on my way to mated is nothing but perks. I don’t know why you were so nervous to tell me.”
He got out of bed, dragging her along with him. “Come on, doll, let’s make you scream my name one more time in the shower, for good measure.”
***
Blake and Riley stepped into the living room, holding hands and looking thoroughly coupled up. Axie was on Jace’s lap, a cup of coffee to her lips. Jasper stretched out on the couch, his cell held up above his face. She felt mildly embarrassed facing everyone. They’d all known about what was happening before she did. She’d been the reason for the mess yesterday, for Jasper getting punched, for whoever had been bleeding while she used the snow to cool herself off. They were a family, and she was the newbie. She wanted to be accepted, she wanted to fit into Riley’s life here in Haxton the way she did back in Greenly.
“Since you’re both down here, I’m assuming you talked.” Jace peeked around Axie’s shoulders to send a glare Riley’s way. “If not, then take your asses back up those stairs.”
Riley pulled her into the living room, setting her down in an empty armchair. “We talked. Calm your beta ass.” Beta? Like as in alpha and beta, like as in actual wolf behavior? They’d talked, true, but apparently there was a lot more she needed to learn about her new life. “I’ll go get you some breakfast.” Riley dipped down and placed a kiss on the top of her head before moving toward the kitchen.
She was left alone with his pack, with his best friend. The best friend who’d seen her incredibly naked and licked her neck yesterday. When she left home for college, she vowed to live life to the fullest. She didn’t know how much more she could handle at this point.
“You, uh, feeling okay?” Jasper sat up, moving farther away from her against the opposite arm of the couch.
She understood his hesitation, but she hated that he felt uncomfortable around her. A lot had changed in the last couple of weeks, but she, Riley, and Jasper would be living and spending time together at UNC. There couldn’t be this awkwardness between them.
“Jasper, do you think we could talk?” She glanced behind her to the double glass patio doors. “Maybe outside? For just a minute?” She could see the reluctance on his face. “I feel fine, I promise. I know what to watch out for now. Riley explained it all.” Not to mention he’d made her come so many times over the last twelve hours she’d lost count.
Jasper’s gaze moved to Jace for a moment before he nodded, got to his feet, and opened the doors. The cold air seeped in almost instantly, making Blake wished she’d have put on a few more layers. She followed Jasper outside, not going too far from the door. She wanted to be within eyesight of Jace and Axie, to make them all feel safer.
“I wanted to apologize for yester—”
“No.” Jasper shook his head, cutting her off. “There is nothing for you to apologize for. I should be the one telling you how sorry I am. I can’t always control my wolf, and I fucking hate it. I hate I’ve done these things to Maddi, Axie, and now you. Shit. Blake. I need you to know that I would never hurt you, never on purpose.”
She could feel his anguish. His tone and his explanation screamed it. He looked stricken, distraught he could’ve hurt her. She didn’t know the first thing about how he was feeling, about the things he dealt with as a shifter. She knew he was a good guy though. She believed he would never intentionally hurt her.
“There’s always been someone there to stop me, to pull me away.” His voice cracked, and her heart ached for him. “I have to believe my wolf would never let things go too far…that I’d be able to stop myself.”
“Jasper.” Blake reached out and put her hand on his shoulder, wanting to help him. It was clear that he was beating himself up, struggling with who he was. Who his wolf was. She didn’t want to be the reason that he was feeling so low, so uncertain of himself.
“Everything okay?” Riley stuck his head out the door, his gaze moving between the two of them, his muscles tight.
There was no problem, and there wouldn’t be another one if she could help it. She refused to be the reason there was tension between Riley and his best friend. They were packmates, brothers. Close as hell. They even shared chicks. Although she supposed that was over now too, because of her, again. She wouldn’t be the reason Jasper was hurting either.
“Everything is fine.” She moved her hand to cup Jasper’s cheek, ignoring the low growl coming from Riley. “Right? We’re all going to be fine, besties for life.”
Jasper laughed, the tension finally leaving his face. “Besties for life.” Jasper slung his arm around her shoulders, then Riley’s too. leading them back into the warmth of the living room. “Roommates, besties, pack, family. All the things.”
Blake collapsed on the couch where Axie was sitting, Jace nowhere in sight. “All the things for sure.” She smirked at Axie, winking before adding, “I doubt another dude is as close with their packmate’s girl as you are, right?”
Riley growled her name and Jasper threw his head back, laughing. “Life is going to be interesting with you, doll face.”
Axie lay down with her head in Blake’s lap. “I, for one, am glad when Jasper leaves the nest he’s still going to have someone who can keep up with his sarcastic fuckboy ass.” She grinned over at Riley’s still-frowning face. “You picked a good one, Rye.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Riley
Blake was a good one, no doubt about it. He wasn’t sure he picked her though. She’d picked him, and the universe had agreed. Fate was smarter than him, and for that he was eternally grateful. Riley knew Blake wanted to talk to Jasper alone, and he’d been okay with it in theory. Seeing the two of them on the porch together had been harder to handle than he’d thought. He knew a lot his discomfort had to do with the bond being incomplete. He’d seen his coaches go through it. Jace too. Once he and Blake were fully mated, he’d become a lot less aggressive and jealous. Until she got pregnant, then it would all return full force. In his experience, life mated to a shifter wasn’t always easy, but it was always beautiful.
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“Jasper and I need to go talk with Jace. You going to be okay?” Riley rested his hands on Blake’s shoulders, smiling when she leaned her head back for a kiss.
“Unless Axie is going to try to dry hump me, I think I’ll be fine.”
She spoke against his lips, making him want to drag her back upstairs to bed. Now that he knew she was his, he couldn’t get enough. He wanted more than anything to complete the claiming, for them to be fully bonded. He’d never push her into something she wasn’t ready for though. They had the rest of their lives to fuck like bunnies. He was looking forward to it.
Axie giggled, smirking wickedly. “You never know with me.”
“If you two are going to get it on, I think I’ll stay here in the living room.” Jasper made a move to sit back down.
Riley grabbed him by the back of the shirt, hoisting him to his feet and dragging him down the hall. He knew Blake was feeling fine. He could tell when her body started to react to the bond. That didn’t mean he was okay leaving her alone with Jasper though.
Jace shut the door behind them, waiting until they both sat before he rounded the desk and took up his beta power stance before them. “How’d it go last night?”
“Since your bedroom is downstairs,” Jasper chuckled, “let me give you a recap of the sounds I heard floating up.”
“It went fine.” Riley punched Jasper in the arm. “She took everything in stride, like you said she would. She understands what’s happening with her body, and she knows what signs to look for and how to manipulate it. I can tell too, if I’m close enough to her. There shouldn’t be any more problems.”
“What about completing the bond? That’s the only sure way to keep all three of you safe once you get back to Greenly.” Jace crossed his arms over his chest. “We’re leaking the info on Constantine tomorrow, then it’s only a matter of time before he’s behind bars and the three of you are out of here. You can be next to her constantly while you’re locked in the house, but what happens when you’re on campus? You have different schedules. You can’t be with her nonstop.”
“You guys don’t even live in the same building.” Jasper shifted in his seat, rubbing at the faded bruise under his eye. “What happens if I run into her first, man? I hate this. I hate that I have the potential to hurt her, to hurt you.”
Riley could feel the desperation coming from his packmate, and it tore at his heart. Blake was the most important person here. She was his everything. That didn’t mean Jasper ceased to exist for him.
“She said she was ready, but I needed her to take a day or two and let everything sink in.” Riley loved how selfless Blake was ready to be to save Jasper any more torment. In this though, she needed to be selfish, she needed time. This was the rest of her life they were talking about. Riley had understood the concept of mates since he was five. Blake, on the other hand, had learned about shifters’ existence less than twenty-four hours ago. “Blake doesn’t want Jasper to suffer, and she doesn’t want to come between us.” Riley pointed at Jasper, with a death glare. “If you make one goddamn joke about her coming between us, I’ll rip out your tongue.”
Jasper held his hands up, smirking. “I wasn’t going to, I swear.” He pursed his lips. “I thought it though, not gonna lie.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Jace scrubbed his hands down his face. “How the hell are you three going to live together with this huge thing between you? You both hooked up with her, at the same time. Your wolf is never going to forget that.” He was looking at Riley, fear for his twin etched in his face. “You going to wake up one day, remember he tag-teamed your girl and then murder my brother?”
Riley had lain awake last night, thinking about Jasper, thinking about how angry he’d been at him. Riley was jealous, he was irritated. He didn’t like that Jasper had been intimate with his mate. It wasn’t how things worked in their world. Mates weren’t meant to be shared sexually. It went against every instinct their wolves had. Blake was his girl. She belonged to him and his wolf. They would protect her with their life. They would cherish every inch of her for eternity. But sharing? Never again.
“On some level, my wolf knew Blake was mine, right? My wolf may have been dormant, but he still existed inside me. He was closer to the surface that night in the cabin. I could feel him. And yet we, he and I, still let it happen. I wasn’t angry with Jasper in the moment, and not the next morning either. I wasn’t really mad at him until we got back to the compound. I didn’t want to rip his head off until Blake got here either.” Riley looked at Jasper, taking in the pained expression on his face, the regret at what his boredom in that cabin had caused. “I don’t think my wolf minded sharing her that one time. It’s like I’m not mad about the cabin. Now that’s she almost mine, I’m angry he has the memory of that night, I’m pissed the fuck off she still thinks about it. I don’t know. I don’t think I’m explaining it well.”
“I get it.” For once there was no playfulness in Jasper’s tone, no joking or sarcasm. “It was an ending and a beginning. It was the closure we both needed. I needed to be there, to bear witness.”
Riley nodded, knowing Jasper had put how he felt into perfect words when he’d been unable to.
“I will never understand the two of you.” Jace shook his head. “I literally want to track down and kill every dick that ever touched my mate before mine.” He wagged a finger between them. “And you two had yours there at the same time.”
Riley growled, low and long, not appreciating the way Jace was talking about Blake. It was Jasper who spoke up though. “Don’t make things worse, bro.”
Jace held his hands up in surrender. “This is your deal. As long as you two don’t try to kill each other, I’m staying out of it.” He reached behind him and handed them each a flyer. “This place near campus came on the market a couple weeks ago. I bought it.”
Riley studied the stone and cedar craftsman-style home. There were three bedrooms, two baths, a detached two-car garage, and a spacious yard, which backed up to dense woods. It was way too nice a house for three college freshmen, and an over-the-top gesture.
“You bought us a house?” Jasper glanced at Riley. “The three of us?”
“I bought an investment property for the three of you to live in until graduation. Yes.” Jace crossed his arms again, his signature stance. “You think you can handle it? Then it’s yours for as long as you’re in school.” He pointed Jasper. “Don’t trash it. No crazy parties.”
“Wow, man, this is too nice, thank you.” Riley understood Jace had more money than he knew what to do with. He also knew that Jace recognized a good investment when he saw it, so it wasn’t a gift. Which made it a lot easier to accept in Riley’s book. “Don’t we have to live on campus our freshman year though?”
Jace waved away his concern. “I took care of that already.” He pulled two sets of keys out of his pocket, tossing them their way. “You’ll have to get Blake a key. I didn’t know you’d be mated up before you even moved in. Don’t kill each other.” With that he all but dismissed them from his office, mumbling about how he had real work to do and was done dealing with their dicks’ problems.
Axie and Blake were right where they left them, lying on the couch together. They were both on their phones, showing each other things back and forth, laughing. Blake fit in with his pack so well, as if she’d always been part of them. He loved that she was instantly at ease with Axie. Hell, he even enjoyed her sarcastic back-and-forth with Jasper when he wasn’t trying to lick her in the woods.
“I’m bored. Let’s have some fun.” Jasper plopped down in an armchair, pouting like a petulant child. “I’m tired of being cooped inside this house.”
Axie sat up, placing her bare feet on the rug. “Whatever you’ve got brewing in that thick skull of yours, I’m down.”
“Hide-and-seek?” Jasper rubbed his hands together like an evil genius.
“Abso-fucking-lutely not.” Jace came into the room, rolling his eyes with an annoyed expression on his face.
“What the hell? I thought you had real work to do? Why are you in here, ruining our fun?” Jasper threw his arms into the air dramatically.
“There is a murderous criminal watching our every move. He knows where all the pack lives, and he’s threatened every member. He’s not low-level. He’s proving that over and over.” Jace pointed at Blake, then went to the bar cart and poured himself a couple fingers of whiskey. “Your best friend’s mate is constantly moments away from throwing off enough heat and pheromones to make you actually insane.” He sat on the couch, pulling Axie into his lap, scowling when she stole his drink. “And you want me to let the lot of you run around outside, in the dark? Are you fucking high?”
“Yes.” Jasper nodded, a smile on his face.
Riley didn’t doubt Jasper was telling the truth. He’d been so on edge and afraid of hurting Blake. It was hard to get too messed up, for too long. The shifter inside them burned off the chemicals too fast, but it would definitely give him a momentary reprieve from all the shit going on inside his head.
“Pick another game.” Jace’s tone had a finality to it that couldn’t be swayed. Riley swore he’d acquired it once he became pack beta. He couldn’t remember Jace being able to shut them down so effectively when they were younger.
“What about hide-and-seek inside the house?” Jasper sounded hopeful and Axie clapped her hands together in agreement. The two of them were so much alike. Riley knew that once Jasper was out of the house and up in Greenly with him and Blake, Jace’s daily life would get a little easier. Axie’s on the other hand? She was going to be bored to tears. “We’re all safe and locked in, no criminals to snatch us out of the dark.”
