Page 28 of Heatwaves

“That I want you to get your asses inside the house so I can let Lila know you’re here? Yes. That’s exactly what I want.” Wyatt rolls his eyes, stepping back and gesturing for us to come in. “Her heat hasn’t fully hit yet. She’s still coherent enough to make this decision, but I don’t knowwhat she’ll decide. She’s pretty fucked up in the head when it comes to the four of you.”

Oliver nods. “Which is completely understandable, but it wasn’t something we planned—“

“As much as I want to hear the story, now isn’t the time. She’s too close to her heat hitting. I need to let her know you’re here so she can make a decision.” Wyatt closes the door after I step inside. “The kitchen and living room area are to the left. If you’ll head there, please.”

I follow my pod to the kitchen, seeing groceries laid out on the counter. Glancing at Wyatt, he shrugs.

“We were working on getting everything put away when a pre-heat spike hit, so we went to the bedroom to deal with that. She’s asleep right now, exhausted. We were planning to come back out after we finished, but I was letting her sleep. Apparently, she’s been in bed for three days, so nothing is prepared. Make yourselves useful and work on that, yeah?”

Wyatt doesn’t wait for an answer, spinning on his heel and heading back into the hallway that I assume leads to Lila’s room. I can’t help watching him walk around, his ass just as tightas the rest of him. Makes sense that he’s an incubus.

We all stand there in silence before Oliver claps his hands. “You heard the sexy man. We have work to do. Carter and Aidan work on getting everything put away. Ty, you’re with me. We’re going to make some meals and snacks. Even if we’re not here for her heat, we need to make sure she and Wyatt are taken care of.”

“What are the chances that she’ll let us stay for her heat?” Ty asks, his question so full of hope it breaks my heart.

Oliver gives him a sad smile as he shakes his head. “I have no idea, Ty. I’d love to say she’ll welcome us with open arms, but we know that’s not going to happen. All we can do is hope that she’ll accept our help.”

It’s Aidan who asks, “And if she doesn’t?”

“Then we keep trying,” I say as I start to put away the groceries. “What we did hurt her, and how she deals with that—and us—is up to her. We can’t force her to listen to us. We can’t force ourselves on her. But we can keep trying. We knew this was going to be difficult. We need to be ready for this to take as long as it takes if she’s who we want.”

“She’s who I want,” Ty declares, chin lifted as if daring any of us to argue with him.

Oliver pats him on the shoulder. “She’s who we all want, and I’ll put in as much work as I need to in order for her to forgive us. Now, let’s get to work.”

As I slowly put away the groceries, I point out ingredients to Oliver I think he might be able to use while my mind runs over the last ten years.

If it had been anyone besides Ryder who showed up at our place that night, we would’ve told them to fuck themselves. But we couldn’t say no to him. We swore to him as teenagers that when he needed us, we’d be there—no questions asked. I just wish we’d insisted on letting Lila know what was going on—at least sent her a text or left her a note. Anything to let her know we didn’t want to leave her.

I also hadn’t expected us to be away for ten fucking years. Considering our long lifespans, ten years isn’t all that long. Unless you left the woman of your dreams, the missing piece of your pod, behind, thinking that we didn’t care about her. That would’ve made even a day too long.

I shake my head, knowing I can’t dwell on things I can’t change. It’s done. We spent tenyears away from our mate—because that’s what she is, and I intend on making sure she knows it too—saving the realms. I know if she gives us half a chance to explain, she’ll understand, but I also understand her anger.

We probably should’ve chosen another way to find her besides the meet and greet. We shouldn’t have bombarded her all at once. It was just the idea of her sharing her heat with some randos didn’t settle well with me or the other guys—especially Tyler.

Though, I guess she kind of is. He’s not a random stranger to her, but he’s an unknown to us. He says she’s his best friend and they’ve shared heats together before, but what role does he really play in her life? Will he try to squeeze us out of her life? Will he help us?

I’m unsure if he’ll help us, but I don’t think he’ll try to squeeze us out. Not after inviting us in and telling us he’d tell Lila we’re here. If he’d wanted us gone, all he would’ve had to do was slam the door in our faces, but he didn’t.

Who the hell is this Wyatt Dunn, and what does his presence in Lila’s life mean for us?

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

I startle at the angry words, turning to find Lila standing there with her hands on her hipsin nothing but a robe, looking beyond pissed with Wyatt at her back. I think the thing I’m most shocked about is that she cussed. I wonder when that started.

Gods, she looks so much like the woman we had to leave behind but somehow different.

Shaking my head, I realize that doesn’t matter in the least. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her this angry—which makes sense, considering we really only knew her for a week before we disappeared—and I don’t think that’s going to bode well for us.

Fuck. She’s totally going to kick us out, isn’t she?

Iwake slowly, stretching as I roll over. I’m sore in all the right places as I search for Wyatt, but the bed is empty.

Frowning, I sit up. A glance at the bedside clock shows I haven’t been asleep long—no more than twenty minutes. Where could he have wandered off to in that amount of time?

I don’t think I’ve ever woken up after sex with him gone—especially not this close to my heat.

The sound of murmured voices has my frown deepening as I jump to my feet and grab my robe.

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