Her Given (Editing)

Chapter 31 - Caught

Cole's POV

"Guys! We're back!" Xavier's shout rings throughout the house.

"Holy shit! What do we do?" Avelyn whisper shouts, desperately trying to cover her naked body with the blankets to salvage her dignity. I chuckle at her but soon stop when I realized I'm naked, too.

"Fuck!" I'm quick to find my plain blue shirt and put it back on, my boxers and pants as well. I'm sure I probably look a mess right now, but now's not the time to dwell on such things.

"Damn it! I'll be right back, kitten. You get dressed in here while I go distract them. I'll just tell them you took a nap up here," I instruct. Her eyes are wide and frantic, probably more afraid to lose her pride right now then for them to actually see her naked. I mean, it's not like it would be the first time.

"Wait," her voice stops me from walking out the door. "What will you do if they come up here and find that I'm not asleep, and why would I come in here to take a nap when I could just sleep in our bed?" She asks hastily.

Shit. I didn't think about that.

"Um... just say that it was too hot in there and you decided to come up here. And as for the first question, if they come up here to check on you and see if you're awake, just pretend like you've actually just woken up. They'll be able to tell if you're just pretending to be asleep."

She nods her head, and I take that as my cue to exit the room. I honestly don't care if the boys found out what happened with Avelyn, but I know that she does. Plus, I'd rather them not see me naked. I'm not ready for that quite yet. So I'm just trying to spare her dignity right now. Besides, the guys know that I wouldn't go too far with Avelyn before her birthday.

We're saving that for the markings because we all have to be there to mark her and mate with her. Since we're all her mates, we all have to be present. It only makes sense for us to mate with her after we've marked her. Our wolves wouldn't be able to contain themselves if we didn't; they're all too possessive over Ava, their mate.

I bound down the stairs quickly to meet with the guys. I hear their voices in the kitchen and decide to go in there. When I enter, I find them unpacking grocery bags and talking amongst themselves.

"Hey guys," I greet as casually as possible. They both turn to me, sniffing the air.

'Shit! I probably smell really strongly of Avelyn right now.'

How did I not think of that before? They look at me with knowing expressions on their faces.

Busted.

Damn it.

"So," Ashton drawls awkwardly. "What did you two do while we were gone?"

My face pales and I can't help the blush that spreads across it while I shift uncomfortably on the balls of my feet.

I clear my throat, trying to rid the air of the awkward tension. It's so thick it's almost tangible. "Um," I start, rubbing the back of my head bashfully. I remember the plan and decide to try to stick to it even though it's no use at this point. "She got tired and went to sleep upstairs. Before that we... watched a movie?" I try to make something up on the spot, but it sounds more like a question than an answer.

Okay, there's no way they believed that. And I'm sure they already know of what actually happened; they're just trying to spare my pride.

Too late.

"Right. A movie. Did this movie happen to star a beautiful girl that goes by the name of Avelyn?" Xavier asks, also trying to ease the tension with a joke.