Page 36 of Blizzards and Brews

“I think it’s over,” Dustin said as he took a breath. How he figured that out from scenting the air was beyond me. It was thick with sex and their combined scents.

Unless it was because of his previous experience with Lindsay, though he was always the most sensible with our triplet senses. I was too stubborn to catch the small nuances that he did even with my alpha senses.

We’d been there as support for Ollie during his heats before and I had to admit that having Spencer here changed the game. We couldn’t offer more than food and water and contribute to building his nests.

As an alpha, feeling helpless was the worst thing ever. Well, just short of the love of your life believing that she wasn’t enough. Every time Ollie left one of the clinics with an empty expression in his gaze after riding it out with strange alphas, Icould see a piece of him disappearing. And as his triplet, it killed me. When he hurt, we hurt.

Spencer could meet his feral needs in ways we obviously couldn’t. It was a missing piece and I was mature enough to admit it.

Even though I was jealous as fuck. He’d not only had Lindsay within a day of meeting her, he was fucking her relentlessly this week while I stood out here wishing it was me.

The sounds she made were going to be burned into my mind for eternity and I was waiting for the dayIcould be the reason behind them.

For now, the room had gone quiet and I could hear Ollie snoring again. The door creaked open and Lindsay stumbled out, followed by Spencer.

“It’s over,” Spencer said. “He’s resting now but we need to get him home.”

“I want to go home and shower,” Lindsay said. She looked like a mess. There were dark circles under her eyes and she looked ravaged. Her lips were swollen, her movements stiff, and her words slurring slightly.

“You can’t drive yourself,” I said as I steadied her.

“I won’t argue that,” she sighed. “But I want to go in alone. I need to sleep, process, and recover. This whole week was unexpected.”

The words felt all wrong to me, like a step back from where she should be. Yet somehow, they were still logical. She went from our conversation together and being snowed in for a blizzard to unexpectedly going through a heat with Ollie. And from the bite she was sporting on her neck, things had gotten intense.

“I’ll drive her,” Spencer said as he glanced back at the room. “He’s back in his head and already knows she needs a little time.Can you take care of him and get him situated back at your place while I take her?”

“You should join us after,” Dustin said. Spencer nodded.

“Of course. I’ll come straight over once I make sure Lindsay is safely home,” he promised. “And make no mistake, angel. I’m respecting your decision now, because I know this was a lot for you, but it changes nothing between us. You know who you are and what you mean.”

I wouldn’t let him drive her if he didn’t seem so awake. And judging by his words, he was fully aware of what our beta was doing.

“Don’t run from us, firefly,” I found myself saying before I could stop the thought.

“I’m not,” she promised, giving me a tired but cautious smile. “Just need to recover.”

She squeezed my arm once before heading to the door.

Spencer started to follow her but stopped long enough to meet my eyes, speaking to me softly.

“She bit Ollie.”

“Holy shit,” I breathed out as that sank in. She’d claimed him? She couldn’t blame heat fog, she had done it on her own.

Did this mean?

It had to mean she was ready.

Letting her walk away wasn’t quite so hard now and I shared a grin with Dustin who had been watching the whole exchange with a pensive expression.

“Come on, let’s get him home. We’ll have to hire a hazmat team to tackle this bar before we can open again.”

“I’ll make a call once we get home,” Dustin said, the two of us walking toward the storage closet to get our other third.

As soon as we got near the room I was hard all over again. Lindsay’s iris and amber scent was everywhere, the smell of sex heavy in the air.

Ollie was sitting against the wall, surprisingly dressed and looking fondly over at the completely wrecked and mostly deflated air mattress. That nap hadn’t lasted long. His hand stroked the nape of his neck and I knew if he lifted it I would find what Spencer confessed to me.