12. Jorge
12
Jorge
The nest is warm and quiet. Riley is curled up with Vera and Mathew while Caleb and I stay to the side. Riley didn’t want us too close, but she still wanted us in the nest area, to have the whole pack together. A pretty significant change from only a few hours ago, when she growled at me and sent me away.
I’ve seen her overwhelmed like this before, but not very often. I think the last time was a year or two ago, when I was in town after she’d just returned from a mission that hadn’t gone according to plan and she’d locked herself in her apartment’s nest room.
Back then, she wanted me near her, for me to stay in her apartment, even if she couldn’t see me. Knowing I was nearby seemed to calm her down, so I slept on her couch for a night instead of the hotel I’d booked. The next morning, she’d gone back to her normal self.
I guess that nest rooms make good low-sensory rooms for people who deal with sensory overload or just need a quiet place from time to time.
We’ve also been spending a lot of time together in the nest, even before Riley joined us, but we can’t keep sleeping in here every night. It’s not practical, and also might defeat the purpose of having a nest room where our Omegas can retreat to when they need it. If this becomes our ‘normal’ bedroom, we’ll have to have a different nest room…
Also, we’re going to have to expand our closet and storage space soon. Mathew still has his walk-in dressing room, but Vera and Caleb are living out of boxes and I’m living out of two suitcases and whatever Mathew still had lying around here. That’s not practical and not something long-term.
And we need to make a proper nest, this is fine for now, but I don’t think that Vera and Mathew would want to spend too much time in a stuffy room like this when they’re at the end of their pregnancies. Pregnant Omegas apparently start nesting really badly, both in the baby room and in their own nest, and they’re going to need a better place for that.
There are plenty of rooms on this floor for all of that, but the question is how we’re going to do it. What would make the most sense. I don’t think we’ll want to break through too many walls, that’s going to be loud and I have no idea how good it would be for Vera and Mathew’s health… We probably could, but the question is if we should do it…
“What’s on your mind?” Mathew laughs, touching my leg, his fingers warm as he looks up at me lazily.
“I’m thinking that you still need a proper nest, and that we’ll have do decide where the baby room will go, and that we’re going to need a better way to store everyone’s clothes, and that if Riley would like her own room, we’ll also have to set that up.” I count them off on my fingers. I think that about sums it up.
“And we’ll need a bigger pack bed.” Vera sits up, smiling. “The nest is the only place where we all fit together right now.”
“I’m sure you’ve already got one in mind, right?” Mathew pokes Vera’s side and she bursts out laughing. “One of the ones we saw while we were looking for nest materials?”
She nods, grinning. “It comes in the same design as your current bed, but I saw that it came in a size that would fit a pack of eight.”
“Eight?” I stare at her. “Isn’t that a bit big?”
“I’d like to be prepared. And better to buy big now than having to buy a new one in a year or two.”
“I don’t know if I’d be able to handle a pack with eight people.” Riley groans, using the opportunity to curl around Vera more and putting her head in her lap.
“I didn’t mean that we’d have that many people. Just that having a bigger bed is better. That way, everyone can sleep together without having to be all squished up against each other. And we wouldn’t have to worry about anyone rolling off.” Vera plays her fingers through Riley’s hair, which seems to relax both of them.
“And how are we going to fit that into the bedroom? It’s full enough with the bed we have right now. I don’t know if we’ve got space for something bigger.” Mathew looks confused.
“We’ll just have to move a few things around.” Vera doesn’t seem at all worried about it, which makes me smile.
She doesn’t see problems, just possibilities and opportunities. It’s admirable how positive she sees things.
Though, I know that underneath it all, she thinks everything through many times and her positivity is built on experiences and trust. She’s not just positive because that’s how she wants to see things, but she’s able to be positive because she knows that things will work out, because she’s surrounded by people who will make it happen.
“The nest can’t be too big. But in a house this size, you’ve got plenty of options to make a dedicated nest room.” Caleb’s voice is low as he looks at Vera. “The nest doesn’t need to be the back corner of some closet. You’ve got lots of options now.” He laughs.
Mathew seems to think it over and it’s interesting to watch him, since he hasn’t had to consider it before. “I think I’d like something with a bit more natural light —not all the time, we’ll need good curtains— but it would also mean that we’d be able to see the stars from the nest. I think I’d like that.”
I glance at Vera, who frowns, thinking. “That should be possible, but not all the time. I prefer small spaces. We need something that can feel small, even if it’s the corner of a much bigger room.”
I pull up a shoulder, trying to be helpful. “We could make two nests.”
“No!” Both Omegas turn to me at the same time.
“I meant two for both of you to share, not one each.” I understand that they’d want a shared nest. I didn’t mean to imply one nest for each of them.
“Still, no.” Mathew shakes his head. “Setting one nest up is hard enough. Doing two would split our attention and create bad results.”
“Yes.” Vera sits up straighter. “And a nest that allows us to section off different areas at different times would be easy enough to do. A nest doesn’t always have the same use. When we’re in heat, it’s a place to hide away from the world, but when we’re not in heat, it’s a place to feel calm and safe. A room that can function as both is important.”
“We’ll want to be close to the bedroom and the bathroom, and we’ll probably want to be near the baby room too, especially in seven or eight months time.” Mathew looks around. “What about the other walk-in dressing room? It has a window, but it’s currently covered by the hanging closet. It’s the same size as this one, which we know is a workable size. And it has a door to the room next door.”
Vera perks up. “We could have the baby room next door! That makes sense. We’ll still be able to hear them and be near them.” Her eyes shine. “And I’m sure they’ll love all the natural light.”
Well, that all went much smoother than expected. I’d feared that bringing up the sleeping arrangement issue and that we really need more space for us all to settle in and make this house our home would be complicated, but it seems like everyone is pretty much on the same page.
Then again, Vera and Mathew seem to understand each other on an instinctual level that make these type of decisions much easier. We already saw that when they designed this nest. While they were browsing for items, they’d constantly point things out to the other and I didn’t hear a single neutral or negative sound, they were constantly hyping each other up. A loop of constant excitement that never fizzled out, it just seemed to connect them more and more, which was sweet.
Let’s hope that making their real nest goes as easy as that...
The next morning, after we spent another night sleeping in the nest, Vera and Mathew went to the library and started looking into how to hopefully solve the whole ‘Mathew’s pheromones aren’t strong enough to pull his Alphas out of a frenzy’ problem, while Riley, Caleb and I started on clearing out and taking apart Mathew’s walk-in dressing room so we can transform it into a proper nest.
We started with carefully unloading all the clothes, putting them into boxes and draping them over the bed, making sure to not damage anything. Which wasn’t always as simple as it sounds because Mathew has lots of clothes that are way more delicate than they initially seem. The guy loves his fancy fabrics and extravagant clothes. Not that my closet is much better, I’m just not currently unpacking it and getting frustrated at another ‘hanging only’ piece of clothing.
Once that was all done, we first made sure to take everything in front of the door to the other room away, so we could reassemble the shelves and closets in there. That way, Mathew can temporarily store his clothes in the other room and they don’t have to stay on the bed or in the boxes.
We started with the back wall, the wall with the door to the other room, and everything went smoothly. We reassembled everything in no-time, which was encouraging.
Then we started on the wall with the window, the one overlooking the balcony and the fields, and we found some unusual things behind them. Not in them but behind them, between the boards that covered up the window and the back of the hanging closet.
I thought I knew where Mathew hid all his weapons, but clearly, I didn’t. Because somehow, there was yet another stash of them hidden here.
Not entirely sure what was going on, Riley went to get Mathew and Vera from downstairs while Caleb and I started moving things out of the room, not touching any of the weapons.
“Riley said that you found something?” Mathew’s voice is light as he steps into the room, looking all relaxed.
“What are these? I thought you didn’t have any more stashes?” I point to the weapons attached to the boards.
“Oh, those aren’t mine.” He shrugs. “They’re from the people who tried to kill me. I almost forgot they were there, I haven’t added any in years.” He steps closer, looking at them with curiosity while he smiles. Like these are somehow good memories or something.
“And why do you have them?” The sinking feeling in my stomach intensifies.
“Because I managed to kill them first?” He turns to me, like he doesn’t understand my confusion.
“And, what? You kept their weapons? Like they’re souvenirs or something?” I stare at the others, but I seem to be the only one who doesn’t think this is normal.
Vera is already looking at them with interest, keeping her hands behind her, clearly not wanting to accidentally touch them, but her eyes sparkle. Caleb is still moving things out of this room and Riley is watching Vera in amusement.
“Something like that. Yes.” Mathew quickly grabs Vera’s wrist as she’s about to touch one of the knives. “They weren’t going to need them anymore anyway.”
Souvenirs.
Fucking hit men souvenirs.
And he kept them like some serial killers keep trophies of their kills.
I feel sick.
I know that Mathew has been targeted many times and I’ve seen him kill people plenty of times too, and it’s not like my hands are clean in that department either. But I had no idea about this. I had no idea he was keeping trophies of some of his kills.
Killing people and keeping trophies feels like two very different things. Two very , very different things.
And now I’m the weird one for being uncomfortable with it?
“I’m sorry.” I back out of the room. “I can’t do this.”
I flee downstairs, nearly automatically going to the garden, until I remember the blood stains in the office and I run in the other direction instead, out the house, towards the fields that surround it.
It’s not like I don’t know what kind of world we live in, how dangerous this world is, how none of us have clean hands, but that’s still different from hiding trophies of your kills behind some suits…
It just is .