Page 47 of In Deep

“Ahhh, you’re still here,” Duncan says, diving straight into the bed and snuggling up to me.

“Hey, you’re all wet!” I protest.

“And so are you.” He grins, sniffing. “What are you still doing here, Rosie? Not cutting class?”

“Nope. I don’t have any lectures this morning. I was going to lie in and then sneak around your house when you’re all out.”

Zane peers down at me as he pulls on his briefs. He looks torn. “I wanna stay, but it’s dissections and they’re my favourite.” He yanks his jeans up his legs.

I laugh. “Are you telling me dissecting dead bodies is more enjoyable than rutting me, Alpha?”

“It’s a toss up,” he says with a cheeky grin.

“I don’t have class until after lunch,” Duncan tells me, nuzzling into my neck.

“Ahhh shit,” Zane says, his fingers hovering at his half-buttoned fly. “Don’t make this harder than it is.”

“Are you going to do wicked things to me?” I ask Duncan. “While Zane’s away.”

“Too fucking right, wee yin. I’m going to take advantage of having you to myself.” He rolls me towards him, his hands slithering down my side.

“You two are cruel,” Zane mutters, turning his back on us as he continues to dress.

I let out a few exaggerated sighs as Duncan nibbles on my throat, just to torture Zane a little more. He tugs his sweatshirt over his head and stomps from the room.

“Goodbye, enjoy shagging while I’m out learning how to save people’s lives.”

He slams the door and Duncan and I burst out laughing.

“He doesn’t like being left out, does he?” I say, climbing on top of Duncan and straddling him.

Reaching up, he traces the circles of my nipples. “Actually, he’s pretty good at sharing. We all are.” His eyes flick up to mine. “But it’s more than that. Being in a pack is about wanting each other to be happy, about making sure that happens for each other, looking out for each other.”

“That sounds nice,” I say wistfully.

“You don’t have anyone to look out for you, wee yin?”

“Sophia, I guess. And my sisters, but they’re still young. I mostly look out for them. And my mum,” I groan, “she thinks she’s looking out for me but …”

He tugs me down so I’m lying flat against his chest. “But what?”

“It sometimes feels like she’s looking out more for herself. She’s more worried about her reputation than my happiness. In her ideal world, I’d be mated to an alpha and out of her hair.”

“You’re not exactly in her hair now. You’re doing your own thing here at college.”

“That’s not how she sees it. She thinks I’m a walking disaster. That I’m going to land myself in trouble.” I rest my ear against the alpha thud of his heart. So powerful. “Maybe she’s right.”

“She isn’t,” he says. Then he rolls me off his body and I squeal. “Come on, let’s go to my room.”

“Your room?” The dark mood that hovers over my head with that last confession, lifts. “Yes please.” I scurry from the bed, bouncing on my toes as I grin up at the alpha.

“Steady on.” He chuckles. “It’s not that exciting.”

“But maybe it’ll give me more of an insight into you. I said I wanted to nose around the house.”

“Come on then, you snoop.” He drapes a dressing gown over my shoulder and ties the towel back around his waist. I skip by his side as he leads me to the room next to Zane’s and I realise that he really must have heard everything between me and Zane. The walls in this old house are paper-thin.

As we step inside, I let go of his hand and start to explore. The layout is a mirror image of Zane’s. The window and the old fireplace are identical and the big bed and desk are set up in the same manner. But the decor is different. Across his desk are huge A3 pieces of paper with pencil sketchings. I step in closer to take a look. Complex diagrams of engines and machinery scrawl across the pages.