Chapter 41 Bear
Bear
“Mable is a good influence on her,” I mused out loud when Flora carried yet another package back to her room. Ever since she had come to visit, deliveries had been arriving nearly daily, full of clothing items that Mable had convinced Flora to order.
“We’ll have to schedule time for them to spend together more regularly,” Chase suggested, barely looking away from his laptop. Ever since Spencer had given him Flora’s phone, he had been working nonstop, trying to figure out who had sent that text.
“Any luck?” I asked.
Chase shook his head. “The guy’s a fucking ghost. I should be able to trace this number easily.”
“I guess this confirms he’s definitely on campus. Between the camera being routed through a university IP address and his text, there’s no denying it.”
“We weren’t even on campus for that long, so how could he have seen her? She was wearing a sweater, and her new bond mark was hardly visible. He had to have been looking really hard—and I was watching like a hawk. No one was focusing on her too closely,” Chase said in frustration.
He was being hard on himself, but I would have done the exact same thing if I had been the one by Flora’s side that day.
“We will keep her safe. We have to,” I insisted. “The campus is teeming with people, and her bond mark isn’t exactly subtle. We will figure it out.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, the silent tension broken when honey and rose hit my nose, our omega appearing in the doorway, a small box in hand.
Flora padded up to me, a smile on her face. “I got something for you.”
“For me?” I asked in confusion.
She nodded eagerly. “I was doing some research on knitting and crocheting, and I found this company that makes ergonomic hooks. There’s something about the material and the way they’re shaped that apparently reduces a lot of strain on your hand.
So, I ordered you a few,” she said, holding out the box.
“I noticed the other day, while you were working, that you kept stretching your hand out.”
My chest tightened as I looked down at Flora, whose smile took my breath away. It was a small gesture, but it meant the fucking world to me. Flora was watching us just as much as we watched her.
I would spend the rest of my days thanking every higher power that an omega as good as her had picked me.
“I’ve heard about these,” I started pulling them out of the box. They were smooth and sleek in my hand. “I’ve actually been wanting to try them.”
“Honestly,” she said, “if they’re not helpful, I can return them.”
“Oh no. These are mine,” I insisted, clutching the hooks to my chest possessively. My actions elicited a giggle from her.
“I’m glad you like them,” she sighed softly.
“I love them. Just like I love you. Though this does mean we need to go to a yarn store.”
“Does it?” she asked.
I nodded solemnly. “My current project is nearly finished, so you need to pick out some yarn colors.”
“Why am I being trusted to pick out yarn colors?”
“Because it’s for a blanket to go in your nest. That is, if you want it.”
Her eyes lit up. “You’d make something for my nest?”
“I’d love to.”
Flora bounced on her toes excitedly, throwing her arms around my midsection. “Fuck yes, I want a blanket for my nest. Honestly, I’ve been considering stealing the one you made for Chase.”
“Hey, that’s mine,” Chase whined from where he was sitting with his laptop.
Flora stuck her tongue out at him. “What happened to ‘you can have anything from my room you want’?”
Chase shrugged. “Oh, you can take anything you want—but I will claim it back eventually. The moment that blanket smells like you, I’m sleeping with it.”
“And then I can steal it back when it smells like you,” she chirped, her face lighting up. “In my opinion, that sounds like the perfect system. But now I’m going to get a nest blanket of my own!” She turned back to me. “When can we go? I can pick colors out that match my nest! Chunky and soft.”
“This weekend?” I suggested.
She nodded enthusiastically. “It’s a date!” she squealed, rising onto her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek.
Three hours later, we were sitting on the couch together, Flora holding my ball of yarn as I finished the seventies turkey blanket, as we jokingly called it.
Simply sitting together, enjoying each other’s company, was wonderful.
If it were up to me, I would have kept her close every day for the rest of our lives.
“Do you want fried chicken for dinner?” Chase asked, leaning back on the couch and sighing.
Flora nodded eagerly, her grip tightening on the ball of yarn. “Will Spencer allow so much grease?” she asked suspiciously.
“He’s working.” I shrugged. “He can’t do anything about it.”
Placing the ball of yarn in my lap, Flora hopped up and walked over to Chase, kissing him on the cheek.
“You know, you’re so pretty.” She giggled as he preened.
He was a sucker for praise, especially when it came from our omega.
She had him wrapped around her little finger—actually, she had all of us wrapped around her little finger, including Spencer.
“Don’t you forget it!” Chase declared excitedly, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into his lap as she laughed while he peppered her face with kisses.
“I’ll order the food,” I offered, putting down my project and grabbing my phone. One of the best things about living in a college town was that I could order any food I wanted with ease.
“Thank you!” Flora said from her perch on Chase’s lap.
The pair of them snuggled for a few minutes while I placed the order before Flora slid off his lap.
“Hey, can I use your laptop to check my email while we wait for food?” Flora asked. Before dragging Flora onto his lap, he had placed his laptop on the couch next to him, where it still sat half open.
Chase nodded and handed over his laptop without even blinking.
Once Flora had it in hand, he grasped her waist, pulling her back into his lap.
I raised my eyebrows at him but didn't say a word.
Usually, Chase was precious about his devices.
If Spencer or I asked to use it, he would try to weasel his way out of it.
But our pretty omega batted her eyelashes at him, and he immediately handed it over.
It wasn’t like I could say anything, though, because I would do the exact same. Flora had us in a chokehold, whether she realized it or not.
Flora hummed to herself as she typed away, Chase hugging her, an arm around her waist as she sat in his lap.
“What the fuck?” Flora exclaimed, sitting up straighter, looking at the laptop screen.
“Did Chase leave weird porn open again?” I asked casually. When her horrified face didn't budge, I sat straighter, muscles tensing at the scent of her distress filling the air. “Flora?
She shook her head. “No, according to this email, I’m being put on academic probation?”
Academic probation? Why on earth would Flora be on that? She was stupidly dedicated to her studies. After the time she had taken off during her heat and when we had first brought her to the apartment, she had been working overtime to keep up to date.
“There's no way,” Chase said, leaning to read the email over her shoulder. “They’re saying you failed a bunch of papers?”
Flora shook her head, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.
“I need to set up some meetings with my advisors—figure out what’s going on!”
She spent the next hour furiously emailing every one of her professors, hardly touching her fried chicken. I left her plate on the coffee table, reminding her to eat every few minutes.
I was barely successful.
“Come on, little omega, you need to rest,” I said after an hour, pulling the laptop away from her. It was getting late.
Flora bit her lip. “I’ve emailed my professors, asking for meetings. They won’t reply this late, but hopefully I’ll hear from them in the morning,” she muttered, chewing on her lip.
“Good.” I spoke softly, gently taking the laptop from her and handing it to Chase. She let me pick her up, taking her back to her nest.
“Can you stay?” she asked in a small voice as she buried herself in the blankets, her hand reaching out to grab mine.
“Of course,” I agreed. “Let me take my shirt off first?”
Flora nodded, lying back and watching me strip down. The moment I crawled into the nest, she wrapped herself around me, burying her face in my chest and inhaling deeply.
Curled up with my omega in my arms, her sweet scent lulling me to sleep, everything was overwhelmingly right.
No matter what was thrown our way, we would deal with it.
Together.