Rook rubs his hand in circles on my back. I want to stay mad at him because I need a way to vent my frustrations, but he’s making it difficult. “He may not be my mate,” Rook says softly, “but he is my new clan brother. And he’s one more man that I’m going to have to share your affection with.”
I slide my arms around his waist and bury my face between his pecs. “I’m sorry.” I groan. “You’re right. This isn’t easy on any of us. Let’s just forget the how and why and deal with the here and now. What’s done is done. All we can do is accept it and make the best of things.”
Rook holds me a moment longer until Oliver says, “New mate?”
Rook lets me go with a grunt and hangs up his coat. Oliver reaches out to me. I place my hand in his. He steps up to my side and laces our fingers together, but he won’t kiss me in front of Rook. We all understand the struggle it is for Rook to accept this relationship, and the guys respect that. Well, Oliver and Parker do. Illren, not so much. He uses any opportunity he can to touch me even though we aren’t in a relationship. He doesn’t respect my boundaries, much less Rook’s.
I squeeze Oliver’s hand and wave toward the man who’s just come down the stairs behind Terrance. “Oliver, meet Charlie. He’s…um…”
Charlie steps forward, holding out a hand to Oliver. “I’m Nora’s new mate. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
His beautiful smile seems natural, as if he can’t help being happy.
Oliver’s eyebrows climb his forehead, but he shakes Charlie’s hand and returns the greeting before looking to me for more explanation. I cringe. “Our instincts kicked in like Terrance’s do sometimes, and we claimed each other. I guess it’s a fey thing. We’re bound magically and everything.”
Oliver’s jaw falls open.
I wince. “I’m sorry.”
Terrance grunts. “I told you to stop apologizing, Nora.”
I meet his scowl with a quick glare and then throw myself down onto the couch in an exhausted heap. “I can’t help it.” I lay my head on the back of the couch and scrub my hands over my face. “This isn’t just about Charlie and me. This affects all of us—everyone in this family. I’m sorry if I feel bad for disrupting all of our lives. Again.”
The couch sinks with Terrance’s weight, and his big arm drapes around my shoulder. “Trouble, you’ve been one giant disruption in all of our lives from the moment we each met you. If we didn’t like it, none of us would stick around.”
I cut him a sideways glance and find him smirking at me. The look makes me crack a smile. He grins and tucks me against his side. “Stop feeling sorry. We’ll all adjust to this, same as we have everything else.”
His words are what I need to hear, and there is no affection quite like that of my big, grumpy troll’s. I snuggle into his side, soaking up the contact like it’s the magical cure to all of my worries. “Thanks, T-man.”
Terrance squeezes me in a gentle hug and kisses the top of my head. “No more apologizing.”
“Okay.”
Terrance climbs to his feet and lifts his arms into a stretch. “I’m going to bed,” he says on a yawn. He looks around the room and adds, “Make sure you introduce Charlie to Illren before everyone goes to sleep. We don’t need him killing Nora’s new mate.”
I laugh, but it’s weak because I’m so tired. Terrance disappears down the hall, and, as if that’s some kind of cue, Rook, Oliver, and Charlie all sink down into the furniture and let themselves relax. Oliver takes Terrance’s place beside me. Rook stretches out on the other couch, and Charlie sits in one of the chairs. He’s the only one who doesn’t look completely comfortable. “He was joking about the assassin, right?”
Rook and I both chuckle, and Oliver grimaces. “Not really. But don’t worry. He seems to have a surprising amount of loyalty to everyone in our clan. He won’t hurt you once he knows you’re with us.”
I lay my head on Oliver’s shoulder, and my eyes flutter shut. “We just need to tell him before you go wandering around the den alone, or else he might mistake you for an intruder, and then you’re toast.”
Charlie doesn’t respond to this vocally. I peek one eye open and smile a little at the pale, disturbed expression on his face. In some sick way, I’m a little proud of my assassin and his terrifying reputation.
Oliver shifts his arm behind me and starts kneading my neck at the hairline. It feels so good that I let out a moan. “Yes. That. More.”
Oliver chuckles and places a throw pillow on his lap. I lay my head down and let him work the tension out of my neck and head. After a minute of bliss, I break the silence. “Where is Illren, anyway?”
“I don’t know,” Oliver says. “Haven’t seen him since I got home.”
Rook scoffs. “He’s probably out decapitating people and dancing on their corpses.”
Illren’s soft voice splits the air, startling us all. “The monsters I kill are hardly people.” He hangs his coat on the coatrack while we all continue to gape at him. None of us—not even the wolf—heard him come in. “And I don’t dance.”
He stands there, taking in the scene before him in that calm, assessing way he always does. His eyes flit about the room and settle on me. He seems very interested in the fact that I’m lying in Oliver’s lap, receiving what happens to be my very first massage, but I can’t tell what he thinks about it. I can never tell what he’s thinking. After a long look, he eventually turns his calculating stare on Charlie. I should get up and properly introduce Charlie to Illren, but Oliver’s massage is so relaxing my brain is officially mush. “Illren, come meet Charlie,” I mumble. “He’s a member of our clan now, so you can’t kill him, ’kay?”
He cocks a brow at me, silently demanding more of an explanation, but Oliver buries his fingers deep in my hair, lightly pulling on the strands. The slight sting at my scalp has me moaning with pleasure again.
The air around me shifts, and before I can figure out what’s happening, Rook’s mouth is on mine. He’s leaning over me, fiercely claiming my lips like I’m not lying in Oliver’s lap with Charlie and Illren looking on. “I love your noises,” he growl-murmurs against my lips.
Embarrassed by his words, I try to sit up, but Oliver refuses to release his grip on my hair, forcing me to stay in his lap. He tugs the locks again, gently pulling my head back and exposing my neck to Rook. Rook moves his lips down my throat, and I gasp. His teeth graze my neck, raising goose bumps all over my body. “The next time I hear you make sounds like that,” Rook says, “we’ll be alone, and it’ll be me coaxing the moans from you.”
His words are a seductive threat that makes my body warm. He drags his lips back up my throat and kisses me once more. “I’m going to bed before my wolf forces me to drag you to my room with me. Dream of me tonight.”
He’s up in the next second and out of the room without another word, leaving me flushed and panting for breath. Before my mind can catch up to what happened, Oliver sits me up and drags me across his lap so that I’m cradled against him and my legs are draped across him. He tucks my hair back behind my ear and catches my gaze. “You okay?”