The Strength of the Pack (Suncoast Society #30)(5)

Nate washed his hands and grabbed himself a cup of coffee, returning to the medical play table to sit on it and await the start of the ceremony. Out of courtesy, no one would play while the collaring was underway, so it wasn’t like he was blocking anyone’s access to the table.

Besides, Marcia, Derrick, and Kel always reserved the table for him for the whole night when he was in attendance. He enjoyed absorbing the ambient energy from watching others playing around him and from what he himself was doing.

It wasn’t about paddles and canes and floggers for him. He wasn’t into that.

He found his attraction in the energy exchange. Maybe some would call that woo-woo nonsense, but it was his kink and he enjoyed it.

All the better, he could actually do some therapeutic good for people in the process.

His gaze fell on Eva one more time as Loren called for everyone to gather around for the collaring. He’d always sensed a sad sort of cloud around Eva.

No, that wasn’t right. It was more like a wall, a protective cloak. He’d never seen her play with anyone, not even Leo or Jesse, at the club. As a Top or a bottom. And while some people were very friendly and huggy with others, formal protocols notwithstanding, he’d noticed she…wasn’t.

Interesting.





Chapter Three


Yesterday, while Jesse had been at work and Laurel had been at school, Leo had asked Eva to sit down and talk with him.

Adjusting to this new life was getting incrementally easier for Eva. She’d think she couldn’t do another day, then look back three weeks later and realize yes, she had.

That was the only thing keeping her going. That, and her promises to Leo and Jesse that she would keep going.

And she was slowly building up a stable of good, trusted friends. Tilly, Eliza, June, Marcia, Loren—everyone at the Suncoast Society had proven by the way they responded to Leo’s accident that they cared.

That had gone a long way to earning her trust.

Yes, she would still sometimes feel angry over the situation. That it wasn’t fair the man she married wasn’t her husband any longer. That he never really had been the man she thought she married.

Leo hadn’t deliberately misled her any more than she’d deliberately misled him about her past. He’d also struggled for years to try to be what and who she needed until he finally couldn’t.

That wasn’t on him, that was on her. She’d avoided dealing with herself and her past long enough.

At least Leo had tried.

If she was totally honest with herself, Leo had put far more emotional energy and effort into their relationship than she had.

Another promise she’d made to Leo and Jesse was to continue the counseling. If for no other reason than to be the best mother to Laurel that she could be.

During their talk yesterday, Leo had laid it on the line to her, that he needed to know if she was going to be able to go through with witnessing him and Jesse formalizing their commitment to each other in public at the collaring, in front of their friends. She already knew she’d be okay at the wedding.

It had been a tiny victory when she could honestly admit to Leo that she felt a mix of sadness and love over the events, but she’d be able to handle it. She did love Leo and always would. She’d come to love Jesse, too. He was as good a dad to Laurel as Leo was.

It didn’t obliterate the entirety of her loss but she tried to remind herself that if she found Leo, maybe she could one day find another man. She didn’t want Leo and Jesse’s lives placed on hold and in limbo just because of her.

She knew what to expect today. Leo had gone over what he planned to do, to make sure she’d be okay with it.

To give her the opportunity to back out.

“I’m going to be brutally honest, Eva,” he said. “If you cannot deal with the collaring, you will need to go wait outside while it happens. Or stay home. I can’t be focused on you, because I’m there for Jesse.”

“I’ll be okay. I promise.”

Then he’d hugged her. “We’re not abandoning you,” he said.

“I know.”

Sitting here now, it hit her how real this was.

And that she was dealing with it. Coping. Handling it.

What she hadn’t expected was for Leo to call her over to them after he collared Jesse.

Loren handed Leo another box, similar to the one that had held the day collar necklace he’d put on Jesse.

Inside lay a similar necklace.

“I know we haven’t been around much,” Leo said to those gathered in attendance, “but just for the record, in case anyone didn’t know, Eva is under our official protection. We’re not her Doms, but if anyone f*cks with her in the bad way, we might as well be.”

“Amen,” Tilly said with a smile.

On the tag, a small tribal fish design like the one on Jesse’s tag, only with a hot pink background. On the back had been engraved LC-JM.

The men’s initials.

Leo handed it to Jesse, who fastened it around Eva’s neck.

“When you meet a guy we can sign off on,” Leo said, “we’ll let him replace that. Until then, it’s a reminder of the fact that you’re safe with us, but that we’ll find the right guy. That we are and always will be a pack.”

She felt close to tears, hugging first Jesse, then Leo. Leo hadn’t told her about this, and she was glad he’d surprised her.