Page 59 of Unbonded
I look at Katie, since it’s her call more than mine. “I’m not against it,” she says slowly, “but this is about Dash right now. We can’t risk your bonding in any way.” That gets a few frowns from around the room, and she threads her fingers through Dash’s, squeezing tight. “If we tried to form a pack now, and it went wrong because of my unbonding, I’d never forgive myself.”
I’m already shaking my head, but Dash strokes her cheek, his gaze gentle. “Wrong how, sweetheart? I’m prepared to work around whatever you need.”
She gives a helpless shrug. “I don’t know, but Dr. Green said I was a bit like Ground Zero with my hormones. To expect the unexpected. And there’s the issue that…” Her gaze lowers to the floor, and the way her mouth twists makes my heart pinch. “Bondings can trigger a heat. And I’m just not ready for my last heat to happen right now.”
Fuck Lee Morrison to the deepest pit in hell.
“Whatever you want, Katie.” I can’t resist drawing her into my arms or tipping her head back so I can kiss that one little tear that’s clinging to her cheek. “No one is going to trigger anything.Just more kisses and cuddles, same as we’ve been doing.” I shoot the alphas a warning look, my hackles on the rise. “Right? You bond Dash, and Katie and I’ll support you, as part of the pack.”
Not everything in a pack needs to be about bites and bonds, after all. I could be packing the biggest knot on the block, and I couldn’t love Katie more than I already do.
“Agreed,” Bram says, like I didn’t just give him the ultimate cockblock. “We’ve been courting Dash for months, so I think you know we’re good at waiting.”
If I wasn’t staring straight at Corbus, I might have missed the way he twitched at that statement. I’m sure it’s hard for him to sit on his hands with his beautiful, naked scent match right under his nose, but he just taps his fingers on his knee and asks politely, “What are your other limits, or is it rude to ask?” He doesn’t look to Bram for reassurance right now, all of his attention fixed on Katie. Before she can answer, he rises to his feet and moves towards us. Other than the faint flaring of his nostrils, he looks as placid as ever, but there’s a note of longing in his voice as he says, “I really need to kiss you,mijn liefje.”
“That’s fine.” She reaches out to brush the front of his shirt, her hold on the sheet slipping enough to expose the top of her breasts. “I’d like that, too.”
Corbus seems to grow in front of my eyes. His chest puffs under her tentative touch, his scent rolling over us like a cedarwood mist. I wait for my jealousy to flare, but all those spiky, painful memories of Katie kissing Lee are wiped from my mind as I watch them come together like they were born for it.
Which I guess they were. According to Dash’s favorite movie, scent matching is a greedy bitch of a bond, demanding nothing less than total possession.
“I want more of that,” Katie says when they break apart, her chest straining against her sheet. “Kisses, touching, you can do as much of that as you want.”
Corbus unleashes the biggest smile I’ve ever seen from him, but Bram is watching my face. He must think I’m feeling left out because he asks, “What about you, Lachlan? How do you feel about alpha bites?”
My hand twitches towards the back of my neck before I stop myself. I’ve done my research on the topic of scent matches, and all the evidence says that the bond only strengthens when scent mates are shared with the pack. An alpha bite is the most effective way of connecting packmates, so being mated with these guys should supercharge my bond with Katie. All in all, a win, even before you take into account the other benefits of being in a pack.
The silence has thickened as the implications ran through my head, and I feel my cheeks grow hot. “Ah. I’m open to it, in theory. I want to be a packmate, but Kate is calling the shots about if and when bites happen. Staying close to her and Dash is my end goal.”
“And ours,” Corbus assures me, and I see a gleam of approval in his eyes. “Pack means everything to us, and we’ll do whatever we can to help make that happen.”
“Then can we have a pack hug?” Dash is rising and lowering himself on his toes, while he palms his thickening cock. His hair is tangled from being rubbed against the sheets and the bites on his body are red and raw on his pale skin, but his scent smells like pure, omega need. “I know I initiated all this talking, but now I’m more than ready for a little action.”
I can’t help laughing at his pout, but his alphas are already zeroing in on him in a cloud of alpha musk. I grab Katie’s hand as they herd him towards the bed and wag my brows at her. “Ready for the show, pretty girl?”
She leans into me, her mouth curving into a seductive smile. “Didn’t you hear? We’ve got front-row seats.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN - CORBUS
Coming home to New York is always a sweet relief. I enjoy visiting my birthplace, but I’m a lot less enamored with spending time in the ice castle that passes as the Janssen family estate. To say that my childhood was lacking in warmth is putting it mildly. I grew up thinking I was living in a real ice castle, given the frigid air that would chill me to the bone, even with all the ancient fireplaces burning to capacity. The fact that I would stare into those flames, wishing they would rise up to engulf the whole house, only struck me as odd when I left for boarding school and learned that not all families were like mine.
By comparison, the warmth of my New York home is so startling, I can almost hear the crack of my thawing heart when I cross the threshold. For years it has been because of Bram at my side, always ready to be a buffer between me and the harsh realities of the world. But now we are talking about forming a pack, and walking into my house when it is saturated in the scents of our potential mates is like going from an ice bath to a slick-scented sauna.
Careful, Corbus. Showing emotion is a sign of poor breeding.
Words spoken to me by my own mother when I was toldmy father wouldn’t be returning for my fifth birthday. He was away on another business trip, and even as a child I knew it was because he preferred the company of strangers. Something I always thought I inherited, until I met Bram and realized it wasn’t familial bonds I disliked – it was justmyfamily that left me cold.
Case in point, my trip to the Janssen estate to inform my mother that I am officially moving the company headquarters from Brussels to New York. Since my father’s death three years ago, she’s shown minimal interest in the family business as long as I keep her in the manner – and rare gems – she’s become accustomed to. She dismissed the news with a wave of her bejeweled hand, those blue eyes I inherited as soulful as chips of glass as she stared at me across the breakfast table. New York, she supposed, was better than Los Angeles, even though my mother has never stepped foot outside Europe.
“There’s a reason Paragon gems are rare, Corbus. We only accept the very best.”
Once upon a time I would have hurried to assure her that the family legacy was safe, no matter its inferior location in the Americas. But it’s been years since I danced to her poisonous tune, and I just spread another layer of blackberry jam on my breakfast roll. This is the last meeting I plan to have with Mother for the foreseeable future, so I’m in no mood to stretch it out with unnecessary chitchat. “We will be celebrating the launch with some new additions to the pink diamond range.”
She sniffs, but I know she’s been eyeing one of the larger diamonds for herself. She knows the rare pinks are my favorite, hoarding them away like nuts for her eternal winter. I’d hoped to keep her focus on business, but as she nibbles the edge of her croissant, I can feel her gaze burning into the side of my face. “And are you finally going to give that dancer your bond?”
Give, not ask. It wouldn’t occur to my mother that Dash would have any say in the matter.
“Things are progressing,” I tell her, in the same voice I use when Bram insists we discuss our insurance coverage.
