20. Bailey-Rose
Gareth led the way upstairs, still holding my hand which I was grateful for.
I tried to keep how the story about his sister made my heart ache.
So many things about the way Gareth reacted to various situations made so much more sense now.
Of course, my episode after he nipped my neck would send him spiraling.
Then there was the overreaction of me jumping out of the car.
It was obvious Gareth carried around so much guilt about his sister that those emotions were bleeding out into other areas of his life.
Now here I was, a woman he was charged with looking after who was sick and at risk for many things.
I just hoped he would keep his end of the deal and be honest with me.
When we got to the base of the stairs that led to my room, he stopped to look at me. “I’m going to have you close your eyes while I carry you up to your room. Then when I give the order, you can open them but not a moment before, or you’ll ruin the surprise.”
My curiosity was running wild as I nodded eagerly. Gareth scooped me up in a bridal hold, giving me a warning look, so I slapped my hands over my eyes as promised.
“Not that I don’t trust you, Rosie, but I think two of us are going to go ahead so we can block the view if you cheat,” Lysse said, poking my side, making me giggle.
Excitement flooded my system to the point I wondered if I was bouncing in Gareth’s hold like I thought I was in my head. The flight of stairs seemed to never end, and I was about to jump out of my skin if they didn’t hurry up. Finally, I was set down, and hands rested on my shoulders.
“Okay, baby girl, you can look,” Gareth whispered.
Dropping my hands, I let out a shriek of elation and raced over to the giant hanging nest. Without hesitation, I flung myself into the pile of pillows and blankets the guys had filled it with. Laughing, I rolled around in the fluffy mess like a kid in the season’s first snow. This was glorious.
When I saw the bed, I thought there would be no way they’d go for it.
That, and I wasn’t sure if the ceiling with all the glass panels would be able to hold something like this.
Not only had these men taken it upon themselves to get me the bed of my dreams, but they set it up and filled it with bedding that smelled like them.
I had a room with a bed so I could sleep in our pack home with my Alphas.
This was the beginning of our forever, and I was over the moon, so much so that all the excitement and acrobatics set off a warning buzz from my monitor.
It wasn’t a full-on alarm but a warning I was getting close.
Most of the time, this was how I managed to avoid what happened in the living room on our first meeting.
Then again, I’d been highly emotional since things happened with Randall, which caused my normally low resting heart rate to be higher than my typical.
Flopping onto my back, I closed my eyes and took slow, deep breaths, working to slow down my heart rate.
My senses were flooded with the aroma of my Alphas—chocolate, blueberry, cinnamon, graham cracker, and sweet tea with that tang of lemon—the perfect way to cool off during the summer.
The more I thought of my guys, the calmer I became, but another problem I didn’t think about arose.
Their scent was starting to become lost as I began to perfume, sending out a come-hither call to my Alphas.
Jerking upright, I found all five of my men with their gaze locked on me, noses flared as they took in my wantonness.
I gulped loudly as the mental picture of them stripping out of their clothes and coming to join me played out.
The calmness I’d been trying for flew out the window as I locked gazes with Yun-Sun.
My cool, calm, and collected Alpha looked like he was on the verge of snapping.
The energy around him shifted slightly, causing me to feel a little on edge.
It was almost like I knew something was about to happen that I needed to be aware of, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was.
His normally warm, sweet scent of blueberry and melted butter became more tart.
It wasn’t bad or off-putting, it just had a sharper edge to it than normal.
Slamming his eyes shut, Yun-Sun’s hands fisted as he turned on his heel. Before I could say anything, he marched out of the room with the others right behind him, leaving only Warrick and me behind.
“What just happened?” I asked, sliding out of the bed and heading for the door.
Warrick caught my hand, shaking his head when I looked back. “Let them cool off, Care Bear. They left for a reason, and you need to respect that.”
“I don’t understand,” I pressed.
Letting out a sigh, Warrick urged me to sit with him on the cute mint-colored loveseat. “Do you know what rut is?”
“It’s the Alphas version of a heat,” I answered.
“In a manner of speaking, yes. Unlike an Omega, Alphas have no trigger or warning when rut rises. Some Alphas have them more often than others… it’s rather individual.
During this time, they become filled with hormones that make them slightly unpredictable, possessive, and flooded with the urge to dominate.
When an Alpha is in full rut, it can last a day, two, or even three in some cases.
They will be single-mindedly focused on the need to protect their Omega, becoming unreasonably aggressive to those not part of the pack.
It’s one reason when this happens, they are asked to stay home,” Warrick explained.
With this new information, I pictured the way Yun-Sun looked at me, saw how I felt, and the change in his posture. “Are you saying he’s in rut now?”
“I’m not sure, Care Bear,” Warrick admitted, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and hugging me to his side.
“The way he reacted to you perfuming makes that seem likely. I know I said there aren’t triggers, but it’s common knowledge that when Alphas find their scent match, it can trigger an Omega to go into heat and the Alphas to experience rut.
Some say it’s nature’s way to ensure the bonding will happen while everyone is lost to their base needs. ”
I looked up at Warrick, concerned. “I’ve heard from other Omegas going through a heat without an Alpha is torture. They claim to have medication to help, but it doesn’t always work. If Yun is in rut and chooses to face it alone, will it be awful for him?”
“Not as awful as he would feel if anything happened to you,” Warrick murmured, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “The guys are with him, and they will know how to help. This isn’t the first time we’ve been through this, but I will say Yun is one who doesn’t have rut happen often.”
He might be telling me things would be fine with his words, but the tone of his voice said something different.
I chose to trust my pack—they’d been together longer and knew what needed to be done.
However, it firmed my resolve to figure a way to make it safer for me to be intimate with my Alphas.
Sex was an important dynamic in any relationship, but with Alphas and Omegas, it was a necessity.
“Hey, I have an idea,” Warrick announced, leaping to his feet. “Why don’t we unpack some of these boxes and start getting you settled in? You’re gonna need to find pajamas to sleep in eventually, so why not now?”
“What if I just sleep naked?” I asked, trying to keep an innocent expression on my face.
Warrick’s eyes almost bugged out of his head as he coughed from practically swallowing his tongue, making me burst into laughter. “Bailey-Rose, you sassy minx. Don’t say things like that unless you really mean it,” he chided.
I fluttered my lashes at him as I stood, then brushed past him, running my hand across his chest. “Who says I didn’t mean it?”
“Holy shit, I’m in trouble,” Warrick muttered, running his hands through his hair as I giggled to myself all the way to the closet.
After an hour, Vili and Gareth joined us in our quest to get the basics put away.
I’d handled the boxes with my undergarments, not wanting to push Warrick further than I already had.
He needed a full five minutes after that sleeping-naked comment before he felt safe enough to be in the confined space of the closet.
“Is Yun okay?” I asked.
Vili gave me a bright smile and nodded. “Yes, he and Ulysses are making dinner. Yun just needed fresh air… our pretty lady’s scent was too enticing.”
“So he’s not in rut?” I pressed.
“Well…” Gareth started then paused as he pulled down a box from the stack.
“He might have if he didn’t take a suppressant.
We’re having him be cautious for now since we all know that while drugs are helpful in these situations, they don’t always work as expected.
Giving him some time to clear his head and the meds to kick in is just being cautious. ”
Frowning, I hung up the dress I’d pulled out. “Why would he need to take anything? Would it be bad for him to go into rut?”
They all stopped what they were doing and looked at each other as if unsure who should answer the question.
The task seemed to fall to Gareth since he was the one who faced me while the other two took backup positions.
I didn’t like that at all. It made me feel like whatever I was about to be told was going to piss me off or scare me.