Chapter Text

1

She came home from a long hunt. Her body ached, and she really just wanted a bath, and then curl up with the two men who might as well be puppies living in her house. Two puppies. Who really. Really did not care for one another. She limped into the kitchen, bonking her head against the solid warmth of Caleb’s shoulder. Whatever he was cooking smelled delicious, but she had no mind to eat. She just pressed against him.
“‘M going to take a bath.” She sighed, yawning into the back of her hand even as she pressed more against the warmth that was her gege. 

“You can eat this in the bath. I’ll come bring it to you when it’s ready.” Caleb kissed the top of her head. Always tending, always making sure she was just perfect. She heard the water pipes rattling as she approached the bathroom and smiled slightly. Where Caleb behaved like an eager puppy sometimes, Valko well and truly was a puppy most times. Well, a dog anyway. She scratched him behind the ear as his hands moved to the fastenings of her uniform the moment she stepped into the bathroom, which was filling with steam and the scent of her favourite bath oils. Something warm and fragrant. 

“Thank you,” She smiled. He took off her layers one by one, peeling them off her skin until she stood in only her underwear. Her nipples pebbled in the slightly frigid air. Well, thats what she told herself was the cause. Not the hot eyes tracing down her body, the large hands clearly aching to reach out. He lifted his hand to tease one nipple when someone cleared their throat from the doorway. She didn’t need to see to know who it was. All the other men in the house were gone for the night. Zayne had a night shift, Xavier had a hunt, Sylus was taking care of something in the N109 zone and Rafayel well.. She wasn’t even really sure where the artist was at the moment. Probably cooped up in his studio. Not that it mattered right now.
“Hands off.” Caleb said, setting down the plate of soup dumplings, and settling his hands on her hips. She felt herself lean into him, into the warmth of him, even as Valko swallowed tightly. 

“He didn’t touch me, gege.” She said lightly. Something like satisfaction pooled in the violet depths of his gaze. His fingers grazed the edge of her panties. Nothing special, nothing fancy. Grey, useful, comfortable under her uniform. He hooked his fingers under the waistband and tugged them down the rest of the way. 

Valko watched. 

Valko stayed. 

Valko tried not to scent the mix of fatigue and arousal coming off her in waves. 

Valko tried not to let it drive him crazy.

Caleb kissed her shoulder. Then her neck, brushing aside her hair. 

“Let's get you into your bath.” He murmured against her skin, gently nudging her to the standalone tub in the corner. It was full by now. She smiled at Valko, but Caleb’s grip tightened on her hips once more.
“He doesn’t deserve your smile.” He said softly, the words a croon in her ear as something of that old possessiveness surfaced in his gaze. Something she thought they had worked through by now. But clearly something that still wormed its way out of him sometimes. Valko’s.. Arrival.. Hadn’t helped that. Not with who Valko was. Who worked for him. Caleb could stomach the other men in the house, the way they touched her. The respective ways they could all make her melt. Caleb could not stomach Valko. Not yet. He hadn’t proven himself for her the way the others had. 

“Don’t be mean, gege.” She sighed as she slipped into the bath, her head tipping back with a low, pleased sound that made Valko’s wolf ears pop out and angle towards only her, his tail wagging soundlessly behind him. He’d done well. He’d made her feel good.
She closed her eyes, letting the warmth settle around her until she heard the soft, careful rattling of dishes, before the edge of a spoon gently touched her lips. She opened. Her eyes fluttered only to be met with that deep violet gaze blocking out the rest of the spacious bathroom. Warm broth filled her mouth, before she took the rest of the dumpling past her lips, chewing, then swallowing. Caleb smiled, pleased. He glanced behind him, and she could hear the distinct shuffling of a disgruntled wolf leaving the bathroom.
“Don’t be so mean to him, Caleb.” She said again. While it was true that he was the chairman for Eoncore tech, he had never tried to hurt her. She didn’t think he physically could. 

“I don’t trust him.” He waited for her to sit up before feeding her another soup dumpling. She sighed through her nose as she chewed.
“I do.” She said. And it wasn't a lie. Something in her trusted Valko despite his occupation. The same way she couldn’t hate Caleb for all he’d done to her after he had ‘died’ and then turned out to not be dead at all. “Give him time. Now leave me be, I can eat my own dumplings.” She huffed, taking the plate from him. 

Both men were banished from the bathroom, then. Caleb glared at Valko across the living room as the wolf paced. What did she see in him? What did she see in any of them? That was always the big question wasn't it? None of them seemed to know the answer. Rafayel pretended he did. ‘Im just that amazing, you lot I’m not so sure about.’ but then, Rafayel had been the first to bend when she’d been away on a hunt for too long and emotions had run high. Caleb still remembered walking into the bathroom to find Sylus and Rafayel in the shower together, hands all over each other. Caleb was fairly sure Rafayel had taken all of them at this point. She knew of course. She knew about everything that went on between her men. Her men. And she was their woman. Caleb had learned that, if he tried to deny that, he would lose her. And never again would Caleb risk losing her. 

She exited the bathroom wrapped in the soft, silk robe Valko had found in her closet. A closet he hadn’t dared linger by with the Colonel’s eyes watching him like a hawk. He had grabbed the robe and left her bedroom. She was his. The urge to keep her. To claim her. To rut into her until she admitted it too. It was a pull of pure instinct. And he had to ignore it. Because in this house, with these men, it had soon become clear that she was not only his. She was the Colonel’s, and the Doctor’s, and the artist’s. She belonged to all of them. And only then did she belong to him. He was left with the scraps. For now. 

He had to keep telling himself that. 

For now. 

He was at the bottom of the pack. 

For now. 

He watched the colonel follow her into the bedroom, his arm draping around her waist, touching her so casually. His scent rubbing up against her nearly bare skin like it belonged there.
She stopped in the doorway. Turned to him.
“Are you not coming?” She said in that tone. That tone drove him crazy with need. He’d heard her moan and cry in that tone. Sultry with pleasure. He wanted to make her scream in that tone. To discover personally what she sounded like when she fell apart. 

“Sit.” She said, indicating a chair in the corner. 

He sat. 

She smiled. And it was all he needed to forget the other man in the room. The man with his hands on her. His hands on Valko’s mate. Why was she letting him touch her? Why wasn’t he stopping her? 

Because she had told him to sit, of course.