96: Ada's POV

I don’t know how long I slept. I only know the sleep was dreamless and that I woke up in Nik’s arms. His scent permeated the air so I knew where I was before I’d even opened my eyes— lavender and smoked bourbon. Such an odd combination, but also so wholly just Nik. I sucked in a deep breath, filling my lungs. Moon Goddess above. I could melt into him.

His arm was laid over my body, and I could hear him breathing evenly. I was naked and could feel his bare chest pressed against my back. Gently, I wiggled my hips back. His sweatpants pressed into my ass. I frowned. Images of our time together the night before flashed before my eyes. Sahara panted in my mind. Nik had obviously carried me into his room and lay down with me. At some point, he’d taken off his shirt. Something about being here with him, like this, felt so right.

But also so wrong.

It definitely felt like two-thirds of my heart wasn’t there. All of us had just fallen into coming together occasionally, then breaking apart. I was okay with that, but perhaps it was time for a discussion. All three of them had marked me, claimed me. That meant we were all going to have to get very comfortable being around each other. I’d tried to deny it the first couple of days, but being apart from any of them felt like there was an aching hole in my chest. Being apart from all of them? Even something as simple as going to the bathroom felt excruciating. Eventually, I’d have to tell them about that.

Something about the idea of waking up with all three of them wrapped around me made my toes curl. My body had other needs to meet before I could start to deal with the instant horniness my mates could make me feel. My stomach was growling lowly, rumbling as if I hadn’t eaten in days. Food. I needed food. Immediately.

I carefully lifted Nik’s arm off my side, surprised by the heavy weight of it. He stirred slightly as I slid out from beneath it and laid his arm back down on the bed. I tiptoed over to a chair in the corner that had one of his black button-up shirts thrown over it. I slowly put the shirt on, buttoning up the front just enough to keep my breasts covered. No boxers were lying around, and I couldn’t risk opening a door and waking up Nik.

He looked so peaceful in his bed. His body was so relaxed, his face so calm. I don’t think I’d ever seen him quite like this. Nik was a handsome wolf— actually, he was drop-dead gorgeous. And he had this aura of danger around him that was incredibly alluring. But right now, he looked vulnerable. There was something about that that made my heart thud just a bit faster, made my core clench with want. It was probably because it meant he was comfortable with me and that he trusted me.

With a final look at his sleeping body, I risked leaving the room and stepping into the brother’s shared living spaces. I slowly dragged the door shut behind me. I made sure to twist the knob all the way and slowly release it to minimize the noise of the door closing. When I spun around, I jumped. I barely managed to cover my yelp with my hand.

Phoenix was sitting at a table in the corner, grinning at me. He had been writing in a journal that sat in front of him, but was now just holding the pen over the paper as he looked at me. After a few moments of a silent stare-off, Phoenix sighed and set the pen down.

“Sneaking away so soon?” he arched an eyebrow, his eyes raking over my body.

I glanced down at myself, suddenly wishing I’d buttoned all of the buttons of the shirt. I’d left it just open enough to keep the middle of my chest visible, showing off most of my breasts. The hem of the shirt was also exceptionally revealing, cutting off about mid-thigh at the longest parts and just below my hips on the highest part. My legs looked long and muscular with the black shirt against them.

Clearing my throat, I shrugged, “I’m hungry.”

“Well, you worked up quite an appetite,” Phoenix smirked and held up a bag of grapes. “Come sit. Eat a snack.”

The way he said the word ‘snack’ gave me the impression he wished his snack could be me. I walked over to him, sitting on the edge of the seat across from him. He chuckled as I worked to position myself so that my mostly naked body wasn’t on full display. My skin flushed beneath his gaze.

I popped a grape into my mouth. “How are you, Phoenix?”

“Recovering,” he grabbed his pen and began writing again. After a few beats, he casually said, “By the way, you know he’s never had sex with a woman in his rooms before, right?”

My hand froze halfway to my mouth with another grape. How should I react to that? What was the best way to hide the fact that *no, I did not in fact know that,* and that I knew that was a very big deal? Hell, was I even capable of playing that off? Probably not. Something didn’t feel right about just owning that, though. In fact, that felt more embarrassing than anything. Phoenix was smiling down at his notebook, and I groaned and tossed my head back.

“Did I seriously just send that down the bond?” I whined.

“Every word,” he replied with a chuckle, glancing up at me, “I thought you had blocking us out down pretty well. What happened?”

I leaned back in the chair and ran a hand over my face, “I did, and I don’t know. Probably you three marking me. It’s thrown everything off.”

That came a little too close to an admission about all of the feelings that I had been having since they’d marked me. Phoenix narrowed his eyes, as if he could sense there was more to it than that. Luckily, Darius stepped out of his room. He walked over to us, his eyes also perusing my body. He grinned, baring almost all of his teeth. It was a sharkish grin— one that had me feeling like he wanted to eat me alive.

Darius was in fighting leathers with his hair pulled back into a bun. His muscles flexed as he crossed his arms over his chest, “There’s our dirty girl.” he made his way over to us and popped a grape in his mouth, “Get up, get dressed. We have combat training to get to.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. Within two seconds, I was out of the room and running down the hall.