Page 152 of Power Shift

Jasper doesn’t have a chance to add anything before Briar’s voice floats through the house. I move in the direction of the back door, barely managing to keep my head on straight.

“I need to get ready for bed.”

“Or you could let me take you to the nest just like that,” Ronan rasps.

Briar giggles, sending sparks up my spine. “I don’t know if the others would appreciate that.”

“Appreciate what?” I ask the moment they step into view.

The question is pointless once I smell them. My vision goes dark around the edges as I palm the wall beside me, a groan trapped deep in my chest. The teeth-achingly sweet lemon scent has been swirled around in caramel. Their combined scent tells me everything I needed to know.

“Are they home?” Dash asks, his footsteps pounding down the stairs behind us.

I stare at the torn fabric of her shirt as it peeks out from beneath her leather jacket before focusing on the swells of her naked breasts. The lace tights covering her legs have been twisted, and her skirt . . . fuck. It’s shifted higher than it was when she left. The flared hem hardly reaches her upper thighs.

“They’re home,” Jasper confirms, his voice scraped raw.

I curl my fingers into a fist and push it so hard against the wall I’m surprised it doesn’t go straight through it.

“What happened to you?” Dash asks them.

Ronan looks at Briar, his eyes dark and brimming with secrets he’ll never share. “We went to the beach.”

Our beta cocks his head as he inspects Briar and smirks. “Did you get into a fight with a shark, Bright Eyes?”

“A lady never tells.”

“He ravaged you.” My voice shakes with restraint.

She meets my gaze, her cheeks pink. “I returned the favour. And now . . . I’d really like for all of us to go up to bed.”

“Together?” Jasper’s surprise is a shared reaction.

I hate the moment she looks away from me and to him, but it’s hard to be upset after being offered a place in her bed.

“If that’s something you’re all comfortable doing?”

“I’m surprised they haven’t run up already,” Dash jokes, dragging a knife through the tension that’s built.

Ronan scoffs and starts leading Briar out of the back entrance and toward the staircase. The rest of us follow easily.

Dash has gotten more comfortable around Briar, and I know that more now than ever when he continues to joke with everyone, looking like his old self.

His happiness shines through even further when he asks, “So, do you have sand up your ass, Ro?”

“Landon!”

I zone back into the game when Coach shouts at me and shakes my shoulder. The sweat dripping from my brows and down the back of my neck is a reminder of where I am.

Just like I do every time I’m on the bench, I breathe through my mouth to avoid the overwhelming scents of the other players around me before shoving my mouthguard back in.

The second line plows through the Chicago zone and spreads out. I look away and up at Coach.

“What do you need from me?”

“I need your head here on the bench instead of in the stands.”

“I’m more zoned in today than I have been in months.”

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