Page 74

Story: Ember

Ben crawled to Rian’s other side, and Alejandro crawled stubbornly between me and the wall. He gave me a look. “Omegas on the inside.”

I grumbled but let him shift me over. Rian shifted over Ember, telling her he’d share Ben for the night, and curled up next to me.

It was dark and the scents of everyone mingled in the space that smelled heavily like Ben and Rian.

“So that was a good second date,” Ember said brightly.

Rian laughed. “I’d say.”

“Where are all your Squishmallows?” Ember shifted the blanket between us.

“My what? You mean those stuffed animals?”

“Yes.” She touched Rian’s blanket. “You would like them if you like this texture.”

“Aren’t they for kids?”

“Here we go,” I said.

“They are not,” she huffed. “They are the softest, cutest stuffed animals ever. And they can double as a pillow if we need them to.”

“Okay…” Rian said. “Stuffed animals?”

“Yes, and I name them all sorts of things even though they come with a name already.” She paused. “Like their government name versus real name. You could get some. We could have an army. We’d be unstoppable.”

Rian was quiet while he pondered a stuffed animal army.

“Even West has some.”

“Do not,” I said immediately. Alejandro’s arm was around my waist, and I was so comfortable.

“Sure, okay. Blueberry and Magnolia are mine.”

“They are,” I muttered. They were actually mine, and we both knew it.

“Is Blueberry a blueberry?” Rian sounded mystified, like he was missing an entire world.

“No, he’s a shark.”

“West needs to have manly stuffed animals.”

I felt Alejandro’s shoulders shake and shoved his hand. “You’d better not laugh, or you won’t be invited back into the nest where Blueberry and Magnolia live.”

“I would never,” he wheezed. “Ben, help me out here.”

“I’m trying to remember where I put my phone last,” Ben said from the other side of the nest. It felt like…too far away somehow, even though I didn’t expect to want the other alpha that close. Despite the brain-meltingly hot sex we’d just had. “I apparently need to order some Squishmallows.”

“I want to look at them first,” Rian said. “I want to know what options there are.”

“So many,” Ember said, sounding gleeful. “I have a milkshake and a brownie and a little squirrel, and so many others.”

I drifted off to sleep while Rian and Ember whispered about Squishmallows.

Ember was right. It had been a great second date.

Chapter 28

Ember