Powder pink panties and matching lacy teddy offered an almost translucent framing of his 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 he saw when his family hosted a gathering. This wasn’t one he had received at the head table of the party, it was too salacious for the rest of the pack to see. Hidden under his bed ever since.

Georgie assessed himself 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. His skin was soft beneath it, slathered in lotion that smelled of geraniums and added a little shimmer. Glittery clips pinned his hair back, still damp.

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

He hesitated, bouncing on his toes for a moment, shaking off his self-consciousness. Then he took the bathroom door handle and turned it, stepping out into much cooler air, and a fresh waft of his 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 his bare skin, sending a masochistic pleasure surging through his nerves. Somehow, he seemed furious with him. Georgie wasn’t too happy with Cove himself. As his senses returned from their shocked vacation he smacked his arms across his chest and drew a knee up to hide the frilly panties.

“What are you doing?” he hissed.

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

“Casey is meeting me here any minute!”

He stormed towards him, 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,” he mumbled. He let his knee fall just a tad.

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

Georgie gaped. “I- You-”

“Out.”

“No!”

“No?” He hooked over him, 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 him. And Georgie wanted him to, which was the worst part. He wanted his hands on him, he wanted him to strip him and throw him to the bed like he did that morning of his mate maturity and kiss him like he did that night in the tent and- “I can hear him coming.” Growled under his breath, the words sent a shiver through him.

“What do I-”

Cove pressed two fingers to the strap of his teddy and knocked him back into the bathroom, closing the door before he could argue. Outside, he 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 his eye and lit up.

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

“Wow.”

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

“Wow.”

“Stop it! I’m embarrassed now!” He tried to turn and run back to the safety of the bathroom. A thick arm caught his waist and carried him backwards, dangling, to his bed. Casey laid him on the covers gently and kissed him from his ankle to his 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 his curse words trapped behind his teeth. That man knew exactly how indecent he 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.

Georgie stroked his snow white hair and kissed his crown. “It’s okay,” he 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.” He 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 Casey’s mood back up a little. And it lifted Georgie’s a lot to feel Cove’s glower against the back of his head while he wrapped himself around Casey’s torso. Dressed in Casey’s clothes. Feeling Casey’s fingers trace his spine as he drifted off to sleep.