Page 54 of Happily Ever After… Again and Again

But this opportunity to check on Nix is just too good to pass up.

With renewed focus, Rowan hums theMission Impossibletheme song under his breath as he rolls stealthily to the floor between the coffee table and the couch, on his belly. He snags the phone on his way down, army crawling on his elbows and toes toward the back hallway.

He doesn’t look back, but he can hear Finn and Jay making out against the counter, and the loud laughter from the pool, followed by Luca’s squeals.

The Goddess must be with him, because no one stops him. No one comes up for air, and he’s able to close the laundry room door and sit, pressed up against the now-silent dryer.

A huge grin makes his dimples pop, so hard his cheeks hurt. Fuck yeah, he is a super spy in the making. Better than Lauren, maybe. He doesn’t acknowledge that he’s had toborrowthe phone in the first place.

Rowan needs to check on his omega, and he needs to do itnow.

He finds Gideon’s number in the phone—listed under “Mom”—and, chuckling quietly to himself, listens to it ring.

“Hello?” Nix answers, his deep voice sending tingles down Rowan’s spine from two blocks over.

“Nix?” he whispers faintly. He can’t hear anything from the areas of the house now, but he doesn’t want to alert anyone he’s hiding-not-hiding.

“Ro? Why are you whispering?”

There’s a thump from down the hall. Maybe the sliding glass door closing, or Jay slamming another sad cookie sheet of tear-covered bacon on the counter.

“What? No. I’m not whispering,” he whispers. “But if you could keep your voice down?”

“Are you hiding from Jamie? Did you steal a phone so you could call me?”

Steal?No.Borrow?Maybe.

“Steal is a strong word.”

“Rowan.” It sounds disapproving, and his wolf doesn’t like that at all.

“Well. The babies are hungry, right? And then you went and turned the bond off for a minute, and I was okay—”

A door slams nearby. He can’t help the high-pitched “Eep” he lets out before covering his mouth with his hand. Heart pounding, he pauses, sighing in relief when the shower in the next room turns on. When no other noise follows, he starts up again, this time even quieter than before.

“Where was I? Oh yeah. I was—amokay, but Grayson is growly and glowy and now I have Finn’s phone with the app on it and—”

The laundry room door flies open, hitting the wall so hard it bounces off.

Rowan has two seconds to brace himself before Grayson has him pinned to the floor, knees on his shoulders, ass on his chest.

“Ooof, ow! No! It’s my turrrrr—”

Bucking up, he tries to throw Grayson off, but he will not be moved. Unseen hands hold his legs in an unbreakable grip, causing the phone to fly from his hand and skitter across the floor.

Rowan is mesmerized. He’d like to blame the pure magic flowing in waves from Grayson’s every pore—but it’s not just that.

With his long black hair swirling around his head and his eyes as dark as night, Grayson looks otherworldly.

Unleashed.

When he leans forward, his red lips part on his long fangs—a single sharp point dragging across Rowan’s earlobe. His hot tongue swirls in Rowan’s sensitive ear before he bites along the top of the cartilage with a deep hum.

All the blood in Rowan’s body rushes to his cock, leaving him lightheaded and aching.

“You’ve been a bad boy, Rowan Foster,” he growls, tongue licking into the sensitive canal again. His breath is cool when he whispers, “It’s not your turn to watch Nix, but Finnie says I can make you sorry. Get my mind off it. What do you think?”

Shit. Nix’s voice is calling for him over the line. “Rowan?”