Page 35 of Ashley & the A-Listers (Sweetverse)

35. AFTERMATH

CAMERON

Once Cameron woke up for the first time in days without the flush of the heat beneath his skin, he breathed a sigh of relief. The breath was filled with the mixed scents of him, Ashley, and River.

Both of them were passed out in the nest. Satisfaction lit up in his brain as he watched the two of them sleep, clearly exhausted.

Cam felt… hungover. Head clear, but tired and sluggish.

His stomach growled.

Quietly, he removed himself from the tangle of Ashley and River and left them sleeping while he grabbed a robe.

The scent of bacon and sausage filled his senses as he cracked the door, and he practically floated out of the nest and down the short hall nose-first.

He found Dylan in the kitchen, standing over the stove with a spatula in hand. The alpha turned to face him before he ever reached the chairs.

“You’re alive,” Dylan said, lips twitching.

“And starving,” Cameron said.

Dylan nodded. “Figured that’d be the case. Pancakes or biscuits?”

“Both?”

Cam settled into one of the barstools as Dylan passed him the syrup. His mouth watered at the scent of the food.

“Ashley and River are still sleeping,” Cameron explained.

“Did you wear them out?” Dylan teased, and Cam’s cheeks heated.

Ashley’s shoulder beneath his mouth. River’s hand in his hair.

“I think so,” Cameron guessed, thankful that a burst of arousal didn’t send him to his knees.

Dylan slid a plate across the bar, stacked high with several pieces of crispy bacon and sausage and pancakes and a fluffy biscuit, steam still rising from the buttery crust.

“Christ, this looks amazing,” Cameron said, and promptly dove in with no hesitation. He practically moaned at the first bite, his sole focus the food in front of him.

Dylan munched on a piece of bacon, hip against the counter as he finished up whatever he was doing.

Clarity came to Cameron about halfway through his plate. “You’re not jealous?” he asked, pancake shoved in his cheek to talk. His scent was smooth, damp grass after a storm. Cam found some comfort in it, some calm after his own storm had passed.

Dylan glanced over at him as he flipped a piece of sausage in the pan. “Jealous of who?”

“I don’t know. Me? You and Ashley are bonded. I kind of stole her for a few days.”

Dylan shrugged. “You wanna know what I think?”

Cam swallowed and nodded.

“I think…” Dylan pushed a glass of water to him, and Cam didn’t even realize how parched he was until it was within reach. “...She wants to keep you.”

Cam stared at Dylan over the lip of his glass, processing.

“She wants to keep me?”

Bite me, alpha, please.

“She didn’t want to bite me,” Cam admitted, dejected.

Dylan arched a brow. “That doesn’t surprise me. Omegas are always a little… out of it during a heat. She probably didn’t want to take the chance that you’d regret it later.”

And even though Cam knew that to be true, he couldn’t shake the embarrassment, the shame that came from Ashley denying him during the heat.

“I don’t know,” he murmured, staring down at his plate.

“I do,” Dylan said, so sure of it, as if he was daring Cameron to believe it, too. “Ashley wants a pack.”

Cam’s fork clattered to the plate and he clumsily chased it, wincing at the sound. “She does?”

Dylan nodded, then frowned, staring somewhere off in the distance. “She does. Don’t know why she started with me,” he said, hand grazing the mark hidden beneath his shirt.

“Cause you’re the one that got away, idiot,” Cam mumbled. “She loves you.”

Dylan’s cheeks pinkened, and Cameron filed the moment away to shout victory over later. Cam’s gaze lingered as if he could see through the fabric to the bite on Dylan’s shoulder. He wanted a mark, too.

“Do you want a pack?” he asked.

“I want whatever she wants,” Dylan answered. “Her happiness is… everything. And if that includes a pack, I want that, too.”

“You sound very sure.”

Dylan shrugged. “I’ve had a few days to think about it.”

He did seem oddly at peace about it all. Then again, he had been locked out of the nest for…

“What day is it?”

“Tuesday.”

Cam’s eyes went wide. His heat had gone on an entire two extra days than it was supposed to.

“Don’t freak out. River gave me some contacts to check in with for you. I told Christian you’d be indisposed for a bit longer.”

Just as quickly as the panic had set in, it receded.

“Thank you.” Alpha was on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it.

Not his alpha. But not not his alpha. An alpha. One who kept them safe while Cam was in heat, one who cooked excellent bacon. One who took care of things when needed.

A good alpha.

Even if Cam didn’t have the urge to wrap this alpha around his finger, he could appreciate Dylan all the same.

Maybe Ashley had the right idea, starting with this one.

Speaking of…

The door of the nest shut with a snick, and twin footsteps padded out to them. Cam turned in the barstool, grinning before he knew why. “Good morning,” he said.

Ashley was wearing his boxers and a tee, and River was in his own boxers and a shirt. Their hair was wild.

And they smell like me.

“How are you feeling?” Ashley reached him first, brushing a hand through his hair and nuzzling at the top of his head before she paused and gingerly lifted away. “Sorry, I?—“

Cameron caught her before she could pull away and buried his face in her collarbone. “S’okay,” he said. “I feel good.”

Her purr surrounded him and Cameron sighed happily as she chuckled. “Breakfast smells almost as good as you do,” she said.

Cameron released her so she could eat, and River tried to slip away after her, but Cam caught his hand and pulled him in, too. River hugged him tightly, and Cam laid his cheek on his chest, rubbing lightly, the fabric soft against his skin. He was facing across the bar, and watched as Dylan greeted Ashley, the softest of kisses exchanged.

“Feeling better?” River asked.

Cam nodded, and reluctantly released River, pulling out the barstools on either side of him.

Ashley sat to his left, and River to his right.

“So, you all survived,” Dylan mused, nursing a cup of coffee to himself.

“Barely,” River teased, nudging him. His smile was sweet and loving and Cameron remembered the way it felt trailing down his stomach.

Cam inhaled, and all he smelled was them. The mix of their pheromones and sweat and sex.

And Dylan, whose scent wasn’t as intrusive as he once might’ve imagined.

They… gelled.

As they ate, Cameron tangled a foot with Ashley’s and laid a hand on River’s thigh. Ashley wiggled her foot against his, sharing a soft smile with him, and his chest went fluttery.

River stroked a thumb over the back of his knuckles, and it felt… right.

She wants a pack.

Here, in this moment, all Cameron could think was… finally.