Chapter Fifty-ThreeWes
Chapter Fifty-Three
Wes
“ L et me go. I thought we were friends–” Grace shrieked, wrestling me from sleep as she thrashed in the dark nest.
“Grace, hey, it’s okay. I’m right here. It’s just a nightmare. You’re okay.” I covered her naked body with mine, pulling a blanket over us, trying to comfort her with my presence.
Evan, who’d been hugging my back, sat up. “What’s wrong?”
“Nightmare. You’re okay. I’m right here.” I peppered her face with little kisses.
“Grace gets nightmares?” He frowned, getting closer to us.
“Sometimes. Usually it’s not when you’re in bed with us,” I admitted. “She doesn’t remember what they’re about, either. I think it’s whatever happened that ended with her coming to us.”
Evan ran his fingers through her hair. “You didn’t think to tell me that she gets nightmares when we’re not all together?”
A touch of hurt shot through the bond.
I shrugged as she relaxed under our touch. “I didn’t want you to feel obligated to sleep with us every night. You should spend time with Bren and Jett. We’re okay.”
He made a face. “You should still tell me. I… I didn’t even feel them. Maybe I’ll feel her better now. I wish my mark would stay like yours.”
“It’ll scar eventually if you keep doing it in the same place. You can always have it tattooed.” I yawned. We’d been up late, and had a number of rounds, since both of them were knot-greedy. Which I didn’t have a problem with. After all, I was here to make them happy.
Brennan also kept texting. But whatever. It wasn’t a big deal. Also, I sort of got it.
“I’m trying to sleep,” Grace muttered.
“Sorry, you had another nightmare,” I said, finding a bottle of water, taking a sip and passing it on to her.
She took a sip. “Oh.”
“Do you want to move downstairs? Maybe take a shower?” It had grown warm and stuffy, almost stifling. We were all a little sticky.
The nest was great for fucking, and fine for dozing between rounds, but not comfortable for actual sleeping.
“I feel sort of gross. What time is it?” Grace nodded.
Evan took the bottle from her, downed it, got up and found his phone. “Four.”
“Why don’t we shower off and go back to sleep in a clean bed.” I rolled off Grace and picked her up, getting a little whiff of that scent she’d made when she gushed all over Evan. It wasn’t quite omega perfume, but it was definitely eau d’fuck me alpha, and that made me hard.
I made sure the bedroom curtains were closed to keep the room nice and dark so we could sleep in. Evan’s plans for today were more relaxed, and we didn’t have to be back in Rockland at any particular time. Though we all had work tomorrow.
We piled into Evan’s shower and washed, everyone a little too tired to get frisky. After we got out and dried off, Grace put on one of my shirts and crawled into bed.
“Clean sheets, clean me, mmmm,” she hummed.
I climbed in with her, pulling her to me, burying my face in her damp hair. While part of me liked it when she reeked of me, with my cum dried to the inside of her thighs, I could understand the sentiment.
Evan got in on the other side of me, naked, completing our pile. He turned off the bedside lamp, and I purred for them, letting them know how happy they made me, and how much I loved them.
I drifted off to sleep. When I woke up, light illuminated the cracks between the curtains and the window, and streamed in through the bathroom door, which had been left open. Giving a little stretch, I looked at the clock on the nightstand; it was after ten.
My belly rumbled. Breakfast was definitely on the agenda. We had some chores to do. I might as well get started while they slept a little longer.
Carefully, I tried to extract myself from between Grace and Evan. Grace immediately rolled into Evan, seeking his warmth.
“Where are you going?” Evan mumbled, cuddling Grace.
“I’m going to start the laundry. Then I’ll make breakfast. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” I whispered, looking for boxers and a shirt in my bag.
His eyes closed. “I’ll help soon. I’m just going to cuddle her a little longer.”
Yep, I’d worn them out. I left a filled water bottle on the nightstand, then went up to the turret.
The scents of us and sex hung heavily in the air, the sheets rumpled.
Turning on the fan and air filter, I gathered up an armful of sheets and blankets and brought them down to the laundry room and got a load going.
I went into the kitchen and turned on the coffeepot. It took multiple trips to get everything down, and by then the aroma of coffee filled the quiet kitchen.
Pouring myself a cup, I took it out on the porch and spent a moment sipping it, enjoying the view. I was a lucky man to be able to enjoy this, with the loves of my life upstairs.
Finishing my coffee, I went inside and looked at what was in the fridge. I set out some bacon, eggs, and vegetables on the counter and then went back upstairs.
Evan was sound asleep, curled on the bed. But Grace wasn’t there. I peeked through the open door and saw her lounging in the bubble-filled tub, eyes closed.
“Hey, do you want me to bring you some coffee?” I asked softly, coming in. She looked delicious. The idea of stripping off my clothes to join in the tub tempted me.
Grace groaned. “Coffee in the bathtub? Yes, please. Sorry, I’m sore, and Evan had the foresight to bring those magic green bath fizzies.”
“You look cute in the tub. I was thinking of making a bacon and veggie scramble for breakfast? Unless you wanted pancakes?” I offered.
“Coffee and bacon, please.” She looked out the window at the lake. “So beautiful.”
I looked her right in the eye. “Yep, beautiful.”
She tipped her head up for a kiss. I captured her lips and went back downstairs to get her coffee. I got one for each of them and returned to the bedroom.
“Brought you coffee, Babe.” Placing Evan’s on the nightstand, I gave him a kiss.
Evan smiled. “Thanks, Babe.”
“Eggs and bacon for breakfast or pancakes?” I asked.
“Either sounds fantastic.” He got up on his elbows. “Where’s Grace?”
I held up Grace’s mug. “Princess Peaches gets coffee in the tub.”
She beamed as soon as I came in. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I handed her the mug. She took a sip and made a happy noise.
Grace held up the mug. “This is perfect. I’ll be down in a bit. Anything else on the agenda today that you know of?”
“I think today was meant to be relaxed–a leisurely breakfast on the patio. Maybe a nice walk or some fishing on the dock. Or even cuddling and watching a movie while eating popcorn.” The little cuddle alcove in the living room was one of my favorite spots.
She nodded as she sipped her coffee. “Those sound amazing.”
I gave her a kiss, then went back downstairs to start breakfast, making more coffee, moving the platter of treats onto the patio table, and getting everything set.
Evan came downstairs first, wearing only shorts, as I was frying bacon.
“Nothing is sexier than an alpha cooking.” Evan put his arm around my waist and hummed.
“Careful. You’re not wearing a shirt, and frying bacon shirtless is not recommended,” I warned, giving him a quick kiss.
“Grace will be down shortly. Spencer sent me a picture of the new door from her room to the bathroom. I also got the full dance report from Riley,” he said. “And fifty million texts from Brennan. I assured him that we were fine. Jett won his match, too.”
“Glad everything is okay back home. Last night.” I inhaled and grinned. “Mmmm. You touched her just right last night. That taste, that smell…” I growled, lining a plate with a paper towel to put the bacon on, remembering the scents she made. My mouth watered at the thought.
“I know. Close but not quite. It makes me wonder, though, about her world. Are there basically a whole lot of omegas who have no idea what they are because something is missing to trigger that biology? Or maybe omegas from her world don’t need knots so they don’t stand out?
” Evan frowned as he got juice from the fridge.
I thought for a moment. “Maybe.”
“It could be a good thing parallel world travel isn’t a thing, because could you imagine a world being invaded for their omegas–or her world invading ours for our alphas?” Evan added.
“That’s a scary thought. Also, resources. Or land. Or using another world as a prison colony. Or conquering a new world because you messed up the old one.” I used tongs to take the bacon out of the pan.
“That’s why Spencer doesn’t want me to try to go home. I… I don’t want to.” Grace padded into the kitchen, wearing one of those T-shirt dresses she favored. Something about pockets, not that I understood why pockets were so exciting.
“Because you’re going to steal our alphas and take them back to your knotless world?” Evan filled the juice glasses.
“Remember when Riley joked about hacking the universe and we were like Yeah, no, let’s not piss off whoever’s in charge?
Spence believes that parallel world travel is regulated and that me intentionally figuring out how to return home could garner their attention, and we might not want that.
” Grace snuggled into me and stole some bacon.
“He’s afraid that they’ll come after me because I shouldn’t be here. ”
“Why does he even know these things?”
Evan nodded. “That’s a very Spencer thought. I’m so glad you want to stay here. After all, we have knots here.”
“And tasty-smelling people.” Grace pressed her nose into Evan’s side and giggled. “Why are we talking about parallel worlds?”
“We were actually talking about your biology in the context of your world. It reinforces my previous theory about your world having designations to some extent but not necessarily in the full way they do here,” I said as I chopped vegetables for the scramble.
“Oh.” Grace stole another piece of bacon, then grabbed a tomato and began chopping.
Evan chopped a pepper. “I’m curious how you’d react to alpha rut pheromones. For me, I get all relaxed and buzzy, and my body is like, Take me, Alpha, I’m yours. ”
“Oh. That could be fun to try. It felt so good when you ate me with such… fervor.” She chuckled.
I stole a kiss. “I can get a little overzealous. But my alpha instincts wouldn’t actually let me hurt you, one ow or whimper and I’d be making it better.”
“Next thing you know, I’m going to actually find this world's Grace, right?” She grinned. “She’s just called something else.”
“No one can come close to you, Peaches.” I kissed the top of her head. I was pretty sure that there was no other version of her here, or anywhere else. She was one of a kind.
Evan pressed a kiss to her temple. “Exactly.”