Page 36 of Pack Coffey

"Lawrence plays dirty," I tell him quietly as he crawls into bed with us.

He brushes the hair back from my face, kissing my cheeks, my nose, my eyes, and then my lips. "I blame all the monopoly we used to let him win."

I snicker quietly. "He showed me the nest."

I can feel his chest and belly moving as he tries to hold in his own laugh. "Go back to sleep. I'm going to stay, if you don't mind."

Henry has no care in the world that I'm naked with his packmate in a room meant for their pack omega. "Not if you don't."

His lips move to mine again as he whispers against them, "I'll always want you. No matter what."

What feels like five minutes later, there's a commotion somewhere in the house, and this time, I'm so tired that it takes longer to drag my eyes open.

"DARCI!" Saint bellows from what sounds like the second floor. "LAWRENCE! HENRY!"

I sit straight up in the bed, waking the two with me. Though, how they slept through Saint's yelling is beyond me. I've barely had the time to sit up before the door crashes open and the lights flicker on. Going from straight darkness to light burns, and I bury my face in my hands.

"What the hell, Saint?" Lawrence growls from behind me.

I'm able to crack my eyes open just far enough to watch Saint stomp over to the bed with Keaton and Banks storming into the room behind him. He roughly yanks me to the edge of the bed and out from under the blanket, exposing me to everyone in the room. Not that I'd normally mind, but I don'twant to be manhandled either. I open my mouth to give him a piece of my mind when the big bad alpha collapses in front of me. His knees hit the floor with a loud thud and his head drops into my lap as he wraps his arms tightly around me.

Henry gets up and goes into the closet to retrieve a sheet to wrap around me. I give him a grateful smile before turning my attention back to Saint. "What happened?"

His sigh blows hot air across the top of my thigh. "There have been two more bodies found tonight, and another girl has gone missing."

"It came out over the radio," Keaton says. "We thought the worst."

"None of you were answering your phones," Banks says, sinking onto the round furniture and dropping his head into his hands.

I run my fingers through the short hair on Saint's head. "I'm fine. We're fine. It's okay. I'm sorry."

"Me too," Saint says, lifting his head and kissing my wrists that he'd used to pull me over to him. "I hope I didn't hurt you. I couldn't see sense for a minute."

"I'd have been the same," I admit. "I'm fine."

"We're normal guys, Darci," he confesses, confusing me. "Normal guys with normal jobs. We aren't rich like some packs that could offer you the world. We can't offer you that. We can offer you safety and protection. And more love than you will probably ever want. When I thought it was you tonight, I lost my mind. I never want to lose you. We need you."

Tears are building in my eyes. "But what about my brother and the evaluations testing to make sure I'm not going to turn out to be a killer?"

He shakes his head, but it's Banks that replies, "We all have to go through evals at some point. Anytime Saint fires his weapon. Anytime we lose someone in a fire. It's a normal thing.Your mom is being excessive and we need to put a stop to it, but don't feel like that makes you any part of who you are for it."

The tears spill down my cheeks, and Saint reaches up to wipe them away. Lawrence stretches behind me and moves to kiss the skin between my neck and shoulder as he murmurs, "See, I told you that we want to keep you."

My eyes flick up to Henry. He simply smiles and drops his lips to mine.

Okay then. Guess that decides that.

"Please don't hate me, but I don't want you going anywhere by yourself right now," Saint says, finally sitting back on his heels. "It's too dangerous, and I will lose it if something happens to you."

"Deal," I tell him, reaching for his hand. "I won't ever hate you."

He kisses my palm before Keaton stretches. "Well, guys, now that the excitement is over, I'm going to bed because I'm exhausted."

"We all need to," Saint agrees.

"Want to sleep with me tonight?" Henry offers.

I nod, wanting to finish what we started earlier. But I make sure that Saint is going to be okay first. He places a hard kiss on my lips. "I'm good now that I know you're okay. Go on."

---