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VIOLET

“Where are all my shirts?” Graham asked, staring down at the empty drawer. I peeked down at the thick gray comforter spread across my body and currently hiding a ton of shirts. I leaned back nonchalantly.

Graham’s dark eyebrow twitched. He strode over to the side of the bed, tugging at the blanket I had a death grip on. The corner of his lips twitched. I loved when he smiled. It was only ever with me.

“Release the blanket, Sweetheart.”

“No.”

His hands patted across the blanket. The weight indented the shirts bunched next to my legs. The slight smirk turned into a full-blown grin.

“Naughty,” he chastised. He leaned across the bed and pressed his lips to mine. He kissed me with force, the needy flick of his tongue reaching into my gut and flared lust to a furious level. “I love you, sweet little mate.”

He tugged the blanket, and it slipped from my weak fingers. He patted my thigh and as he stood, grabbed a shirt like he hadn’t rocked me.

“Get dressed for dinner. You need to eat.” As much as I didn’t want to get out of bed, he was right. My tummy felt hollow.

Trudging to my feet, I went directly for the drawers with my stuff. I yanked on some leggings and my bra, then walked over to the pile of shirts I’d nested with. My heat would happen soon; something to look forward to every sixty days or so.

I tugged one of Simon’s on. My fingers lingered in one of Graham’s. Would it be weird if I wore two shirts? Was it giving stalker?

I groaned and released the fabric. I had the male waiting for me at the door. Nestling into his side, I matched his pace as we strode along the path of cobblestone. His arm slipped under the shirt and around my back. He wrapped his arm around to the underside of my boob, thumbing my skin.

“Are you ready yet?”

“For what?” I raised my eyebrows innocently. I knew exactly what he was talking about, he’d been asking about it for a while. “How is that deal with the distributor going?”

“Everything went through,” Graham said, frowning. That was good, he was worried about getting the deal with the supplier. It’d bring in tons of investment— “Good attempt.” He raised an eyebrow at me now. “Now answer the question.”

“I’ve decided, no ceremony.”

He frowned and then closed his mouth with a scowl.

A ceremony seemed like too much. Standing in front of the pack and declaring each other’s mating similarly to how humans did it. And it wasn’t like we’d fuck in front of everyone. Usually those were reserved for political matings to prove that there would be a child. Kind of what he was going to do with Hester. My stomach turned. Logically, they had no choice, but it still stung to think about seeing him in his robe up there on the stage, preparing to fuck in front of the entire pack.

A growl slipped out from between my lips, and he raised an eyebrow at me.

I cleared my throat, trying to play it off.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” I said too rushed. He didn’t look impressed. “I’m serious, I don’t want a mating ceremony.” He shuffled and looked to the side. “Why do you keep pushing it though?”

“He feels guilty,” Simon whispered in my ear. I gasped and smacked at his arm.

“You scared me,” I growled.

He pinched my jaw in his hand and pecked my lips.

“You, why do you feel guilty?” I nudged Graham. Pebbles crunched under our footsteps. We were almost to the propped doors into the dining area.

“Because you saw him with Hester,” Simon answered.

Graham growled. “Shut your mouth.”

I frowned. He was still feeling guilty over that, but there was nothing to stress over. I palmed the side of my neck where he’d bitten me.

“I don’t want you to give up something you want,” Graham said softly.

I had all I needed. When I said I didn’t want one, I meant it, but maybe he was the one that needed it. He just didn’t know how to express it. We reached the double doors.

“Okay,” I sighed. “Let’s do it.” With that, I walked inside the busy cafeteria, weaving around the packed wooden tables.

The one near the swinging door leading to the kitchen was gone per my insistence. I couldn’t let people eat on there knowing my mates fucked me on it, so it was now part of our patio.

A male intercepted Simon.

“Could I speak to you about something briefly, Beta?” I’d seen him around. He was mated to one of the defective females.

Simon grunted and patted my ass. “I’ll be right there.”

Graham shuffled me toward the table Maggie waved from. I peeked at Graham to see his lips twitch. “You like torturing him, don’t you?”

“Making him the Beta was one of the greatest moments of my life,” he said, and I snorted. “I’ll fetch your food.”

I slid in next to Maggie and smiled at Adan sitting at her other side, straddling the seat, his arms across the back.

“Luna,” he acknowledged, head tipping at me. The last time I’d seen him, he’d been visibly sleepless and now he looked like a new man. It likely had to do with him no longer being on the outs with his true mate.

“Finally,” Maggie grumbled. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in days. I have so much to update you on.” She grinned. “We’re going to do a mating ceremony.”

“Like the whole ceremony?” I raised an eyebrow.

“We’re leaving out the audience sex and doing a moonlight run, just the two of us.”

Adan sighed and shook his head. He was incredibly old-fashioned.

“Forgoing the public claim for forest sex.” I wiggled my eyebrows at Maggie. “I approve and fully endorse that message.”

“Since I haven’t seen you in forever, I haven’t had the chance to ask you.” Maggie leaned closer. “Is it true?” I had no idea what she was talking about. It must have shown on my face. “That Hester asked you for a favor?”

“How do you know that?”

“Girl, word spreads like crazy ‘round here.” Her focus didn’t sway. “So?”

I lifted an eyebrow at Adan. He’d been on ‘Violet babysitting’ duty that day.

“Try keeping something from her.” He winced. “Please don’t tell your mates.”

I grinned and met Maggie’s eyes.

“She did. I’m happy for her, not many want to leave the pack.”

I tugged at the collar of my shirt. All the people in here were making it extra warm.

“Luna?” The trepidatious voice belonged to a waifish girl. Oh, she was talking to me. “Thank you,” she burst out and blushed. “I made you some cookies. I heard you liked them.”

“Thank you.” I blinked and took the plastic container. She lowered her head in a quick dip.

“You’ve really given us a lot,” she started, choking. “If you need anything from me, please let me know.” She looked over her shoulder. Graham was approaching, eyes narrowed.

She lowered her head and scampered off.

“Why did she run off?” I asked Maggie.

She patted my shoulder. “Everyone is terrified of angering your mates. They treat you like you're about to break.”

“What was she talking about helping her? I don’t think I’ve met her.”

Maggie hummed and plucked one of my cookies. I scowled at her.

“She was an Aspen pack member. She’s probably ecstatic that she no longer needs to live in fear. Here, they have safety.”

Graham grunted.

“She’s also Soril’s sister.” Okay, now it made sense. Soril was the defective female, well, no longer defective female. The Omega Call was at my fingertips, but my mates weren’t allowing me to do more than a handful a month. They don’t want me to feel ‘used’. An utter lie, they freaked out after it exhausted me. I technically wasn’t allowed a job either, at least officially, so I jumped around. Sometimes I went with Graham. I got to stare at him as he made tons of phone calls and did paperwork. Or sometimes I followed Simon around as he checked in on the enforcers and made sure to keep the pack safe.

He'd changed everything up. Even going as far as removing the werewolf that slacked on the job when Deeana snuck onto his land.

He was lucky Simon didn’t kill him.

I kind of loved that more than having to do the same thing every day. I was thinking about going to see how Maggie worked with the pups next week.

Graham placed a full plate of food in front of me. I cupped my stomach. It kept turning. I rubbed my palm on Graham’s thigh and up to tangle my fingers with his shirt.

His warm skin radiated heat. I slipped my hand under the clothes to feel up his chest.

It was so warm in here. I fanned my face.

Wait. I knew what this was. My eyes widened.

“I have to go,” I choked out and jumped to my feet.

“Violet,” Graham snapped, but I ignored him. I careened around a table. A male I passed whipped his head toward me with a low whine. I needed to hurry.

Before I escaped through the door, I collided with Gordon.

Graham roared. Oh no, this was bad.

“Run,” I hissed. He didn’t need to be told twice. I went the opposite direction he did. My heat was about to hit. I made a beeline for our house, but I wouldn’t make it before it hit. The crashes and snarls from behind me told me my mates were right on my heels.