59. Alejandro
Alejandro
V ague confusion and fear filtered through my bond with Ember. She liked being in the nest, but her force of personality was gone.
I curled against her, purring. West lay behind me, and we talked softly about nothing important. West’s phone lit up and he checked it.
“Julian’s here,” he said softly. “Let’s see if we can get some blood drawn.”
I remembered Ember’s hissing and clawing at the nurse. “Outside the nest?”
“Yes.” West sat up, looking drained. I pulled him into a quick hug. He clung to me with sudden ferocity before letting go.
I patted his back. It was going to be okay. It had to be. I didn’t find one of my omegas just to lose her.
We shifted outside the nest but leaned against the wall. We kept the door to the nest open in case she wanted to climb back in. Ben kept her in his lap, and I stayed to her left. She whimpered and buried her face in my neck. She was still pale, her skin too warm.
Sunshine came down the hallway slowly, with Julian in tow. Logan’s bonded omega, Julian, was a regular at Talk of the Town. His black hair was pulled into a ponytail, and he wore his blue firefighter uniform. He had a blue duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
“I’m Julian, Sunshine’s omega.” He gave everyone a grin and lingered on Ember, who was giving him a side eye. “Hey, babycakes, how are you?”
Ember made a soft noise in the back of her throat that reminded me of a cat.
Sunshine looped her arm around Julian, her face red and blotchy. “It’s Julian, remember?”
Ember gave Julian the thousand-yard stare, but the other omega didn’t seem bothered. He sat down on the floor a couple of feet away from us, looking relaxed. “I heard you had some excitement lately,” he said, using a calm voice.
I’d seen him at the restaurant a hundred times but never heard him sound so calm and reassuring. He’s damn good at his job , I thought, and we’re lucky to have him in the family .
Julian glanced at me and grinned at Ember. “I see you finally netted yourself a chef. Awesome, now you can have gourmet meals at the crook of your finger.” He lifted his hand up for a high five.
Ember stared at him, but she wasn’t growling. I thought maybe it was a good sign.
West shifted over and gave Julian a quick hug. Julian didn’t smell like anything, I realized, and must have used scent-canceling products so he didn’t smell like his pack.
“Remember at Christmas?” West rubbed his wrist on Julian’s shoulder. “Julian bought us some really great dildos.”
Rian choked. “Oh my god, what?”
West had a ghost of a smile. “Yeah, he said we needed some extra help.”
“We omegas gotta stick to together,” Julian said with a grin. “Nice job on getting another omega, Ember. He’s hot.” He looked at Rian when he said it. “Are you going for a record or something? Three omegas. Sounds like a good time.”
“That’s what I said,” I told him, and squeezed Ember against me. She lay between me and Ben, propped up on Ben’s chest, but just watched us talk like she was on an alien planet.
Sunshine sniffled, digging her fingers into Julian’s forearm. He patted her hand. “It’s okay, babe.” He looked at the rest of us. “I’ve seen worse. A lot worse. Just give her some time.”
Julian pulled his duffel bag closer and pulled out a needle. He held it up but didn’t come closer.
Ember growled when she saw it.
Julian held his hands up. “Okay, babycakes, no needles.” He put the needle away and sat back against Sunshine. “Is she eating? Drinking?”
“When we feed her,” Ben said quietly. “She feels…muted through the bonds.”
“That’s okay. Keep her eating and drinking.” Julian nodded, and Sunshine curled next to him. “She might feel off in the bond for a long time. That’s also normal.”
I let myself hope. Julian was so reassuring. It could be worse; he was right. She could be spitting and howling at us, not even letting us touch her.
We sat for a little while longer, chatting about nothing. Julian patted Sunshine’s leg. “We’re going to go, Ember, but we’ll come back tomorrow. Maybe we can do a blood draw then.”
“Of course,” Rian said. “Please. There’s two spare rooms if anyone wants to spend the night.”
Sunshine shook her head. “Thanks, but…” She sighed. “I need some sleep. I think we all do.”
We’d barely gotten more than snatches of sleep here and there. Sunshine was right. We piled back into the nest and curled around one another. I put West in front of me, next to Ember, and curled around him.
Sleep was a long time coming.
The next day was more of the same. We fed Ember, and she ate what was put in front of her. Julian tried two more times to draw blood.
I hung on to my optimism with both hands. Rian talked to her, sang to her. Promising that she could hear his new songs if she would make the request.
“I’m going to tell her you said that,” West muttered.
“Please do.” Rian’s love and concern shot through our bond, and I kissed his forehead.
The third day, I dared to hope it was better. Ember came out of the nest in the morning, looking around the hallway like she was waiting for Julian.
Luckily, Julian was coming in the morning around the same time, so he arrived with Sunshine a minute later.
“Waiting for me, babycakes?” Julian beamed and hefted a tinfoil pan. “Your alphas tell me you’re being good and eating.”
Ember just blinked at him, like he was a stranger to her. But it almost felt like…something was happening in the bond. Like she was reaching out.
I pushed more love and reassurance to her, and she looked at me, dropping her face on my shoulder. She looked exhausted still, dark circles under her eyes, and her skin was washed out.
“I made Logan make you Sex in a Pan,” Julian said, and nodded at Sunshine. “Your cousin knows how much you love it. You have presents, when you’re ready.”
She watched his face with interest. Suspicion, but interest.
“Luna brought you some lavender,” Sunshine added. “Raina brought you a bunch of Squishmallows. I’ll leave the rest for a surprise.”
Julian sat and chitchatted in his soothing voice. Even West relaxed again, rubbing his chin on Ember’s shoulder. He was wedged between Ember and Ben this time and also looked exhausted.
Julian pulled the syringe out with a needle. “I’d really love to take some blood, honeybun. I know you feel like crap, and checking your blood might help us figure out how to make you feel better.”
Ember wrinkled her nose but didn’t hiss at him. She huffed and stuck out her arm. She turned away, pressing her nose into my neck.
“What a good girl,” I hummed. “So brave.” I kept praising her, Ben and Rian flooding the bond with their approval, as Julian took two vials of blood. West held her tight, whispering in her ear, telling her at least they weren’t at the hospital.
Julian left, and Ember crawled back into the nest. We took a nap, but that evening she crawled out again.
Her family was in the den, overjoyed to see her. Ember just blinked and froze.
Her sister recovered first. “Hey, feeling better?” She switched the TV to the cooking show Ember loved.
Ember relaxed, and we curled up on the couch together.
“I brought you some books,” Terran said, bringing her a tote bag. “I went back to that bookstore. Maybe next time you can come with me, tell me if that alpha and omega pair are hitting on me?”
Ember made a noise in her throat but touched the books. Zephyr approached her next with photo frames. “I brought family photos for your new house.” He gestured around the den. “You have a wonderful pack. We’re so happy you found them.”
Ember made a chirring noise, reminding me of a cat again, and her pleased feeling filtered through the bond.
I tried to remain relaxed. I pushed love back at her, and didn’t jump up and down that she was feeling something other than vague confusion.
“You need to finish that PowerPoint for the turtle pond,” Raina said. Her hair was perfect as usual, but she looked brittle, like she was going to break. “I have no idea how to look up the financials for it if I don’t have the specifications.”
Ember hummed and focused on the television. We watched the amateur chefs on TV do hilariously bad work.
That night in the nest, we lay down and I tried not to hope too hard that her leaving on her own meant anything.