Seeing me struggling with the huge bed, Ares finally comes in to help. After helping me tuck in the top sheet, he makes his escape. Dante brings me the folded comforter and matching blanket, his face twisted up.
Throwing my hands in the air I ask, “What is the big deal, were you guys not allowed in here as kids or something?”
“No, we were in here all the time. I slept in that room until I was, like, eight.” Dante points to the right, meaning one of the adjacent rooms.
“Then why are you guys being so weird?” My hands land on my hips. I don’t understand them. I slept next to my mom until I got too big to share our tiny bed with her.
“It’s just different now.” Dante shrugs, his face pinched.
“How? It’s just a bed—a place to sleep, a place to… oh.” I snag the blanket from his arms, tossing it over the sheets. No one says anything else as I finish making the bed.
I find the guys waiting for me in the sitting room area. They’re all playing it cool, like they weren’t just freaked out about their parents having sex. “Are we doing the others?” I motion to the two other rooms.
“No, they don’t use those much.” Ares winces with his statement. “Let’s get out of here.”
Instead of going back to the living room, we all migrate to Ares’s room. I change into a soft pair of sleep shorts and a tank top before crawling into bed. It’s still early—maybe around seven—but I know once I lie down, I’m not going to want to get up to change.
Ollie and Milo discuss what videogame they’re going to play while Dante strips off his shirt and pants, leaving them on the floor—much to Ares’s displeasure—and climbs in next to me. His tightly muscled stomach bunches as he leans down, and the feline grace I’ve noticed before makes more sense now that I’ve seen him in his shifted form.
“Did it hurt?” I wonder.
“Huh?” Unaware of my thoughts, Dante has no idea what I’m talking about.
“When you fell from heaven, did it hurt?” I roll my lips in, trying to keep a straight face. Ollie snaps his head around, which tells me he was listening.
Dante freezes, like, goes completely still with his hand still poised over the bed. I can’t help it, I burst out laughing. Wiping the tears from the corners of my eyes, I laugh so hard it turns to just a breathy, hyena laugh.
“I’m so sorry, it just popped out. I couldn’t resist.” I tell them through my tears. Ollie lets out a few low chuckles before facing the TV again. “Don’t be mad, I was just teasing.” I trace my fingers over Dante’s dark brows, smoothing them out. He’s lying on his side, facing me. His features relax as I continue to run my hand over his face, moving to his hair.
Dante’s hair is thick, but silky. His dark brown locks are a little unruly and fall into his light amber eyes. I scoot closer, so our noses are only about six inches apart, sighing as I watch him move into my touch.
“I was thinking how you make everything look so graceful, and that made me think of Dante kitty, and I was wondering if it hurt to make the shift?”
“Dante kitty?” His eyes close as he twists to bump my hand over his head.
“Well?” I ignore his query about my name for his tiger. What else would I call him?
“It doesn’t hurt. The first shift did. It was like it broke all my bones and then put them back together, but only that first time.” I suck a breath through my teeth. Damn, that sounds painful.
Dante opens his eyes lazily when my hand stills, my fingers still woven into his hair. “I want to kiss you,” he breathes, and if I weren’t so close to him there’s no way I would have heard him, so I hope the others didn’t. I still don’t know how the PDA will go between all of us. I lick over my bottom lip at the mention of a kiss, and Dante’s eyes track my tongue.
The bed behind me shifts as Ares finishes up in the bathroom and slides under the covers. My eyes go wide when Dante lifts his finger and traces it over my still damp lip. With his eyes locked on mine, he places the same finger against his lips, and his pink tongue darts out and curls around the tip.
My throat goes dry as I get a hollow pang in my lower stomach. With his lips still parted, he returns his finger to my mouth. Placing the tip on my bottom lip, he runs the pad over my parted mouth, pushing against the blunt tips of my bottom teeth. I close my lips around his finger, bringing my top teeth down just behind his nail. I curl my tongue around the tip of his finger, biting with my teeth, keeping him trapped. Dante inches forward and his eyes focused on my mouth.
I release him when I think he’s going to lean in and replace his finger with his lips. His breaths are heavy and short as he looks down at his finger, my teeth marks clear near the knuckle behind his nail.
Looking back in my eyes, he traces the pad of his finger over his lips then sucks it into his mouth, his eyes closing like he’s savoring my taste. I squeeze my thighs together as an ache forms that I can’t do anything about, unless I want to go into the bathroom and takes things into my own hands.
Ares curls around my back, his big body wrapping around mine. “Night, Ca… Laura.” Ares plants a few kisses on my shoulder, his nose nuzzling behind my ear. I catch the fact he was going to call me cara and changed his mind.
“Sweet dreams, Ares.” My voice comes out a little husky, but he settles in, holding me close.
Dante rolls onto his back, his arm folded over his eyes. I watch his parted lips and the rise and fall of his chest as he takes a moment. I could use a second to settle my body down, too, but with Ares pressed up against my back, I don’t have any hope of calming my raging hormones. “Sweet dreams, Dante,” I add closing my eyes. Their parents might be here tomorrow when we get up for school, so will Dante stay home? They didn’t mention how long they’ve been gone, but I guess at least a year.
A knot of worry tightens my stomach. What if Rosa really knows something about my mom? I don’t know if I should be more afraid of what I might learn or of not learning anything.
Pushing all thoughts of parents and school out of my mind, I let myself feel the weight of Ares's hand on my hip and his warm breath on my neck, grounding me to the here and now. There will be plenty of time to freak about what I learn once I actually know what it is.
Reaching over I lay my palm on Dante’s arm. I feel his bicep bulge before he relaxes and his muscle is still firm under my hand, but not tensed. His hand covers mine and that’s how I fall asleep. Dante and Ares beside me, with Milo’s and Ollie’s soft voices filling the room.
My eyes pop open. I have no idea how long I’ve been asleep, but the room is pitch black now, telling me everyone else is in bed, too. Something woke me up. I have a moment of déjà vu. Lifting my head from Dante’s chest, I peer around the room. I can’t see anything, so I close my eyes and think about what I felt when Ares shared his gift with me, the way the shadows danced over my arms, clinging to me. Opening my eyes, I can see the room in scales of grey, and it’s still dark, but not the impenetrable darkness from before.
I scan the room wondering if Mia has returned, but the room is empty. Ares’s fingers flex on my hip as I settle back against the mattress. A noise just outside the door draws my attention, and my heart rate picks up although I’m not frightened. I know who’s on the other side of that door; I just don’t know if I’m ready to meet them while I’m tangled between their sons.