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Chapter Sixteen

Audrey

We’re just getting ready for bed two days later when all our phones go off at once.

“No,” I whine, already having crawled into the bed and snuggled up with Cassian. “Please tell me that’s not what I think it is.”

Wraith chuckles as he comes to stand at the end of the bed with his phone in hand. “Sorry, trouble. Lucifer has called a war council meeting, which means someone has an idea.”

I pull the pillow over my head and scream into it. I’m tired and ready for bed, but who the fuck knows when I’ll be able to if my dad has called a meeting.

Feeling slightly better, I pull the pillow off my face as there’s a knock on the door—likely Nex.

“I need coffee and lots of it if you want me to make it through a meeting.”

My mates chuckle, and I flip them off.

“I’ll get coffee going. We can bring a couple of thermoses with us,” Nex says, and I lean up on my elbows to look at him.

Unlike the rest of us, he’s still fully dressed and looks sinfully handsome as he adjusts his glasses.

Warmth rushes through my core before I tear my eyes away from him.

Fucking mate bond.

It’s not happy that I’ve been pushing Nex away. It hurts when I don’t see him, and I want it to stop, but I’m not willing to forgive him yet—no matter how hard he’s been working.

Every morning, he makes sure breakfast is ready for all of us before he runs off to class. He makes sure to make mine and Brenden’s coffee, leaving it sitting beside plates of our favorite foods, but he never tries to eat with us. I’m not sure if I’m grateful or annoyed by this.

Let’s be real. Everything about Nex confuses the fuck out of me.

Every couple of days, he pops home during his lunch break to bring me food, and Brenden says he’s been doing the same to him—justbringing the food to his classroom since that’s where he is. He never tries to talk to either of us, just hands us the food before leaving once more.

Then there are the care packages he’s been leaving for me and Brenden, filled with bath bombs, movies for us to watch, packages of AB negative blood—Brenden’s favorite when he’s not feeding from me—plus so much more. I’ve had new leather pants, shorts, and skirts just appear out of nowhere and since none of my mates are claiming the gifts, that only leaves Nex. Especially since new graphic tees in Brenden’s size also keep appearing.

He’s doing what we asked, staying away from us—kind of—but making sure we’re taken care of, and I just don’t know how I feel about it.

Part of me wishes he would just disappear so I never have to think of him, but I know that’s not possible. If our bond is giving me this many problems when I see him two to three times a day, how bad would it be if I didn’t see him at all?

And he’s stupidly hot, and that doesn’t help at all.

“Come on, little mate. We need to get dressed. As much fun as it would be to see yourdad’s face if you showed up wearing nothing but my shirt, I don’t think that’s what you want.”

I allow Cassian to pull me out of the bed as I wrinkle my nose. As if I’d show up to see my parents without at least putting on panties first. If we’d gotten the message much later, I probably would’ve been naked. Because getting into bed for us usually means sex.

As soon as my feet hit the floor, Brenden is there with clothes for me. I shoot him a grateful smile, sighing when he helps me get dressed too.

Fates above, I love my mates.

It’s not that I can’t get dressed by myself or that they think they have to do it for me. They like helping me do things—including getting dressed, which is the opposite of what most men want to do with women.

Sure, they want to undress me, too, but that’s not all they want from me. I’ve never had men who cared for me like they do. I don’t know if it’s the fact that we’re fated mates or if it’s just who they are as people, but they genuinely want to help me in any way they can. It’s sweet, but I could see it getting to be too much if they did it all the time. Which is why I don’t alwayslet them help me, and they back off immediately.

They really are my perfect mates.

After I finish dressing, I throw my long hair up into a messy bun and turn back to my mates. “Are we ready?”

Of course, my stomach decides to let out a loud growl just then.