Chapter 10
ten
Jo
Something feels off as I run my finger up and down the blade of my new dagger, staring up at the ceiling of the bedroom.
Illya and Luka left an hour ago, our plan all laid out to enact in two days, but I can’t help but feel like something is wrong.
Very, very wrong.
My mind races, trying to find a place for these feelings of apprehension. I’ve showered off the scent-neutralizer, so I’m not scentless anymore. Mabel is safe in her house. My guys are all accounted for, with Sam in the shower, Kole making a few calls, and West and Hayden working on lunch…
My chest seizes suddenly, and a horrible realization takes over.
A sinking feeling takes over my gut. How did I miss this?
The ceiling…is the wrong color.
A horrible, sterile off-white color.
I sit up, dropping the blade as I whip my head around to look at the walls.
They’re the wrong color too.
My hands brace on the mattress beneath me as I push myself forward.
Horribly scratchy fabric attacks my hands, and I whine, everything feeling like too much at once as the wrong-colored walls close in on me and the fabric scrapes against my sensitive flesh.
Why does it smell wrong? Where are my pack scents?
I scramble off the bed as fast as I can, needing to separate from this abomination of a nest I’ve found myself in.
Wait.
Nest?
I’ve never had a nest.
Blinking rapidly, I breathe in through my nose. I don’t have a nest.
I do not have a fucking nest.
If there’s no nest, that means I can’t have a heat, right?
The walls are not the wrong color, and the fabric is not scratchy.
It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything is fine.
My omega vehemently disagrees with me, and my heart rate only picks up.
Fucking hormones.
The door to the bedroom flings open, and Hayden stands there, West close behind him. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Did something happen?”
I open my mouth to tell him that nothing is wrong, but all that comes out is another damned omega whine.
“Fuck!” Hayden panics, grabbing my arms and looking me over. “Her scent is all over the place. Is it a heat thing, baby? What do you need?”
My bottom lip wobbles as he pulls me into his chest, his purr soothing me. I feel my body relax slightly, some of the stress leaving me as I’m finally able to form words. “I…” My voice is muffled by his shirt, and I hate how weak I sound. “Nest. Scents. Please.”
“On it.” West’s tone is no nonsense as he shuffles around the room, and I hear a door open and shut. A moment later, the water in the shower turns off. Hayden keeps his arms around me, his smoky pepper scent calming me down considerably.
“What happened? Is she okay?” Sam’s tone is panicked as I hear his footsteps approach.
“It’s a heat thing,” Hayden explains, his purr still rumbling. “She needs our scents for her nest.”
“Dammit!” Sam curses, making me flinch. Is he mad at me? I don’t want him to be mad at me.
My pyro must sense my train of thought through the bond, because he snaps at Sam, “She thinks you’re mad at her, cut it out.”
“Fuck, baby, no,” Sam pulls me out of Hayden’s arms and wraps his own around me. My cheek rests against his bare, slightly wet chest. His scent is so good right here. Coffee and whiskey has an omega purr rattling out of me, and internally, I’m horrified.
I can’t seem to stop though, even as Sam lifts up behind my knees and holds me to him. Wrapping my legs around his waist, my nose tucks into the crook of his neck as he carries me to the bed.
“Wait!” West rushes in, and in the next instant, a buttery soft, plush fabric is being smoothed over my arm. “How’s this? I found it in one of the linen closets.”
I snatch the material and rub it against my cheek, my purr growing louder. I can’t speak, but the way I clutch the blanket to my chest apparently does the talking for me.
West nods as he gently takes the blanket before spreading it over the entirety of the bed, and then Sam climbs in, still holding me.
Something in me soothes at being held by my alpha while the others rush to take care of me.
Hayden appears, a small pile of dirty laundry in hand, and dumps it on the edge of the bed.
Crawling out of Sam’s arms, I approach the pile of clothing. Picking up a wrinkled T-shirt, I sigh happily when I scent Sam’s whiskey and coffee.
And then I start building.
Instinct takes over as I weave the clothing together in a pleasing combination of scents, creating a small wall on the perimeter of the mattress.
Smoky pepper mixes with gunpowder and rain, mint and chamomile wrap around whiskey, until I’ve gone through all the clothing.
I only have one side of the nest done, but my omega is settled considerably, and I feel a heck of a lot better as I sit back against the pillows and admire my handiwork.
“Was that all that was bothering you?” Sam asks, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. He tried to move when I started building to get out of my way, but my omega wanted him right where he was. “Can we do anything else?”
Having them see me have a meltdown about the nest was bad enough, they don’t need to witness my crisis over fucking paint too. I shake my head, but my eyes, determined to betray me, dart to the walls briefly. Unfortunately, the action does not go unnoticed.
“The…” he trails off, looking between me and the walls. “The walls?”
Despite my hesitance, my head nods. Welp. Guess we’re going full-on omega now. “It’s the wrong color.”
“That’s okay, we can fix that.” West says quickly in a soothing voice as he comes next to me. ”What’s the right color, Siren?”
My mouth opens, but no sound comes out. What is the right color? I’m kicking up a fuss about the color of the walls, and I don’t even know what I want to change it to? I frown. “I…I don’t know.” My bottom lip wobbles, and West and Sam exchange a panicked glance.
“How about this,” Hayden crawls so he’s sitting in front of me and grabs my hands, “we’ll get your brother to have someone bring in some paint samples or something and you can pick what color you want the walls.
And…we can even get them to bring in some samples of nesting items and we can place an order, and have it all delivered before your heat hits so it’s exactly how you want it. How does that sound?”
The thought of someone coming into my space unsettles me, but I know we can’t really go out to a nesting store right now. Maybe Maeve would go for us…
Sniffing once, I nod. “Okay.”
A huge grin lights up Hayden’s face. “Fuck yeah. Rich-boy upbringing for the win!”
West shakes his head, chuckling. “I’ll go ask Declan now.”
He climbs out of the nest, careful not to disturb my carefully constructed wall. “West?” He pauses at the sound of my voice, tilting his head back towards me. “Can you ask him to send Maeve?”
He gives me a small smile. “Will do.”
Four hours later, I’m holding two different paint cards against the wall.
One is a sage green, and the other a pale blue.
“What do you think, Maeve?” I look over my shoulder at her.
Maeve, angel that she is, got here about thirty minutes ago with fifteen bags of nesting items and four gallons of different colored paint.
She had sent pictures of the paint samples to my phone, and I couldn’t decide without seeing them in person, so she just got them all.
“What’s the point of your brother having all that money if he doesn’t spend it on anything?” she had scoffed when I told her off for it.
I’m not complaining now though, not as she thoughtfully considers my dilemma without making me feel like a silly omega. Weirdly enough, I don’t mind having her in my space like I thought it would. Maybe it’s because she’s a beta, or maybe it’s because she’s always been so sweet to me.
The guys, as much as they wanted to stay with me, made themselves scarce at my request once Maeve arrived, giving me privacy to make the nest exactly how I want it.
“Well, the blue is light and calming, while the green is more…serene.” Her shiny black hair falls over her shoulders in waves as she tilts her head to the side. “They’re both good options, Jo.”
Pursing my lips, I turn back to the wall. “I think the green is good.”
Maeve smiles. “Great.” She goes into the hallway, then returns holding two one-gallon buckets of the green paint. She places them by the wall before turning to me, clapping her hands together. “Alright. Do you want me to help you go through the nesting items? Or are you feeling territorial?”
I pause, considering the options. Since my complete meltdown earlier, I’m trying to listen to my omega side more, and while it’s somewhat calming to have her nearby, and I’m aware that she’s the one who picked it all out, I don’t necessarily want her touching everything…
“Would you…would you sit with me while I go through them?”
She smiles as she hands me a giant paper shopping bag overflowing with pillows and blankets, then sits on the plush carpet floor and pats the space next to her. “Of course, Jo. That’s what big sisters are for.”
I can’t help but return her smile as I plop next to her and start sorting through the first bag.
One hot pink blanket that has this shaggy faux-fur on it…no.
A pillow with the same material and sequins…nuh-uh.
More of the same material items make my skin itch, and then I’m pushing the bag away, shaking my head. “Sorry Maeve, can’t do that one.”
She grins. “I figured, but I had to do my due diligence. Now, we can get to the good stuff.” Another bag finds its way into my hands, this one filled with a cream-colored, almost velvet-like material.
“Oh…” My body instantly soothes as I run my hand over the material of the blanket, and my shoulders relax significantly.
“Well, this…this is mighty nice.” As I pull the blanket out of the bag and place it on my lap, an omega purr rolls out of my chest, and my eyes widen in mortification as I glance over at Maeve.
A big grin lights up her face. “You like it?”
I cough, trying to clear my throat. “I…I do. I s’pose.”
Maeve rolls her eyes, but smiles. “Well maybe you’ll find the others ‘mildly satisfactory’ as well,” she teases.
Despite myself, I continue to sort through the bags, my chest feeling lighter with each item I decide to keep for my nest. Thirty minutes later, I’m nearly buried in blankets and pillows, my omega compelling me to scent mark each item before I pass them off to my mates to mark later.
I know I must look ridiculous, but at this point I’m not sure I care.
“Last, but not least…” Maeve pulls a surprise bag out of nowhere and hands it to me. “This is more of a…well, a gift, as opposed to a nesting item.”
“Maeve, what on Earth did you get me a present for?” I take the bag from her, pulling out the decorative tissue paper stuffed into the top.
“If anythin’, I should be gettin’ you somethin’ on account of how much you’ve helped—sweet butter beans!
” The nonsensical exclamation leaves me as I gasp, my fingers pressing into the softness of the large mix of a pillow and stuffed animal that resembles… “It’s Turnip!”
The rat in question pokes her head out of the little box that acts as her nest at the sound of her name.
The squishy pillow is almost oval in shape with a slightly square-ish bottom, but the ears poking out of the top, the whiskers and teeth embroidered on the face, and the white and gray coloring make it obvious.
It’s Turnip.
Squeezing the pillow to my chest, I let out a little squeal. “It’s so cute!”
As if offended, Turnip scurries over to me, chittering defiantly.
I roll my eyes, placing the pillow on the floor between us. “Don’t be silly, Turnip! This could never replace you. Look. We’ll make it a boy, and we’ll name him…Radish.”
Turnip tilts her head before approaching the pillow, sniffing it gingerly. She squeaks, then climbs on top of it, curling into a ball. “Well, that’s just adorable.” I grin. “But I think I just lost my new toy.”
“We’ll get you another one.” Maeve pats my shoulder, and I sigh.
“Looks like we’ll have to. Thanks for all this, Maeve. You didn’t need to do so much.”
“But I wanted to.” She tilts her head. “Now you’ll be able to finish your nest today. The girls and I will paint it when you leave for your…dinner with Luka and Illya in two days.”
I shouldn’t be surprised that she already knows the plan, no doubt Declan updated her before sending her to the nesting store.
“Sounds good.” My voice is tight. “But…I don’t need y’all paintin’ the room for me, really. I can do it myself, and the guys will help me—”
“Yeah, and where are you going to sleep while the paint dries, hm?” She gives me a knowing look.
“If we do it while you’re gone, it’ll give it time to air out before you get back.
Besides…” she trails off, shaking her head.
“I don’t think you realize how much those girls feel they owe you.
I had to tell them they couldn’t come with me to deliver all this and it damn near broke their hearts.
If it weren’t for you, they would still be fuck-knows how far under the ground in that facility.
You saved them, Jo. They want to try to repay you in any way they can. ”
“It don’t feel right,” I mutter, picking up both Radish and Turnip and holding them close. “Havin’ them move me and paint my room after all they’ve been through.”
“You may not believe this,” she takes the bag that I pass to her before grabbing the next one, “but after being kept in an experimental facility, and then being forced into recovery, they’re actually chomping at the bit for something to do.
None of them have any scents due to the experimental drugs, so you won’t even have to worry about rogue pheromones stinking up your space. ”
That eases the knot in my chest a little, but I still feel off when I agree. “I s’pose if they want to…”
“They do,” she assures me, placing a hand on mine. “You just do what you have to do for your mission, and let us take care of the rest.”