Page 40

Ethan

“SEE, THEY’RE A gift for me as well!” Billie chimes, her eyes bulging like our cocks are in the new trunks she bought us. Because, fuck, looking down at myself in the red mesh trunks, the easy access opening in the satin penis pocket—yeah, I’m totally turned on and hardening at a rapid rate from her gift. Lifting my gaze to Jax, who’s wearing even skimpier white mesh trunks with no extra material over his package, my teeth bite into my lower lip as he turns around, showing the flesh of his golden ass squeezed under the mesh. My cock keeps filling out the pocket and looking for additional space.

“Now that we’re all in our sleepover clothes...” Billie announces, tossing her hoodie off and revealing her red thermal onesie, complete with feet slippers that were hidden under wool socks. “Let’s get snuggling!” She grabs Xander’s hand and pulls him down with her. His black mesh trunks have a thong built in, drawing attention to that deep valley. And... I look down. Yup, this pocket is not big enough for my dick when fully hard since my tip has snaked its way out of the top opening, already spitting some venom.

Letting my cock creep however it wants, I bend down and climb in on the open side of Billie while Jax climbs over her. Needing to lift the blankets, he squats down real low —I’m sure he didn’t mean to give her a mushroom stamp of approval. Instead of being offended, Billie’s hands clamp down on his hips, and she cranes her head back, giving his mesh-covered balls a few long laps before opening her mouth wider and sucking on them, her teeth catching on the mesh, pulling it, and then releasing with a soft snap. Jax yips a moan.

Billie hums and then smacks his ass. “Get between my legs, playmate. We got”—she tilts her head to the side and looks around his muscular thigh— “ Let It Snow to watch.”

Jax giggles and eagerly crawls between her spread legs, positioning himself on his side so his head is on her stomach facing me, and he’s got his arms hugged around one of her thighs. Xander reaches for the blankets and helps cover them up, rubbing Jax’s shoulder before reclining back, his arm stretching above Billie’s head, fingers habitually twirling strands of her hair. I press play, and the corny intro music starts. Jax lets out a long sigh, and in a clogged voice, he says, “Fuck, I love you guys.”

“To playdates!” Billie cheers raising her half-filled glass to the screen. Xander and I clink ours with hers, and Jax taps his finger against the bottoms. “To playdates!” we repeat, and we sip our champagne—well, Billie downs hers, and after a sip, Xander offers the rest of his to Jax.

“She’s out,” I comment no more than half an hour later, brushing a few locks of spun gold back from her face with a sweep of my fingers. She doesn’t react to the light touch, her face completely slack, lips parted, head slightly tilted to one side. “She falls asleep so easily lately,” I murmur, “as if she’s so exhausted, her body takes any opportunity to shut down.”

“It seems to be more than sleep. Deeper, almost like she’s drugged,” Xander adds, a crease marring the space between his brows. His eyes begin to glow, and he floats a hand over her head, tracing it down her chest, all the way out to her hands, then back up, hovering over the front of her neck. His lips purse, and he continues his inspection up over her head again and around one side, where he stills. His jaw audibly snaps shut, and a low growl reverberates from his chest.

“Fuck,” he curses and begins to reposition himself. I help hold her head up while he removes some of her pillows and sits cross-legged under her, placing a pillow on his lap before I ease her head back down. She doesn’t even stir. His hands return to the two areas that had him pausing before, her throat and the side of her head right above her ear. Jax crawls up so she’s more under him, with his head nestled between her breasts.

“It’s from her royal powers, isn’t it?” I grind out through clenched teeth. “The stupid fucking balancing aspect of them.”

Xander doesn’t reply, his entire focus on what he’s sensing from her. Through my wolf’s eyes I watch his palms begin to glow, the one covering her neck a cool blue, the other gradually morphing between a light blue and a soft red. Jax’s hand rubs along her torso, and he groans, “She’s smaller. Seriously she needs to eat more or something. I don’t remember her ribs sticking out this much before. We know she won’t stop working out or running.”

Billie releases a few sleepy moans and nuzzles her head against Xander’s hand like she’s trying to pull his power into her. After a minute or so, her entire body tenses, then a long, humming “AHHHHHH,” passes through her lips, and she all but melts into the pillow on Xander’s lap.

“That’s it,” Xander hisses, his tone harsh, while his fingers gently pull her hair out from under her head, fanning it on the pillow. “From now on, I’m checking each of you from head to toe.”

“What was wrong?” Jax asks, his fingers absently unbuttoning the front of her onesie, his eyes on Xander.

“Remember when Little Fox accidently almost boiled them from the inside out?” he says in a derisive tone. I nod, and Jax hums while undoing another white button. “Billie said something about raising their body temperature having to use more than just her shifter power to maintain the broadcast. Then there’s whatever they did to their voice with Colette.” He abruptly stops, and a look of absolute anguish takes over his features. That pain has him shimmying back under the blankets, hugging her head and laying kiss after kiss after kiss anywhere he can reach. “Fuck, how could I have missed it?” He... hell, he almost weeps. “How could she be suffering, dealing with it, and not think to say something or question what was going on? The thermals, the weight loss, the sleepiness—they...” Anger mixes with hurt, and he seethes, “They damaged her thyroid and her fucking hypothalamus.”

“Her what now?” Jax questions, his concern having his fingers pause on their task.

“Hypothalamus and thyroid gland. Thyroid regulates metabolism, mostly, and the hypothalamus is the body’s thermostat. Regulating temperature also affects metabolism and is connected to a bunch of other bodily functions,” I answer, then I look at Xander. “We noticed. We just assumed it was from stress and being overwhelmed and pulled in all directions.” My jaw tightens, as does my voice, with irritation... possibly irrational irritation. “We’ve got to be careful with these damn royal powers. The toll, the cost of her using them, is vastly different from what we’re used to.”

“Not to mention it’s never just one injury with her lately.” Jax sighs, releasing another button, allowing him to flip open one side of her top so he can nuzzle his face against her bare cleavage and lay his ear over her heart. “Or the fact we’ve all been taking beatings lately.”

“She’s been walking around with... fuck!” Xander fumes, rolling onto his back and away from her, thumping a fist against his forehead. “Basically, she’s got brain damage, and I didn’t have a clue.”

“None of us had a clue,” I assert, adding, “not even her, which is more concerning. How could she not have known?”

“They’re not exactly injuries one would necessarily be aware of,” Jax replies, pushing the top of her onesie off her shoulders and down her arms so we can see more of her body. A knot of worry pulls on my insides looking at how the ribs above her breasts are visible in a way they weren’t a few weeks ago. As if feeling where my attention is, Jax trails his finger into one of the shallow dips between the bony protrusions, twisting my knotted insides tighter. He exhales a pain-filled breath. “She’s pretty good at just pushing through, doing what needs to be done, ignoring any pain or discomfort that doesn’t affect her functioning. And I mean, it’s not like we all aren’t walking around like zombies now a days. So I don’t think she’d wonder about the need for more clothes and say to herself, Huh, maybe there’s something wrong with my ... my... hypothalamus , yea.”

Neither Xander nor I respond, and Jax absently blows on one of her nipples. Her skin pimples, and a peak quickly begins to form. He lashes his tongue out, flicking the hardening flesh, making her breath hitch and her face scrunch up. Knowing our mate like he does, he moves to her other nipple, because they’re both greedy little things. Not able to sit back or let her recently freed nipple feel forgotten, I roll the wet peak between my thumb and index finger while laying soft kisses over her bare shoulder and along the crest of her collarbone. Her mouth opens with a gasping mewl, and her spine arches with her flesh’s desire for more.

“Keep undressing her,” Xander comments, rolling back toward us and reaching for the wrist nearest him, freeing it from the sleeve. “I want to see every part of her. See if there’s more that...” He falters. “That we’ve missed.” Though Jax and I are enjoying the slow, sensual exploration, the urgency in Xander’s voice has us following his command.

Billie’s never been a morning person, so the increased efforts needed to wake her lately didn’t really seem like a cause for alarm, which we now know otherwise. However, even after Xander just healed her, she doesn’t wake up until I’m crouched over her with my hands hooked under her arms, lifting her torso up so Jax can pull the rest of the material down over her bum.

“Hey,” she sleepily murmurs, putting a little strength into her neck, which has been letting her skull lull and sway with our movements. She blinks several times while wetting her lips. “What’s going on?”

“Just haven’t seen all of you in a while, love,” I reply, placing a tender kiss on the top of her head, my eyes on Xander and Jax releasing the built-in slippers free from her feet along with the rest of the onesie.

A weak “Oh” is her only response—her only verbal response, because her body tenses in my hold, and her chin drops to her chest, her hair falling forward providing a curtain for her to hide behind.

“You noticed, didn’t you?” I say with a little more bite in my voice than warranted. Bite born from the knives of worry her withering condition has stabbed into me.

“Lay her down,” Xander snaps out before she can answer or, more likely, play one of her word games.

I do as he asked, the new position exposing even more evidence of her weight loss. Her pelvic bones, which always protruded in this position, are now sharp points instead of rounded slopes. And it’s like that everywhere on her. What was once gradual rises and smooth transitions are now steep, harsh angles.

“Hey!” she snarls, sitting up and reaching for a blanket. She starts tugging at the one under Xander. “Listen, I’m cool with the wake-me-from-sleep-by-turning-me-on-and-having-sex,” she growls, glaring at Xander who’s doing nothing to help her free the blanket. “But this strip-and-inspect while I’m sleeping?” She arches a brow and slashes a pointed finger through the air. “Not. Feckin.’ Cool.”

“You wanna know what’s not feckin’ cool?” Xander argues, crawling over her so they're nose to nose, his voice mimicking hers.

She tries to back away but only ends up bumping into my lower legs. “What?” she spits out.

“Finding out my mate and her fox damaged her

feckin’ brain weeks ago and didn’t think to mention anything of it!” he roars. “Seems like my mate noticed things, and instead of sharing those concerns, she’s been hiding them. Adding layers, bulky clothes, being too”—his upper lip tugs up— “ too desperate for your cock, Xander ,” he hisses in a mockery of her wanton voice. “To take off her T-shirt. Showering like its coin opt and will run out of hot water.”

Billie holds still under his verbal berating, and Xander doesn’t back away when he’s done. He doesn’t back away when she doesn’t say anything, his eyes blazing with part hurt and anger, part demand—demanding her to say something, to argue, to tell him he’s wrong. Her back rises and falls against my legs with her deep, even breathing, and finally she says, “Brain damage?”

“You and Little Fox fried your thyroid and your hypothalamus, Wilhelmina,” Xander hisses through gritted teeth. “If I’d known something was going on, I would’ve looked deeper, helped you out sooner, but you hid the symptoms.” He clamps a hand around the blanket clutched between her hands, and he rips it from her grasp. That same hand latches onto the side of her waist. “How much have you lost? More than ten pounds, if I’d have to guess.”

Her skin heats with a blush from her chest to her hairline. “I don’t weigh myself,” she replies. “But if I had to guess, around there. Not more than fifteen. It’s not like I haven’t been eating, or trying to. I just thought it was my body adjusting to the fuller schedule, the increased demands, and the stress.”

“Why did you hide it?” Xander probes.

“I didn’t—” she starts.

But he bites her lips and growls, “Don’t lie.”

Like the Big Bad Wolf about to blow a little piggy’s house down, she huffs and puffs at him while tiny trembles run through her body. He holds her fiery gaze, doesn’t back away, and she finally slumps against my legs, the back of her head resting on my knees. “I just—” she croaks and then closes her mouth. I watch tears leak from the corners of her eyes. “I just didn’t know what was happening and didn’t want to add another thing to worry about. I hoped it’d level out, that it was temporary.” She sucks down a breath and wetly titters. “It’s not like the thought of brain damage or thyroid issues would have entered my mind. If I thought it was serious, I’d have said something.”

“It was serious enough for you to hide it from us though, right?” I argue as I move to sit down behind her, my hands holding her shoulders while I extend my legs out around her and scoot myself forward.

“Dunno,” she mumbles, while the corners of her mouth twitch into a snarky smile. “Brain damage, I guess.”

“Fuck, B.” Jax exhales a short laugh, his hand on Xander’s side guiding him to move off her, presumably to give her space. Xander’s head hangs low, and he drops to his side, his head landing at the V of her legs. Apparently that space wasn’t for her but for Jax as he crawls up, draping one leg over mine, rubbing his cock against my knee, and resting his head in his hand while interlacing the fingers of his other hand with hers resting on her torso. A faint twinkle shines in his eyes. “I guess we’ll take that as a valid answer... this time. But not again.” He places their interwoven fingers on Xander’s head. “I know he was a little snippier than he needed to be. But it was pretty freakin’ scary, Donny. Your brain...” He unlaces their fingers and guides hers through Xander’s hair, over his head. “Imagine you touching his head and realizing part of his brain was injured. Imagine how you’d feel and how you would react if he was hiding symptoms from you. Because remember”—he waggles his brows— “we all jumped down his throat for hiding threatening emails.”

The three of us laugh a little, and Xander harumphs before nuzzling his face into the apex of her thighs, his hand slipping between her legs, pushing them apart as it makes its northern ascent.

“You’re right,” Billie relents. “You’re right. I was hiding it from myself more than you guys because sharing it would make it real, and I didn’t want to deal with it.” She snuggles into me and lifts her face to mine. “Plus, I didn’t see it on the calendar or any open space to fit it in.”

I’m about to snicker when Xander says, “Add in three weekly health checks, Ethan.” I drop my gaze to him, and his eyes are equal parts hard and desire filled. He’s wedged himself in between her legs, and Jax is helping make room by bending one of her knees. “Three weekly fifteen-minute blocks before bed,” Xander adds, his lips brushing her lower ones. She gasps, and her body trembles. I nod and his eyes fall to Billie’s. “Seems like now’s a good time for a thorough checkup, mate,” he states right before bisecting her folds with his thick tongue.

“Fuck,” Billie moans, wiggling her lower back against my hardening dick. My hands creep around her front, cupping her titties, squeezing her nips between my knuckles. Jax starts grinding my leg while his free hand kneads its way up to my hip and inward, finding what won’t fit in these sexy trunks. His thumb brushes over my dripping tip, and I add a “Fuck” to Billie’s.