Powder pink panties and matching lacy teddy offered an almost translucent framing of her body. The intention wasn’t to cover anything. A gift from a friend already mate mature, Missie had been like a cousin to Georgie growing up: a cool older girl that she saw when her family hosted a gathering. This wasn’t one she had received at the head table of the party, it was too salacious for the rest of the pack to see. Hidden under her bed ever since.

Georgie assessed herself in the bathroom mirror of the twins’ en suite, squinting through the leftover fog of the shower, stroking down the fluffy edges of the teddy. Her skin was soft beneath it, slathered in lotion that smelled of geraniums and added a little shimmer. Glittery clips pinned her hair back, still damp.

The rattle of the suite’s door opening and closing startled her. She didn’t have a watch to check the time, maybe it just felt too soon to be thirty minutes since she left Casey by the boundary line. Maybe he was impatient. That sounded like her lovely mate.

She hesitated, bouncing on her toes for a moment, shaking off her self-consciousness. Then she took the bathroom door handle and turned it, stepping out into much cooler air, and a fresh waft of her mate’s scent. Georgie froze. Not Casey’s scent.

Cove stood to the side of his bed, half-bent and rooting around in his side table. Or he must have been before Georgie stepped out half-naked. His green gaze burned her bare skin, sending a masochistic pleasure surging through her nerves. Somehow, he seemed furious with her. She wasn’t too happy with him herself. As her senses returned from their shocked vacation she smacked her arms across her chest and drew a knee up to hide the frilly panties.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

Cove finally straightened, his expression incredulous. “In my room?”

“Casey is meeting me here any minute!”

He stormed towards her, a tower of muscle. “And I was supposed to know that how?”

Georgie’s annoyance dimmed a little. “I thought he’d tell you to stay away,” she mumbled. She let her knee fall just a tad.

“Well, he didn’t.” He was so close now she felt herself magnetised to him again. If we could be just inches apart, why not just one inch? Her body throbbed in his proximity, urging her to simply attach skin to skin. “So, get out.”

Georgie gaped. “I- You-”

“Out.”

“No!”

“No?” He hooked over her, resting his forearm on the bathroom door frame. His size alone was enough to intimidate, then there was the wild look in his eyes, like he had nothing keeping him from doing anything to her. And she wanted him to, which was the worst part. She wanted his hands on her, she wanted him to strip her and throw her to the bed like he did that morning of her mate maturity and kiss her like he did that night in the tent and- “I can hear him coming.” Growled under his breath, the words sent a shiver through her.

“What do I-”

He pressed two fingers to the strap of her teddy and knocked her back into the bathroom, closing the door before she could argue. Outside, she heard the door to the suite open and close. 

Not thirty seconds more and the same noise, only it came with Casey’s call of, “My mate, where are you?”

Georgie peeked out, far more cautiously this time. Casey caught her eye and lit up.

“I-” Her brain was still reeling from the altercation with Cove, she could hardly remember what she had planned to say to Casey. “I got this for my birthday.” She stepped out from behind the door and watched her mate melt. Mouth open, eyes darting all over her, hands twitching like any minute they might snatch at her.

“Wow.”

Georgie covered her face. “Casey!” His attention fizzled in the air around her, tickling her, making her want to squeal.

“Wow.”

“Stop it! I’m embarrassed now!” She tried to turn and run back to the safety of the bathroom. A thick arm caught her waist and carried her backwards, dangling, to his bed. He laid her on the covers gently and kissed her from her ankle to her collar bone, playing with the gauzy material between his fingers. Georgie keened beneath him, soaking in his affections-

Three thumps on the door.

Casey lifted his head and yelled, “What?”

“I can smell who’s in there so you better be decent when I come in.”

Georgie kept her curse words trapped behind her teeth. That man knew exactly how indecent she was right now!

“Can’t you just give us five minutes?”

“You can have two minutes to put some clothes on. It’s been a long day and I want an early night.”

Casey groaned into Georgie’s neck, sending vibrations in all directions that were pleasant despite his annoyance. 

She stroked his snow white hair and kissed his crown. “It’s okay,” she murmured. “When you have your own suite sorted I can put it on again and again.”

He sat up, sighed, and shuffled his hair through his fingers. “I’m sorry about this.”

Georgie followed him up. “Don’t be.” She had to stretch to kiss his cheek. “I left my clothes in the bathroom. I’ll put them back on and we can cuddle… quietly.”

It lifted his mood back up a little. And it lifted Georgie’s a lot to feel Cove’s glower against the back of her head while she wrapped herself around Casey’s torso. Dressed in Casey’s clothes. Feeling Casey’s fingers trace her spine as he drifted off to sleep.