Before I can spiral anymore about whatever weird alternate universe I’ve somehow slid into, the pantry door slams open.

I’m sure it’s Leo again, come to either finish what he started, or to be mean and aggressive like he usually is and throw some more threats my way. So I’m shocked when I see a frizzy poof of blonde hair like a halo around a head.

Odette stares at me in disbelief. “Have you been hiding in here the whole time?”

“I— No, I—”

“You need to get out there and help me serve! I can’t feed this whole pack by myself!”

I trail after Odette and let her commands and tasks do their best to try to drown out my thoughts and feelings. It only sort of works as my mind too easily slips back into thinking about Leo pressing me against that door in the pantry. And Ranveer tugging me closer to him.

“What were you doing in the pantry anyway?” Odette asks casually.

It snaps me back to reality and I blink a few times. This is typical Odette. She asks a question like she doesn’t really care about the answer, but it’s just a trick. There’s a part of her, maybe just a small part, that at least cares a little bit.

Normally I kind of appreciate her pretend-not-caring-but-actually-caring shtick, but right now I’m scrambling for an answer that makes sense and doesn’t consist of making out with Leo Moreno and literally trying to get into his pants.

I don’t want to tell anyone what happened in that pantry. And not because Leo threatened me to keep quiet. I don’t give two shits about Leo.

You sure about that, Cinderella?

I clear my throat. “Well…we are at a funeral…”

I don’t even know what it means, truthfully. And based on the look Odette gives me, she doesn’t buy it either.

“Don’t pretend with me, girl. You and Alpha Samuel weren’t close. I’m not even sure he remembered you even existed half of the time.”

I try not to flinch at Odette’s blunt words. And personality.

“Well, he was the only one who knew me—who could have told me anything about my past…”

Odette rolls her eyes. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it isn’t this. “You need to let that go,” she says. “Not everyone gets to know everything about where they came from and who they are. Life isn’t always fair like that, you know? Maybe he never told you anything because there wasn’t anything to tell. You ever think of that?”

Of course I think about that. Pretty much every other night in bed.

“I mean,” she continues, “Sam didn’t tell me shit when he dropped you off in my care. ‘You’re the only one who can take her, Odie. You’re the only one who has space.’” She snorts. “Yeah, that’s because that was the way I wanted it. But when the Alpha tells you he needs something, well, you bare your neck and accept. That’s just the way of things. You’d do well to remember that, Margot.”

I’ve heard all of this before of course, but for some reason right now, with all the other heavy stuff that’s been going on, it’s just too much. I stride over to the trash can and pull out the mostly full bag. “I’m going to take this out.”

I head out the back door toward the larger dumpster the main house keeps just for events like this. I haul the bag up and fling it into the dumpster and then sigh.

An acrid scent hits my nose and for a split second I think it’s coming from the garbage until I realize that, no, it’s flowing from behind me, back from the door to the kitchen. When I turn, another scent hits me as well, the same one from the main room and the kitchen moments ago.

Oh, fuck me… No.

This time it’s not Ranveer or Leo though. Instead, Apollo is leaning against the wall of the house, the lit cigarette in his fingers trying to lure me in with its scent. He takes a drag, then grins at me before exhaling a puff of smoke. “Thought I smelled something out here.”

I’m ready this time, though. And I’m not going to let Apollo overwhelm me the same way that Ranveer and Leo did.

Didn’t you initiate the first kiss though?

I shake my head. Maybe this is all part of my wolf’s coming-of-age. Maybe it makes me want to get with any man who approaches me. That seems like it could be a thing? Especially since it’s not like I harbor any secret feelings for the Tripdick. Well, not any more secret than I wish they’d die, or at least have their dicks fall off.

My stomach gives an odd sort of flop.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Maybe this is all just part of my coming-of-age or maybe it’s something else wild and weird. But the truth is that just because I seem to want to get with any and every male werewolf right now doesn’t mean I have to. I’m in control. I’m putting my foot down.

About time.

Apollo is looking at me and there’s definitely not hatred in his eyes. He’s always been the easiest of the three of them to read. He wears his emotions and intentions on his sleeves.

“Don’t even think about it,” I say to him.

Apollo’s smirk gets even wider and it sends an electric jolt through my body that settles between my legs. I swallow, then close my eyes.

I take a deep breath, trying to ignore my wolf, which has decided to start howling in the back of my head, egging me on. It’s not the least bit helpful in this situation.

“Feeling overwhelmed?”

Apollo’s voice is right in front of me and I snap my eyes open. I find him standing looking down at me with his eyes. I’ve never noticed how the color is almost black.

He lifts his cigarette to his lips and takes a last, slow drag.

It might be nice to be that cigarette…

Apollo drops the butt to the ground and grinds it beneath his heel.

“There’s a trash can right there…” I manage to gulp out.

He shrugs. “You really want to be talking about trash right now?”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at…”

He chuckles, a deep masculine sound, and it settles in the pit of my stomach like an ember stoking a fire. He reaches out for me, and I flinch. He smiles and then slides his hand behind my head, capturing me, holding me in place.

He hesitates for just a moment, studying my face, and I’m not sure what he’s doing.

Giving you a chance to say no.

I exhale, and dammit, I can’t help but give the tiniest of nods.

He kisses me. The smoke and tobacco that lingers on his lips and his mouth would be unpleasant on anyone else, but for some reason on Apollo it just makes me want him more. He’s like a wildfire, and he’s inviting me to get closer, to feel his heat, to risk being burned.

Apollo’s other hand slides behind the middle of my back, slipping beneath my shirt to press his bare hand against my skin. His fingers stroke me there leisurely as his tongue explores my mouth. He pulls back from the kiss slightly, only so he can capture my bottom lip with his lips, sucking and pulling on it before returning fully to the kiss once more.

My legs tremble beneath me, and without a word pulls me against him so I can use his muscular body as support and stay upright. I break from the kiss to catch my breath, but when I return again, he hesitates.

Apollo smiles and leans forward, but his lips pause, barely brushing against mine, sending little shocks of electricity through my mouth and body. “Should we take this somewhere a little less…” He pauses in his whisper, and I get the feeling he’s trying to decide if he wants to return to kissing me again. “Outdoors?”

I can feel a hard bulge in his pants, and this more than anything causes me to gasp and break free from him.

Apollo stands apart from me now, an amused smirk on his face. “All right,” he says, seemingly unaffected by what we’d just done. “I won’t press it. I won’t need to. I’m sure you’ll come looking soon enough.”

He turns and strolls away slow and easy, as if nothing at all has happened.

When he turns the corner, leaving me alone behind the house, it’s finally too much and I crumble to my knees. I try to catch my breath but the only thing that really works is pressing my face into my hands.

Three guys. I just made out with three guys, and the absolute worst three guys I could have ever kissed, at that.

And the worst part is that I liked it.