Page 35 of The Price of Ice

“You okay?”

Benny was hovering across the room, having put down his fork.

Kallen glanced down at himself. “Gross, but nothing a shower won’t cure,” he said, unthinking. Then glanced up when he realised who he’d said it to. The other two alphas were gone, unsurprisingly. “I mean... Do you...?” He wanted to kick himself the moment the words were out. What happened to them being there to helphim?

Benny was frowning and still sitting down, definitely not jumping at the chance to come fuck him. “Do you... do you need me?”

“No,” Kallen admitted.

But Benny shot to his feet at once, offering, “I could run you a bath!

He groaned. “Yeah,” he agreed. He had no idea what was happening, but he wasn’t going to say no to a bath right then and there, especially if he got to nod off again while it filled up. Except... “You got something I can eat in bed?”

Benny had got plenty of finger foods, and after polishing off a plate of cheese and fig tarts, Kallen discovered he had enough energy to get up and go to the table for the real food.

He completely forgot to get dressed for it. It was warm in the hotel room, or maybe he was still running a little hot himself. But he noticed when his teammate came back to tell him the bath was ready. “Um, thank you,” he managed, feeling weird all of a sudden. “Do you... I’m fine, you know, you don’t have to stay.”

For a moment, Benny didn’t move. But when Kallen looked up, the alpha was looking at his face. It was strangely intimate given the other options at his disposal. “Did I...? Did I help?”

Kallen gawked. It felt like an alternate universe—one where he had a choice and alphas were at his service. And at least with Kennington and O’Malley he knew how he’d got them there. Still felt like a bloody miracle, but he had an explanation.

He had no idea what the fuck was up with Benny. It’d been strange enough how worried he’d been about his first time with an omega, and now he was apparently quite happy for it not to come to be. Well, he supposed that part made sense, if the initial fear could have been explained at least.

“You were great, Benny,” he said, completely honestly. “Please eat something before you go,” he added, standing up and heading for the bathroom. “Don’t think I’m gonna get out of the bath for a while.”

Benny laughed like he’d made a joke, and Kallen went in and found he’d put essential oils and salts into the bath.

Fuck, maybe he wasnevergetting out, and hell, it was still bizarre, but he wasn’t crazy enough to complain about this alternate universe he’d somehow got dumped into.

It probably wouldn’t last, but he was gonna enjoy every single second of it while it did.

Chapter 14

Their flight was late the next day, but he was so exhausted he still set an alarm on his phone for noon.

The message was the first thing he saw when he woke up.

[Heat go ok?]

The previous night came back to him like a dream, except that for all he’d been quite hormone-high throughout, he recalled it perfectly. He’d fuckingownedthem. Except maybe Benny, but who cared? He’d been weird, but he’d also been damn nice to Kallen.

He started to type, then paused, unsure. He’d done nothing wrong, or at least he didn’t think he had. But some part of him didn’t want to put it down in writing.

[All good] he sent in the end. He remembered Levy had been worried.

Apparently, he hadn’t done so great in the reassurance department, because when Johnson and he got home that night, they found Levy was there with Merle. There was no reason Levycouldn’tinvite himself to dinner, he bet he had a standing invitation from all the wives and partners, given that he could charm a solid wall without even trying.

But he never had taken Merle up on it before that Kallen knew. And now he was looking back at Kallen where he’d frozen by the dining room door, eyes dipping as if to check his body. “You left your charger at mine,” he said casually when Kallen took the chair next to him.

Johnson and Merle were pretty much flat-out making out against the fridge for a good thirty seconds before she smacked his hip and brightly offered Kallen some pie and coffee.

“Um, thanks, Merle, but I shouldn’t. Gotta get back on schedule, or I’ll be a right mess all week,” he explained with a grimace.

She’d accepted his excuse and neither of them had asked any questions when he’d followed Levy out and up to his own flat. He was kind of hoping for a welcome kiss of his own, but as soon as they were alone, his friend’s expression grew darker. “Are you really okay?”

Kallen paused, then decided to kick off his second shoe anyway. “Yeah, I... I did what you suggested.” He’d mostly said that to their feet.

“You used lure?” Levy sounded shocked. “I mean, that’s great, so it worked?”

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