“Hey,” he quietly said as he joined Logan at the stove.
Logan glanced at him, then back at the sauce in front of him. “Hey. I hope you’re hungry. There’s lots to eat once the ravioli gets done.”
Connor definitely was hungry, but he was stressed too. “I didn’t mean to screw things up between you two.”
Logan shook his head. “You’re fine. We’re both just...confused, I guess. We’re not used to this. Any of it.”
Connor got that, and he wished that he could help in some way. He took a chance and touched Logan’s arm. It was a gentle touch, but it was enough to get his attention anyway. Connor wanted to kiss him again. It was hard not to want him.
Connor looked to Sebastian. He wanted them both. But it wasn’t just about sex. He curled his fingers over Logan’s arm and gave him a little squeeze. Then he let Logan go because where his mind was at, he couldn’t be that close to him right now.
Sebastian had stopped cleaning though and he came closer. Close enough that Connor could touch him to if he wanted to. Which he did, but he tried so hard to fight it.
“I have no idea what to do here,” he quietly admitted. He didn’t even know why he felt so strongly for the two of them. They were nice to him, and to each other, and they were the first real friends that he’d had in a long time who didn’t want anything from him except for his company, but there was more to it than that. He wished he knew but he didn’t have those answers.
“We could just sit and watch a movie and let Logan finish making dinner,” Sebastian offered.
It was a good plan. It was a simple one. Still, Connor wanted there to be more between them. “Can we cuddle while we wait for dinner?” He was asking Logan too, even if he was looking at Sebastian. If anything happened between them, he needed them both to be on board with it. He wasn’t good with having secrets between partners. But none of what they were feeling really mattered because the three of them having a relationship would never be permitted to happen. It was unthinkable. Polyamory in wolves simply wasn’t allowed. Occasional sex was, but this wasn’t just about sex. And yet he couldn’t get the desire to have them both be a major part of his life out of his mind.
“No alpha would ever allow us to be together. Not really,” Connor said. He couldn’t keep the sadness and the hurt from his tone.
He caught Sebastian shaking his head out of the corner of his eye. “No. They definitely wouldn’t. You’re too valuable as an omega, and we’re just not allowed to be a triad.”
Logan spoke up. “That doesn’t mean that we can’t still enjoy each other’s company, though. You are right, however, and I don’t want to keep this, or anything else, a secret. Especially not from our alpha. I see him every day. And Joshua isn’t a bad man. Maybe he’d understand.”
Connor was sure that Allen wouldn’t be nearly as accepting as Logan thought his alpha would be. “Maybe we should see how this weekend goes before we do anything else.” They were just words though. Connor had a good idea of how the weekend would be going, and he was sure that it would just end up breaking his heart later when Allen would say that there was no way in hell he’d ever let him be part of a relationship. Omegas didn’t have ties to anyone. They were indifferent and impartial and for a while Connor had made that work, but he was tired of it now. He wanted to have a chance with the two of them.
Sebastian took his hand and brought him to the couch. He sat down first, and Connor took the empty spot beside him. He pulled his feet up under himself and leaned in close to Sebastian’s side. Holding his hand was an easy choice.
“They’re never going to let the three of us be together,” Sebastian grumbled.
“I guess we’ll see when we get to that point,” Connor quietly replied. He wished he had something better to say than that, but it was the best he could come up with. He was just glad he wasn’t the only one feeling this way.
“I don’t think we’re jumping ahead of ourselves in saying that,” Logan admitted as he brought them each a bowl of pasta. He brought glasses of wine too, and Connor was quick to take a sip of his. He expected Sebastian to move away from him when Logan was close enough to go to, but he stayed right where he was, quietly pressed against his side, and Connor found that he liked that more than he could say.
But it wasn’t that Sebastian had chosen him over Logan, necessarily. It was that Sebastian had welcomed him into sitting with them. Logan was on his other side, and Connor was glad for the quiet, peaceful moment between them.
He took a chance and dropped his hand to Sebastian’s thigh while they ate. He heard Sebastian catch his breath, but he didn’t move away. And he didn’t say anything, either. As tempted as Connor was to push his luck, he decided against it. This was fine. It was more than fine, actually. Being with the two of them, eating the meal that Logan had made for them...he was happy here.
“Do you really think that we could make it work as the three of us though, if the alphas even agreed?” Connor quietly asked them both as he ate. He was eating slowly, not because the pasta wasn’t good. It was, he loved pasta. But he was nervous and worried.
Logan nodded. “I would. I do. I know I want to go talk to our alpha. Joshua may surprise us. Or he may not, but I have to at least try. I know it’s sudden, but having you here with us feels right. Like this is supposed to happen. I’m not going to question it more than that. I know it’s not just attraction. It’s not just a wanting. We’re not bored and looking to spice up our sex life with you or something like that. I’m happier with you here. With you both here, with me.”
Sebastian leaned away from Connor long enough to kiss Logan. Connor watched them, both wanting to join in and wanting to give them some privacy . But he was there, and they were talking about the three of them being together. Maybe privacy didn’t exist between them. At least not in this moment.
Connor put his bowl of pasta down on the coffee table in front of him and slid closer to Connor and Logan. Logan reached for his hand and Connor moved between them. He went for Sebastian first, trailing light kisses down his throat. When he found Sebastian’s pulse he gave his neck a quick nip. As much as Connor knew this had nothing to do with sex, his attraction to them both was undeniable. He wanted them. Nothing would change that. He only wished they could actually be together.
But as he kissed down Sebastian’s throat and pulled his shirt aside to kiss his collarbone, Connor tried not to think about the inevitable. He focused on the moment, and enjoying it with the two of them. When Sebastian turned to him, his lips were swollen and his eyes were wide. Connor smiled at him, then gently kissed him too. With Logan’s hands on his back, stroking down his spine, Connor slid himself over Sebastian’s lap.
This was how being with two other people was supposed to be. He knew that now. He’d had threesomes in the past. Plenty of them. But they were different than this. They were about sex. About getting what they could from him then dismissing him as soon as they were through with him. He’d been a means to an end for those past lovers. With Sebastian and Logan he had a place between them. He was welcome and needed. He wanted sex with them, but that wasn’t all he was after. Even as Sebastian pushed his hands under Connor’s shirt, touching his stomach and chest and making him jump, there was so much more he wanted from them both.
The moment between the three of them was interrupted by Logan’s phone rudely going off. Connor didn’t know the alert sound, yet, but Sebastian must have because he was suddenly tense between them.
“Doesn’t she know that you have the day off? You promised,” Sebastian grumbled.
Logan sighed as he pulled away. “I know. It’ll just take me a minute to figure out what she needs. Maybe she has a question or something.”
He got up and walked away and Connor turned back to Sebastian in time to see him roll his eyes. “Alyssa?” Connor guessed.
Sebastian gave him a quick nod.
“You don’t seem pleased,” Connor said gently. “But maybe it is just
a question. Maybe she’s not intentionally trying to cut into your night with your mate.” He was trying to be reassuring, though he could easily tell how quickly his words were lost on Sebastian.
Sebastian pursed his lips and took a deep breath. “Maybe not. But it feels like it. Like seriously, what is so important that she needs his help on his day off? He doesn’t get that many of them, but thanks to you it’s more than he used to have. All the end-of-the-month paperwork and reports are done. All of the accounting stuff is done. The tax write offs are her problem, so if that’s what she’s got an issue with tonight it can wait until the next time he’s supposed to be there.”
Connor looked over at Logan. What had been a quick text turned into a quiet phone call, and Logan didn’t look happy about it at all. “I want you to try to assume it’s a legitimate issue and not her just trying to cause trouble,” Connor said as he turned back to Sebastian.
Sebastian glared at him, but it didn’t last long. “I don’t like feeling so jealous and insecure about her.”
“Maybe if you got to know her...” Connor offered.
Sebastian’s sour expression told Connor all he needed to know about that idea. But Sebastian didn’t get to be stubborn with him anymore, not if they were really going to try to be together as the three of them, and not as “them plus him with them occasionally wanting him around”. “I want you to give her a chance,” Connor said, pushing Sebastian ever so slightly into a more accepting, less angry, direction.
Sebastian huffed at him, but he didn’t argue Connor’s point, which Connor took as being a good sign. Maybe he could get Sebastian to make some progress in the right direction where Alyssa was concerned. Connor knew what Sebastian had told him about her, but he hoped that wasn’t all there was to her, and he wanted Sebastian to see that too.
To distract Sebastian, Connor began gently placing small kisses over his cheek and neck. Slowly he felt Sebastian’s tenseness begin to ease until he turned and started kissing him as well. It took a few minutes to get Sebastian to that point, but when he got there Connor was glad that he’d been able to help Sebastian relax, at least for the moment.
“I have to go to work,” Logan came back to tell them.
Connor felt Sebastian grow tense instantly. “Sebastian, it’s fine. We’ll hang out together here,” he said, trying to placate him.
Even though Sebastian didn’t look like he was against that idea in the least, his annoyance with the situation was obvious.
“What is it now? What can Alyssa not possibly do for herself that she needs you to sweep in and do it for her?” Sebastian snapped.
“I don’t know. She wasn’t very clear on her problem, just that the computer was doing something and she needed to get the report out tonight,” Logan replied.
“I don’t want you to go.”
Connor let out a gentle whine, trying to comfort Sebastian. It wasn’t so bad that Logan would be gone for a couple of hours. They could watch a movie together. He had to get Sebastian to see that.
“I have to. She’s my coworker and she needs help with something.” Logan didn’t really sound as if he really wanted to be going back to work either. “I have to,” he repeated. “I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”
He leaned down to kiss Sebastian, and Connor watched his face when he was done, wondering if Logan wanted to give him a kiss too or if they weren’t quite at the kiss goodbye stage just yet, but then Logan just gave him a little smile followed by the barest peck of a kiss against his lips.
“You two have fun while I’m gone, but not in bed yet please. I want to be there when we start that,” Logan said as he started heading for the door.
“Okay,” Connor called back to him.
Even though Sebastian was blushing, he still looked angry about Logan leaving.
“Are you angrier at him for going or at her for calling?” Connor asked him once Logan had left.
Sebastian pursed his lips as he thought. “Both. But maybe more at him. He never says no to her. Tonight he easily could have, but he didn’t. Whatever report it was, it could have waited until tomorrow. I’m sure of it. And that pisses me off. I need to matter more to him than his job. That’s all there is to it. He wants us to work. He wants to be in a relationship with me that’s more than just in name, and for that to happen I need to matter to him. He cut back his hours, which is great, but it’s not enough. Sure he’s off more, but he still rushes right back to work, and right back to her, whenever she calls with the slightest need, and that’s not okay.”
Connor definitely understood where he was coming from in thinking that. “Then that’s something we’ll work on. The three of us. I want a relationship with you both and I want each of our needs met. Logan will have to realize that he needs to say no sometimes and prioritize his relationship a bit more. Deal?”
Sebastian nodded. He seemed far less angry as he picked up the remote and chose a movie for them to watch.
* * * *
Logan definitely did not want to be at work tonight, he thought as he pulled up to the front door of the small makeshift office, but he tried not to let his irritation show. Alyssa really had sounded as if she needed help with something. Otherwise he wouldn’t have come to work at all. He knew that didn’t mean much to Sebastian though, and he was sure he needed to find a way to make leaving tonight up to him somehow.
“Hey,” he said as he came in to find Alyssa at her computer.
She smiled when she looked up at him. She was pretty, even when she looked stressed out, tired, and her hair was a mess. “Thank you so much for coming in. Did I interrupt your night?”
Normally Logan would have just said no. He would have said that they’d had nothing going on and it was fine. But they’d had a plan for tonight. It was a big deal that Connor was able to come spend the weekend with them, and Logan really didn’t want to be at work right then. So, for once, he decided to tell Alyssa the truth. “A little bit. Yeah. But you needed help so they’ll understand.” He winced. He hadn’t meant to say anything other Sebastian. But it was there, hanging between them, and Alyssa’s eyes got wide.
“They?” she repeated to him.
There was no use in lying to her, but that didn’t mean that Logan had to tell her everything either. “Yeah.” He left it at that.
But apparently Alyssa wanted to pry. “I didn’t know that Sebastian was okay with you having a third. He always seemed like the jealous type to me. Or maybe it was just because I’m me and he knows my history with you.”
This really had nothing to do with work and Logan really didn’t want to talk about it, but maybe something needed to be said so that they could kill this topic of conversation and move onto why he was actually there in the first place. “He is jealous, but this person is someone we both like so we’re going to try to make it work as the three of us. He’ll probably always be uncomfortable with you and the amount of time we spend alone together, just because he knows you wanted to be my mate even though I chose him. Can we move on?”
Alyssa scrunched up her nose. “Sure. We can. But, Logan, really, a third can be a really good thing. I’m happy for you. Honestly. And I’m not really looking to be your mate anymore. I’ve got my own thing, my own life now.”
Logan was relieved to hear that. “Good. I’m glad.”
“Yeah. All I wanted you for, really, was the ability to leave the pack.”
That was news to him. “Huh?”
Alyssa shrugged him off though. “It’s not a big deal. As a potentially fertile female, I’m kind of stuck here unless someone wants to mate with me and brings a lot to the table. But I’m not really a country kind of girl. I want the city. I want to eat at new restaurants every night. I want shopping at the mall and new movies at a theater that isn’t half an hour away. I want manicures and pedicures and I want to be pampered. I can’t really get that here. I was hoping that by being your mate, I could somehow convince you to leave the pack and get in with a new
one. As a high-ranking beta you can go wherever you want to, and you can take your mate with you.”
Logan knew what she was saying was the truth, he’d just had no idea she felt that way. But it did give him an idea. “If I could get you mated to someone powerful from another pack, would you do it? If they were nice and kind and generally a good guy? And if I did that, would you try to help me in getting my second mate recognized as an actual mate and not just someone I want to have sex with occasionally? This person isn’t exactly easy to let out of a pack either.” Impossible would be more like it, but Logan would do his best.
Alyssa sat back in her chair and smiled at him. “Okay. I think you and I can work something out. Who do you have in mind?”
“Let me talk to him first.”
She shrugged. “Sure. And now that we have that out of the way, can you help me with this spreadsheet? I screwed up somehow, and all the values are messed up and the cells are jumbled.”
“Of course.” Logan came around to the side of her desk and looked over her shoulder. Even as he started to fix her mistake, his mind was already far away as he began to form a plan that he hoped would solve both of their problems for good.
When he got home that night, two hours after he’d left Connor and Sebastian in the living room, he expected them to still be up watching TV together. But he found them asleep on the couch , wrapped around each other, and looking absolutely perfect. He kissed Sebastian’s cheek, and did the same to Connor as well.
This was easy for him. He liked them both. He wanted them both in his life. He was closer to Sebastian, and he’d known him longer, but that didn’t mean that his feelings for Connor weren’t important too. He wasn’t sure how to show that, though. He wanted Connor to know he didn’t just want to have sex with him, though that desire was there too. He’d half wanted to find them in bed together and to have them both welcome him in to join them, but he was glad to see them comfortable with each other too. They had plenty of time for sex. It was good that they got to know each other really well first, because Logan didn’t want this to be some simple little fling between the three of them. He wanted this relationship to last.
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