Page 7 of Accidentally Forever

Gray shifts slightly, attention shifting between us, curiosity flickering across his features. “Yeah,” he adds. “Find anything good?” His tongue darts out to lick his lips, his nostrils flared no doubt at the two scents lightly coating us. I have a mind to grab him and bend him over the counter but that’ll have to wait.

I lean back, rolling my neck, exhaling slowly before answering. “Same shit, mostly. New art, new collectors, same overpriced bullshit. And yes, I know you sent Hawk to take point on this but he’s shit at talking to people. I’m the charming twin, remember?”

Hawk snorts from the bar, swirling a healthy serving of whatever whisky Puma bought recently. “Brother, you can be the charming one all you want. I’ll just keep doing what I do well.” He reaches down and grabs himself through his pants, stroking a few times as my face turns up in disgust. God, I don’t know why I’ve let myself suffer around him for this long.

Turning back to Puma, I bring up the painting I did buy. “One piece stood out for multiple reasons but the Beta selling it… she wasn’t into it. Didn’t push it, didn’t try to hype it up. Almost like she didn’t want me to buy it.”

Gray frowns, sitting up a little straighter. His mop of dark hair falling into his eyes. As the youngest and wildest of our pack, he is also the one that stands out the most. A mass of piercings littering his face as he chews on the ring through his bottom lip. “That’s weird. You always told me she knew her shit. I bet she’s snarky. Hey, Puma, I’m going to—”

Puma playfully slaps him across the head. “No. You’re doing just fine where you are. I don’t need you terrifying that poor Beta with what you like to call charm.”

Gray is wonderful with his clients, helping them decorate rooms in their houses. He can talk them into almost anything, getting them to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars without fail. However, he’s also a bit… blunt. And while I’m sure Violet could deal with his snark, not everyone can.

“I put a bid on it to figure out what’s wrong with it. It’s from some elusive collection that Xaiver shouldn’t have access to. It makes no sense that it was just sitting up there when there’s an event soon.” I mull over the many different avenues this can go. If no one bids on that shit, I’ll be taking home what I think is a forgery. Or someone else will buy it and then I can send Gray to help them position the artwork in their home.

Most everyone who buys something fromAsh & Ivoryends up calling one of us for our input.

Puma hums, considering, his hand still absently tracing over Gray’s hip, his mind already pulling at the loose threads of the conversation. “You thinkAsh & Ivoryis shady?” He asks like he doesn’t already know, like he doesn’t already have a mountain of information sitting in his office on the subject. While we’re out finding new art to drag into our collection, Puma is researching. Constantly looking at the bigger picture, the players, and everything in between.

The answer is immediate. “Yes but I didn’t think it was forgery level of shady.”

“Always have,” my brother adds as he plops into a seat beside me.

Gray glares at me, his nostrils still flared. I can’t be sure whose scent he’s reacting to, not that it matters. “Why would you keep going back then? This is the first time you’ve bought something in a few months. Well,bid.”

A grin pulls at my lips. “Because the Omega at the front makes it hard to hate the place.”

Gray’s gaze flicks between me and Hawk. He stretches slightly in Puma’s lap, dragging his fingers over the arm of the chair like he’s piecing something together, turning over the thought before giving it a voice. “The Omega, is that the same one that’s always there? The one you’ve had a few nights with?” I nod, a small smile playing on the younger Alpha’s lips. “She’s cute and no I wasn’t stalking, but Puma’s stopped through a time or two and I caught her rosy cheeks through the glass.”

Across from me, Puma’s expression barely changes, but I see it. The way his jaw tightens, just slightly. The subtle press of his fingers against Gray’s hip, the small moment where he forces himself to relax. Anyone else wouldn’t catch it. Most people wouldn’t even notice. But we do.

It’s no secret that our pack is different. We aren’t like the traditional ones, the ones that move in predictable patterns, bonded together in a way that fits into the expectations of everyone around them. We don’t follow the usual rules, don’t exist in the shape most people assume we should. We’re not all Alphas looking for an Omega to balance the pack, to fit into the empty space that tradition says we should be filling.

And Puma? He made it clear a long time ago that he will never take an Omega again. Not after his first one passed away. That wound still runs deep, an old scar buried beneath too much time, one that never really faded no matter how many years passed. I know that better than anyone. And for all her softness, all her quiet warmth, not even Sofie—with her sweet scent and those wide, curious eyes—could fill the space Puma refuses to let anyone else touch.

But despite everything, despite the distance he’s held between himself and the idea of claiming again, he’s always been clear about one thing—If we bring an Omega into the house, he won’t stop us. He won’t take them, won’t claim them as his own, but he will protect them with a pack bond. Nurture them. Keep them safe. Because that’s who he is. It always has been.

The moment passes, slipping back into the easy quiet that settles over us when we aren’t trying too hard to dig into things that don’t need to be said out loud. I roll my shoulders, stretching my arms out before flopping into a chair at the table, exhaling loud and exaggerated. “Alright, so—who’s cooking dinner?”

The silence lasts half a second before—

“Not it,” Gray says immediately, lifting both hands in surrender, completely unbothered.

“Not it,” Puma adds without hesitation, the corner of his mouth twitching.

A slow smirk pulls at my lips as I tilt my head toward my brother, who’s just sipping his whiskey. He sighs, the sound long and drawn out, already resigned before he mutters, “Guess I’m cooking because if I don’t, we’ll be having fucking pizza again.”

Gray grins, completely unapologetic. “And? Pizza’s a valid option.”

Puma chuckles, pressing a slow kiss against Gray’s temple, murmuring something against his skin that I don’t quite catch, something private between the two of them. I’m always a little jealous at how easy their relationship is with each other, reminding me just how much I want something of my own.

Hawk pushes to his feet, disappearing into the kitchen as I relax a little further, trying to avoid Puma’s gaze. But it’s like he knows where my head is at, my Alpha silently telling me that it’s okay to wantandto have. I know I need to bring up Sofie seriously at some point and my intentions with her.

And then I realize that talking to Puma and Gray can’t be the first step. Violet is. In this strange, convoluted relationship—not the relationship that we have, but Violet isherprotector and without her approval, I’m getting nowhere.

Chapter four

VIOLET

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