Page 43 of Pack’s Prize
“Don’t be.” I turned back to the stove, stacking the finished pancakes onto a platter. “It’s my own damn fault. I should never have been so stubborn.” I huffed out a laugh. “I probably got that tendency from him, honestly. I don’t even care about his business,” I said, putting the platter of pancakes to the side and scooping cooked sausages into a serving bowl. “It was just…”
“Alpha pride,” she said, and I laughed for real this time.
“Yes, alpha pride,” I agreed. “The one thing I thought living in an all-alpha pack had tamed out of me.” She smiled, her tired eyes glinting. “Turns out, it’s harder than it looks.”
“You three make it look…” I raised my eyebrows, as she grabbed the bowl of sausages and took them to the table. I carried the pancakes. “Well, noteasy,” she admitted, “but you make it look good.”
“Ava,” I started, as we put the food on the dining table, and she looked up at me, her face soft and relaxed, a smile on her pink lips. “I…”
“We make what look good?” Theo asked from the mouth of the hallway that led to the bedrooms. His arrival left me suddenly feeling as if I had already said too much. I clamped my lips shut, then turned to him with a smile.
“Those pajama pants, for one,” I said. Theo had taken a shower, of course, but he’d dressed casually, in just a loose white undershirt and a pair of khaki-colored pajama bottoms with a drawstring waist.
“Mais bien sûr,” he responded cheekily, fiddling with the espresso machine and pulling himself a shot. “French people are very stylish, or hadn’t you heard?”
Elias entered the kitchen next, and I watched with a smile on my lips as Ava’s eyes widened at his appearance.
“Danes don’t need to be fashionable,” he said, and grinned. He was wearing only a towel slung low around his waist, the skin of his broad chest glowing pink from a hot shower, his damp blonde hair darkened to a light brown. He, for one, looked invigorated from the past three day’s activities, and I took my time admiring him, sweeping my eyes from his broad shoulders to the v of his hip bones, down past his towel to his strong calves. “Not when we look like this.”
“You’re from Minnesota,” Theo said, but he, too, was looking at Elias’s abs.
“Same difference,” Elias said, “and my grandparents were Danish. All of them. So. Here I am, a Dane in the flesh.”
“And what a good flesh it is,” Theo said, making Ava wrinkle her nose at the turn of phrase.
“Speaking of grandparents,” I interjected, “I have an announcement to make. Nothing’s official yet, but… the business is mine. Or at least, as good as. I just have to sign the paperwork.”
“Oh,” said Ava. “Congratulations, Michael.” Her small smile didn’t reach her tired eyes. “Looks like your alpha pride is good for something, after all.”
CHAPTERFORTY-THREE
Ava
I stoodin front of my closet later, staring into it with a heavy weight in my chest. My hair was done, and my makeup, but I still wore only Michael’s robe, borrowed from his bathroom. Had that only been this morning? I had celebrated Michael’s announcement with the others, cheersing our cups of coffee, then taken a nap through lunch and the mid-afternoon, waking up only to take a shower before our dinner out.
A wry smile twisted my lips. I knew the lawyer’s announcement was just an excuse to eat at the pack’s favorite restaurant. He’d told me himself that he didn’t actually care much about the business. Theo had generously said it was also a celebration of my heat, and Elias had reminded the two of them that they hadn’t had time to toast the successful gallery opening, either, so they had three excuses, I guessed. Besides, it would be good for us to make another appearance as a pack.
As I shifted hangers full of gifted clothing back and forth listlessly, though, I couldn’t help but be reminded that this would probably also be the last time that I’d go out with them like this. A big public dinner, and at Chez Valentin.
Would I ever be invited to dine there again?
I tried to picture myself there with some anonymous alphas, but I couldn’t. I certainly wouldn’t be able to sit at one of those white-linened tables without remembering Theo’s bombshell, the warmth between my legs as I understood what they were to each other.
The way Elias had asked to kiss me, his lips on mine, soft and sweet and tasting like the wine we had drunk and his own delicious woodsy flavor.
“Hi, Ava.”
I started.
“Elias,” I said. He was leaning against the door frame, his white dress shirt clinging to his broad shoulders, his suit jacket dangling from one hand. “Is it time to go? I’m sorry, I–”
“No,” he said, “I just came to see you. See how you’re feeling.”
“Fine, thanks,” I said, automatically. “Tired, but…”
He entered the room, looking around, and I realized that none of them had spent much time in my–theguest–room, since I’d moved in. There were traces of me everywhere: shoes in a corner, clothes in the closet, my preferred lotions in the bathroom. My pajamas in the drawer alongside the ones someone–who had it been? I still didn’t know if they were Theo’s or Michael’s–had left for me on that first night. He sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling a decorative pillow into his lap.
“We don’t have to go tonight, if you would rather stay here. Michael and Theo can go, and I’ll stay in and keep you company.”