Chapter 20
TWENTY
THISTLE
The rest of the afternoon went by slowly.
There was a TV in my room, but I didn’t want to go back there, the fading echo of a shitty nest and a touchless night making my stomach turn.
So, I hung out on the balcony at the end of the north wing hall, slowly picking leaves from the vines that wove around the balusters.
I arranged them into shapes on the ground, one by one: a flower, a lightning strike, the wonky shape of a face as I tried to picture what Rogue would look like, a little heart with ‘T+R’ in the middle.
All the while I murmured the words ‘I hate Knox’ to different tunes. If I couldn’t find Rogue to consolidate that fact, I’d have to jam it into my brain another way.
But when I finally returned to my room, dejected and frustrated, it was to stumble upon the first piece of good luck I’d had here.
Upon my pillow was a heavy iron key, and a note that read:
Don’t lose this one, don’t have more spares, not that anyone would mind if he was stuck down there forever. Hope you get your cuddles.
From V
I stared between the note and the key.
“ Down there?”
Rogue was in the basement?
This… This was it.
I gathered what I needed, which involved a risky sneak into Knox’s room that paid off. I shoved the key into the pocket in Bunny’s back, then stuffed my gift into a little pouch made up of a spare t-shirt.
It took a clumsy climb down from the balcony, and a short, painful fall onto my ass to get to the garden below, but I made it.
Hugging Bunny and my pouch close, I peered around in the setting sun. We were in the garden, before the outdoor bar we’d been at last night.
I spotted the pillar Knox had pinned me to when he’d kissed me, and I shivered, shoving the memory away.
I’d rarely been kissed like that before…
But it was okay.
If our cuddle assessment was right, and Knox was competing, and might mean Rogue was amazing at kissing, too.
I stalled for a moment.
How would Knox know that?
I narrowed my eyes, then bundled the all too logical challenge right off a cliff.
Rogue was a kissing champion.
And a cuddle champion.
Knox would just know from his Alpha tingle that he was outmatched. Or something like that.
I rushed around the garden in a hurry, searching for a door that looked like it led downwards, feeling a rising frustration as none appeared until?—
Aha!
There it was. A set of stone steps all the way into darkness.
“ Fuck yes!”
I tugged the key from the pocket on Bunny’s back, letting out a little squeak of distress as I pulled a tuft of stuffing out with it.
Sorry, Bunny!
I poked it all back in, then tried the lock. To my delight, the latch clicked, and the doorknob turned in my grip.
I froze, heart pounding out of control.
This was it.
This was it.
Actually.
Really.
Oh my god.
“Stop panicking, Bunny,” I hissed, shaking him violently. “Get it together!”
The moment I stepped into the dark hallway, I knew I’d hit the jackpot. Honied bourbon, which I could only catch traces of upstairs, was laced in the very walls down here.
I wasn’t far off on my guess in that note I’d left—it was like a prison. The temperature had plummeted, and the walls were made of unpainted brickwork. Beneath my feet was cold concrete.
I tried a few rooms to find them totally empty, but I wasn’t discouraged. With every step, my mate’s scent was getting stronger.
And finally, I opened a door to a room that wasn’t empty. There was no Alpha, but it was his bedroom.
Rogue’s bedroom.
Within was a dresser, a desk and chair, a huge TV across the wall, a neatly made bed, and two doors along the walls. One was ajar, leading to a bathroom, and from the other I could hear a faint sound beyond.
I stepped in, a chill running up my spine.
His room.
His territory.
I’d made it.
I stalled on my way to the door, fingers tracing the bedding and the stained wood desktop, fixing everything to memory.
This was how he liked things.
Neat.
Possibly a problem, but we could work with that.
The bedding was black. There was no window in here, but the lights were warm and bright enough.
I stared at the chair, a thousand different pictures of an Alpha popping through my head. Red hair? Black? Slender, or larger?
I had to know.
Finally, I dared creep to the last door, and ever so quietly, I pushed it open. The sound of the TV instantly rose in the air, and the fresh scent of honied bourbon told me everything I needed to know.
That was the room.
With as much care as possible, I shut the door again before even looking, turning and pressing my back to it.
“He’s in there, Bunny. What’s he gonna think of us?”
I had to go in.
But uh… the room I was in right now was his bedroom, obviously… What if something went wrong or Knox found me before I could speak to him.
Can’t have him thinking we don’t care.
So, I hurried to his bed and clambered on, rolling in his scent and leaving mine. I scent marked every pillow and blanket, fighting every urge not to burrow and ruin how neatly he’d made it, (I failed).
Then I returned to the door, this time looking in.
The first thing I saw was the cage against the wall on the far end. It had great iron bars that looked menacing, but it was open and there was no Alpha inside. There were some weights, exercise machines, a kitchenette, and…
Finally, my eyes fell on the couch. The TV beyond it was facing me, some action show playing on the screen, but I thought… I saw what looked like an elbow poking over one of the arms.
That’s him, Bunny!
That’s him!
I almost tripped as I stumbled into the room, then clamped a hand over my mouth.
Sh.
Sh!
I think he’s sleeping.
I crept over, pulse speeding through my veins.
Oh…
Oh my…
“Fuck.” My voice was a cracked whisper as I edged around the couch to see the Alpha who was, sure enough, sleeping.
What the fuck?
Rogue was… he was massive . Beautiful and bonkers huge.
He had a sweep of pale white hair that tumbled all messy-like over his eyes, huge rippling muscles and a dusky tan to his skin, like desert dust.
I don’t think I’d even be able to… I hurried forward, setting Bunny and pouch down on the arm of the couch and spreading my hands, measuring them against his neck.
Woah…
I’d never be able to strangle him dead even with my full weight behind it.
His hand hung limply from the side of the couch, and I crouched down, pressing my palm up to it.
Holy. Shit.
My fingertips didn’t even reach his knuckles.
I stood, frowning as I examined him closer.
You think he’s uh… proportional?
I scowled, glancing at his crotch. Couldn’t see with the way he was laying.
How’s he gonna fit?
Problem for another time, and besides, I’d brought backup.
He was just… I balled my fists, a little squeak of excitement escaping before I clamped my hand over my mouth again.
He’s perfect , Bunny!
And so handsome, his face was cracked with a few curious looking scars, and messy hair tumbling over dark brows.
Mine.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
I’d sprung into action before realising, looking around the room before backing into his bedroom. Not much in here, but we could fix that.
It took a lot of care, tucking all the available pillows and blankets around Rogue without waking him, but it turned out he was a deep sleeper.
He even started snoring at one point and I had to stop myself giggling every time.
Never spent enough nights with Ace to know if he snored but I bet he didn’t. He was all pretty in the perfect Alpha god kinda way.
Rogue was… I don’t know… I bent over the back of the couch, peering close at his face again, trying to figure out some of the little jagged scars.
He was different.
Good different.
And Knox had said he liked the picture of me…
Okay…
We were done, and the nest was made—well, as good as it was gonna be.
Now for the hardest part.
I circled around to the front of the now couch-nest-pillow-fort with my mountain of a mate still snoring within, and very slowly edged my way inside. I paused, one hand leaning on the back of the couch as his rumbling breath halted and he shifted where he lay.
Shit.
I was his Omega—I couldn’t ruin his nap. I slowly ran my hand up and down his huge abdomen, pleased when he relaxed again.
Don’t let me forget that, Bunny.
He likes belly rubs.
Even slower than before, I clambered in, very, very carefully ducking my head beneath his shirt and burrowing in slow motion up against his chest.
He was so warm, and his skin was soft against mine.
With me all the way in, he stirred, but didn’t wake. His huge arm shifted, curling around me in his sleep and drawing me so tight I could barely breathe.
Ohmigod—!
Cuddles!
A strangled chirp of joy escaped my chest before I could catch it.
We were right, Bunny!
He is a champion.
That ache, the one so constant I had to tune it out, it settled. And Knox had said he liked me. Even just from a picture—that was more than Ace had ever offered.
I didn’t get happily-ever-afters in life, no promises, no guarantees, no nothing like that. So I’d learned how to make infinity out of the blink of an eye. A little happily ever after contained to a single moment, a memory, it was something the world couldn’t ever take from me.
And I think this was the happiest one I’d ever had to keep.