Page 33 of Ruffled Feathers

One.

Two.

Three.

Gripping his shoulders, I pulled him closer to me and hugged him tightly. I could feel his guilt down our bond now. He must have been blocking me before. “It’s okay, True. It was bound to happen eventually. We’ll deal with the fallout together. I’ll talk to Buck, and apologize to Otillie-James personally. Maybe we could move to Charlotte or something, keep out of her way.”

Truett was shaking his head, pulling away from me. “No, you don’t understand. She said she’s wanted us forever too. Actually, she tit-punched me and said, ‘You mean I’ve been pining after you assholes for six years, and you’ve wanted me too?’” he said in a mock-Tillie falsetto.

I stumbled backwards and sat on the couch, shock robbing my knees of strength. “What?”

Striding toward me, he dropped to his knees in front of me. “She wants us too. She doesn’t care about your family or mine,what society thinks, none of that. She wants to be part of our Pack.” His eyes were wide and imploring, but I didn’t know if I could believe him. I needed to hear it from her.

But I was scared. What if he was wrong?

He grabbed my knees, pulling himself closer to me. “I told her I wanted to court her. And I do, Sonny. I want it more than anything.” He cleared his throat. “And maybe Strat Wilmington too.”

I slapped a hand over his mouth, because I couldn’t take much more of this. “In five minutes, you tell me you want to court my stepsister, and an Omega, who you considered your archnemesis all throughout college. Is that correct?” He nodded, then licked my palm, making me drag my hand away.Gross.“Do you want to give me a goddamn heart attack?”

He shrugged, and in his grin, I saw something that I hadn’t seen in a long time on the face of my best friend. Excitement. Hope. “Better to get it out there in one go, like getting your asshole waxed.” He sat on my lap, and I wrapped my arm around his waist. “You don’t have to decide about Strat now. He’s coming for dinner this week—Tillie invited him before all this happened. See if you get along; see if you feel the same draw as I do. Baby steps.”

I huffed a laugh. We could do this. We could have it all. However, I’d start with my dream girl first. I buried my face in Truett’s chest.

We’d fucked over the years, but we were both Alpha. We enjoyed it, but we were both too dominant to truly relax into a relationship. We found comfort in touching each other, and snuggled a lot. Spooned on days when we were tired or stressed. It was a tactile relationship that sometimes slipped into something more, but there was something missing. That something was Tillie between us.

Leaning down, he kissed me, and even his kiss was fervent and a little feral. I gripped his head, imagining I could taste her on his lips.

We were doing this.

I left Truett’s house the following morning, at the same time he went to work. I wanted to miss Tillie before she went to work, because quite frankly, I was a chicken shit and needed a day to come up with the words to tell her that she meant the world to me. Flowers too. I needed flowers. Maybe I could get the goats in on it—those little bastards owed me one.

When I got back to the house, it was empty again. I didn’t know what Lance and Akio did during the day, but most of the time, they weren’t home whenever Tillie was at work. I could have used the distraction.

Six hours later, I’d fed, watered, and changed the bedding for most of the animals who needed it, but I still didn’t know how I was going to tell Tillie that I loved her.

No, you didn’t start with the L word. I’d tell her I wanted to court her. That was the right idea.

I’d made dinner, a pot roast that was slow cooking in the oven. I’d also messaged Truett to stay home, so I knew we wouldn’t be dominating the moment, being all Alpha. I felt like I needed this moment to be just me and Tillie. She had to be one hundred percent in, and Truett had a way of wearing you down to his way of thinking.

The door opened, and my heart leapt in my throat, but it was only Lance. I could hear the clip-clopping of Akio’s nails. When he walked into the kitchen and saw the candles and flowers, he raised an eyebrow. “Uh, I don’t think this is for me?”

I shook my head. “No. Well, I made you a plate. It’s in the microwave.” I reached down and patted Akio, who was sniffingat my jeans. Man, I hoped I didn’t stink. “Truett told Tillie that we wanted to court her.”

I didn’t miss the flash of something sad in Lance’s eyes before it was replaced by a small, happy expression. “Congrats. I haven’t known you that long, but I’m pretty sure I should say ‘about time.’”

I was still thinking about that flash of disappointment. Did Lance want her too? I mean, how could he not?

I liked the man in front of me; his actions now were much more important to me than his past, and my Alpha liked the Beta. So did Tillie. I’d thought she’d make a move on him, honestly, and maybe if she wasn’t so damn noble, she might have. Shaking my head, I pushed the thought away.

A problem for another day.

I reached for a bag beside the kitchen door. “I got you something, but I’m not sure it’s something you want, so feel free to say no.” I handed him the paper bag with a smartphone inside. “I put my number on a sticky note in there, in case you need it. Whenever you need it.” I looked around the kitchen nonchalantly. “There’s some good apps on there for mental health. If you can’t take any big steps, maybe just small ones will help for now.”

Something about the big Beta tugged at my heart. I knew instinctively that he didn’t want pity or sympathy, and some other part of me knew that he had no one else to lean on. He was a mystery, a wounded soul that I wanted to help. Maybe Tillie and I were more alike in that way.

He eyed the bag, but eventually, breathed a long sigh. “Thank you.”

I shrugged. “Like I said, keep it if you want, or not. You can just leave it somewhere if you don’t want it, no hard feelings. Keep my number, though. You might need that one day.”

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