Chapter 222

“Absolutely not,” Rafe growls, looking between me and Jackson. “This is ridiculous – Jackson, you can sleep in your own damn bed –“

“Again, I’m fine with that,” Jackson cuts in, I think starting to get frustrated. “But Ariel would be coming with me.”

All three boys look to me and I only hesitate for half a second before stepping close to Jackson’s side.

“I would,” I say, nodding. Because, I mean, I too had assumed that we would be sleeping separately while at school – but now that Jackson has suggested it? I really can’t imagine any other way.

“Are you serious, Ariel?” Jesse gasps.

“I am,” I say, nodding and holding his gaze and then Rafe’s. “If you two are strident about not letting Jackson sleep here, I’ll go with him.”

“It’s not safe!” Rafe snaps.

“Seriously, you think Jackson can’t protect me? Behind a locked door?”

“But the secrecy element!” Jesse protests. “You can’t sleep down there – people will see you coming and going and figure it out!”

“Which is why it makes sense for me to sleep here,” Jackson says, casting out a hand. “Your hall is mostly empty – mine is full all the time.”

“Absolutely not, Ariel,” Rafe snarls, stepping towards me with a growl. “If you go down there I will just carry you back upstairs!”

“And he will carry me back down!” I shout, frowning at my brother and stepping towards him in turn. “Don’t you try to intimidate me, Rafe Sinclair, you big bully –“

“I’m not being a bully!”

“You are too! I’m my own person, I can sleep where I want to! And you’re being all snarly and puffed up because you think you can scare me out of it!”

Rafe pauses and steps back, realizing that I’m right – that he was using his bigger size to intimidate. But he gets over his shame quick enough and groans in frustration, turning away from me and sinking his fingers into his hair, cursing under his breath as he clearly tries to figure something out.

Jesse just laughs, low and derisive, shaking his head at us. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

But Jackson just shrugs, meeting Jesse’s gaze, clearly inviting him to do something about it. Jesse just rolls his eyes, giving in.

“Fine,” Rafe snaps, turning back towards us and striding back over so that he’s looking Jackson right in the eye. “But I have two rules.”

Jackson pauses for a moment and then nods, agreeing to hear him out.

“Hello!” I say, waving my arms in the air and standing on my toes. “I exist! I’m part of this negotiation!”

But they ignore me.

“One,” Rafe growls, holding up a single finger. “Absolutely no funny business. And if that defies translation, Jackson, then use your god damn imagination. You sleep in that bed, and, at most you talk. Nothing else.”

“Not a problem,” Jackson says, crossing his arms. “Like I said, we just want to sleep in the same space.”

“I, too, consent to this!” I shout, slapping my hands on my hips, fully realizing that they’re not even bothering to pretend to listen to me.

“And two,” Rafe says, putting up his second finger. “No excess noise. You snore? You talk in your sleep? You so much as creek too much in the bed and you are out!”

“Rafe you are such a hypocrite!” I exclaim, stepping forward to smack him hard on the arm. He snaps his head to me at that, finally paying attention. “Jesse snores more than anyone I’ve ever met and you’re fine with it – you sleep like a baby! Jesse could win a medal for the sonorousness and frequency with which he snores!”

“A gold medal,” Jesse qualifies, crossing his arms over his chest with a proud nod.

“Yeah,” Rafe snaps at me, ignoring Jesse and not contending my point. “But I’ve been used to Jesse snoring since we were kids! I’ve acclimated! He!” Rafe gestures vehemently at Jackson now, “is new! His sound are different – they’ll wake me up!”

“He doesn’t even snore!” I roll my eyes.

“Yes, that’s her,” Jackson murmurs, pointing at me.

Rafe rolls his eyes in turn, ignoring all of these points, and snaps his attention back to Jackson. “No funny business, no excess noise. And this is a probationary period,” he growls. “Jesse and I both have veto power – either of us can say at any time that this is done. All right?”

I squeak with glee, all my previous rage wiped away the moment my brother gives in. I throw myself at Rafe, seeking a hug, but he just shoves me away. “I’ll get you some pajamas,” my brother murmurs, glaring hard as Jacks as he strides back to his side of the room.

Jesse sighs and walks back towards the bathroom as I find my balance. “Welcome to Casa Sinclair, new roomie,” he murmurs. “Good to have you here.”

“He’s not a roomie!” Rafe calls over his shoulder, angry. “He just sleeps here!”

I squeak with joy and throw myself at Jackson next. My mate laughs and catches me, holding me to his chest as he falls back on the bed and takes me with him.

“This is the best,” I whisper, a bit shrill with excitement. “When did you think of this?!”

“I didn’t think of it, it’s not a scheme,” he murmurs, smiling up at me as he tugs my cap off and tosses it onto the desk. “It’s just the way it’s got to be.”

“Good,” I murmur, dipping my head to press a kiss to his chest. “We need to –“

“I heard a kiss! No kissing!” Rafe shouts, and then something soft hits me in the back of the head. I’m laughing even as I turn to gather up the pajamas that Rafe hurled at me. I ignore him.

“Here,” I say, smiling at Jacks. “These are for you.”

“Thank you,” he murmurs, taking the pajamas from me but immediately putting them aside as he pulls me in for a quick kiss, right on my mouth. Inside me, my wolf goes a bit jelly-legged with glee.

And as I grin at my mate, I’m not sure I’ve ever been so excited to go to sleep.

We all take a few minutes then to get ourselves ready for bed, changing into pajamas and brushing our teeth. I even steal a quick shower, eager to get the dust of this long day off of me. By the time I get to my bed the room is already mostly dark, the only thing shining on Rafe and Jesse’s side being their little reading lights as they begin to wind down their day.

I work very hard to hold back a hum of happiness as I jump into my bed, flicking my little velvet curtain off its hook as I do so that it falls shut in a soft shush of fabric. My mate is ready for me of course, snatching me out of the air in his big arms and pulling me down next to him with a soft snarl.

“Silence in there! Remember the rules!” Rafe calls, still a little mad. But Jacks and I just ignore him.

“Are you cozy?” I ask, turning on my side so that Jackson and I are laying facing each other with our stomachs touching. He has an arm around my waist, holding me tight.

“I’m fine,” he murmurs, his voice a happy rumble.

“Do you…” I hesitate for a second and then sit up a little bit, peering towards the other side of the nook. “Do you even fit on this bed?”

He laughs a little and I gasp when I see that his feet do indeed hang off the end of the mattress.

“Jacks!” I hiss, appalled. “We’ll have to get a new bed! But will a bigger one even fit in the nook? We have to –“

“It’s fine, Ariel,” he murmurs, pulling me back down to my spot with the heavy hand still on my waist. “I don’t fit in any beds – I haven’t since I was a kid. The first bed I’ve slept in in like a decade where my feet didn’t hang off was the one your mother gave me.”

“Yeah, well,” I murmur, not too happy about him potentially being uncomfortable, “she’s used to accommodating giants.”

Jackson laughs lightly and strokes a hand down over my still-damp hair.

“So,” I say with a happy sigh, snuggling down into the mattress. “Tell me about this timeshare that you and Luca came up with.”

“It’s pretty simple,” Jackson murmurs, and I can hear the sleep starting to sneak into his voice. “We both agreed that you’ve got limited free time to spend with your mates and neither of us are crazy about the idea of sharing it. So, we’ll split it.”

“Oh, really?” I say, my eyebrows going up and my wolf going a bit still within me, wary. “And…um. How did you decide to split up my free time, Jackson?”

“He gets dinners with the groups. I get nights.”

“And did…either of you think to ask me what I think about this?”

Jackson sits up a little, instantly less sleepy. “Are you…mad at us?”

“Well, yeah, Jackson!” I say, casting out a frustrated hand. “Kind of!”