Page 81 of Power Shift

“Are you sure you don’t want to have any? We’ll devour the leftovers, but I don’t want you being hungry,” I say.

“I ate a big dinner, actually. Is Landon hungry? Or has he already eaten?”

My chest pangs. “He hasn’t eaten.”

“Do you know where he is? I don’t mind bringing him something to eat.”

“You don’t have to do that. I can,” Dash offers.

Briar shakes her head, determined. “No, I will. Where is he?”

“I told him to go to bed, but I didn’t think about him being hungry,” Dash says, wincing as he stares down at his bowl.

“He does need sleep. At least, he did the last time I saw him. Is it worse?” she asks, setting a hand over Dash’s and squeezing.

It’s such a subtle way of reassuring him. A very omega way of offering support that means more to Dash than he’ll ever know how to explain.

Ronan sets his spoon in his empty bowl as I slip mine back into my mouth.

“Yeah, it’s worse. He’ll crash out hard one of these days,” he grunts.

“Where’s his bedroom?” Briar asks.

Swallowing, I accept that she won’t let this go. If we’re being realistic here, she may be the best person to go up and see him right now, anyway. While alphas can be overbearing and demanding, we’re not the top of the food chain in our society. We’re naturally weak for omegas. Our desire to provide for them and make them happy overpowers our natural need for control and power.

Landon can pretend he’s unmoved by Briar, but I feel it in my gut that he’d be the first to sacrifice himself for her.

Ronan meets my stare from the opposite end of the dining table, and I know he’s thinking the same thing I am. We can only shove our instincts down so far before they come rushing back with a vengeance that we have no chance of stopping, and Landon might be closer to that outcome than he’s ready to accept.

“When you get upstairs, go straight down the first hall. His room is on the left,” I explain.

“Thank you.”

She releases Dash’s hand and moves to me before kissing my cheek and stepping up to the stove. There’s an empty bowl already on the countertop, and she fills it to the rim.

With a spoon in her other hand, she turns to us, eyes falling on Ronan and his outrageous pout. The corner of her mouth twitches before she goes up to him and plants a dramatic kiss on his cheek, like the one she laid on mine.

“Better?” she asks teasingly.

He makes a low noise in response and snakes a hand up to hold her waist, keeping her beside him. When he stands, her head falls back on instinct.

“Almost,” Ronan mutters.

Instead of accepting her initial kiss, he takes her jaw in his hand and lays one on her mouth instead. She falls into it without hesitation, and while I wish she were kissing me too, I don’t feel the sharp teeth of jealousy. Instead, it’s yearning that overwhelms me.

With pink cheeks, Briar pulls back and adjusts her hold on the hot bowl. Ronan keeps his dark eyes pinned on her, a million promises written within them that I’m sure both Dash and I feel as well.

“I’ll be back,” she squeaks, voice thick before she clears it.

I nod. “We’ll be here if you need us.”

“I know.”

And her confidence in us—in me—is more than enough.

BRIAR

I feel as hot as the bowl I’m holding when I head up the staircase. Kissing Ronan is indescribable in the best way, but doing it in front of both Dash and Jasper somehow ramps up the intensity. Especially when neither of them said anything against it and instead . . . watched with a shared intensity that was more attractive than anything I’ve ever witnessed before.

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