Chapter 10
TEN
Not to be dramatic, but I feel like I’m about to crawl out of my fucking skin.
Athena has been in the shower for ten minutes. I haven’t seen her, touched her, smelled her, in ten fucking minutes, and I’m about to break down the door.
Being apart from her feels wrong in a fundamental way. It’s like one of my limbs is missing.
The way her bond thrums in my chest makes me think she feels the same way I do, but I don’t want to run in there unless she invites me.
After weeks on display, she deserves her privacy, even if a part of me rebels at that thought.
Who am I kidding, a part of me?
All of me.
All of me rejects the idea that she may not need me or want me around.
The anxiety that’s shouting at me down our bond is second only to the sheer despair that coats everything we touch.
The nest that Pack Lupine has is fine. It’s a large room with an inlaid mattress still wrapped in plastic and a spacious bathroom off the side.
The ceilings are low, the windows have thick curtains to block out the light if needed, and there is space around the nest to sit or walk on if you don’t want to be on the plush surface.
It’s everything an Omega could want.
Not that I’m thinking about that. I don’t care about that sort of stuff. It’s not like I need or want a nest.
When I set up Athena’s shower, I was immediately drawn to a massive jacuzzi tub that made my muscles relax just by looking at it. The bathroom walls are painted a soft neutral cream, and the windows are small and high, with frosted tinted glass.
All in all, it’s a perfect nest for an Omega to feel comfortable.
If I were to want one.
Which I don’t.
The door behind me opens, and I spin, immediately dropping into a defensive stance.
Wyatt holds his hands up.
“Sorry to spook ya.”
He’s been quiet tonight, staring at us from the corner of the room while everyone else talked about and at us. His brother Will is my best friend and has been for nearly a decade. He’s the one who pushed me toward Pack Lupine.
Over the past few years, I’ve enjoyed working alongside Wyatt, but this new situation seems to throw him for a loop.
I’ve always found Wyatt handsome. He looks like he belongs on a ranch, not in a city like Lunarcrest. His skin is tanned and weathered, and his hazel eyes are permanently crinkled at the corners, even though he’s barely forty.
“Do you have a second to chat?” he asks, not stepping into the room.
“Yeah,” I respond, moving closer to the bathroom door, but not so close that Athena will run into me when she comes out.
He stands awkwardly outside the door, rubbing his head. He looks at his feet and mutters, “Can I come into your nest?”
I curl my lip, his question churning up a lot of feelings in me I don’t like.
Part of me, a part I’d love to bury and ignore for the rest of my life, preens, proud that he wants to come into this empty fucking space.
Another part of me wants to deck him, remind him I’m the same fucking guy as I was the last time he saw me.
Which was when I was pretending to be an Omega, and he was handing me over to a trafficker.
What a self-fulfilling prophecy that turned out to be.
A small but vocal piece of me wants to melt at his request, and that he respected me enough to ask.
I scrub my hands on my face, sighing heavily before flopping onto the plastic-covered surface. “Yeah, Wyatt. Come in.”
He shuffles into the nest, barefoot and in worn denim and a white t-shirt, looking everywhere but at me. “This is weird,” he says quietly. “Really weird.”
“You’re telling me. I feel completely different, but also no different at all.
The only thing I know for sure is that Athena is the other part of my soul, and I can’t live without her.
Everything else feels like noise.” I struggle to look away from the door that separates us.
I need her. I need to see her beautiful face, touch her soft skin.
It’s been too long.
I don’t want to rush her, but, holy shit, if she doesn’t hurry the fuck up, I’m going to lose my mind.
He nods slowly, ignorant of how it feels like bugs are crawling under my skin because I can’t see my Omega, before sinking to rest his back against the wall and his elbows on his knees. “What about us? As your scent matches?”
“We can’t smell you guys,” I remind him. “Your pheromones don’t register with us.” I narrow my eyes at him. “So how are we supposed to know if you are what you say you are to us? Have you even scented us yet?”
He shakes his head. “That’ll make it real,” he says softly, scrubbing his hands on his face. “What am I gonna tell Will? How am I gonna tell him I scent matched his best friend?”
“Yeah, no idea. That is not gonna be an easy conversation, especially since he thinks you’re straight,” I reply, crossing my arms tightly over my chest so I don’t scratch at the bugs under my skin.
Three months ago, after a couple of drinks, Wyatt and I hooked up. I’d never even considered going there before, even though the dude is fucking smoking hot, because I was certain he was straight, but he made a move on me, and I wasn’t going to look that gift horse in the mouth.
“I am straight. That was a drunken mistake.”
“Straight guys don’t get drunk and fall on dicks, but okay.” I roll my eyes. I can practically hear the whimpering moans that slipped from between his lips as he bounced on my cock. My body remembers his, and if this half-chub I’m sporting right now is any indication, it still wants him.
I don’t understand why Wyatt is determined to lie to himself about this. His brother is an Omega and has dated multiple guys. Why would Wyatt have a problem with his brother knowing he’s not straight? He’s deep in the closet, and it makes me sad that he’s hiding that part of himself away.
But it’s not my place to force someone to come out before they’re ready.
The shower cuts off, and he winces. “I don’t know what to say to her.”
Wyatt may be nervous about seeing Athena again, but the tension I’m carrying bleeds out at the realization that she’ll be in my arms soon. “There isn’t any pressure to do anything right now. Four hours ago, we were in cages, Wyatt.”
Four hours ago, we were in cages.
Holy fuck.
We were in cages.
Am I in shock? I don’t think I am. I feel as though I’m handling this well. Maybe I think that I’m doing alright, but everyone else sees that I’m a mess.
Am I a mess?
I must be.
Athena pads into the nest on wet feet, the towel leaving a gap that shows a sizable chunk of her plump thigh. She startles when she sees Wyatt. “Oh!”
“Sorry to surprise ya, princess,” he says sweetly. “Let me go check and see if y’all’s clothes are here. If not, I’ll grab you something to wear in the meantime.”
Athena nods slowly and leans against the wall. When she sees me on the mattress, she chuckles. “Take the plastic off that thing. It can’t be comfortable like that.”
“I need to shower first. Don’t wanna stink it up.”
Her smile is small, but it’s a fucking smile, and I want to celebrate it. I can count on one hand how many I’ve seen from her. “Well, go on then. I’ll be here.”
I don’t want to leave her, but I know I need to, so I run out and take the fastest shower of my life. When I’m done, she’s in the nest with Wyatt, and he’s passing her a soft-looking green shirt and a pair of boxers.
“Charles says the delivery is still an hour out. You can wear these in the meantime.”
She thanks him before taking the clothes into the bathroom. I accept a pair of shorts and a shirt from him as well and follow my Omega.
I may have fucked him, but I’m not getting dressed around Wyatt. That feels way too intimate for where we’re at in our relationship right now.
I can’t pull my eyes away from Athena as she drops her towel and slides into the borrowed clothes. It’s not a sexual act, but seeing her naked body still makes me crave her. I want to kiss and bite every part of her, run my hands down her soft skin, and bring her to the brink over and over.
She must feel my arousal through the bond because she’s shooting me a cheeky little grin that nearly stops my heart.
She really is a fucking goddess.
We leave the bathroom together, hand in hand, and I’m surprised to find Wyatt still there, ripping the plastic off the mattress and throwing it into the hallway. He’s muttering under his breath, or maybe he’s singing, and he jolts when we come in as if he expected us to be gone for longer.
“Hope it’s alright that I did this,” he remarks, sitting back on his heels. “I wanted to help get it ready. Sheets and blankets are coming, in case y’all wanna sleep in here.”
“Thank you, Wyatt, that’s kind of you,” Athena whispers. She’s not sure what to think of these Alphas who have thrown us into their lives. She doesn’t have the history with them that I do, but I can tell that her body is telling her to trust them.
Even if she doesn’t want to follow her instincts.
That makes two of us.
He nods and continues until the mattress is entirely unwrapped. When he stands up and begins rubbing the back of his neck, I can’t hold in my laugh.
Wyatt is one of the most confident people I know. He’s the pack lead and the muscle behind Lupine. He’s acting like a blushing schoolboy around us. I’ve never seen him like this in all the time I’ve known him.
“What, Wyatt?” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “Just say it.”
“Do you mind if I…” He gestures toward his neck, where his scent glands reside. “I don’t want to crowd you or anything, I just wanna know for sure.”
Athena’s eyes soften, and I don’t have to ask her if she’s okay with it. I can feel her desire to please him, to take care of him, in our bond. She reaches a hand out, and he becomes the first member of the pack that she’s initiated touch with.
The big Alpha stands in front of us and dips his nose between our heads. His deep inhale tickles my ear, and when he pulls back and looks at us with hooded eyes, I get all the confirmation I need.
We’re four for four.
“Sweet tea with lemon.” His voice is sweet and wistful. “That makes sense.” He clears his throat and steps back, making intense eye contact with Athena. “I don’t know you, and I know you don’t know me from Adam, but I will take care of you, princess. Whatever you need, okay? We’ll figure it out.”
When he backs out of the nest, looking like he wants nothing more than to stay, I fight the urge that bubbles up in me that makes me want to beg him to.
“He’ll be back, right?” Athena asks, letting me know she wants him to stay as much as I do. “With the stuff for the nest?”
“I think so,” I tell her, pulling her tight against my chest. “But we can invite him to come back regardless, if you want.”
She shakes her head, and I understand where she’s coming from. It’s one thing to be okay with them staying. It’s another to ask them to.