Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild) - By Kate Douglas Page 0,78
her hand through Sebastian’s elbow. “Where are your manners, Alex? The least you can do is say thank you. Sebastian and I were just getting to the good part when we had to break it up to go rescue you and your ladylove. And then he carried your sorry ass all the way down the hill.”
Alex grumbled at her, but he turned to Sebastian and held out his hand. “She’s right, I guess.” He glared at Lily. “I hate it when you’re right. You were right about Annie, too.” Then he smiled at Sebastian as they shook hands. “My apologies, and my thanks. I really do appreciate everything you’ve done, but if I can’t pick on Lily, my life’s incomplete.”
“No wonder you two aren’t mated.” Sebastian grinned, shot a quick glance at Lily, and then laughed at Alex. “It would be incest. You two bicker like you’re brother and sister.”
Lily drawled, “Well, not entirely,” and Alex just laughed. She tossed a pair of pants at him. He caught them against his chest, shook them out, and put them on.
“Alex and I were born just three weeks apart. We shared a crib as babies and grew up together, but I was always well aware he wasn’t a blood relation.” She jabbed him with her elbow. “We were each other’s first sexual partners.”
“Long before our parents had a clue,” Alex added. “In fact, they still don’t know when we started—quite literally—screwing around, but we were . . . what’s the word, Lil?”
“Precocious. Highly precocious. Unfortunately, our parents have been lovers for years, and expected us to take our relationship to the next level and make it a permanent bond.”
“But we don’t love each other like that,” Alex added. “Not that I don’t love Lily, because I do and I always will, even when I want to strangle her.”
“Or vice versa,” she added.
While Alex continued as if she hadn’t interrupted, “But the dynamic between us wouldn’t make for a good mating bond. We’d end up hating each other.”
“Or dead,” Lily said. “It would never work, which is why I’m so glad you’ve found Annie. You and I are not meant to be mates.”
“You have no idea how thankful I am for that.” Sebastian’s dry comment had Lily giggling, so he wrapped an arm around her and planted a big kiss on her very kissable mouth. He knew he was a bit too obvious and it probably wasn’t necessary, but he had to stake his claim, needed to tell Alex in the best way he knew how that Lily was most definitely his.
Obviously agreeing, she turned in his embrace, wrapped her arms around his neck, and held him close, kissing him back with all the enthusiasm he could have wished for.
Alex cleared his throat. “Uh, wounded guy here? You’re not supposed to be ignoring me.”
Lily broke the kiss and stared over her shoulder. “That’s because you smell like a rank combination of wolf and just-got-laid male. Go take a shower. Then we’ll pay attention.”
Grumbling, Alex headed into the bathroom. Lily took Sebastian’s hand and led him out on the deck. They sat close beside one another on the top step. Lily leaned against his side while he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Thank you,” she said. “I really do appreciate your carting his ornery carcass off the hill.”
“Any time. I’m just glad it wasn’t you who was injured. Alex and Annie were pretty torn up.”
“They’ll be fine. Thankfully we had Liana and Adam close by.” She sighed, still playing with his fingers. “Sebastian, I’m not sure how much you know about us, though you’ve probably figured out that we are extremely open, sexually. Are you okay, sharing a bed with Alex and me? Sharing sex with the two of us? Because that’s where tonight is heading. He’s hurting, and he’s going to be missing Annie something fierce. We’ve all been through a hugely emotional evening, and for Chanku, anything like that really ramps up the libido.”
Sebastian took a deep breath, let it out, and stared into the dark sky. “I don’t know.” He laughed softly, embarrassed by the wealth of feelings storming through him when he thought of sex with Alex. “There’s one way to find out. I’ve never been with a man. Never even thought of it before. Your dad talked about that tonight, about the open sexuality of your kind.”
He shrugged. Maybe they were his kind, too. Hard to know. He’d only had the one capsule, but Anton seemed to think