Page 156 of All Packed Up

Unbidden, a whine worked its way out of her throat, and she heard the rustle of fabric as the opening was pulled back.

“What’s wrong?” Arlo asked.

As Arlo’s scent entered the nest anew, Wendy turned toward him and stared. That was it!

“The scents are dull.”

“Want us to come in?” he asked.

Wendy nodded, scooting back to make room for him. Tate’s blond head peeked in after, and he grinned at her work before following Arlo.

She settled in the middle as they lay on either side of her, and with their fresh scents filling the nest, she finally relaxed.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “Why’d you go through all this trouble?”

Tate snorted. “It was hardly trouble.”

“If you want the truth…” Arlo began.

A giggle escaped. “Of course I do.”

“Nic was certain you guys weren’t going to survive the afternoon together. So we told him about this little kit, and he suggested we go ahead and build it. You know, to distract you.”

Wendy chuckled. “We survived, surprise! Actually… I think we may have put aside our differences.”

Where were they anyway? Hopefully talking like Grif had wanted. It was quiet, so that had to be a good sign right, that there was no yelling?

Warmth fluttered in her belly as she imagined them in a similar predicament to that night at the fire. Did Grif have Nic all caged in against the truck?

Dragging her thoughts out of the gutter, Wendy turned her attention back to the alphas at hand. They lay side by side, and Wendy slid her hands off her stomach to thread her fingers through both alphas’ hands.

Arlo’s were warm and soft, while Tate’s were a little rougher.

“You guys are the best,” she said softly. “Thanks for making the hardest time of my life not so horrendous.”

They both made a noise at that, but Tate was the one who dropped her hand to reach in his pocket.

“Well… we know we haven’t really discussed any of this, but we were hoping you’d like the nest enough to accept it as a courting gift. It was Arlo’s idea.”

Wendy sat up, spun to face them, releasing Arlo’s hand in the process. “What?” she asked, making sure she hadn’t heard incorrectly.

A courting gift?

“A courting gift,” Arlo repeated. He cleared his throat. “We want to court you and stuff. Properly. If you’ll have us.”

Wendy didn’t know what to say. Her heart leapt to her throat, pitched a tent, and refused to move. “Really?” she croaked out.

“Yeah, really,” Tate said, and finally showed her what was in his hand. “I’ve been holding onto this since I found it while I was packing.”

It was a gray cigarette case with a bejeweled cat on the front. She opened it to find five perfectly rolled joints inside. Closing it, she ran a thumb over the silly cat, wearing red glasses and a matching bow tie. “This is adorable,” she said softly. “You really want to court me? With like, the intention to bond?”

“Hey,” Arlo said, leaning into her line of sight.

Tugging her attention from the shiny cat to Arlo’s warm gaze, Wendy held her breath. She didn’t know why.

“Why do you sound so surprised? I thought we’d been fairly obvious,” he said, a smile plucking at his full mouth. The plush coral of his lips was so inviting, she almost found herself leaning forward. But then her gaze fell to his partner’s arm, to the shiny tan skin of his bite.

The one on her neck tingled as if mocking her.