Chapter 47 Bear
Bear
We nearly lost our omega. Flora had almost been—
I cut off my thoughts with a firm shake of my head. I couldn’t let myself go there. Flora was here. She was safe. That was what I needed to focus on.
“Never again,” I muttered, watching Flora sleep. We were all piled into her room. Chase and I were in her nest with her, and Spencer was sitting on an overstuffed armchair to the side, watching our omega intently.
She wore clothing she had pilfered from our closets, her hair scraped into a bun after her shower. With her fresh-faced and sleeping deeply, I couldn’t stop watching her.
“If she allows us to, I’m going to put so many goddamn trackers on her,” Chase muttered. “I've been reading about ultra-high-tech ones coming out of Asia. I'm going to order them as soon as we've rested. Jewelry, clothing, hell, even under her skin…”
“I don’t give a shit if she allows us to—she’s going to have extra trackers on her,” Spencer said softly. “I'm never fucking risking her life again. If I hadn’t put them in her damn shoes… I’m not sure we would have found her in time.”
I didn’t want to think about that. We wouldn’t have even known whether she was still on campus.
We could have torn the place apart for nothing.
Lyle was a piece of shit, but he’d been smart enough to leave very little evidence that he was Flora’s stalker and where he took her.
Thankfully, what little paper trail he did leave meant the police could arrest him easily.
The idiot had items of Flora’s in his apartment and photos proving he had begun following her shortly after she started at Avalon University.
Personally, I was all for tracking devices. I imagined Flora would ask us to only look at them when there was an emergency, of course, and I could deal with that.
Spencer sighed, his eyes still pinned to Flora. “What she said about her heat… Do you think she meant it? About wanting all of us? I would hate to think that was something she said in the ‘heat’ of the moment.”
I snorted lightly. “There’s no way in hell she said that in the heat of the moment. God, that’s a terrible pun. Ugh, but anyway. She loves you guys, and you know it. While I hate what led us to this point, I am so fucking excited for us to be together as a pack, fully bonded, like we ought to be.”
Spencer gazed longingly at Flora. “Yeah. It’ll be amazing. First, she needs to heal, though. We help her through this, then we help her through what’s next.”
Chase hummed in agreement. “And whatever she has to face in the future, we’ll be there.”
I smoothed my hand up and down her arm. She didn’t even flinch in her sleep.
Flora was so exhausted by what’d gone down in that horrible, rundown dormitory that she’d passed right the fuck out when we got home.
She deserved it. All the rest with none of the interruptions.
We were on board to ensure Flora got everything she needed.
“Always.” I smiled, unable to keep myself from thinking about the one omega who’d seen the real me, beneath the exterior. “Til death do us part.”
“And maybe afterward if she needs us.” Spencer nodded, and I had no doubt in my mind that any of us would come back from the dead for Flora, rules and mortality be damned.
“Spencer!” Flora whined. She was sitting in the nest, throwing the alpha in question a pleading look.
“Nope,” he said, shaking his head, his arms folded firmly over his chest.
She flopped back on the bed. “I have three alphas. Surely one of you is willing to knot me?” she asked hopefully.
Our pack leader didn’t blink. “You need to rest.”
“I need to come,” she grumbled. And damn, could we all tell. I was this close to cracking, but if we only had a few days between everything Flora had been through and her heat, that time was better used preparing.
Still, when she pouted at me like that, my steely resolve was tested.
“How about we go get some cookies?” I suggested holding my hand out. When in doubt, tempt the omega with a treat. It usually bought us at least an hour or two.
“Yes!” she declared excitedly, scrambling out of the nest toward me.
“Fruit first!” Spencer called out over his shoulder as Flora yanked me after her.
She stuck her tongue out at him, not breaking her stride, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
A single brow rose on Spencer’s face, and our sweet omega quickly realized that he wasn’t playing around.
She started to make a beeline for the kitchen, but hadn’t even gotten into the hallway when Spencer spun around and strode toward her in one long movement, scooping her up and throwing her over his shoulder.
“Okay, this is not fair!” Flora shouted as she smacked Spencer’s ass, bouncing lightly. “You’re too strong! Put me down!”
“Fruit,” he said with a growl as he dragged her off in the direction of the kitchen, Flora grumbling and pounding on Spencer’s ass the entire way. And all I could do was laugh at them.
“Hey, handsome,” Flora chirped as she wrapped her arms around me from behind. From anyone else, that name would feel patronizing, but from her, it was honest and heartfelt.
“Do you want some breakfast?” I asked, stirring around the frying goodness in the pan. “I just started this pack of bacon.”
“You know I'll never say no to bacon.” She smiled at me, dropping a quick kiss on my cheek. I turned the heat lower so that I could spin around and hold her against me.
“What are we doing today?” she mused, sliding her ass onto the counter to watch me work.
Flora was going out of her mind with boredom.
We all knew it. She hadn't admitted it exactly, but the signs were obvious.
The way she was always itching to move on to the next thing or was constantly looking out into the abyss.
Flora was a homebody to an extent, but all this time here was stretching it to the max.
“You still need to rest,” I pointed out.
She groaned, an annoyingly adorable sound. “I don't want to fall that behind in my classes.”
“I’m pretty sure the university will let you get away with anything right now.
” They had been extremely apologetic about the situation with Lyle.
They were bending over backward to make sure that Flora could transition into classes whenever she wanted.
They had offered to fund an extra year of studies or allow her to go completely remote if that was what she desired.
Spencer and his attorney were working with them, since the college was terrified we’d sue them.
To prove they meant no harm, they’d fired Lyle after the fact and ensured that Flora’s grades all returned to what they were before he’d messed with them.
Chase called them out on trying to avoid a lawsuit. But it worked in our favor, regardless. I wanted my omega to have options, and she did.
“Come on, at least get some crossword puzzles or sudoku, something to do that isn’t watching TV,” she asked softly.
“For you, anything.” I kissed the top of her head. “Also, you are aware that Chase has a stash of board games?”
Her eyes lit up. “No! No one told me that.”
“Why don’t you go find him while I finish cooking? Maybe bring some into the living room for us.”
She hopped off the counter with a brand-new smile and sparkling eyes.
“I love you,” she declared, leaning up to kiss my cheek. “I’ll be right back. And double up on the bacon. I don’t want to share.”
I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her close and deepening the kiss as the delicious, smoky aroma of breakfast food filled the room.
“I love you so much,” I whispered against her lips.
“Hmm,” Flora hummed, vibrating our kiss, “you taste good. You know, we could always…”
Her words trailed off as she reached for me over my pants. I grunted, swallowing hard as I lost all concentration on the bacon. Flora didn’t let up at all, though, smoothing her hand up and down, as her other hand wrapped around the back of my neck and pulled me closer.
“Kitchen’s as good a place as any for a little pre-heat warm-up.” She spoke through kisses, and I didn’t know what to fucking say. I was already wound up as hell, but we’d all talked about this. Flora needed to rest. Really, truly, needed to rest.
Right? That was…Oh, fuck.
I leaned back, taking both her shoulders and getting at least an inch between us. “Sweet, naughty omega. You know we’re waiting. Just be patient.”
“Ugh, fine. You’re no fun.” She pouted at me, and I was seconds from utterly cracking and taking her right there in the kitchen.
“I am trying so hard right now.” I leveled her with a look, and Flora gave me a remorseful smile. “Please.”
“Okay, okay.” She perched on her tiptoes for a quick—chaste—kiss. “I’ll be good.”
As she padded away, I returned to cooking, adjusting my cock in my sweats. The lightest touch from Flora had me hard. She was recovering from an ordeal, though, and her heat was coming fast. The last thing she needed was to deal with horny alphas before she was ready for them.
Plenty of time for that later.