Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
WINTER
“Bell,” I sigh, picking up the rugs off the floor to start sweeping. “It’s gross in here. Will you help me clean?”
We originally came upstairs so Bellamy could finish the mural and then napped, but now I feel out of sorts. It’s that weird feeling between being overheated and unsettled. As if I slept for too long, and now I feel like I woke up in an alternate universe.
While the mural is perfect, the rest of my nest feels wrong. It’s uncomfortable, and I need to fix it. I’m just not sure how yet.
So, we’re cleaning.
“Yes, I’ll help you,” he says, standing smoothly to take the rug from me.
Bellamy easily rolls them up before taking the broom from me to clean.
Shiloh had these rugs delivered by his employees as promised, and I love them, just not where they’re currently at.
I follow behind him with the dust pan, and then he begins to clean the bathroom while I mop.
Even after that, it still doesn’t feel right. Bell calmly helps me place the rugs where I want them, not complaining when I change their position several times.
“Better,” I mutter, pursing my lip as I glance at the bed.
“Strip it?” he suggests, following my lead.
It’s been a full day since the charity event, and I’ve just been cranky. There’s no real reason why. My clothes feel too tight, and I hate all of it, which means I’m wearing an oversized shirt that belongs to Abbott at the moment.
“Yes,” I decide. “I want the colors flipped so that the brighter ones are underneath it. Then I want our blanket we knitted thrown over it, but so that it’s on a diagonal.”
“Okay,” Bell says slowly. “Let’s try it.”
“I sound crazy, don’t I?” I wail, throwing up my hands. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing,” he says, pulling me into his arms. “You’re perfect. If something doesn’t feel right, then we’ll fix it.”
“Okay,” I sniff, feeling as if I’m losing it.
Bellamy patiently helps me change the color combination of blankets, so that the neutral colors are on top, while the lavender barely peeks out underneath. The fitted and top sheets are gray and work as they are, while the yellow and cream pillows pull everything together to brighten things up.
Blowing out a breath as I fiddle with the slate blue weighted blanket we finished yesterday, I finally step back to find that it’s perfect.
“How’s the smell of the nest?” Bellamy asks, his earlier calm beginning to bleed away. “Does it feel off, Beloved?”
“Ah…” Taking a deep breath, I realize that our nest doesn’t smell like our alphas. My anxiety ramps up so fast, I see stars, and Bell flinches.
“I knew it,” he complains. “We need to fix it.”
“This belongs to Abbott,” I say, tugging at the shirt that hits my knees before pulling the collar of it to my nose. It smells like amber and a campfire, just like him. The scent is warm and reassuring, making me miss him deeply. “Should I add it to our nest?”
“You’re wearing it,” Bell says, shaking his head as I sigh in relief. “No, I’m not taking your shirt, Beloved. I don’t want you to get cold, and you like it. We need to steal new things.”
We stretched with our alphas in our usual morning ritual, and then came upstairs while they went for their run. Walking down the stairs with Bellamy, I listen for signs that they’re home.
“Maybe they’re still out?” I ask.
“Run club is usually Wednesdays, but they still go out for a run every day,” Bellamy mumbles, shrugging. “We'll be quick. They all have their clothes mixed together. Hopefully they haven’t done laundry.”
“Shit. The house cleaner hasn’t come in yet. We should be fine,” I say. Bell and I wash our own clothes because we don’t like people touching our things. “Let’s see what we can find.”
Hurrying into the room, I find the hamper and begin to dig through it while Bellamy picks up things that are on the floor.
“This is…Abbott’s,” Bell groans, the workout pants against his face as he groans.
Ooh, yes! I need to find their gym clothes. That’ll have their scent all over it. Finding a black shirt, I breathe it in, whimpering as I smell Shiloh’s oleander scent. Mmm. So fucking yummy. Dangerous yet beautiful, just like him.
“I have Shiloh’s shirt,” I say, sighing happily as I keep looking. “I can’t find any women’s clothing in this hamper.”
“I thought the house cleaner did all their laundry and she hasn’t been by this weekend. Where could it be hiding,” Bell mumbles, walking into the bathroom to look for something she may have slept in. “Found her pajamas! I can’t find anything else though.”
Shit. Cassidy must have done her laundry earlier. It’s not much, but it’ll help.
Would it be wrong to strip her out of her clothes as soon as she walks in the door? I’m really fucking tempted.
It’s like Bellamy and I have been turned into feral omegas, hoarding everything we can to fix our nest. I don’t understand what’s wrong with us.
“Bell, are you feeling what I’m feeling, or are they your own feelings?” I ask, searching for something that belongs to Ansel.
The things our instincts are driving us to do aren’t normal, and I’m getting the sinking sensation that it’s more than simply a bad mood.
“My skin is clammy,” he mumbles. “I’m definitely in the thick of whatever this is. Are we getting sick?”
“No,” I say, my stomach flip-flopping with anxiety. Shit, shit, shit!
Chewing on my inner lip, I force myself not to think about anything but searching for Ansel’s clothing. I’m about eighty percent sure this is the beginning of our heat. I’m willing to pretend as long as possible that it’s not if it keeps Bell from freaking out.
We’re just going to have to figure it out together.
“I found one of his socks. Damn. Are you fucking serious?” Bellamy snarls angrily.
Okay, so maybe both Ansel and Cassidy did laundry recently.
“He slept in boxers last night with us. Check the bed, baby,” I tell him, trying to be the calm one now.
I close my eyes as the first cramp hits my stomach and I whimper as I press my hand on my abdomen. Fuck.
“Winter?” Bellamy asks, abandoning the search to rush to my side.
“I’m good,” I lie. “It was just a sharp pain, but nothing serious. Let’s find those boxers so we can make it upstairs, okay?”
“You said that in a odd way," he growls under his breath. Bellamy leaves me to yank off the sheets on the already made bed, making a giant mess until the missing boxers are found.
They were lost at the bottom of the bed under the sheets. It’s not the first time clothes have been lost in this bed. I’m going to call it a clothes eating monster.
Damn, I think I’ve lost the plot.
“Make sure we get it all,” I say breathlessly as I clutch the clothing to my chest.
“Got it,” Bellamy says, adding a few more items to my pile before picking me up.
“Bell…”
“You’re keeping secrets, which means I get to carry you back to our room,” he says with a shrug, leaving the pack bedroom. “Now, is there something you want to tell me?”
“I think we’re going into heat,” I mutter, wincing as he almost dumps me on my ass as he trips. “Bell, I can walk.”
“Absolutely not,” he grumbles, walking up the two flights of stairs to the attic without complaint. “Should we call someone?”
“It’s early,” I admit. “I’m just going to be uncomfortable for a while. Maybe send a text so they know we’re awake?”
“Okay,” he murmurs, laying me on the bed. Grabbing his phone, he shoots off a text before joining me. “I will happily distract you, Beloved.”
My lips twitch as I chuckle softly.
“Help me fix our bed with our alphas’ clothing, and then you can make me come,” I suggest, breathing through the pain as I sit up with the clothing still in my arms.
“Nope. You lay back and tell me what to do,” Bellamy insists.
Scooting back, I fix the pillows to help prop me up. The passing reminder that I haven’t gone on birth control slides through my mind before I shrug it off. Bellamy and I want kids at some point, so it’s not like we’re being irresponsible by not using it.
Things are also clicking with our alphas, bonds are being made, so I don’t want to get on it now. Whatever happens, happens. I don’t want to pump any hormones into my system with birth control right now.
My body has been through a lot recently. I need to give it some time to settle.
“Can you put Shiloh’s shirt under the blankets on my right side?” I ask. “What if we made a barrier of clothes in an outer ring around the bed?”
“I’ll need more clothes, but I can make it happen,” Bellamy says with a wry grin.
Grabbing a pillow to hug against my stomach, I nod, holding onto the distraction as tightly as possible. The cramps go from barely there to stabbing pain, and I never know when it’ll change.
A barrier around the outside of our bed to keep our alphas’ scents near us sounds just fucking peachy.
CASSIDY
We find Nina and her pack also running today, and they join us with wide smiles.
“Please have mercy,” Nina groans as she keeps up.
“Mercy is for the weak!” Shiloh yells, well acquainted with her love-hate relationship with exercise. “Since Nina’s alphas aren’t keeping pace…”
“Speed it up!” I yell with Abbott and Ansel.
“God, you’re awful,” Cooper mutters, easily running faster with us.
“You’re not the one with little legs!” Nina yells, forcing said legs to move faster. “Don’t make me talk or I’ll die.”
“Still so dramatic,” Abbott snorts.
“She’ll never change,” Riley laughs. “She’s always dramatic.”
“Rude,” Nina wheezes.
Ethan rolls his eyes as he keeps pace with Nina, moving her toward the middle of our group to keep her safe. It’s an immediate instinct whenever she joins us to keep her insulated in our group, and also keeps people from staring at her.
Our running clothes don’t keep much from the imagination, and Nina is getting more comfortable with wearing clothing that doesn’t hang off her body anymore.