Chapter 35
Orion wakes me with a cup of coffee and an orgasm on his tongue and fingers. My favorite way to start the day.
My mood quickly sours when I remember today is move-in day. The bane of my existence. These Alphas had better be prepared to live in Shiloh’s penthouse for the rest of our lives, because I am not moving again.
You’d think ,having as much help as we do, and my mates refusing to let me lift more than a toaster-sized box, I would feel pampered. Instead, I am overwhelmed. There are scents everywhere. On my boxes. In my apartment. In my new home.
I am ten seconds away from a meltdown.
“Come here, Sabine.”
Glaring over my shoulder, I intentionally step away from my Alpha. Maybe fresh air on the balcony will help.
Corded forearms cage me in. A warm body presses against my back. “You’re being extra bratty today. Did your other mates not take care of you last night?”
Shiloh’s words brush against my ear, sending a shudder down my spine. Creed and Lex had taken excellent care of me after a night of dancing.
Was I salty when Lex left in the middle of the night instead of staying with me? Yes. Does that have anything to do with my current mood? Maybe a bit, but not really.
“I hate moving,” I whine, leaning against the railing to let the cold metal steal some of the heat from my body.
He presses a palm to my cheek, brows bunching. “You have a fever. Mild, but still there. I’d like to say we can send everyone home and do this another day, but your key is due to be returned to your landlord Monday morning.”
Pursing my lips, I nod and turn to stare out over Starburgh. I’m well aware of the deadline we face. My instincts, however, do not give a shit.
“Go to your nest. No one will bother you there, and so many unwanted scents won’t surround you.
I can corral the others into unloading quicker, and then we can join you.
Maybe have a movie or game night.” His hands grip my hips, turning me so my back presses to the railing.
He slides his jaw along mine, scent-marking me. “How does that sound?”
Words clog my throat, but I can’t seem to force them past. He always seems to know what I need. Nodding, I step into his embrace. My nose finds his scent gland, losing myself in his sun-soaked beach scent.
“Go,” he urges, voice tight with need. His palm cracks against my ass on my way back into the penthouse. My head snaps back to glare at him, outraged by his audacity, but he just smirks and walks away.
He’s lucky he’s so damn hot. I swear the sight of his ass alone is enough to make me forgive him for just about anything. Including smacking my ass in clear sight of my parents.
Ignoring everyone’s questions, I dart up the stairs and through my bedroom. The sanctuary of my nest greets me with the mesmerizing aroma of my mate’s scents. After last night, even Lex’s leather and sandalwood scent blends into the mix.
It’s a warm tropical storm on a sandy beach. A bungalow open to the weather, letting the scent of the storm blow in on the breeze. Hints of citrus from the drinks waiting on the counter.
A dreamy scene that immediately settles my agitated nerves.
Crawling to the center of my inner nest, I grab my favorite fluffy pink blanket and the newest stuffy Lex left for me. Carrying both to the outer room, I bury myself in cushions, leaving only my face free to stare up at the cloudy sky.
My thoughts wander. Riding a blissful wave in that area between sleep and wakefulness. Time passes in a blur of daydreams and longing.
The soft click of my nest door alerts me to someone’s presence. I know it is Orion before he peeks his head over my blanket pile. A soft smile stretches across his lips, and he bops my nose. “You look very cozy, butterfly.”
I shrug, ruffling the blankets.
“Everyone is gone. Shiloh is airing out the penthouse, and we’re going to order food. Are you craving anything in particular?”
When I shake my head, he leans down and pecks my lips. “We’ll decide then. I’ll get you after we have the movie room set up. You can force Shiloh to watch one of your cheesy teen dramas.”
My lips twitch, fighting back a smile at the mirth dancing in his golden eyes.
What feels like a blink of my eyes later, I’m lifted into Ridley’s arms and carried from my nest. Favorite blanket in tow.
He deposits me half onto Shiloh’s lap and half on Orion’s.
Both Alphas pull me against them, settling back against the charcoal gray sofa-couch thing Shiloh ordered for the movie room.
“Do you feel better now, my heart?”
I meet his questioning brown eyes and nod. “Mostly.”
“You need cuddles to center you the rest of the way,” Ridley promises, passing me a plate. I groan with delight when I see the steak, potatoes, and mountain of veggies waiting for me. It smells amazing and tastes even better.
“Did you make this?” I ask Orion, glancing up at him when he steals a bite off my fork. “I thought you were ordering in?”
“We were going to, but nothing sounded good.”
I offer him a bite of steak, drooling when his perfect lips wrap around it. Fates, now I’m a horny mess. The flip from sullen and cranky to needy and leaking slick like a broken faucet is jarring sometimes.
A hand presses against my temple, pulling away when I turn. “Your fever is gone,” Shiloh tells me, offering me a bite from his plate.
I maintain eye contact as I take it, knowing it will rile him as much as feeding Orion did me. He shifts subtly, adjusting himself, and I grin.
“Speaking of your heat,” Lex hedges from his spot on the far end of the massive couch.
“Will you be here?”
“Do you want me to be?”
Scoffing, I set my nearly empty plate aside and crawl across Shiloh and Ridley’s laps to stare into Lex’s stormy gray eyes. “Of course, I do. But if you aren’t ready, that’s okay, too.”
“Fates damn, sunshine. Stay just like that. I love the way your ass looks when you hover over me like this.”
Ridley easily breaks the tension. Laughter fills the air as I scent mark Lex and settle across all of their laps. Only Creed isn’t touching me. Or so I thought, but when my hair tugs, I glance over Lex to find him smiling as he carefully untangles the messy strands.
“Okay, butterfly, what are we watching?”
“Are you nervous?” Orion asks.
I’m curled on his side, sprawled across one corner of the couch. We made it through exactly one teen drama before Shiloh and my other mates overrode me. Something they deemed a ‘classic’ action film plays on the TV now.
“About what?”
“Your heat.”
Turning to tuck my head into the crook of his neck, I shrug. “Yes. No. I don’t know. Worried, I guess? My scent glands aren’t fully formed, yet, so my scent is still weak.”
“You’re afraid we won’t be able to recognize your need?”
“It’s silly, I know-”
Orion grabs my chin and makes me look up at him, gripping tighter than I am used to from my quietest Alpha.
“Your fear isn’t silly, butterfly. You went through something horrific, and it left scars.
On your body, your heart, and your mind.
Don’t downplay how you feel because you don’t think it’s worth the stress.
“As for us knowing what you need, your scent isn’t the only way we can tell.
For those of us bonded to you, we will feel it.
For Shiloh, well, he has an uncanny ability to predict your needs as is, so I doubt he will suddenly falter just because you are in heat.
And Lex can barely keep his eyes off of you any time you are in the same room.
We’ve got you, Omega. I promise you won’t deal with this heat alone. ”
Tears well in my eyes, but I wipe them away. His words strike at the root of fear. “Thank you. I… Having my scent so diminished bothers me a lot. More than I’ve expressed.”
“I can only imagine how off-kilter you feel. Our scents, and the scents of our mates, are so ingrained into our senses that not being able to smell one of them would bother anyone on a good day. Let alone an Omega on the verge of a heat.”
His hand soothes up my back, between my shoulder blades to my neck, then back down again. The comfort of the contact steals the strength from my muscles, leaving me a pliant pile of goop in his arms.
Throughout the rest of the night, I am passed between my mates. Each of them whispering promises and massaging different parts of my body. Sleep rests so heavily on my eyes, I have to pry them open to make sure all of my mates are still nearby.
Lex hesitates at the edge of my nest. Only when his eyes meet mine does he cave and crawl inside, stealing me from Ridley. I sprawl across his chest, soaking in his summer twilight scent and the rugged purr that vibrates through his chest.
“Sleep, brat. We’re all here. We’ve got you.”
Sunday afternoons are meant to be lazy. Yet my Alphas woke me before lunchtime and rushed me out the door.
Grumpy doesn’t even come close to describing my current mood.
“Here.” Ridley presses a steaming cup of coffee into my hands and sets a bagel on my lap. Sipping the milk and sugar-filled liquid, I feel the worst of the tension release from my mind. Coffee is life.
The rest of my mates climb back into Shiloh’s SUV with their own beverages and breakfast food. No one will tell me where we are going. Another surprise, one I might have enjoyed if it weren’t so early in the morning.
Okay, it’s like eleven thirty, which for any normal person is not early, but for me and my inner Omega? This is practically dawn.
The sunshine yellow house we pull up to an hour later is well-maintained, but weathered with age. I steal a glance at Shiloh, realizing that description also fits him. With his toned, athletic body and graying hair, he, too, is weathered with age.
When the Alpha in question raises one brow my way, feeling my eyes on him through the rearview mirror, I stick my tongue out.