Page 17

FIFTEEN

“We always play charades first,” Kendall declares. I end up on the couch between Uriah and Ciro, feeling snug between their beautiful scents.

Ciro leans towards me. “Do you want any wine?”

I hesitate to ask. “Do you have anything stronger?”

He grins triumphantly, joy lighting up his entire face. “Anything specific?”

“Something that tastes good so I can drink a lot of it.”

His expression softens as he leans closer. “And are we doing shots? It’ll certainly help against those two.” He points to Kendall and Atlas setting up the game. “They have some weird mind link with each other, I swear.”

Uriah leans in from the other direction, and their mutual proximity to my face makes my skin heat up. “That’s why it’s going to be us three against them. Maybe you can give us a chance for once.”

Their domestic charade struggles pulls a snort out of me. “I’m so down. And Ciro.” I turn to him conspiratorially. “Maybe shots are a good idea after all.”

“You’re fucking awesome.” He impulsively kisses my cheek before running off. It causes me to rub the spot like a giddy school girl.

Is this what scent matches do to you? Refer you back to when everything felt new and exciting? Because I’m almost itching for someone to just hold my hand.

The second I have the thought, I feel fingers ghosting over mine. The feather-likeness of them makes my eyes flutter shut. It’s bewildering that such a basic action can pull this kind of response out of me.

Uriah winds our pinkies together, the smallest bit of skin touching that somehow lights me aflame. They intertwine, building the first thread of many between us.

It feels promising. Scary… but promising.

“Okay, everything’s shuffled and random.

I swear Kendall and I won’t know what’s coming, so you can’t accuse us of that this time,” Atlas says as they take their seats and eye us.

“I’m guessing they’ve already recruited you so they could have a chance at beating us?

We’re on a ten month winning streak right now,” he teases as Uriah playfully flashes him the finger in return.

“Yes, we have?—”

“Shots!” Ciro interrupts, storming in with a bottle and five bottle glasses.

Oh god, he brought out Everclear.

“Are you trying to kill us?” Kendall groans, but he still reaches out for a shot glass.

“No. Only inebriate.” He begins to pour the disgusting liquid before pulling out a few mini bottles from his back pocket. “And the good stuff for our guest.”

They’re flavored shots in individual bottles. They almost sparkle in my palm. “I’m so glad you’re not making me drink that poison.”

He winks at me, a more reassuring tilt in his grin. “Never.”

“We have a game tomorrow, Ciro,” Atlas lectures, but he doesn’t look upset at all despite his words.

“Well, I’m not forcing anything down your throat. It’s up to you how much you drink. Pace yourself, captain.” His hand halts mid-air, holding their prime’s shot if he’s willing to take it.

That causes Atlas to laugh before accepting and shaking his head in merriment. Uriah takes his own and Ciro pours his own before he’s holding it in the air.

“Cheers to…” He pauses, thinking for a moment before turning to me. “The girl of my dreams finally meeting my pack.”

My cheeks heat. His words are normally full of fun and lightheartedness, but his eyes pin me with vigor. So I uncap my individual shot, and hold it up to his.

“It was only a matter of time.” Our eyes give one more meaningful glance to the other before clinking our glasses. The alphas all try hiding their smiles, ultimately failing as they clink with us and take their shots.

“Now,” Kendall says, slapping his hands together. “Who’s ready to lose for the eleventh time in a row?”

“Titanic!” Kendall calls out, and we all groan in unison. Atlas didn’t even do the entire action before he knew the answer.

Ciro was right, these two are insane .

We’ve put up a pretty good fight, but I’m not sure we can pull this off. These two seem to be sharing a singular brain. No wonder they knew they were pack from the start. It’s like they have their own secret language.

“I call a rebuttal!” Ciro yells. He is somehow both completely unserious and extremely competitive at the same time, which is an interesting combination.

He’s been yelling about the rules since we started.

He’s also been throwing out the worst answers as jokes, which has caused a lot of laughter but not a lot of focusing.

“That’s the eighth rebuttal you’ve called this entire game,” Atlas says as Kendall sits down. “Stacia, you’re up.”

I grab a word from the bowl before making my way to the front. I’ve done this several times tonight, but every time is just as intimidating. They all watch me with such intensity. Don’t get me wrong, having their attention is exhilarating, but it’s also unnerving.

I need to learn to accept this avid attentiveness because I don’t think they have plans to stop any time soon.

My word is ‘Ghost’ and the category says ‘Movie.’ I groan silently because that’s more difficult than acting out an apparatus. I put the piece of paper in my pocket and think.

Before tonight, I had never really played charades.

Rory and I are a two-man band most of the time and my parents aren’t partial to games of any kind.

Or parties, really. Unless you count the kind where you drink champagne and pretend to collect money for charity.

Despite never playing, I’ve picked up on a few significant gestures tonight that has certainly helped.

I give them my index finger.

“One word!” Ciro shouts. His cheeks are pink from the liquor.

I point to my nose to show he’s correct before drawing a rectangle with both hands and then mimicking a TV remote.

“TV show,” Uriah guesses, so I shake my head. “Okay, movie.”

They are both intent in their focus as they watch me, determined to get this one right. I’m mindful of the timer while I’m choosing my next action. I could try to mimic an apparatus and bend the rules a bit, but I realize I’d have to do it without sound which feels impossible.

My eyes widen and I look over at Atlas.

Oh, this is going to be perfect.

It’ll probably break a few charade rules, but I’m hoping they won’t care.

I wiggle my finger in a come here motion.

The puzzling smirk he gives me is hilarious as he shrugs his shoulders and joins me.

I put up another finger to mimic ‘one second’ as I run to their kitchen and grab a chair.

When I come back, the lot of them are watching me in amusement as I carry it to the center of the room.

I put Atlas behind the chair before sitting in it myself.

“Taxi driver?” Ciro guesses.

Uriah flicks him. “That’s two words, dude.”

I put Atlas’ arms around me but move his hands so they’re on top of mine. I see him smirk from my peripheral before he starts moving his hands with me.

Holy shit , he’s got it.

We go on mimicking the iconic scene, pretending to mold clay together in front of us even though we’re just moving air. He nuzzles into me, embodying Patrick Swayze’s sensuality. Mimicking the proximity of the two lovers from the classic film.

Although, it feels a tiny bit real.

I look up at my teammates to distract myself only to find them looking just as perplexed as before.

Kendall is trying not to laugh. He looks at his phone just as the timer runs out, turns it off, and begins to slow clap. “That was incredible.”

Atlas pulls away reluctantly, and I feel cold in the spots he was just touching. Before I can ponder it, I look over at my teammates with frustration. “Seriously? Nothing?”

“What the fuck was that?” Ciro says, gesturing his hand to the scene we just painted in front of them.

“I’m so confused,” Uriah tacks on.

I look over at the other two alphas and see their smug expressions. Atlas gives me a guilty smile.

“Sorry, Stacia. It’s not really fair for us to count that, because these two dopes haven’t seen Ghost.”

I hop out of my chair and turn my gaze to the two dopes he just referred to. “You haven’t seen Ghost ?”

They both put up their hands in surrender.

“I’m not sure I want to after that,” Ciro retorts, trying hard not to laugh, which causes Uriah’s lips to slant.

I put my hands on my hips and shake my hand in annoyance. “It’s one of the most beautiful movies ever made.” Seriously, I cried. “Fine, we’ll just have to rectify that. We’re watching it. Maybe not tonight, but I refuse to let this foolery continue any longer.”

They both smile at my indignation before Uriah says, “Anything you want, Omega.”

I turn to him, my cheeks becoming hot. I don’t want to look at the rest of them just in case they’re taking note of my current reaction.

Normally my designation being said in such a way wouldn’t do anything for me, but his voice said it with such dark promise, but also light adoration, that my body is betraying me.

I cough slightly, trying to cover up how much that affected me. “So, I’m guessing you two win again . What are we playing next?”

“How about we play something we all know for sure?” Atlas responds, and the look in his eye is bold as he walks towards me. “Like, truth or dare?”

“Um.” I hesitate, my senses going into overdrive as he gets closer. “Compromise? Never have I ever?”

Kendall smiles behind his prime. “That sounds like fun. And after that, we have uno.”

I give him a grateful smile. “More shots?”

Ciro is already pouring them before I even suggest it. I grab the one I’ve been saving, which is pink lemonade and clink with them after everyone has their shot. The liquid goes down like candy, but everyone else sputters with disgust as I take my seat.

“Why are we doing this to ourselves?” Kendall does an aggressive swipe across his mouth and tosses the shot glass on the table, apparently done with the disgusting Everclear.

“Poor alphas, drinking gross liquor,” Ciro sing-songs. “We can honestly get something else now. We were hoping it would fuck you two up enough to lose.”