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“What did you do to her?”

We were all sitting around the table again, trying to use the time to refuel. Well, we were. Aidan picked up my wrist, inspecting the faint line on my skin left by the rope there with an expression of alarm, then anger. I jerked it out of his grip, something that just spiked his ire.

“I don’t give a shit about remotes or whatever else you blokes want to bring to bed, but hurting her?”

I got to my feet, still feeling boneless, walking around on swaying feet to deposit myself on Peter’s lap, winding my arms around his neck.

“Hey, baby,” he said with a smile, bringing his lips down to mine for a slow kiss. “Have fun?”

I nodded. “I love you, so much.”

“Yeah?” His eyes sparkled as he watched me. “I think you’re a little pack drunk right now, but I’ll take it. Now, how about something to eat?”

When I looked up, Sen watched Peter feed me with hungry eyes, observing every mouthful.

“Are you fucking listening to me? You bruised her! Don’t you know what she’s been through?”

“Do you?” The two words silenced Aidan in two seconds flat. “Look, mate, I’m not here to take anything from you.”

“Damn right, you’re not.” Aidan jerked his shirt down, revealing his pink mating mark. “She bit me.”

“She did, so it stands to reason you could reach over, take her hand, and read how she’s feeling down your bond.

Check in with her. Ask her if she’s OK. Don’t start fighting enemies for her.

She’s stronger than any of us. She gave birth, she raised a kid on her own, she survived that cunt’s attentions, and she made it here.

Everything else…” He shrugged. “See to your mate. Pete’s got the right idea.

Feed and hydrate her. Get her ready for what’s coming. ”

I looked around when I felt someone take my hand and smiled when I saw it was Aidan, liking the way his face softened, his eyes shining as he held it.

“Oh Flick…” he said, leaning in and kissing me. I went loose and limp as both of them did, Peter against my neck, diving down, down into the sweet hum of the pack bond.

“I need to spend some time with just my mates,” I said when I finally surfaced.

“Oh, I had some cool ideas for some scenes,” Noah said, looking up from his plate. “We could?—”

“Later, mate,” Sen said. “She knows what she needs, after she’s drunk the rest of that water.”

I drank it and another bottle, all under his approving eye, but it wasn’t Sen I thought about when I went back to my room with my mates in tow.

“Is it OK if we just sleep?” I asked as I lay on the bed.

“Of course, love,” Aidan said, pulling me against him. “Fuck, it feels like a million years since we’ve done this.”

“Cuddle?”

“Just…this. Quiet, cuddles, bed, us. And sleep. I dunno about you, but I am trashed.”

“The heat will break soon. Full moon’s coming,” Peter said, watching me with that steady gaze of his. Like he saw all of me and was happy as a result.

“But what about the guys, Flick? What happened before? Did Sen… Did he hurt you?”

“Only when I wanted him to.” I let out a long yawn. “Can we talk about it when I wake up?”

“Of course, love.”

I’m not sure how much Aidan slept. My dreams were kind of unsettled.

Not outright nightmares, just lots of shadowy shapes pursuing me, tracking me.

When my eyes finally opened, there he was, watching me as I yawned, as I flopped back on the bed and looked up at him.

I glanced back to see Peter was still asleep, his hand on my hip.

“You’re worried,” I whispered.

He resisted that word, but I saw it in the tense line of his body, the muscles in his jaw.

“You liked things as they were.”

His eyes dropped down to the bed at that, fingers tracing the folds in the fabric.

“You don’t want me adding anyone to the pack.”

“That’s not my choice,” he said finally.

“Aidan, I’m not asking you to tell me what to do, but I am asking for your opinion.”

“It’s not… That’s not it.” He shook his head.

“Pete and me have been mates for a bit. We know each other, can work well together. I guess I was invested in this thing. Ophelia took us off work while we helped out here, and I kinda threw myself into that. I… When the bruises faded and I started to see you smile, when Kade’s nightmares stopped and he felt OK to sleep in his own bed, I guess I felt like I was part of that, that we did that. ”

I put a hand on his cheek, scratching my fingers through his beard.

“You were and are. I’ll never forget that, what you did for us.

I see you, Aidan. I know you making us breakfast, doing the washing, sitting and watching cartoons with Kade, and rubbing my feet is you telling us over and over how much you love us.

And we love you, Aidan. We’re not going anywhere, but we are changing. ”

He placed a kiss on my palm, holding my hand there as his eyes closed.

“In a lot of ways, you’re just starting to get to know us.

God, I’m only just starting to get to know me.

I married Rick straight after university and spent much of my adulthood under his thumb, then I came here.

That’s what’s been so amazing about this place.

I’ve had a chance to explore things I would never have thought to try.

Do as Ophelia instructed and just play. Today, Sen tied me up and made me come and fucked me hard.

The marks are from the rope I wanted him to use.

It was amazing, but no more than what we have, no more than right now. ”

He watched me intently, a slight frown on his face.

“But he’s pushing you around, Flick. Telling you what to do. Isn’t he just another controlling dude who’s gonna…”

“That’s what we’re going to find out. Sen seems to have some alpha tendencies, whatever that means, that manifest in him caring for people in a kind of pushy way. He’s a lot like you, just more insistent.”

“And that’s what you want?”

“I don’t know. Right now, it’s hot, sweet, and reminds me of something else.

You and especially Peter, I feel like I could do anything and you’d catch me if I fell.

In some ways, that makes me brave enough to experiment with Noah’s many, many kinks and to let Sen play games.

But ideally, if it turns out we’d make a good pack, it’d be all four of you working with me to raise Kade, keeping this household ticking along, and then when night came, we’d file in here and we’d work together.

Noah would be endlessly inventive and keep us from falling into a rut and find out a whole lot more about what turns us on.

You would be looking after my best interests and make sure shit didn’t get too crazy.

Peter would be my safe harbour, my safe place, somewhere to curl up and recollect myself when things get intense.

And Sen would push us, test our boundaries, see if he could get some of what we hold back to surface.

Like could he get that secret selfish side of you to come out to play every now and then, the one who isn’t constantly worrying about me.

That Aidan who deep down, just wants to dispense with the foreplay and shove me down on the bed, peel my jeans down over my arse, and fuck me. ”

His eyes burned into mine, not blinking for even a split second.

“Do I want him to replace my Aidan? Of course not. But can selfish Aidan come out to play sometimes? Yeah he can, whether Sen sticks around with us or not.”

“I like this plan.”

We both looked back to see a sleepy-eyed Peter regarding us. He hauled me back against him, his mouth dropping kisses on my neck. “I’m your safe place?” I nodded. “That’s all I ever wanted.” He looked back at Aidan. “You don’t like Sen directing her, but you’re trying to do the same.”

Aidan looked stung at that.

“That’s not quite right,” I said by way of a rescue.

“Some of you have more opinions than others, some of you will back my plays no matter what. The balance is what I like. The responsibility is shared.” I yawned again, both their hands going to my stomach.

“Just keep talking, that’s what I think.

Rick always stopped that, at first by being snide, then yelling, then—” I stopped still for a moment, a flash of the old fear rising, then falling as I just breathed through it.

“We’re gonna have to work through this, no matter which way things go. ”

They rolled into me, arms criss-crossing as they went around me and I was held.

I just lay there, breathing in time with them, feeling that warm, comforting, suffocating, all-consuming bond rise.

It was an intense thing, being pack. Much more than any relationship I’d ever experienced, and the only thing comparable was my love for Kade.

Kade. I extricated myself gently, rolling over and looking at the clock. Time to give him my daily call. Aidan was passing me the phone before I could say anything, Renee’s number cued up. Peter sat up too, so I could lean against his bulk as we made the call.