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“But he’s our alpha. We basically, well, belong to him.” Mackenzie’s fingers went to the bite mark on her neck.

Another “shit” from Theo as he got the subtext. Daryl had treated her like property. He would have passed her from alpha to alpha like a doll. Justice didn’t want to be that. None of us did.

“Right. Justice’s brains are a little bit scrambled right now. He’s very logical. A to B to C. But his logic is running on the wrong tracks. He’s developing habits that are going to become ingrained behavior. We need to interrupt that. We need to be smart and sneaky about it because his logic, and well, alpha stubbornness, are going to fight us.”

“We can’t just sit down and have a conversation about this. I’ve tried. He can’t recognize that there’s an issue here. If we tackle it head on, I’m pretty sure it’s going to have an opposite effect. So, the three of us are going to enter into a conspiracy, coordinate our efforts, use our own version of exposure therapy and turn Justice Twill into a cuddle monster.”

Mackenzie snorted a giggle and covered her mouth.

“We are going to start small. We just can’t dive tackle him.”

“Okay. What do we do?”

“When we’re on the couch tonight, put your head on his knee.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s where you start. Put your head in his lap, let him play with your hair. Hold his hand. Put his arm over your shoulder. Snuggle into him. Make constant contact with you so natural and normal that he’ll notice it’s not there and will seek it out on his own.”

“Oh.”

“Now, we need to coordinate. Exposure therapy works with incremental changes. not triggering a negative response. I nominate Mackenzie to be in charge of PDA.”

“What do I do then?”

I kept my face, posture, my aura as neutral as possible for this ripping off of the bandaid.

“Call him ‘sir’. In front of us.”

Theo held my gaze, but stopped breathing.

“You forget, if I’m paying attention, I can feel what you’re feeling. Last week, when we were teaching Mackenzie to play Go Kart Go, you got up to get a drink, and Mackenzie hogged the couch. You sat on the floor and ended up sitting between Justice’s feet. Tell me that was not the best feeling of your life. Because it sure as fuck was Justice’s.”

He licked his lips and fought off his own little panic attack.

“And I guarantee you he’s going to get twisted up about it. Because a good alpha doesn’t make his omega kneel at his feet.” Theo’s eyes darted to Mackenzie. “She needs to be set free to thrive. You need to be controlled to thrive. Justice can provide both those things if you lead him there.”

“I…” Theo stalled out.

“Have you stopped to think that Justice needs it, too?” I pointed between the two of us. “That’s not the nature of our relationship, but if it’s there with Justice, fucking cool. I have to be honest, Theo,” I let more of my annoyance into my voice than I wanted, “as your pack mate, not your alpha, I don’t want to be in a pack where my pack mates can’t be exactly who they are and feel like they have to keep part of themselves behind closed doors.”

I stretched all the way across the blanket, coming to my knees, and wrapped my fingers around his throat. “And as your alpha, I want all of you. I need all of you. I love all of you. Hiding this part is pointless, not to mention insulting that you don’t think you can trust us.” I kissed him quick and let him go.

“It just feels… fragile,” Theo picked at his thumbnail. “I didn’t know how you’d react.”

“I mean, it’s kind of hot,” Mackenzie added for good measure.

Theo looked off into the distance and blew out a cleansing breath.

“We’re going to baby step this.” I dusted off my hands and leaned back. “We’ll coordinate our efforts so it doesn’t feel like we are dog piling him. Mackenzie will turn him into a cuddle monster. Theo will bring out his dom side.”

“What are you going to do?” Theo asked, putting the cover back on the brownies.

“Oh? Me? I’m going to hold him down and fuck him into next Tuesday in front of you.”

Mackenzie and Theo traded a wide-eyed look.

We started packing up some of our trash and empty containers.