Page 187 of Wisteria and Cloves
"She's still healing," I said quietly, my pencil stilling against the paper. "From everything her mother put her through, from years of being told she wasn't enough."
"Healing takes time," Nicolaus agreed, though I could see the tension in his shoulders. He wanted her marked just as badly as the rest of us. "We can't rush her into something that permanent when she's still learning to trust herself."
Christopher leaned back, running a hand through his hair. "Sometimes I wonder if she knows how much we want it. How much we want her to be ours in every way."
"She knows," I said with certainty. "She's not naive. She can sense how we hold back, how we're careful not to push." I tapped my pencil against the paper, thinking of the way Lilianna sometimes watched us with those thoughtful eyes of hers, like she was piecing together a puzzle.
"She's more perceptive than we give her credit for," Nicolaus agreed, his gaze distant. "Sometimes I catch her looking at our necks, where our marks would go."
Christopher's lips curved into a soft smile. "I've noticed that too. She doesn't realize she's doing it."
"Julian's probably telling her all about it right now," I chuckled, imagining my packmate's enthusiasm. "He's never been good at hiding his desires."
"That's why they work so well together," Christopher observed. "Julian wears his heart openly, and Lilianna needs that transparency."
"She responds to that honesty," I agreed, adding more shadows to my sketch.
Christopher glanced at the clock. "Speaking of Julian, I should prepare something for them. They'll need sustenance eventually. We can make that pasta dish she likes—the one with the lemon cream sauce."
I smiled, remembering how Lilianna's eyes had lit up the first time we'd made it for her. "And garlic bread. She always wants extra."
"And a salad she'll barely touch," Nicolaus added with a fond shake of his head.
The domesticity of the moment struck me—four men coordinating to care for the woman they loved, discussing her preferences and habits with intimate knowledge. I smiled as I glanced back at the sketch.
Lilianna really did change our lives…and I can’t wait to see how else things change with her around.
Chapter Sixty-Five
Lilianna
I woke to hearing whispers, I blinked my eyes open to seeJulian out of my nest and watched Julian and Nicolaus urgently whispering at the open door of my room.
"...just need to keep her distracted," Nicolaus was saying, his voice low but tense. "At least until we can confirm it's nothing."
"Are you sure?" Julian's response was equally hushed, his normally playful tone replaced with something serious. "The timing couldn't be worse."
I shifted slightly in the nest, careful not to make any sound that might alert them to my wakefulness. My body ached pleasantly from our earlier activities, but a cold knot of anxiety began forming in my stomach.
"Miles is already looking into it," Nicolaus continued. "Christopher's making calls. When she wakes up she can shower and while she eats we can go over everything.” I lay perfectlystill, heart hammering in my chest. Something was wrong. Something they didn't want me to know about yet.
Julian sighed, running a hand through his tousled hair. "She's been so happy lately. I hate to see anything disrupt that."
"We all do," Nicolaus replied, his voice taking on that protective edge I'd come to recognize. "But keeping her in the dark would be worse. She deserves to know what we're facing."
Facing? My mind raced with possibilities, each worse than the last. Had my mother done something? Was someone hurt? I fought the urge to sit up and demand answers, knowing I'd learn more by listening.
"How reliable is the source?" Julian asked.
"Reliable enough that Miles is calling in favors and Christopher's reaching out to his contacts in the media." Nicolaus leaned against the doorframe.
"How bad?" Julian's voice sharpened with concern. "Don't tell me—"
"Someone's spreading rumors," Nicolaus confirmed grimly. "Claims to have 'inside information' about Lilianna's relationship with us. Details that could only come from someone who knew what was going on.”
My blood ran cold. I pressed my face deeper into the pillow, trying to control my breathing as panic clawed at my chest.
"Who?" Julian's voice had gone dangerously quiet.
