Inevitably Yours

QUINN

As if a key had been turned, a locked door undone and opened, things got smoother. Michael bent me over my desk and made me take it back; then, things yielded to a much sweeter moment. The next few weeks only got better. Nic pulled out of her funk. Every now and then, she still got upset, but I could tell we were on the road to recovery.

Now that the pack was a better place to live, we were seeing growth. Michael spent a lot of time interviewing wolves that wanted to join our pack and move to Stary. Some had grown up in Stary or Wild Paws and left for various reasons; others were seeking a pack where they felt at home. The line between the old Wild Paws and Stary began to blur with the influx of pack members.

Many packs are structured similarly to human cities. Alphas are seen as Mayors in human eyes. The largest difference is that when packs surround each other, uninhabited land – forests, woods, fields, etc. – often provides a buffer between them. Very few packs survive in predominantly urban areas, many prefer suburban or borderline rural areas for space and privacy reasons. With the growth of the pack, Wild Paws and Stary were merging as the uninhabited space between them was slowly developed for residential areas.

M and Jacqueline hired a human, Wesley, to assist with the management of the security business. Jacqueline took a couple of weeks to train him, then it seemed that the workload was eased for all of us. Andrea was able to help me fix our filing system and get it completely caught up, while M and Wesley were able to hire more employees to help fill out our contracts.

The pups continued to grow, and my heart ached a little at every new thing or step of independence. Belle was ever the Daddy’s girl, and Junior’s protective instincts were starting to emerge. He shocked Nic and I one afternoon when he managed to get Belle’s bottle and brought it over to feed her when she was crying. He was too young to realize she needed a diaper change, not that she was hungry, but it was still sweet. He even began helping Nic or me when we were changing the girls or bathing them by bringing us clothes, diapers, toys, or anything else he thought we needed. Judy got him some toddler cleaning toys as he became her favorite helper.

Shortly after Diane’s first birthday, my parents asked to take the pups for a night. Nic had started tagging along on our occasional visits with my parents, so she was comfortable letting them take her overnight. They planned to go to some children’s museum with them, so it offered Michael, Nic, and me almost two days of pup-free existence.

After the pups were picked up and Michael reluctantly let his Belle go, M and Nic ran off for some training and shifting. They hadn’t gotten any good long workouts in for a while, so I was happy to see them running off to do just that. I caught up on some schoolwork, then decided to make us all dinner. Judy left to visit her mother for a few days, so the packhouse was virtually empty.

I made us some decadent stuffed shells with lots of meat and cheese with some fresh garlic bread and salad to go along with it. Judy had begun growing some herbs in some planters outside, so we always had those to work with. I idly wondered if making Nic a garden would help fill the hole left from the rejection as I stuffed filling into pasta.

After we were all fed and full later that night, M asked how I wanted to fill our child-free hours. “Honestly, I would love to take a hot bath. One where I’m not interrupted because a pup needs me or I’m too tired to wash my hair,” I told him as I stood in the kitchen wrapping up the leftovers. While things were improving, we were not immune to the hardships of parenthood. With Junior getting more mobile and aware every day, it was getting harder to do things when he was asleep or content in one place.

“That’s all you want?” he frowned, pulling me close.

“I’d love to actually go to bed together tonight, but yea, I just want to relax in the quiet for a while. You don’t like hot water,” I told him.

“I don’t like burning my skin off,” he corrected. I rolled my eyes, and he kissed my nose. “That’s fine. Why don’t you go upstairs and relax? I can clean up dinner.”

“I can finish,” I told him. “But what are you going to do?”

“Would you care if I watched a movie with Nic? There is a new scary one out, and you don’t like those. We’ve wanted to watch it, but with everything else…” he trailed off.

“Of course! Go have fun. I could put together some snacks for you guys real quick?” I offered, smiling.

“I love you, baby,” he smiled back.

“And I love you too, Q!” Nic called from the doorway.

We both laughed, turning to look at her. “I love you both. Go get your movie. I’ll have popcorn and stuff ready in the living room when you’re back,” I told them. Nic jumped up excitedly.

“I think I need to make sure you get into that bath safely,” Michael said seductively. “An Alpha has to protect his Luna after all.”

“You just want to see me naked,” I said.

“Always,” he grinned. I rolled my eyes and pushed him away so they could go rent the movie.

–

I leaned my head against the tiled wall, enjoying the slight steam coming off the water’s surface. The bubbles floated lazily around me. It was so quiet. Michael and Nic had only taken about twenty minutes to rent their movie and return to the packhouse. I had to dash for the stairs to keep Michael from attacking me with k****s when I heard the door open.

I reached over the side of the tub for my cold water as my cheeks flushed. I loved a hot bath with a cold drink. I just sat there enjoying the water and silence for a long time. I had a book, but my brain was enjoying the nothingness.

I knew it had been a long time because Nic linked me, “Why is Michael such a good foot warmer?” I laughed.

“He’s hot,” I answered. I wanted to add, “in more ways than one,” but refrained.

I grabbed my book and sat up enough to read without dipping it in the water. For some reason, I couldn’t concentrate, and I was getting restless. I chugged the remainder of my cold water, but it didn’t help any. Checking my phone, I’d been in the tub for about an hour; the water was much cooler now, but my body was getting warmer.

I tried to focus on the feeling and realized it was coming from Michael. My mate was turned on, and it was trickling over our bond.

“How’s the movie?” I linked him.

“Uh, fine,” he answered. Was he uneasy about something?

“Is there something interesting going on?” I asked him.

“That’s one way to put it,” he answered. He was being evasive, but I couldn’t figure out why.

“Is Nic not enjoying the movie? Is she sad about the mate stuff?” Something was on his mind, and I wished he would just tell me.

“She’s comfortable,” he said, sounding choked. “She has her legs on my lap.”

For a second, I thought about the two of them on the couch, picturing Nic with a bowl of chips in her lap and her feet in Michael’s lap for warmth-

“M… are Nic’s feet on you?”

There was a long pause before he answered. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. She put her legs on me, and it was fine, then her feet were rubbing over me. She’s brushed against my, uh… a few times. I’m getting hard; Eros is freaking out. It wasn’t on purpose-”

“M!” I stopped him, giggling. I was surprised he was getting turned on by something so innocent as cuddling with Nic. “It’s okay.”

“What? Are you saying you’re fine with this?” he asked in shock. I couldn’t help but continue to giggle at him.

“Just so you know, M’s pants are a little tight right now,” I linked Nic.

“That explains the nervous shifting. Are you sending him boob pictures? Cause I feel left out,” Nic teased.

“Q….” Michael linked, still waiting for me to answer.

“I’m not sending him boob pictures. Look down your own shirt if you want to see boobs!” I told her.

“Yours are bigger, though. Michael says they’re the best,” she sighed.

“Quinn, you cannot say any of that, then ignore me!” Michael begged.

“If you aren’t being a dirty girl, what’s turning him on?” Nic asked. I doubt either of them were paying attention to the movie now.

“You,” I told her.

“You’re lying,” she gasped.

“Quinn, I will come up there. Goddess, tell me you are actually fine with this,” Michael said.

“Nope,” I told Nic, laughing.

“Well, he’s some of the best I’ve ever had, but I think it would be fun to get you into bed,” Nic returned. “f**k, I shouldn’t have said that.”

I rolled my eyes. Nic had always been a flirt. Then Saph piped up, “You know you told him you’d consider it.”

“What?”

“Adding a girl,” she said. “Our mate’s head might explode, though.”

“Q, I’m about to just end the night if I don’t hear from you,” Michael growled. I’d never heard him so desperate for my response.

“Nic, are you actually attracted to me? This isn’t some silly hyper s*x drive or tease thing?”

“Q, I’ve thought you were hot since Michael first showed me your picture,” she admitted. I wondered if the buzzing worked through link. Even not knowing if it did, I believed her.

“See? Fun!” Sapphire encouraged. I bit my l*p, mulling it over in my head. I vaguely remembered talking to M about this once, but I’d never actually considered having s*x with anyone except Michael. The thought of getting intimate with Nic didn’t scare me. Well, she did frighten me, but not in that way.

“Nic, want to make an Alpha’s dream come true?”

MICHAEL

Quinn went upstairs after getting me, and Nic set up with snacks and fuzzy blankets. A large part of me wanted to follow her, but I wasn’t willing to get into the hellfire she called a “bath.” I also had cuddles waiting for me, and even if I still worried that at some point Quinn and Nic were going to jump out and say I failed some test, our new arrangement was giving me a level of physical affection Quinn wasn’t capable of by herself. Her telling me it was okay still felt weird, but until she told me it wasn’t, I had to trust she wouldn’t lie to me.

I heard the bath running and then finally stop above us, meaning Quinn had left the door open upstairs. I put the movie in to play, sat down, and pulled a large blanket over me. I wasn’t necessarily cold, but I loved blankets and hoodies. We kept the house cold enough to use them. Nic ran over as the opening ended so she wouldn’t miss the beginning of the movie and crawled under the blanket next to me.

“Goddess, you’re so warm!” she said as she snuggled into me harder, putting her feet into my lap. I laid my hand on her knee and gently rubbed it with my thumb as she started to warm up.

That’s when I realized I’d f****d up. Other than an overwhelming feeling of contentment from physical affection with Nic, Quinn and Nic together more especially, I hadn’t felt more than that for Nic individually in years outside of the occasional thought of her and Quinn when it was teased. I’d also never told Nic that I thought feet were attractive in some contexts, mostly because I’d always been embarrassed, even if she was my best friend.

Now, I sat on the couch with Nic kneading my inner thigh with her toes on both feet, moving them back and forth.

“Don’t mind me,” she giggled as I looked down at her in confusion. “I just have to do this sometimes, like a cat trying to find their place to lay down.”

My heart stopped in my chest as she kept doing it, and suddenly with zero permission from me, my c**k started rising in my pants as Nic kept kneading mindlessly while she watched the movie, and she brushed against it a few times. I tried adjusting myself so she wouldn’t realize how hard I was now, but she just moved with me. Eros was howling in my head, telling me it was a trap, but he was getting just as restless as I was. How the hell was I going to explain this to Quinn?