Page 17 of The Alpha Option
Blue jumped up on the couch before resting his head on his paws as he stared at Stephanie.
“Can I touch him?” Stephanie swore softly. “Never mind. Forget I asked that way because it was totally rude. You’re still you, although now you’re annoyingly cute. Blue? Can I touch you?”
Blue wiggled forward on the couch until his chin rested on her thigh. A clear invitation.
While Stephanie reached out a hand and slowly caressed Blue’s ear, Cassidy had an important question on her mind. She turned to face Jace. “And you can do this too?”
“Turn into a wolf? Absolutely, since I was about four months old.”
That’s what she figured based on her previous intel.
Which put the fact she had already been plotting to kiss him silly, and do more intimate things, into an entirely different category of Need to Think About.
For now, she simply nodded. Although she really wanted to ask him to show her. “That list of things we were talking about getting done for the lodge. Any of that need to be adjusted with thisyou are furriesinformation in mind?”
He and Blue both winced. “Some, although FYI, we’d really rather you call usshiftersand notfurries. Those are something completely different. You want to talk about this now or get settled in first? Because the afternoon is going to pass quickly, and right now, you don’t have anywhere to sleep.”
It wasn’t a bad suggestion. “If I sit here much longer, I’ll go into nap mode. And you’re right. There’s a lot to do to make this place livable, even if it’s only for us in the short term.” She lifted a finger at Jace. “But this conversation is not over.”
“Absolutely not,” he agreed. His gaze drifted over her, heat there the same as before. “Let’s get started on making this place into a home.”
She wasn’t sure why those words made her shiver with anticipation.
7
Not having to spend hours calming Cassidy and Stephanie down or talking them out from behind a locked door was a lovely surprise.
Blue gloating incessantly? Less lovely.
“I swear, if you grin at me like that one more time, I’m going to rip off your tail and shove it down your throat,” Jace warned.
Bluetsked. “Okay, fine.” He widened his eyes and set his teeth together in a lopsided fashion. “Like this grin better?”
Jace hit him. It was totally justified. The fact Jace was holding a bedside table, the weight of which struck Blue in the side and sent him sprawling to the floor, might have been a little rude, but still…
Mostly justified, Jace figured.
Blue picked himself up, still laughing. “Okay, I’ll stop now, but seriously, cuz. Your face when they both barely blinked at the sight of my furry awesomeness was hysterical.”
“I’m sure it was. But now we need to agree to remove the wordfurryfrom our vocabulary because that’s not something we want to become canon when discussing us, our pack, or werewolves in general, right?”
His cousin picked up the bed linens that had scattered to the ground when he’d fallen. “Right. So, when are you going to tell them the rest? Including the bit about you and Cassidy being…you know? Mates.”
“I’m making this up as we go along, obviously.” Jace placed the table beside the mattress they’d brought in from the storage shed. “What are you going to tell Stephanie?”
“Nothing.”
Jace glared at him. “Blue. You’re not thinking of keeping a secret from your mate, are you?”
“No, not really.” Blue considered. “There’s something still going on that I’m not clear on. As if I’m sure wewillbe mates but we’re not mates yet, and something else has to happen before we can become mates. I’m okay with that.”
Okay? Jace’s insides shook from wanting Cassidy so much, and Blue was casually planning on not making the next move?
Omega wolves were so weird.
“You know, you’re not right.” Jace shook his head. “I mean, I know you’re right for you, but damn…”
“I know, I know. We can’t all be unicorns.”
