Page 32 of For All My Effort
“C’mon, I want to clear the air with the others.” It must have been a rhetorical question because Jackson picked me up and carried me out of the office and back down to the first floor. “Pack meeting. Living room. Now.”
Jackson’s alpha bark had me straining to beat him to the couch even though he hadn’t let me go. As soon as I saw Sebastian and Zeke, I wanted their scents on me. When I tried to get out of Jackson’s arms, he just squeezed me tighter.
“Let go.”
“Kiss.”
I rolled my eyes at the demand even as I leaned in, teasing him with a short, quick kiss to his bottom lip before pulling away. He didn’t let me go. Growling, his hand came up to the back of my neck, pulling my face against his. This kiss was overwhelming, my alpha was completely in control, devouring me, tasting me.
When he pulled away, I tried to follow, wanting more. I tightened my legs around him, at least as far as they reached around the large male, clinging to him in the hope that he would finish the tease he started.
Instead, he just chuckled, easily pulling my limbs off him and settling me on the couch between Zeke and Sebastian. I snuggled close to both alphas, and everyone simply ignored my hint of lavender arousal in the air. Mostly.
Seb chuckled, even going so far as to press his face close to my neck and take a deep inhale of my scent. Which, of course, only made my arousal bloom more. Han was sitting on the couch’s arm next to Zeke, and he leaned against the back of the couch to reach out an arm and touch me. And Zeke was just barely touching me, his fingers gently tracing a random path along my inner knee and upper thigh.
“Let’s get down to business so we can do dinner,” Jackson started. He stood in front of the fireplace—unable to sit on the little table since my deformed art project was still there—and looking completely relaxed as he surveyed his pack. “Hannah hasn’t been feeling stable in the pack, so it’s our job to step up.”
Just like that, the lazy, arousal-filled air seemed to disappear. Tension replaced it with a hint of sadness and anxiety.
Jackson continued, “We’re going to start taking her out on dates. We’ve already talked about it, courting her again, but now we need to actually make plans—”
“I call dibs on first date,” Zeke said.
“Now, wait a minute,” Sebastian started. “That’s not even fair. Jackson wasn’t done talking.”
Zeke shrugged. “You snooze, you lose.”
“Maybe we should let Hannah decide,” Han suggested.
“She can decide the second date, I already called first,” Zeke said.
Around and around the playful arguments kept going. I hid my smile by biting on my inner cheek, enjoying the way they fought to spend time with me. Looking up at Jackson, the male was already watching me, a smug smile on his face. He winked, sending a thrill through my body.
“Enough,” Jackson said, not unkindly. “I think it’s only fair that Hannah’s first alpha gets her first date. Just makes sense.”
That comment just got the whole argument started over again.
Eventually progress was made when Han admitted, “I can concede to not being the first date since the shit I ordered hasn’t arrived yet. But when it does, I want that immediate weekend.”
“What did you buy?” I asked.
“You’ll find out when it gets here.”
That didn’t sound like an ideal solution. “Why not just tell me?”
“It’ll be a surprise.”
“No, thanks. Just tell me.” Waiting weeks to figure out what Han had planned sounded like torture.
Sebastian chuckled behind me, pulling me onto his lap even as I maintained eye contact with Han, demanding an answer. He didn’t tell me anything. Huffing, I crossed my arms over my chest, officially pouting as my mind offered no ideas as to what Han could be waiting on.
“So, it’s settled,” Jackson said. “Zeke first, then Seb, then me. Han will take whatever weekend is closest to his items arriving.”
Everyone nodded.
“Next, I think it’ll be good for us all to verbally reassure Hannah that she will be the only omega we’ll be dating. The incident with the beta delivery driver has her rightfully worried.”
Still holding me in his lap, Seb swore, somehow pulling me tighter against him. “I promise, we were not accepting of her advances, Hannah. We always order for the food to be left so we didn’t bother to check when we opened the door.”