Chapter 34 The Nest They Built #2
I burrow into the blankets, pulling them around me, breathing in pack scent mixed with my own vanilla and cinnamon, and something inside me that's been clenched tight for three years finally, finally relaxes.
"This is perfect," I whisper into the softness.
"You're perfect," Rowan says, and I look up to find all three of them watching me with expressions that make my heart stutter. "We just wanted to prove we know it."
Levi doesn't wait for an invitation—he never does—just kicks off his shoes and flops into the nest beside me, immediately wrapping around me like an octopus. "Finally! Do you know how hard it was not to tell you? Keeping secrets is torture!"
"You told her about Gerald," Luca points out, settling on my other side with much more grace.
"Gerald's a duck, not a secret!"
"You were feeding him for three months without mentioning it!"
"That's different!"
"How is that different?"
"Gerald needed privacy for his duck activities!"
I'm laughing, can't help it, pressed between them while they bicker over my head like this is normal. Like cuddling in a custom-built omega nest in a renovated barn is just another Tuesday evening before the biggest baking weekend of the year.
Rowan settles at my feet—because of course he does, always the protector, always making sure he can see the door—and his hand finds my ankle, thumb rubbing circles that are both soothing and intentional.
"How long did this take?" I ask into Levi's shoulder.
"Two weeks," Rowan says. "Since right after the corn maze. We've been working on it every night after you went to sleep."
"I thought you were doing station paperwork!"
"We were doing nest construction," Luca corrects. "Paperwork was the cover story."
"You all lied to me!"
"We all loved you," Levi says simply. "Past tense. Present tense. Future tense. All the tenses."
My chest does that thing again, that tight-warm-aching thing that means too many feelings at once.
"I don't know what to say."
"Say you'll stay," Rowan says quietly. "Say this is home now. Say you're not going to run when things get hard or if Korrin ever tries to do anything to sabotage you again."
I prop myself up on my elbows, looking at each of them in turn.
Levi, with his sunshine smile and honey butter scent, always ready to make me laugh.
Luca with his storm-gray eyes and careful touches, fixing things before I know they're broken.
Rowan with his steady strength and cedar smoke warmth, protecting me even from my own doubts.
"I'm not running," I tell them. "Not from this. Not from you or anyone. Not anymore."
"Promise?" Levi asks, and he sounds young suddenly, vulnerable.
"Pack promise," I say, and feel the words settle into truth.
Rowan's hand moves from my ankle to my calf, and his eyes have that dark look that means he's thinking things that aren't safe for public consumption. "The nest is big enough for all of us."
"I noticed," I manage, hyperaware of how the dress has ridden up, how Levi's hand is on my waist, how Luca's fingers are tracing patterns on my shoulder.
"We could stay here tonight," Luca suggests, voice gone low and rough. "Christen it properly."
"Christen—oh my god."
"What?" Levi grins against my shoulder. "You thought we built you a nest just to look at it?"
"I thought—I don't know what I thought!"
"Think less," Rowan advises, and his hand is higher now, thumb brushing the inside of my knee. "Feel more."
Feel more…
I can do that.
I've been doing nothing but feeling since they crashed back into my life—feeling safe, feeling wanted, feeling like maybe I'm not too much after all.
Levi kisses my neck, right where it meets my shoulder, and I shiver.
"So pretty in this dress. Been thinking about it all day."
"You saw me two hours ago."
"Longest two hours of my life."
Luca's fingers slide into my hair, gentle but purposeful, tilting my head so he can look at me. "Do you know what you do to us? Walking around in your apron and your chaos, smelling like home and vanilla and making us all lose our minds?"
"I make cookies," I protest weakly.
"You make everything better," Rowan corrects, and then his hand is on my thigh, and I forget how to form words.
"We should probably—" I start, but Levi cuts me off with a kiss that tastes like honey and mischief and seventeen different kinds of wanting.
When he pulls back, I'm breathless and flushed and definitely not thinking about whatever responsible thing I was about to suggest.
"That's better," he says, satisfied. "No more thinking. Just us. Just this."
Just this.
Three Alphas surrounding me in a nest that smells like safety and promise. Hands that know how to touch me, mouths that know how to make me forget my own name. The knowledge that for the first time in my life, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.
"Clothes are optional in nests, right?" Levi asks hopefully.
"Levi!" But I'm laughing, can't help it.
"What? It's a serious question! Rowan, back me up here."
"Clothes are definitely optional," Rowan says solemnly, but his eyes are dancing.
"See? The captain says so. Captain's orders."
"That's not how captain's orders work!"
"It is in nests!"
Luca makes a sound that might be a laugh or might be exasperation—with him, it's hard to tell.
"For the record, I'm neutral on the clothes situation."
"Liar," I accuse. "You're the one who bought me that silk robe 'just because.'"
"The robe was practical!"
"The robe was see-through!"
"Practically see-through. Different thing."
I'm surrounded by ridiculous Alphas who built me a nest and a test kitchen and bought property and are currently arguing about clothing while their hands do things that make it very hard to care about winning arguments.
"I love you," I say suddenly, into the warm, scented, perfect chaos of them. "All of you. Even when you're being idiots."
"Especially when we're being idiots," Levi corrects.
"Especially then," I agree.
Rowan presses his forehead to mine, and his cedar smoke scent wraps around us like a blanket.
"Welcome home, firefly."
Home.
Not the apartment above the bakery, not the building I own, not even the town I'm slowly learning to love. Home is this. This nest, these Alphas, this pack that built something beautiful to make me feel welcomed, loved, and adored.
"Welcome home, pumpkin," Luca murmurs, and kisses my temple with a tenderness that makes my chest ache.
"Welcome home, sunshine," Levi adds, squeezing me tighter. "We're never letting you go."
I don't want them to.