Two days later, Neil is officially able to return home. Steven travels with him and helps the doctors and the technicians set up the medical equipment in Neil’s bedroom. It is a bit unsettling, walking into his room and seeing the IV bags and the heart machines and other things I don’t even know t
“Absolutely not,” Archer says first, the most abrupt, and the loudest. “What a fucking terrible idea,” Beau says secondly. “No,” Steven says simply, as if this is all a scientific process he can refuse. “You can’t take it back,” Wyatt says. “The challenge has been cast and accepted. It’s the r
I need the element of surprise to have a hope’s prayer of winning, so I fake like I mean to go left, but actually go right. Yet before I can even wind up for my jab, Archer moves so fast, I don’t even see him move. Next thing I know, I’m on the floor with the wind knocked out of me. Archer stands
Long after Archer’s more personal training, he decides to actually help train me to fight. Eventually Beau comes to help, though most of his advice continues to be about how reckless I was to even consider fighting someone with a wolf. After that, when Neil is feeling a bit better, he comes down t
Even rusty, his strength is impressive. As are the toned muscles in his arms and his chest. What has he been hiding under all that looser clothing he wears? Gods, he’s probably just as hot as his three brothers. My libido takes the helm in my brain for a hot moment and I find myself pressing back
I sit in the chair pulled up beside Neil’s bed while one of his doctors gives Neil a checkup. Even though I’m not a big fan of medical procedures and stuff, I force myself to watch diligently as the doctor checks his pulse and then inspects the spider web of poison across the Neil’s chest. The doc
I sigh a little more, because yeah, this has turned into the speech I expected. You are going to lose, Chloe, he says, albeit with much nicer words. “Though I will tell you this,” Neil says. The worry falls away, solidifying into a cruel sort of darkness hallowing his features. “When the fight is
I’m down in the exercise room, practicing my punches on a punching bag when Beau comes in behind me. He watches me for a while. I feel the heat of his gaze on my back. Maybe I through a few punches extra hard just to impress him, but I’ll never tell. Either way, he doesn’t seem all that impressed.
I’m happy because I have four hearts beating alongside mine.“Do you feel it, too?” I ask. “My connection to each of you?”I blink my eyes open once more. I want to see their faces, their reactions.Neil has his hand over his own heart. “It’s strange. It’s like part of you is inside of me.”“Me, too
In the darkness of my mind, I floated, surrounded by the comforting embrace of love. Distantly, I could feel another presence, one that grew stronger and stronger, the more I focused on it: my wolf.As I thought of her, she appeared before me as if I willed her into being. Maybe I did. We are in my
Damn alpha wolves and their heightened senses.“I’ve already made my choice,” I say. “Honestly, I think I made it a long, long time ago.”Archer relaxes marginally. Steven starts to smile.Neil turns to me, worry still on his face. “You say that now, Chloe. But the pull could be strong…”“I don’t ca
The eve of my birthday, I rest in bed and stare at my ceiling. It’s late, near midnight, but I still have my bedside light on.With my feelings shared and grown with Neil, Archer, and Steven, I didn’t expect to spend any night alone, especially the one right before the day that could change everythi
I awake to a sharp knock on my bedroom door. Neil’s arm is still draped over me but some distance had inched between our hot bodies in the night. I’m able to slink out from under his arm without him waking.Naked, I quickly stop by the bathroom to throw on my fluffy bathrobe. Then, after glancing ba
They.Beau glances at me and see my incredulous look. “What do I need to go out every night? Can’t a man just enjoy staying home for a change?”“You can do whatever the hell you want,” I say.“Good, then.” Beau slumps down on the couch. He stretches out, lifting his feet up and into my lap. “Now tel
For the rest of the morning, I desperately try not to think about Neil. Whoever he’s in love with, I won’t be offended by it. The hurt I feel has nothing to do with this new person. She must be great for her to have won Neil’s affections.The hurt is my own loss, my own problem. I let my feelings fo
After Steven and I have cleaned ourselves up with a quick shower, we fall back into bed together, giggling and laughing all the way. My now, Steven has discovered a few of my tickle zones, which he is exploiting. As revenge, I touch the places I now know make him shiver.For a while, nothing seems l
His hands fumbled with the buttons of his own shirt. Such usually steady hands are rendered useless by his nervousness.“Allow me,” I tell him. I lightly bat his hands out of the way before replacing them with mine on his shirt buttons. My times with Neil have served me well. I’m able to undo all th