A New Day
Chapter eighteen
Islept the entire night, as if I hadn't already crashed all day. My body was exhausted and I couldn't blame it on lack of sleep. More like excessive stress.
Zephyr's room was comfortable, but it wasn't quite as nice as sleeping with Vale wrapped around me.
Still, throughout the evening, the men had brought me pieces of clothing to tuck around me, so I slept with their scents.
The only one who didn't do it was Kienan, but Vale brought me a shirt with his smoky cinnamon scent anyway.
That one went at the foot of my bed. Close enough to smell, but not packed around me like the others.
Feeling completely rested now, I got up, used the bathroom and changed into the clothes someone had left in the doorway for me.
More sweats and another t-shirt that fit a little better.
I sat on the bed and checked the bottoms of my feet.
They were healing quickly, but I still had bruises and cuts from the rougher rocks when I'd run over them.
Nothing was bleeding, though, so I decided to leave them bandage-free.
When I went downstairs, Zephyr directed me to the living room. "Kienan's in a mood today," he warned.
"That might be my fault," I said, wincing.
"Not likely. The stress of it all just catches up to him sometimes."
"Well, I confronted him about his ideas about omegas last night. Told him I don't like the way he treats omegas."
Zephyr snorted. "And I bet he took that really well, didn't he?"
"He didn't get it." I shrugged. "Decided he should tell me how much he paid for me, to prove I was worth it? I didn't understand his reasoning on that."
"I want you to know that Dean and Vale didn't know about his plan. I did and I was against it, but then I smelled your scent in that hallway and I knew you were coming home with us. I hope I don't treat you like an object."
"Would you have brought any omega home?" I asked. "As a fix for your brothers?"
"No, as my scentmatch, you're special. I do regret how we did it though. That must have been scary to get pulled out of your bed in the middle of the night."
"It was terrifying. But also a relief. I thought I'd spend my life being raped in the heat dens, so I figured it might be easier to escape outside."
"Do you still want to escape?"
"I don't know," I told him honestly. "Probably not." The second part I added in case I'd been too honest, but he just gazed at me with his dark eyes and nodded.
"Okay."
"Breakfast!" Kienan called.
I trailed behind Zephyr as we entered the kitchen. He quickly moved to help Kienan with the dishes and I carried the plate of bacon and eggs over to the table. The others came in and soon we were all settled at the table. I watched Kienan carefully to see how he reacted to me.
The alpha didn't seem angry, but he was quieter than he'd been yesterday. Everyone seemed to notice it. Even Vale and Dean were calmer today, though that might have been for another reasons. They weren't antagonizing each other either.
"What are we doing today?" Dean asked.
"Olivia needs clothes that fit," Vale announced.
"We can't take her out yet," Zephyr pointed out. "There will be people looking for her. Not very safe."
"We can order online. I have a measuring tape and I'm sure Olivia knows her sizes, right?"
I shrugged. "I know what they were before I went to the center. I'm probably down a couple sizes now." I was definitely thinner than I'd been when I was rejected.
"We'll figure it out," Dean said. "What else?"
"Nesting supplies?" Vale suggested.
He was being very considerate, but that had been the case since he first met me. I nodded and smiled. "Sure, a few blankets might be nice. Maybe some lights that are softer than the room lights, too. They're kind of harsh."
Vale nodded. "Pillows? You need pillows."
I laughed and everyone froze, eyes on me. "What?"
"That's the first time we've heard you laugh." Dean gave me a smile.
"My life hasn't been very funny lately. But Vale here is determined to spoil me."
"I am," he responded, leaning toward me. "What's your favorite color?"
"Dark blue."
"Like midnight blue? Or navy?"
"Midnight," I clarified. "I used to have a very soft comforter in that color."
"Do you want to find it? We can order it again," Dean suggested.
"No. It has bad memories attached to it," I said, realizing aloud that my trauma had seeped into my memories.
"I want to pay a visit to your old pack someday," Dean growled. "You deserve everything nice."
"Including alphas," Vale said pointedly, giving Kienan a harsh look.
"I get it, everyone's down on me because I paid for her to be kidnapped," Kienan snapped. "But if I hadn't, we wouldn't even know we had a scentmatch, so you don't have to ride me about it."
"I think it's more like you won't find anyone riding you because of it," Zephyr said under his breath.
I kicked him and frowned.
"What?" The man gave me a grin.
"All right, online shopping? I'm going to cast my phone to the TV so we can all participate."
We made short work of getting the dishes cleaned up and I realized I'd eaten far more than I'd meant to.
Vale had sat beside me, slipping food onto my plate while I listened to the men.
Now I felt very full and nearly waddled to the living room where Zephyr had set up the TV to show a shopping cart at an online nesting store.
"I know it's not the same as feeling everything for yourself, but choose a few things for now and once it's safe, we'll take you to the real store. What do you like?"
Zephyr scanned through page after page of fuzzy blankets and fluffy looking pillows. There were so many, I couldn't decide. What if I didn't stay in the end? Would I even be able to take anything if I was sent back later on?
"Stop overthinking and just tell me what you want. Forget about money, we've got enough."
I nodded and watched him scrolling. "That pillow?"
"This one, the heart?" I nodded and he added a black heart pillow in faux fur to the cart. "What about this matching blanket with moons on it?"
All I had to do was nod and he added it to the cart.
"Give me that," Vale sighed. He grabbed the phone and tapped away until body pillows appeared. "For a real nest."
"Whoa," Kienan stared. "I didn't know they made them like that. Let's get the U-shaped one."
Vale glanced at me and I scooted a bit closer to him on the sofa. "I like it."
"Good enough." He added two of them to the cart, along with three covers each in shades of blue.
After a few more cushions and blankets, we moved on to clothes. All four men threw in their opinions on the clothes that Zephyr put up on the screen, as I instructed him.
"I don't need a lot," I told them. "A pajama set and a couple of pants and maybe four or five shirts."
No one said anything, but Zephyr immediately clicked over to pajama sets for omegas. "What do you like?"
"The one with the cat and the moon," I told him.
"I'm seeing a pattern here," Dean mused. "Moons and stars and hearts?"
"I can't help it, I'm an omega. Look how many pajamas have those shapes on them… I'm not the only one."
Zephyr's finger hovered over the sizing information. "What size are you?"
"I was size ten."
"Vale, grab the tape measure."
A minute later, I was standing in the middle of the living room as Vale carefully measured me. "Size two. You didn't drop a couple of sizes," he scolded. "That's four sizes!"
Shrugging, I sank back onto the couch. "I was on a lot of special diets. I'd make lobster and steak for the alphas and my plate would be salad with boiled chicken."
"Never again," Kienan swore.
"Well, you need clothes that fit now, but we're going to feed you and then buy you a whole new wardrobe," Vale stated.
He leaned over and tapped the button on Zephyr's phone, swiped back and added another pajama set in dark blue with rainbow hearts all over it.
Then he picked another set that was just pink and blue striped in simple cotton. "For hotter nights."
They were just as pushy about my other clothing and once Zephyr and Vale had managed to add at least a dozen shirts and half a dozen pants to the order, Vale switched to underwear.
"Look, midnight blue!" he crowed, adding three bra and panty sets to the cart. A few minutes later, he'd stocked me up on pretty underwear and bras before going to choose socks. "No more running on gravel."
The last thing was a pair of shoes, but of course, they went overboard, getting me sandals, two pairs of sneakers, and a nice pair of ballet flats that would work well if I ever needed to look more elegant.
"We forgot a dress!" Vale gasped. "Wait, do you wear dresses?"
"I could."
We found a couple of sundresses and one more elegant design before I declared the whole shopping trip over. "You're spending too much money."
"It's not too much when you need these things," Dean pointed out. "As your alphas, it's our job to provide for you."
"Even if I can't provide anything in return?" I asked bitterly.
Vale growled, low and threatening. "You never have to prove your worth, little one."