I smirked. “Asshole.”
“And here I thought our love was stronger than that,” he mused, coming into my room and handing me the mug of coffee in his hand.
I took a sip, grimacing at the bitter liquid.
“How’d you sleep?” he asked, dropping into the chair by my bookshelf.
“Too long,” I answered, taking another drink.
“You’re not a superhero, Rem. You need sleep, too.” He frowned at me, looking a little concerned.
“Where’s Skye?” I set the coffee on the table.
He smiled slightly. “Downstairs with Larkin and Katy.”
“The twins?”
“School. Katy made them go. Dax was pretty pissed.”
I frowned. “That sounds about right.” It was easy to forget my little brothers weren’t so little anymore.
“Nikolai and Dimitri are on their way here. They just got confirmation that there’s three planes full of shifters coming to help. They want to know how you want to handle things. Plus, Michael and Dante have a list of packs that want to join sooner rather than later.” Rhodes ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “You’ve got a lot of decisions to make, Alpha.”
I exhaled hard. “You guys shouldn’t have let me sleep in.”
Rhodes snorted and stood up. “Take it up with your mate. She threatened all of us with bodily harm if we woke you up.”
That sounded about right. “How does she seem today?”
Rhodes sighed, thinning his lips for a second as he considered the question. “Better, honestly. I think what happened in Long Mesa was cathartic for her. That and whatever you guys did last night.”
“Excuse me?” I started to reach for my coffee and froze.
He chuckled as he headed for the door, lightly tapping the wall. “You guys definitely need your own place, man. Or better soundproofing.”
“I fucking hate you,” I grumbled, my chin dropping to my chest.
“Love you, too, babe,” he returned with a grin as he ducked out of my room.
A second later Skye appeared, her green eyes narrowed. “Did he wake you up? I swear to God, Rhodes is like a little kid sometimes.”
“Sure you actually want some of our own?” I teased, appreciating the way her jeans and t-shirt effortlessly molded to her curves. Her hair was tied back in a long braid that would look amazing wrapped around my fist.
With a grimace, I shifted in the bed, glad Rhodes hadn’t mentioned that my body wasn’t finished with whatever Skye and I had been doing last night.
She smiled as she sat down on the bed in front of me, and the image was so stunning that I forgot to breathe for a second.
“I think if we can handle Rhodes and Ryder under one roof, we could easily handle a dozen toddlers.” Her teeth lightly bit on her lower lip and I surged forward with need to kiss her, sucking her bottom lip between mine with a needy pull.
She ducked away with her eyes sparkling. “If my dad wasn’t on his way here …”
Yeah. Mentioning her father was the fastest way for my dick to deflate.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, well, apparently it’s for the best since everyone is awake, too.”
She tilted her head to the side. “What does that mean?”
“That the walls in our new house need more soundproofing than what we have here,” I replied with a laugh.
It took a second, but her cheeks instantly flushed pink when she realized what I meant.
“Oh, no.” She covered her face with a self-deprecating laugh mixed with a groan. “That’s … awkward.”
I pulled her hands down, not wanting to miss a second of her smile even if it was because she was embarrassed as hell.
“Babe, it’s fine,” I assured her. “And if they heard anything, it’s because they took an hour off from doing exactly what we were doing.”
She gave me an exasperated look. “And if Sam and Dax heard?”
I winced. “Luckily their rooms are at the other end of the hall.”
Her head fell, but her shoulders shook with silent laughter. “I take it back. We’re so not ready to be parents.”
“We can still practice, though.” I grinned and pulled her forward until she was sprawled over my lap like a decadent buffet meant only for me.
“No, no, no,” she said firmly, somehow managing to slip away with a thunk onto the floor.
Oh, hell. Her on her knees next to the bed, looking up at me, with those big green eyes and pink lips parted, was not helping my growing situation.
She pointed a finger at me. “No. Get that look off your face, Remy Holt.”
“What look?” My tone sounded innocent enough, but we both knew my hands were seconds from shredding the sheets I was fisting to keep from grabbing her.
“I’m not having sex with you with my dad on the way and all of our friends downstairs,” she hissed, scrambling to her feet. She backed away from the bed like I still could lunge at any minute and pull her down.
Which wasn't too far off the mark of possible.
“Go take a shower. Alone,” she emphasized when I started to remind her we had showered together last night. “I’m going to … do something that’s not in the room.”
I shrugged. “As long as it’s something and not someone.”
Her jaw dropped. “Cold shower, Remy. Cold.”
“You know that’s actually a false statement, right?”
The little crease that formed between her pinched brows was adorable. “Huh?”
“Cold tightens things. Hardens things,” I added, grinning as her blush traveled down her throat. “Cold shower is the worst thing you can do when you’re turned on.”
She threw up her hands. “Fine. Take a hot shower. Burning hot.”
My eyes lit up. “Hot like when you’re—”
“Oh, my, God!” She whirled and stormed out with a laugh, slamming my door as she went, leaving me half-naked, mostly hard, and totally alone.
“Fuck,” I muttered to myself.
My stomach was growling by the time I made it downstairs, but I should’ve known there was no way this day could stay as good as it had started. The raised voices in the living room called me forward, my instincts going on high alert.
“We’ll make it work,” Katy said adamantly as I entered the room.
“How?” Michael asked. “Katy, I’m all for making it work, but we’re simply running out of places to put people.”
“What people?” I asked as I looked around the room.
Michael and Katy were standing across from each other, almost at different ends of the spectrum while it looked like Rhodes and Skye were trying to help them find a middle ground.
“Six buses,” Skye answered grimly. “Five from new packs, and one from the Flatrock pack that managed to escape. They’d been hiding out until they heard Kevin made it here and joined us.”
“Plus Nikolai’s three planes full of people in a few days,” Michael added with a sigh. “We don’t have the space for all of these people. We just don’t. It’s not even a matter of just housing anymore, Remy. Food and supplies are going to start running low.”
“Then we order more food,” Katy rebutted, eyes flashing.