Chapter 29 Willa
TWENTY-NINE
willa
“Okay. Yeah. Let’s get you in the bath.”
Jake’s voice is soft and gentle as he helps me sit up. My body feels like it weighs a thousand pounds. Everything aches—my muscles, my bones, even my skin feels too tight. But it’s still strange to have someone else here. My first inclination is to push the help away.
“I can do it myself,” I try to say, but the words come out strange. Weak.
“I know you can.” His arm wraps around my waist, taking most of my weight as he pulls me up and guides me toward the bathroom. “But you don’t have to.”
I’m awed by the opulence of the bathroom—this place must’ve cost a fortune. It’s massive—the tub alone could fit four people comfortably.
Everything is marble—floors, walls, even the cascading backsplash—offset by muted brass fixtures that make the space feel warm and inviting.
Thick, plush mats cover the floor, and when I glance at the neatly folded stack of towels beside the tub, I just know they’ll be the kind that feels sinful against my skin.
For a moment, I let myself sink into the luxury, breathing in the faint scent of eucalyptus and clean linen. It’s the kind of space that makes you forget everything outside of it.
Jake starts the water running, testing the temperature with his hand.
“Not too hot,” he murmurs. “Don’t want to spike your fever more.”
I’m swaying on my feet, a dizzy feeling circling around my head, and he notices immediately. His hands are on me, steadying, supporting.
“Easy. I’ve got you.”
He helps me out of my clothes, peeling away the shirt that reeks of Felton’s sour scent, intentionally ignoring my nakedness. I’m grateful for it. I have exactly zero bandwidth for anything except the swimming-pool-sized tub in front of me.
I want to cry at the loss of pack scent from Beau and Charlie’s shirts, but Jake’s scent is right here, chocolate and warm spices wrapping around me.
“In you go,” he says, holding my elbow as I step over the edge of the tub and feel the silky, warm water on my skin. A moan of pleasure comes unbidden.
“It feels so good.” I hum with pleasure, and when I look at Jake, I see hunger in his eyes. A small spike of awareness begins to fill the emptiness in me. My Omega likes it. Likes his attraction. But soon I’m lost in the feel of the water.
It’s perfect—warm but not hot—and I sink into it with a sigh.
My muscles immediately start to relax, the ache easing slightly.
I close my eyes until I realize I don’t hear him leave like I expected to.
I glance to where he stands, a look of indecision on his face that’s followed by a shrug as he starts stripping off his own clothes.
“What are you—”
“Getting in with you.” He says it matter-of-factly, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “You need touch and comfort. Doctor’s orders.”
Before I can protest—not that I want to, because I really, really don’t—he’s climbing into the tub behind me. The water rises, sloshing gently, and then his legs are on either side of mine, and his chest is against my back.
I know that this is my new favorite sensation, and I can feel the need start to pulse to life again. It begins slowly, but all that heated Alpha skin that ripples with movement behind me has my arousal rising again.
I’m intoxicated by the solid, warm, safe feel of him.
A sound escapes me—half sob, half sigh—and I feel myself melting back into him. I’m met with a deep chuckle and the slow glide of his hand over my arms and shoulders.
“That’s it,” he murmurs against my hair. “Just relax. Let me take care of you.”
My only answer is a deep sigh.
He reaches for soap—something that smells clean and simple—and starts washing me. His hands are gentle but thorough, working over my shoulders, down my arms, across my collarbone. Washing away Felton’s scent.
When his hands move to my neck—to the spot where Felton pressed his face, trying to scent me—I flinch.
“I know.” Jake’s voice is rough with barely controlled rage. “But he’s gone. He can’t hurt you anymore. And I’m going to wash every trace of him away until all you can smell is pack. Is us. Okay?”
I nod, not trusting my voice.
His hands continue their work, and somewhere in the middle of it, he starts to purr.
The sound rumbles through his chest into my back, vibrating through the water, through my bones. It’s the most soothing thing I’ve ever felt. My Omega, who’s been screaming and clawing and terrified for hours, finally starts to settle.
“That’s my girl,” Jake murmurs. “There you are.”
I’m so tired. Exhausted in a way I’ve never been before. Like I could sleep for a week and it wouldn’t be enough. But through the exhaustion, there’s a need for Beau and Charlie. My Omega needs them here, their scents. I know I won’t be able to fully settle until they’re here, too.
“Where are Charlie and Beau?” My voice comes out barely above a whisper.
“On their way. They had to stay and talk to the officials and the police.” Jake rinses my hair, his fingers gentle on my scalp. “Do you want them here? Or is it too much right now?”
I’ll have to face Felton eventually, I think dimly. I’ll have to deal with the police, with APbrA, with all the shit that’s coming. But not right now. Not tonight.
Right now, all I want is sleep and cuddles and my Alphas.
My mind drifts to what it will be like to go through a heat with a pack—something I’ve never done.
Jake is the only Alpha I’d ever been with up until a few days ago.
He’d helped me through heats when we were together, but it was just him and me, and definitely never like this.
“I want them.” The words are immediate, certain. “I want all of you.”
I feel him relax behind me, like he’d been worried I’d push them away.
“Good. Because we’re not going anywhere. Ready for cuddles and terrible TV?”
“Fuck yes,” I answer, realizing just how close to unconsciousness I feel.
He helps me out of the tub, wrapping me in a towel so soft it feels like a cloud. My legs are shaking and unsteady, and he has to support most of my weight.
“Almost done, baby. Just a little more, then you can sleep.”
He dries me off with gentle efficiency, then reaches for the patch Dr. Reeves left. I watch as he carefully applies it to my upper arm, smoothing it down to make sure it adheres.
“Should start working soon,” he says. “Take the edge off.”
Then he’s pulling an oversized T-shirt over my head—his, I realize, from the way it swallows me and smells like chocolate and spices. It hangs to mid-thigh, soft and worn and perfect.
“Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”
He guides me back to the bedroom, and I can’t help but laugh when I see the massive bed. The pack suite. All those blankets and pillows already arranged in a nest.
“You guys really did plan this,” I say, and there’s no accusation in it. Just tired amusement.
“Maybe a little.” Jake grins as he helps me onto the bed. “Can you blame us?”
“No.” I burrow into the pillows, pulling blankets around me. “I can’t.”
It’s been a long time since I’ve been anywhere long enough to actually make a nest of my own. And though this is all so new and strange, and I’m still unsure how I’m supposed to sleep next to so many men, my Omega gives zero fucks. She is on a mission.
I feel the heat bubbling under the surface, but before any of that, this nest needs to be perfect. And it’s not.
I sit up again, adjusting the blankets. This one needs to go here. No, there. The pillow is too flat—I need it fluffier. I bunch it up, smooth it down, bunch it again. Pull another blanket over from the corner, fold it just so, then unfold it because the texture is wrong against my skin.
“Willa?” Jake’s voice is gentle. “You okay?”
“It’s not right,” I mutter, moving a pillow three inches to the left. Then back. Then left again. “It needs to be— I can’t—”
I have this overwhelming need to get this perfect. My Omega is insisting, demanding, won’t let me rest until everything is exactly where it needs to be.
I sit back on my heels, surveying my work with a critical eye. Something’s still missing. There’s a gap in the left corner that feels too exposed.
I don’t notice Jake leave until he comes back to the bed with some clothes in his hand. Relief floods through me. A guilty blush steals up my cheeks.
“Need these?” he asks, somewhat sheepishly, but I can see the pleasure of it on his face too. Pride. Satisfaction that his Omega is nesting and that she wants his scent woven into her safe space.
“Yes,” I say, grabbing at them quickly and weaving them into the mass of blankets and pillows with careful precision, placing them strategically so that no matter how I lie in this nest, I’m surrounded by all their scents.
I adjust. Readjust. Move a blanket half an inch. Fluff another pillow. Smooth everything down with my palms, pressing their scents deeper into the fabric.
“Perfect,” I finally breathe.
“Better?”
I burrow down until only my nose and mouth stick out. “Yes.”
I’m rewarded with another one of his sweet chuckles, and then Jake himself when he climbs in beside me, sliding his nude body right up against mine and gathering me into his arms until I’m pressed to his chest. I immediately curl into him.
His bare chest is warm beneath my cheek, and I can hear his heartbeat, steady and strong.
“Sleep, Wildcat. I’ve got you.”
I’m aware of the fizzle under my skin, the feel of all that naked heat, and the rigid length of him pressed against my belly. But all he does is hold me as my awareness slips away.
Time becomes meaningless.
I’m dimly aware of things happening around me—the door opening, voices drifting in—Beau’s rough with emotion, Charlie’s soft with concern. The bed dips as they climb in, and suddenly I’m surrounded by warmth and scent and pack.
Someone—Charlie, I think—presses a kiss to my forehead. “Sleep, sweetheart. We’re all here now.”
I burrow deeper into the nest of bodies and blankets. Someone’s hand is in my hair. Someone else’s arm is draped over my waist. I’m cocooned in pack, and my Omega finally feels safe enough to fully let go.
I drift in and out. Not quite asleep but not really awake either. Floating in that hazy space between consciousness and dreams.
Voices filter through occasionally.
“—should eat something when she wakes up—”
“—doctor said fluids are more important—”
“—never letting her out of our sight again—”
“—going to kill him. I don’t care if he’s already arrested—”
“—she needs us calm, needs us steady—”
The words wash over me but don’t quite penetrate. All that matters is the warmth surrounding me. The scents wrapping around me like a blanket, until I’m drowning in the steady rhythm of heartbeats and breathing.