Chapter 22 #2
"Together." Reid's hand came up to cup my face, his thumb brushing away tears that were immediately replaced by more, his calloused palm warm against my cheek. "Each of us contributed something."
"The room itself was Reid's idea." Nolan stepped closer, his hand squeezing my shoulder gently, his green eyes bright with unshed tears. "He's been planning it since the week you arrived. The structure, the design, the concept—that's all him."
"The blankets are from me." Nolan's voice was soft, thick with emotion, his freckled face flushed. "Medical-grade softness, hypoallergenic, designed for comfort. I researched what would be best for an Omega's sensitive skin, what textures would be most soothing."
"The shelves." Sawyer's voice was rough, barely more than a rasp, his pale eyes bright with emotion he was fighting to contain.
He gestured at the beautiful wooden structures lining the wall, the honey-colored wood gleaming in the soft light.
"And the frame. Built them myself." His pale eyes met mine, fierce and vulnerable all at once.
"Wanted you to have something that would last. Something solid. "
“Everything pretty is from me." Kol's voice was thick with tears he wasn't bothering to hide, streaming down his cheeks freely, his amber eyes shining.
"The fabrics, the colors, the little touches that make it feel like home instead of just a room.
" He laughed wetly, the sound cracking in the middle.
"I may have gone a little overboard at the fabric store. "
"A little?" Nolan's voice was fond despite the tears in his eyes, a watery smile crossing his freckled face. "You bought out their entire inventory of velvet."
"She deserved velvet." Kol's voice cracked on the words, fierce and tender all at once. "She deserves everything soft and beautiful in the whole world."
Fresh sobs tore through me, my whole body shaking with the force of them, and I reached for Kol blindly, my hands finding his shirt and fisting in the fabric.
He was there in an instant, his arms wrapping around me, pulling me against his chest, his scent mixing with Reid's where it still clung to my skin—orange blossoms and warmth layering over whiskey and woodsmoke.
"I don't know what to say." My voice was muffled against Kol's shoulder, broken and wet, barely intelligible. "I don't know how to—"
"You don't have to say anything." Reid's hand found my back again, warm and steady, his touch grounding even through the layers of emotion threatening to drown me. "You don't have to do anything. This is yours, Aster. No expectations, no obligations. Just yours."
"There's a lock on the door." Sawyer's voice was rough, and when I pulled back from Kol to look at him, his pale eyes were bright with unshed tears, his jaw tight with the effort of containing them.
"On the inside. You can lock it whenever you want, and no one can come in without your permission. Not even us."
Something cracked open in my chest—something that had been locked tight my whole life, some defensive wall I'd built so high and so strong I'd forgotten it was there.
"You're giving me a room I can lock you out of?" My voice came out confused, disbelieving, my brow furrowing as I tried to make sense of it.
"We're giving you a space that's entirely yours.
" Reid's voice was fierce, his dark eyes burning with intensity that made my breath catch.
"Your nest is sacred. We would never enter without invitation, but we wanted you to have the physical ability to keep us out if you needed to.
Wanted you to know—to really know—that this is yours. "
I looked around the room again, at the beautiful shelves Sawyer had built with his own scarred hands, at the soft blankets Nolan had researched and chosen with care, at the pretty fabrics Kol had picked because he thought I deserved velvet, at the entire concept Reid had dreamed up and made real.
For me. They'd done all of this for me.
"I've never had anything like this." The words came out raw, scraped from somewhere deep, my voice cracking on every syllable.
"I've never had a space that was mine. Never had people who wanted to give me things without expecting something in return.
" I looked at each of them in turn—Reid's steady strength, Nolan's gentle wisdom, Sawyer's fierce protectiveness, Kol's overwhelming warmth.
"I don't know how to be someone who has this. "
"You learn." Nolan's voice was soft, his hand finding mine and squeezing gently, his green eyes bright with tears and hope. "We'll teach you. However long it takes."
"Can I—" I stopped, swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. "Can I look at everything?"
"It's yours." Reid's voice was rough with emotion, his dark eyes soft.
"You can do whatever you want." They spread out around the room as I began to explore, giving me space while staying close enough that I could feel their presence, their scents a comforting backdrop to my discovery.
I walked to the shelves first, running my fingers over the smooth wood Sawyer had sanded and stained.
The texture was perfect—solid and real, crafted with obvious care, warm beneath my fingertips.
"You made these." I looked at Sawyer, my voice wondering, my fingers still tracing the grain of the wood. "With your hands."
"Yeah." His voice was rough, his ears going red beneath his copper hair, his pale eyes dropping away from mine. "Worked on them at night, after everyone was asleep. Wanted them to be right."
I moved on to the fabrics, touching each one with trembling fingers.
The velvet was impossibly soft, like touching liquid, the flannel worn and comfortable like an old friend, the fleece like touching a cloud.
There were textures I didn't even have names for—silky things and fuzzy things and things that seemed to change under my fingers as I touched them.
"Kol." My voice cracked on his name. "How long did it take you to find all of this?"
"A few weeks." He was hovering nearby, his amber eyes anxious like he was waiting for approval, his hands fidgeting at his sides.
"I wanted variety, you know? Different textures for different moods.
And the colors—I tried to pick things that would go together but also things that would make you happy.
Do you like them? If you don't like something, we can—"
I pulled him into a hug, cutting off his rambling, my arms wrapping tight around his waist.
"I love them." My voice was muffled against his shoulder, fierce despite the tears still streaming down my face. "I love all of them."
Kol made a sound that was half laugh, half sob, and hugged me back so tight I could barely breathe, his arms crushing me against his chest, his face buried in my hair.
When I pulled away, I moved to the blankets on the shelves, touching the ones Nolan had chosen.
They were incredibly soft—softer than anything I'd ever felt, like touching nothing and everything at once, like my fingers were sinking into comfort itself.
"Medical-grade?" I looked at Nolan, curious despite my tears, my fingers still buried in the impossible softness.
"There's research on Omega comfort." His voice was soft, his green eyes bright with emotion, his freckled face flushed with pleasure at my reaction. "Certain textures, certain materials, certain levels of softness that are optimal for nesting. I wanted to make sure you had the best."
"You researched." I was crying again, fresh tears spilling down my cheeks, my voice cracking. "You researched what would be best for me."
"Of course I did." Nolan's voice cracked slightly, his green eyes going glassy with tears he was fighting to contain. "You deserve the best, Aster. You deserve someone paying attention to what you need."
I moved finally to the nest platform itself—the massive, beautiful space in the corner that Reid had designed.
I climbed onto it carefully, my bare feet sinking into the plush surface, feeling the give of the mattress beneath me, the softness of the blankets already layered there.
It was like sinking into a cloud, like being held by something impossibly gentle.
"Reid." My voice was barely a whisper, cracked and raw. I looked at him where he stood at the edge of the room, his dark eyes soft and vulnerable, his hands loose at his sides like he was forcing himself not to reach for me. "You planned this. Since the week I arrived."
"The moment I saw you." His voice was rough, barely audible, his jaw tight with emotion.
"Feral and scared and ready to run. I knew you'd never had anyone take care of you.
Never had a proper home, a proper nest." He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"I wanted to give you one. Even if you left, even if you decided we weren't your pack—I wanted you to have this, at least once.
Wanted you to know what it felt like to be provided for. "
I held out my hand to him, my fingers trembling, and he came—crossing the room slowly, his boots silent on the plush carpet, climbing onto the nest platform beside me, his weight dipping the mattress.
I pulled him down until we were lying face to face, my hand on his cheek, his dark eyes searching mine with an intensity that made my heart stutter.
"You saw me." My voice cracked, tears still streaming down my temples into my hair. "That first day in the barn. You saw me, and you decided to do this."
"I saw you." His voice was fierce, his hand coming up to cover mine on his cheek, his fingers warm and calloused. "And I decided that no matter what happened, I was going to make sure you knew what it felt like to be safe."
I kissed him.