Page 45

“Okay. They’re gone. Let’s do it.” He closes the door after standing and waving as Gideon drives away.

Gideon had been torn between staying with Luca or protecting Nix and the others out in the big-wide-world.

They were coming up on two years of their soul bond, and it was getting easier to go longer distances and time before Luca felt the symptoms of Broken Bond Syndrome.

Gideon wouldn’t be gone for more than four or five hours and with Rowan to distract him, it would fly by. He hoped. And while Luca knew Gideon worried about him, he also knew how important it was to have someone willing and able to kick some ass to protect their mates.

It wasn’t like Nix went looking for trouble; it was that trouble was most definitely looking for him.

Such was the life of a pregnant superhero who seemed to draw everyone into his orbit. Luca wished it applied to only nice people, not weird, creeper megalomaniacs with God-complexes.

Just thinking about Carnell had Gideon in a foul mood; despite receiving a most excellent blowjob (if Luca says so himself) and subsequent orgasm, his soulmate drove away frowning and irritable.

Perhaps it is better if Luca is here, and Gideon is there.

Jay and Leo had left an hour ago to walk down the two blocks toward Jay and Nix’s old high school to catch their hired car to the Golf Club.

Neither he nor Rowan had wanted to go to the golf club with them, because golf was boring in the extreme.

It was convenient that he and Rowan really did have “unfinished business.” There’d been sly side-eyes and loud laments about wishing they could stay home and join in despite the previous night’s come-tastic orgy.

With Gideon’s distracted orgasm carte blanche in play, the pack might be surprised to know their business did not include orgasms.

Or at least, not for now.

With a loud whoop, Luca throws himself over the back of the couch, turning to the generic, user-friendly Netflix interface.

It’s not his carefully curated welcome page, but it’ll do.

He can use the search bar like everyone else, even though it rubs him the wrong way when he doesn’t see all the cheerful Ghibli covers all lined up in an alphabetical row, interspersed with the Winchesters’ seasons one through five.

He can deal. Mostly. It helps when he’s got the movie queued and ready. Out of sight and out of mind.

Rowan throws popcorn into the microwave, grabs two Coke Zeros from the fridge, pouring them over ice and adding the kindly provided swirly-straws to the big plastic cups. “Whoever stocked this place knows us pretty well. Weird, eh?”

“Not that we should complain.” But Luca couldn’t agree more, as he opens a bag of Maltesers and pops one in his mouth. Jay had gotten him hooked on these, and Luca likes to eat them with his popcorn. “The snacks are lit.”

“Fuck yeah. The last place had shit snacks,” Rowan laments, and he should know. The alpha still crinkles when he walks, all so he can keep a supply handy for Nix and the babies tucked into his pockets.

Rowan plops down beside him just as the movie starts with the distinctly mournful yo ho, yo ho opening of Pirates of the Caribbean .

The series is a guilty pleasure and something only Rowan and he enjoy, so whenever the opportunity arises, they binge their way through (yes, even the last one where Johnny Depp was phoning it in).

In no time, Rowan is staggering about the room mimicking Captain Jack Sparrow, while Luca nearly pees his nonexistent pants in laughter. “Stop. Stop. Oh, my Goddess.”

There’s a sudden, shooting pain in his belly, and it’s not because of his laughter. It’s where he can sometimes feel Nix, and when Rowan stumbles too, he knows his baby is going through something on the other end of their bond. “Ow. Fuck.”

The alpha scrambles for the phone, but Luca stops him with a hand on his wrist. He can feel Nix is okay, and if Rowan stops for a minute, he can, too. “Just wait. Give them a minute. They’ll call if it’s an emergency.”

Rowan stares into his eyes, clearly tempted to ignore him, but drops the phone back on the table with a huff before he stuffs another handful of popcorn in his mouth. “Thanks for this, Luc.”

“You made it, silly. I just added the chocolate.”

“No, doofus. This. Me and you and Captain Jack, and being stupid and shit.”

That’s quite a mouthful, but most things about Rowan are.

Luca opens his mouth to make the smart-ass remark, but decides not to waste his energy.

He pauses the movie so he can lie with his head hanging off the seat of the couch while his legs are up and over the back, feet dangling in the air.

Rowan mimics him a little more hanging off either end and Luca moves the popcorn out of the way so his mate doesn’t try to eat any upside down and choke.

“Yeah. It’s nice. Quiet.”

“Right? It’s been insane lately, and I know I’m not always helping the situation. My wolf is…grrrr…you know?”

Luca does not, in fact, know from personal experience.

His wolf is…quiet. Has been for the last few years, especially.

Gideon’s theory is that it’s because Luca is his wolf all the time.

He gives in to his instincts more often than not, and that means his wolf has no reason to be loud or noisy or contrary.

Maybe the things Luca wants and the things he receives from his mates are exactly what his wolf needs.

The idea sits well with Luca and sure helps him feel good about his choices.

Take that, Dad.

Maybe he can do the same for Rowan.

“Grrr?” Luca asks, reaching a leg over and wrapping it around Rowan’s, pulling it closer. Like a leg-pinky swear.

“Yeah. He’s all: my omega, my mate, my babies. Mine, mine, mine. It’s hard to tell him no. So he keeps being an asshole.”

“Why are you telling him no?”

Rowan rolls over and sits up on the couch, an annoyed frown marring his handsome face. “Seriously?”

“What? I’m not being a dick, Rowan. I am being genuine. What does he want that’s so bad?”

Rowan stops for a minute, blinking in the same way Luca has seen Gideon do a million times.

“Well, I can’t go around hauling Nix into corners and marking him up all the time. Right?”

“Not all the time, but I know for a fact that Nix likes being in corners with you and he likes your marks. What if you give the wolf what he wants sometimes, if Nix agrees, and then see if he settles down?”

“Is that what you do?” Rowan picks up Luca’s hand, tracing the lines on his palm. “Does it work for you?”

“It does. When I’m home with you and the others, you let me be myself. But I can still, sometimes, be out there in the world, too.” It wasn’t always easy, but sometimes it was better than a constant battle he’d had for the first twenty-two years of his life.

“Gideon helps, too, right?”

“He helps us both.”

“Yeah, he does. Luc, you give good advice.”

“Well, I try. But you make it easy. You’re a good listener.”

“No, you are,” Rowan growls.

“Nooooo, you are,” Luca drawls, and then shrieks with glee when Rowan launches them both to the ground in a tackle.

“You have permission, right?” Rowan growls.

“I do. Lucky me.”

“Good.” Rowan pulls Luca’s T-shirt off over his head and bites into his pec with his human teeth, right over his nipple. It stings in the best way.

There’s an awful ringing sound, and Luca already hates it. “Rowan. Phone.”

“No. No peopling, just fucking now.” Rowan moves over his other nipple this time, latching on and suckling hard, pulling up as he goes.

“We have to answer. It’s Gideon or Jay. If we don’t answer, they are going to freak out.” Luca manages to reach the vibrating phone on the fourth ring.

“Mmm,” he answers, and it’s more feedback for Rowan than whoever it is on the other end of the line.

“Luca? Leo and I need a pickup. Now. Please.” Jay’s voice is flat and distant.

“What? Rowan. We gotta go. Where are you, Jaybird?” Luca pushes Rowan away, with a regretful stroke to his alpha’s cheek.

He moves quickly after that because his Pack Alpha sounds like he’s had a no-good, very bad day.

“About a mile from the Golf Course. I’ll drop a pin.”

“We’re on our way. Are you and Leo okay?”

It’s silent on the other end for a minute before Jay says, “Tell Rowan to drive safely. Remember to keep to the speed limit.”

He disconnects before he answers the question. “Well, that’s not fucking good. Ro-Baby, we gotta go.”

He opens the door and is on the front stoop before Rowan whistles high and sharp, just like Frankie-mama taught them at Christmas.

“Come on, Rowan! We gotta go. Alpha is sad.”

“Fine, but cover your ass first.” Luca looks down, and he’s standing bare-ass naked on the front porch, in his lilac-colored Ugg boots.

By the time Luca resigns himself to the torture of pants and being blue-balled by Jay’s fucking parents, he finds himself sitting in the front seat of the CR-V. Has he mentioned how much he hates the front? He does.

Jay has dropped the pin for their pickup and they’re only about twenty minutes out, so at least it won’t be for long.

“Do you even know what you’re doing?” Luca asks when the SUV surges forward and slams to a stop immediately afterward.

“Yes, I fucking do. Just let me do it.”

Luca mouths okay and prays to the Goddess to let them get there in one piece. He doesn’t want to die in pants.

Surprisingly—and Luca cannot emphasize this enough—the roads have minimal traffic, and Rowan navigates them with a finesse that’s quite attractive. “Sorry I doubted you.”

“I am awesome at this!” Rowan yells, as he immediately negates his statement by blowing through a red light at top speed. “Oops.”