by Ava Mason
By the time we got back, Hunter was feeling a lot more secure, and I thought he was ready for the onslaught that was James. Christian, Avery, Hunter and I, settled on the couch to watch a movie while we waited for James to show up.
James didn’t even ring the doorbell. He just walked in, a large black backpack on his back. “What’s up, bitches?” He had the biggest grin on his face and Christian went to the door to help him with his stuff. Hunter just sighed, then got up and went to his room.
“Wait, where’s Hunter going?” James called out. Then he looked behind him, towards the driveway. “I guess he doesn’t want to see you, then.”
Riley appeared in the doorway, with soft teal hair, an even brighter smile, and carrying a large purse. I jumped up off the couch. “Riley!”
“Lizzy-head!” She screamed out, then dropped her purse and pushed James out of the way to run towards me. She jumped into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist. Then she grasped my face as I clung to her waist, holding her up, and squished it. “I’ve missed your beautiful face!” She leaned in to whisper, “I think James has too.”
James frowned, then growled out. “Shut up, Riley!”
She laughed and her voice grew quieter. “Really, I think he’s jealous of these dudes, especially Hunter.”
James was glancing our way even though Christian was talking to him, an angry look on his face. She slid down my body. “Where’s my brother? And Easton?”
“Easton’s gone, but he’ll be here soon.”
“Hunter!” Her voice called out through the living room.
A second later, Hunter came back into the living room, a huge grin on his face. “Riley! Took you long enough to get home.”
She ran towards Hunter, then jumped into his arms, too. “I would’ve been back even later, but I made everyone come back early. I couldn’t miss seeing my big brother off. And, his foxy Alpha either.” She winked at me.
I grinned, then folded my arms. “Where’s Traitor?” Riley had basically taken ownership of my cat.
“Traitor? She’s around here somewhere.”
“He is?” I looked around, realizing that she must have come in Riley’s purse. Like always. She spoiled Traitor rotten, but I actually liked it, because she was taking care of her when I was distracted with everything else that had been going on. I called out for her, searching through the room. “You know you’re going to have to give her back once everything is settled in the pack, right?”
She brushed me off. “Pshaw, whatever. You’re never getting that cat back!”
An idea lit up my mind. “Riley, you being here is perfect. Can you help me with something?”
“Of course, hon.”
I ran towards her, grabbing her hand to pull her towards the bathroom. When we got inside, I shut the door behind us, smiling mischievously.
She eyed me. “I’ve never seen that look on your face. What’s going on.”
“I need your help,” I held up my finger, indicating her to wait while I found the bag I’d thrown under the sink earlier. I pulled out the colorful box and slammed it on the counter. “With this.”
When we were done, we were both grinning like the Cheshire Cat. I tried to walk into the living room casually, but she pushed me playfully from behind. When Hunter saw me, he grinned and called out.
“Christian, want to help us pick out a movie?”
“Sure.” Christian, who was talking to James in the kitchen, came out. When he saw the bright pink stripe in my hair, his face lit up like a kid on Christmas. Grinning brightly, he ran towards me and pulled me into his arms. Then he leaned back, running it through his fingers.
“I love it, Pink!”
I smiled. “You’d better.”
We spent the rest of the evening hanging out, talking and reminiscing. After Easton got home, Riley and him spent a lot of time geeking out about whatever computer geeks talk about. Aria also stopped by to say goodbye and we made promises to come back and visit.
Riley left with a few tears but promises to meet us in Tennessee after everything was worked out. Then it was just us, and we settled in for the night, nervous about tomorrow but ready to go.
The next morning it took us thirty minutes to get dressed, eat, and get the house ready to go. Hunter and Easton were mostly quiet, and they did everything in an orderly fashion. Christian was bright and alert, and talked endlessly to Avery as they made protein fruit smoothies for everyone. James didn’t speak much, or even look at me. Now that we were actually leaving, he seemed much more subdued and I wondered at his silence. It could be that he was nervous about the mission, or about being with us with no easy way out. Maybe he was missing his dog or his mom. Who the hell knew? But the usual jokes with the guys were gone, replaced by a seriousness I’d never seen with him before.
I took in a deep breath, pushing away those thoughts to focus on leaving. I wasn’t feeling as sad as I had before, thanks to Avery. I was a little nervous, but I felt focused. Determined. For now, we were going to just go watch, see what the hell was going on. Then we’d come up with a plan. I ate my breakfast quickly, then I cleaned what I could and left the kitchen to meet Hunter, who was waiting for me at the front door.
He smiled at me, and I went to him, standing on my tippy toes to give him a hug. He held me tight and took a deep breath, and I took a second to appreciate his sexiness.
“You okay?”
I nodded. “Yep. You going to miss Riley?”
He shrugged. “I’m used to it. Besides, it won’t be long and she’ll come visit us.”
I nodded, snuggling closer into him. It was super early in the morning, about five, and we had plenty of time to leave. The plane would wait for us, and the time difference with the United States was vastly different, everyone over there would still be sleeping.
Avery and Easton walked out from the kitchen after eating and cleaning the rest of the dishes, and I smiled at them. Ever since that day with Avery, he’d acted like he had a weight off his chest; he was much happier. I was glad that he’d taken me there; it had been good for him. He’d been able to say goodbye to Mia, in his own way. Easton and him were laughing and I loved that not only was everyone getting along, except maybe James, but that they didn’t seem to be nervous about our return back to my pack.
“Hey, babe.” Easton’s voice rumbled deep in his chest and it made me shiver. Hunter chuckled, then let me go.
“Hey, babe.” I mirrored Easton’s greeting, then went to give him a hug. I whispered in his ear. “You are looking mighty fine this morning.”
“And so are you.” His teeth scraped my ear, and then Avery’s arms wrapped around my waist and he pulled me away from Easton.
“My turn.” His voice came out a low growl, but he was grinning at Easton. Then he turned me around and, clasping my face, jerked me forward to kiss me. A small noise escaped my mouth then, as I kissed him back. His hands ran down my back to my butt, and he squeezed it tight. When he let me go, he had a smile on his face.
“You ready?”
I nodded.
“Still feeling sad?”
I shook my head. “I feel a lot better. You?”
He shook his head and gave me another kiss. “Thanks to you.”
I heard voices coming from the kitchen, and then Christian and James appeared. As soon as Christian saw me, he ran forward, then grabbed me into a tight hug. I squealed as he twirled me around and placed a big fat sloppy kiss on my lips. Grinning, I wrapped my arms around his neck and he put me down. I was pretty sure Christian was an adrenaline junkie. Or something, because he acted pretty crazy right before a mission.
Suddenly, things got a bit awkward as James glanced at me expectantly and then he quickly looked away. I took a deep breath, then took a step towards him and pulled him into a hug. He immediately softened against me and it felt strangely warm. Nice, even. I stood there for a second and then pulled away, not wanting to linger too long.
He didn’t look at me but just scowled. Then he
grabbed his bag off the floor and walked towards the door, mumbling. “Your Alpha’s a bit sentimental.”
“That’s right, buddy!” I called after him, smirking.
Christian just gave him an annoyed glance, then he smiled at me, running his fingers through my pink stripe again, admiring it. Then he traced the side of my face. “I’d call it more like… passionate, tender, full of heart, loving, sexy, sensual…”
I stared into his eyes, loving every word.
“You’re the perfect sentimental Alpha.” He lightly brushed his lips over mine, and I kissed him in return. Then turned to the rest of the guys. “Let’s go!”
Hunter was already holding his bag and he picked up mine. “Easton, grab the guns and Christian, you grab the equipment.”
“What about me?” I folded my arms across my chest.
He walked up to me to whisper into my ear. “You? You’re carrying the most important thing.”
“And what’s that?” I whispered in return, even though it was clear that everyone could hear us.
“Our hearts.” He put his hand on my chest, right over where my heart pounded at his words.
I leaned even closer, but whispered loud enough that everyone could hear it. “You’re so cheesy. Good thing you’re so sexy, or I’d have to replace my warm nights with you, with Traitor instead.”
He grinned. “You love it.”
I nodded, smiling, then leaned up to give him a kiss. James’ voice called from outside. “You guys coming? Or are you waiting for me to bring all the equipment out, too?”
Hunter clicked his tongue, then took my hand and we all walked out together: my team, my lovers and my fucking best friends. Feeling the comfort of their presence, I steeled myself, wondering about what we would find when we got there.
And I made a promise.
Garrett, we’re coming for you.
As soon as we approached the hangar, my thoughts drifted to Aaron and my conversation with Edward. I’d yet to talk to my guys about it, and it was causing my stomach to roll. Remembering that Easton hated flying, I approached him when we reached the tarmac.
“Hey, babe. Can you help me with my bag? It’s kinda heavy.” I feigned it dragging me down.
Smiling and clearly knowing I was lying, he grabbed it and threw it across his back. “Sure.”
I took his hand, giving it a soft squeeze as we walked on the tarmac towards the plane. He squeezed it back, but didn’t soften his grip as we climbed up the stairs.
The copilot waited at the top of the stairs, welcoming us. This part of the trip had been supplied for us by Hunter, luckily. We settled in for the long flight, with me sitting in between Easton and Hunter, with Easton’s hand around the back of my neck, nervously stroking the side of it. Avery, Christian and James, sat in the large leather chairs across from us. We took off without any issues and the plane grew into a comfortable silence.
I decided now would be a good time to talk about Aaron.
“So,” I leaned forward, fiddling nervously with the seatbelt as I released it. “I wanted to talk to you guys about something.”
A deep purr rumbled from Easton’s chest. “Yess?”
Damn, if that didn’t make me shiver. It took me a second to recover from that.
“Erm, okay, so anyways,” both Easton and James were smirking at me, but Avery, Hunter and Christian, had confused looks. I waved my hand, brushing their confusion away. “I wanted to talk to you guys about something.” I paused, trying to think of a way to bring it up. “Remember when I first met you guys, I had a boyfriend?”
They all moved their heads in varying shades of nodding, with the exception of James. I looked at him. “Aaron was my boyfriend back home. His dad is the one who killed my parents.” For the first time ever, I saw him look uncomfortable. I looked at the rest of the guys. “Last I heard, he was being forced to marry another member of the pack, but I don’t actually know if he did.” I spread my hands out. “But what if he didn’t? What if I see him and…” My voice petered off. I took a breath, gathering my courage. “What if I see him and I still have… feelings?” The last word came out a squeak.
The plane was quiet, with the exception of the pilot and the co-pilot’s murmured conversation up front. Avery spoke first.
“I remember that. It was after we found Emma and you were… you’d decided to be with us, instead. To not go after him.”
I nodded, remembering. “Yes, you’re right.”
Christian spoke up. “Except you have to remember, she couldn’t exactly go back at that time. She was barely shifting. Her whole world had just fallen apart. Now’s a totally different situation.”
“What if,” I was almost afraid to ask it. “What if he didn’t marry her, and he’s waited for me this whole time?” My heart pounded in my chest. “He would feel betrayed if I came back with all you guys and I didn’t even give him a chance. And I’m used to the whole sharing thing now, but it took me a while to get it. And he… I don’t even know if he’ll get it.” I looked into their eyes. “I accepted it because I look at you guys and I know that I feel something for each of you, and that I couldn’t choose between you. But he’s not going to feel the same way. He won’t understand.”
“Look,” Christian sat at the edge of his chair. “All that is completely understandable. But I think what’s more important is, how do you feel about him now? Do you still feel the same way?”
I shrugged. “The very last time that I saw him, he was standing up to two whole packs to try to save me.” I looked into Christian’s eyes. “I cannot deny that that doesn’t make me feel something for him. He was my first love. And my best childhood friend.” I looked over at Easton and Hunter, whose faces were expressionless, but I knew that they were intentionally hiding their emotions from me. “But I love you guys and I don’t want to mess this up. You’re important to me and I would never want to do anything to screw this up.”
Christian bit his lip, thinking, and Avery was scowling, looking out the plane window. James was ripping the thread from the bottom of his jeans. Shit. I was messing this up. I took Easton’s and Hunter’s hand. “Look, I just want to ask you to give me time to get things sorted with him. We’ve gone over a lot of stuff about what’s going to happen when we get there. I’ve opened up to you guys about how sad I am with my parents, and nervous about seeing my old house. But there are also a lot of other complications that we haven’t talked about. Aaron being one of them. And there are others.”
James clicked his teeth.
“Not boyfriends, but relationships. Garrett commanded the pack to attack us, so we had to fight some of my friends. And Shayne said that he’d been lying to the pack. Who knows what the hell they think about me now? Things are muddled and I’m going to have to make things right with everyone once we get back. I just wanted to bring up Aaron so that I know how you guys feel first, because I don’t want to do something to screw this up. And, to let you know that I’ll have to deal with it somehow when we get there. But that in no way means that I love any of you, any less.”
Christian nodded, and he leaned back in his chair. “That seems fair to me. I think you should be able to work out things with him. I understand that it can be complicated.”
Avery’s eyes had grown softer and he nodded, sighing. “Fine.”
“Really, Avery?” My voice was stern.
He nodded, running his fingers over his lips. “Yes, really. I get it.” He shrugged. “I don’t love it, but I get it. It’s fine.” He smiled at me, and it seemed genuine.
I turned to Hunter, who was frowning. “Hunter?”
He pressed his hand over mine. “I’m going to be honest, Lizzy. I don’t like it. At all. But I told you once that I would do anything to have you, and that includes if you want to bring Aaron into the group. I would share you with twenty guys if that meant I would still get to be with you.”
I ran my hand over his cheek, his words causing a humming in my chest. “Hunter, there is nothing that would
ever take you away from me.”
He leaned in, his face serious. “But I will make it clear, if he does anything to ever hurt you, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you.”
I nodded, unable to look away from his severe gaze.
“As long as that is clear.”
“Yes. All clear.” I nodded again, swallowing the lump in my throat, then I turned to Easton. His face was still a mask, and his finger traced circles on the palm of my hand. He took a moment to speak.
“Lizzy, you know that my priority is the group. That’s one reason why I was so very willing to share you from the beginning. Because I felt like everyone was better off with you. You fulfilled us in ways that we couldn’t fulfill each other.” Hunter, Christian and Avery, all snickered at this. “And so, I hope that you don’t mind if I hold off on making a choice right now. I need to see him, get to know him. See if I feel like he could fit in with the group.” He looked up. “I take no issues with you working things out with him. Being alone with him to talk about things, try to explain our situation. But. If I feel like he’s going to threaten our group in any way, then I will let you know.”
I nodded. “That’s fair.”
He smiled, kissed my cheek, then stood up. “I’ve got some stuff I need to go over.” He went to his bag and, pulling out his glasses and a stack of papers, sat down. I sighed, and leaned back in my seat, feeling better.
“Do I get to have an opinion?” James’ face was red, and he was still tearing at the bottom of his jeans.
Oh, shit. I shot forward. “Of course.”
“I think that you’ve got all of your guys here so why would you ever need anyone else?” He looked up at me now, his face a sly smile. “I think you just want to make sure that there’s nothing better out there, that you’re not missing out on anything.” He smirked at me and I felt a raging, tightening, suffocating feeling press up my chest and into my throat. He had no clue, no fucking idea what he was talking about.