Chapter 26
Swan's Nest
Liora
Iwoke up and stretched, bumping into Geo who was staring at the ceiling. He looked over and smiled at me.
"Hey, sleeping beauty. I thought you'd be out all day."
"The food hit hard," I said. A yawn stretched my face and I sat up. "What time is it?"
"Just after noon. Come on, the guys have a surprise for you."
"How do you know that?"
"We talked a bit while you were asleep." He didn't elaborate, so I just followed him out of the room.
Aiden poked his head out of the kitchen and then called out, "She's up!"
Finn and Mace came racing down the stairs, surprising me. I jerked a little and Geo tucked me under his arm.
"You're good," he murmured. "They're just eager to please."
"Ready to go shopping?" Finn asked, boucing a little on the balls of his feet.
"I guess." I frowned, not sure why everyone was acting like this.
We filed out the door to where the limo was waiting. Geo raised an eyebrow as Marco got out and opened the door for us.
"Good to see you again, ma'am," the driver said, giving me a smile.
"Thanks, you too, Marco." I slid into the limo and the smile fell off my face instantly.
"What's wrong?" Finn asked, from his seat across from me.
A cold shiver ran down my spine, but I tried not to let it affect me. I turned to look out the window, ignoring Finn's question as their scents filled the small space. Then Geo's crisp grapefruit scent hit and it mixed with the others, turning it into something different.
He immediately noticed that something was off, despite the fact we'd only spent a few days together. Geo's strong arms wrapped around me and he pulled me onto his lap so my back was to the others, except for Mace, who sat on Geo's other side.
"What's going on? Do you need me to call an Uber?"
"No. It's just . . . for a minute, all the memories came back," I said quietly, knowing the others were listening. "The last trip to the institute and then riding home alone after seeing them with Andrea . . . "
"Who is Andrea?" His voice was cold and hard as steel.
"Our PR partner. She no longer works with us," Mace said. "I guess she looked too cozy with us."
"She told me about your no omega policy." I buried my face in Geo's neck, sniffing him to calm myself.
"We never had a . . . " Finn's voice dropped off. "Oh, fuck."
"You better explain right now." Geo rubbed my back, waiting for their answer as he soothed me.
"We did talk to her that night about giving Liora up.
Andrea pointed out how much time we spent with her and how much faster we could have built the business.
We'd already been discussing it and we made the decision to .
. . send her to the ORC." Mace's voice was heavy with guilt.
"But Andrea didn't make the decision, we did. "
"She acted like you'd chosen her," I said. "And you did. When you called her up on stage and never even glanced at me." I lifted my head from Geo's shoulder and looked at my former mates.
Venom filled my words as I spit them out.
"I was there for you, supporting you, waiting up to make sure you ate and got sleep, for six years while you built that business.
I was there every step of the way, doing what I could to make your life easier.
But you decided that I was just a burden. That I was holding you back somehow."
"We were idiots." Aiden sighed. "I'm so, so sorry, Li. I know it's too late now, but we did see what you'd brought us after the fact. We went back to the ORC, but they said you were in mandatory training and wouldn't be available to a pack for another year."
"Well, it was almost a year when they gave me to Pack Parker." I fought back tears. "I guess they rushed it. The pack probably paid them off or something, just like the inspection."
The limo pulled up in front of Swan's Nest, the top nesting store in the city and I raised an eyebrow. "What's this?"
"You need bedding. They have bedding," Mace offered.
We got out of the vehicle and no one seemed to think twice about a limo in this part of town. I felt woefully out of place in my sweats, but the attendants just smiled and waved us inside.
"Have you been to Swan's Nest before?" a woman dressed entirely in pink asked me.
"No." Even the entry to the store was overwhelming, with bars draped in soft fabrics and stacks of baskets in pinks and mint green by the entrance.
"Great! I'm so glad you decided to come in with your pack today.
Let me show you how it all works." She walked us through how to purchase by scanning the codes with a designated phone, Geo's in this case, and everything would be brought to the front, completely wrapped and new, so it had no other scents on it.
"Everything comes in a variety of colors, so be sure to check the color cards. Right now, fall colors are trending, but we always have some classics in stock, too."
"Thanks." I took the basket she handed me and stepped into the store itself.
It was beautiful. Scent neutralizers misted the area constantly so there were no irritating odors from other omegas.
The place was set up by room, so we headed for the bedroom area since I needed bedding.
As we walked past the living room area, I couldn't help but pause to run a hand over the soft fluffy rugs hanging on the wall and admire a lilac colored rocking chair with full padding and a popout footrest.
Finally, we reached the bedroom section.
It was a riot of colors and designs, with racks of sample blankets, sheets, and carpets, as well as mounds of pillows and cushions.
There were candles and knick knacks along two aisles and some wall hangings on another.
The sheer amount of product was overwhelming and I just stood there, trying to take it all in.
"Let's pick out sheets first," Finn suggested, obviously noticing how overwhelmed I was. He steered me toward the wall of sheets that ranged from silk to microfiber and flannel. "What do you like best?"
Running my fingers over the fabrics was soothing and the other men stepped back, letting me have my space to decide. It was tough. I liked the soft warmth of the flannel, but the smoothness of the Egyptian cotton called to me, too.
"During your heat, which would feel best?" Finn asked gently.
"Flannel."
"And when you're not in heat?"
"The cotton," I admitted. "But it doesn't make sense to buy two kinds of sheets."
"It does," he assured me. He lifted the color card for the flannel. "You like purple, right?"
I nodded, staring at the bewildering number of colors on the card. There were four hue of purple alone.
"That's not practical, though," I pointed out. "It won't go with the red blanket on the bed."
"So black, maybe? That's Geo's favorite."
I nodded and he grabbed Geo's phone and scanned the tag, tapping in the codes for the color while I moved to the Egyptian cotton.
It felt so perfect under my fingertips. It had to be expensive, but the prices were only shown in the app so the alphas could spoil their omega.
Again, the colors were dazzling, but I opted for black.
It was classy and sexy and would go with the other bedding.
"Now pillows." Aiden gently took my arm and steered me to the mounds of pillows in the middle of the section.
"I have a pillow."
"But do you have one that cools on one side and heats other?" He handed me a pillow that was so soft it felt like a cloud.
I set the pillow on the ledge designed to test pillows and laid my head on it. Instantly, the fluffy surface started to warm. When I flipped it a slightly less fluffy fabric cooled just enough to be comfortable.
"How do they do that?" I stared at the pillow. "It's comfortable whether you're in heat or not."
Geo discreetly scanned the tag as Aiden pulled me over to try more pillows. They were all pretty good, but nothing compared to the heating and cooling one.
"This one is amazing, but I still like the first one. And I'm sure it's very expensive, so we can just get this one." I held up a pillow that was both soft and firm at the same time, molding neatly to your head for the perfect night's sleep.
"It's actually not. And we owe you two years of comfort," Aiden told me. He passed the pillow to Geo, who scanned the tag.
"Okay, let's go home," I decided. "I can't spend all your money on frivolous things."
"Liora, I don't think you understand how rich we are," Mace said, coming to stand near us.
"The business does well then?" I asked, a pang of hurt stabbing through me.
"We're the top laboratory in the nation and we have five overseas locations," he told me. "We have enough money to buy this entire store a dozen times over and we won't even feel it."
I stared at him. "Really?"
"Really."
"I guess I really was holding you back," I said bitterly, realizing that the money must have come after I was out of the picture. "I'm glad you're doing so well."
"That's not what I meant. We made a lot of money before, too, but once we opened the institute, it really took off. That would have happened with you, too. We just didn't realize it." He stopped, rubbing his hand over his face. "I'm messing this up."
"You really are," Geo confirmed, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around me. "I'm going to take her around and I think you guys need to go wait by the counter. You can pay when we're done."
"Get whatever she wants," Aiden told him.
"Oh, I will."
As soon as they were gone, Geo led me over to a hammock swing and settled himself in it, pulling me onto his lap again. He used his foot to set the swing in movement and I sighed, leaning against him with my head on his shoulder.
"They want to make it up to you, Liora. I say you go ahead and get everything your heart desires. And when we leave, we'll take it all with us to our new house."
"Our house?"
"Well, we can't live in a spare room forever, can we?"
"I guess not."
"Dry those eyes and let's go find what you like."
He kissed me gently and we swung for another few minutes before he slid me off his lap and we went to explore the store. I didn't really want a ton of things, but I did check out everything he pointed out and touched the blankets, towels and more.
Finally, as my energy started to wane, we headed for the front desk where the others waited patiently with coffees in hand.
"I thought you might be thirsty," Aiden said, handing me a pretty floral water bottle.
"Thanks." I took a sip and my eyes widened. "Raspberry iced tea!"
He smiled. "I remembered how much you liked it."
"You have to try this," I told Geo excitedly.
He took a sip from my new water bottle and nodded. "Not bad. I prefer coffee."
"We got you one." Finn handed him a coffee. "Why don't you two head to the restaurant two blocks down and we'll join you once we have everything packed in the limo?"
"Sounds good." Geo handed over his phone so they could double check everything and we left the Swan's Nest, on our way to dinner. I hadn't even noticed how late it had gotten while we were in the store, but the sun was sinking low already.
Walking hand in hand with Geo, I felt like life might actually be okay.