damp fashion. I found myself nearly mesmerized by his gaze as my breathing began to return to normal, and I found myself nodding and clearing my headspace.
Clearly the concept of the twins being hurt—any of my mates being hurt—was a bit upsetting to me, to say the least.
“Sorry,” I whispered, my cheeks turning bright red as I buried myself in his chest, worried about meeting the twins’ gazes because I had such an extreme reaction to something they had gone through. It didn’t change how I felt, but nonetheless, I was embarrassed.
When a head pressed against my shoulder and gave a light kiss, I felt better, tilting my gaze to find Anani right there, his expression soft and filled with a bit of awe that I didn’t fully understand. I brushed my nose against his and let out a soft exhale before the door opening had me jumping slightly.
“Everything okay?” Atlas asked, his voice causing me to smile weakly as I looked up at him curiously. From the other room I could hear Croy and Henry laughing about something, and the sound had me calming down, assuring me that no matter what they had been through before now, they were safe in the moment
Ledger still had yet to move from the bed, but I could feel his eyes on me. Unlike Atlas, Marco, and Henry, there was a bit of distance between the bonds with myself and the others. It made me want to mark them all that much more because I could feel the concern radiating from Atlas, and while instinct told me that Ledger was deep in thought, I couldn’t tell exactly where his head was at.
Was it normal to be so focused on your mates? I found myself wondering what they thought about things or what they were thinking about, almost always.
“Just talking about going back,” Anani muttered as something like understanding crossed Atlas’s gaze. He nodded.
“We need to leave in about ten minutes,” Atlas explained, and it seemed to spur the others into action. Sai pressed a kiss to my lips, surprising me and making me melt into him before he winked and strode from the room. Every time the man kissed me, he left me breathless, I swear.
Atlas walked towards the other uniforms and grabbed a few, my gaze turning towards Ledger. He was the only one who hadn’t moved yet, his gaze darkening as my eyes met his.
“You okay?” he asked softly, his voice edged in a pain that I hated.
“Yeah.” I stepped between his long legs where he was now sitting on the edge of the bed, my fingers brushing over his multi-colored hair. “Just really don’t like the idea of you or Anani ever being in that situation.”
He let out a soft hum. “Yeah, I understand that more than you know, firefly.”
My gaze tracked him as I saw a flash of something much darker than normal fill his gaze. It made my heart jump, not in fear, but in an almost exhilarated sense of adrenaline. I had a feeling there was a side to Ledger I had yet to see, and I found myself more eager than before to meet his dragon fully.
“We should get ready,” Ledger said softly.
“Okay.” I nodded in agreement as he stood, stepping fully into my space and dipping to brush my lips, causing my knees to break slightly. His taste was sweet against my lips and caused me to tremble.
Suddenly, a uniform dropped between us, and Ledger’s expression broke into a relaxed smile. He snatched it up, causing me to look at Atlas, who was watching me with a warmth of affection and amusement. “We really will never leave if you keep kissing people, angel.”
“He kissed me!” I squeaked in protest.
“Mhm.” Atlas shook his head with mock amusement as Ledger slid by to go get changed. “I don’t think that’s what happened.”
I stepped closer to him and went up on my toes, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I pinky promise that is what happened.”
“And what happened at brunch today?” His large hands easily lifted me by my waist and I wrapped my legs around his hips, loving how large he was in comparison to me. I had to practically cling to him—scratch that, I was one hundred percent clinging to him, and I loved it.
“We met with the council,” I said with a teasing smile, pretending to not know what he was talking about. I wasn’t positive how all my mates knew about Henry and I,