9. CHAPTER EIGHT
“Should I put this box in the office?” I heard Leith call to Enzo, his voice echoing off of the bare walls of our new flat—apartment I silently reminded myself as I felt around in my giant box of nesting materials.
“Yeah! And can you head downstairs and tip the movers for me?” Enzo replied, followed by the sound of something crashing to the floor and a flurry of curses from my alpha.
They wouldn’t let me unpack any of the things that were coming off of the truck downstairs and had left me to decorate the canopy bed that served as my nest. Back when my vision was good I loved looking up at the swathes of dark silk and how they boxed in the space, making it feel safe.
Now they were just a black tinged blur.
Sometimes I wished that my blindness had been instantaneous. Just take it all away so I wouldn’t have to watch the slow disintegration of my vision until things finally closed in on me.
In the three months since the Olympics it had only gotten worse.
Both my doctor back in Edinburgh and the new one in Seattle kept telling me that everyone was different when it came to losing their sight.
For some with open angle glaucoma, it was a slow creep from the edge of their vision until everything went completely dark one day, and for others it was spotty and random.
I thought I would be a part of the former since, up to last month, my peripheral had been slowly deteriorating with some blurring in the center of it.
But then I’d woken up to find black spots leaking in, I’d panicked. Enzo and Leith had immediately upped our moving date and now we were in our new apartment situated in the building where the rest of the Seattle Sports Complex athletes lived.
It was a surprisingly spacious place, much larger than our flat back in Edinburgh. During our walk through yesterday, the property manager had explained that all of the hockey players from the Seattle Stallions lived a few floors up in two-bedroom apartments unless they had families of their own. In that case they lived on the same floor as us in the family apartments.
The rest of the athletes were sprinkled throughout the five-story building, but we had yet to meet any of them. The manager told us that most athletes left early in the morning and came back late at night, only using their space to eat and sleep.
I’d been like that too before the Olympics, but I’d promised Enzo I would slow down once we made it to the states.
I understood where he was coming from—really I did—and that he was concerned about me. The doctors advised against continuing my skating for a plethora of reasons, but the first and foremost was that if I fell and hit my head it could exacerbate the pressure on my eyes, speeding up the inevitable.
But I didn’t want to be swaddled in bubble wrap by my packmates or doctors for the rest of my life.
A sour feeling filled my gut at the idea of my impending blindness and I quickly shut down both of my bonds with the two men in the living room. I didn’t need them both barreling into my room to ask me what was wrong.
Thankfully Charm, who had been sleeping next to me, seemed to pick up on my distress and she let out a plaintive whine before pressing her nose to my thigh. It was the universal guide dog sign for ‘you okay?’
I gave her ears a ruffle.
“I’m all right, little lady,” I whispered. “Just the usual.”
Charm didn’t understand a lick of English, but she still put her head in my lap anyway and let out a comforting huff.
I’d been reticent about getting a seeing eye dog when, technically, I didn’t quite need one yet. But as soon as Charm, and eventually Lucky, came into our home I realized just how much I relied on her.
Not only did she make sure that I didn’t bump into anything when we were out and about because it was hiding in my blackened peripheral, but she was also always there when I started to spiral and panic. She was truly a godsend.
And then there was Lucky who was there to make everyone laugh.
Case in point the scolding that was currently coming from the other room.
“Gods dammit you infernal beast!” Leith’s bellow was followed by a crash. “Just because we’re in a new house doesn’t mean you need to open all of the cabinet doors!”
“Uh-oh,” I told Charm with a grin, “Looks like your brother is up to no good again.”
Getting up, I gripped Charm’s harness and let her lead me back into the main part of the apartment. Eventually, I’d be able to navigate without her, but I was still learning all the twists and turns of the new place and I really didn’t want to end up with a bunch of bruises because I couldn’t see a corner or counter.
Enzo was wheezing with laughter by the time we made it into the main area only to find Leith sprawled out on the ground with Lucky licking his face as an apology for clearly knocking him over with one of the kitchen cupboards.
“Are you all right?” I asked standing over Leith and peering down at him with a squint until I could make out the smile on his face.
“Yeah,” the Scotsman grumbled as he sat up and pushed Lucky away. “This damn mutt is too smart for his own good. Why did we bring him home again?”
It was the same line that Leith used at least once a week when the wily golden retriever misbehaved.
Enzo snorted in the same way he always did when Leith asked that question and held out a hand to the other alpha. “You were the one who felt bad when we went to pick up Charm.”
Leith was quiet for a beat before he begrudgingly took Enzo’s offered hand and let our packmate help him to his feet. “And I regret it every day.”
As if he understood everything the burly man said, Lucky let out a whimper and nudged the man’s leg.
“Don’t you look at me like that,” Leith said, moving past the silly dog and turning his attention to me. “Have you gotten your nest stuff unpacked yet, Mo leannan?”
His apple scent filled my nose and I could feel the tenseness that was bunched in between my shoulder blades ease almost immediately.
There was nothing like the scent of my alphas to calm me down. It was like omega Xanax.
Letting go of Charm’s harness, I slid my hands underneath his arms and pressed my body as closely as I could to his and put my ear directly over his heart. His heart rate was always a little bit faster than everyone else’s and his purr was low, like the rumble of a pickup truck as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders.
“Mo leannan?” he asked again and I could feel him prod along the edges of our bond, seeming to realize I’d been shielding them from my emotions.
A sigh left me and I pressed my nose into his shirt, inhaling deeply before answering him. “Almost, though it all smells wrong now because it’s been on a plane.”
Our flat back in Edinburgh had smelled like home, this place smelled like fake lemon-scented cleaner and rain. I thought it rained a lot in the UK, but that seemed to have nothing on the famous Emerald City.
It had been raining when we stepped off of the plane, then through the night, and it was still drizzling outside as the movers worked to unload our storage pod downstairs.
Speaking of the movers, the sound of the front door opening distracted me from Leith’s very nice, very broad chest. “Sir?”
“What do you need?” Leith asked as he’d been handling all of the movers today. If Enzo did it he’d probably end up losing his temper with them when they didn’t do something right.
Leith pressed a kiss to the top of my head and moved to the front door where I could hear him talking quietly with the man.
I was so intent on trying to listen that I didn’t realize Enzo was coming up behind me until his tart cranberry scent enveloped me at the same time his arms did.
“I have an idea of what we can do to make your nest smell like home,” he growled into my ear.
I gasped, pretending to be scandalized, though we both knew that out of the three of us, I was the kinkiest. “With the movers here?”
“They’re almost done.” Enzo shrugged and turned us fully away from the front door so that our lips could crash together with some semblance of privacy.
“So you want me to go downstairs to talk to the other moving company about sharing the move-in bay?” Leith said loudly enough to make sure we could hear. “All right, I’m coming.”
I could feel Enzo’s smile against mine as we both realized that our sensitive Scotsman always knew how to read the room.
The door shut and the lock clicked behind them. We were suddenly very much alone.
“All right, let’s go break in this fresh nest of yours.” Enzo let out a little whoop before sweeping me up off of my feet.
The dogs started to bark, not liking the rudeness of my alpha’s movements and his laughter echoed through the box-filled apartment.
“No dogs allowed,” Enzo told them before kicking the door to my bedroom firmly shut behind us, leaving Lucky and Charm firmly on the other side.
There was one last sad woof from Lucky before they retreated—probably to get into something—but I couldn’t find it in myself to care when my alpha was busily sliding his hands up the back of my jumper.
“It’s been a while.” Enzo’s words were muffled by the clash of our hungry lips as I fumbled with the buttons on his checked shirt.
It had been a while. Since my last heat a month ago in fact.
I’d been trying not to show that the lack of intimacy was hurting my feelings, but only my ever-observant Leith had picked up on it.
Enzo had spent most of the past month on the phone trying to coordinate everything and reconnect with his family members who lived in California. We were supposed to fly down for Christmas—something he hadn’t done since before he met me in University.
“You’re distracted,” Enzo grumbled as he finally managed to tug the brightly colored jumper over my head, his hands immediately going for the button on my trousers.
Meanwhile, I’d finally made my way down to the last button on his shirt and pushed it down over his shoulders before attacking the undershirt beneath. “And you’ve got far too many clothes on, love.”
Enzo’s chuckle was delicious as he turned us both and gave me a gentle shove into my nest.
It was dim inside of my room thanks to the shut blinds, making it much harder for my eyes to pick out the specifics of Enzo undressing the rest of the way, but I could hear the clink of his belt as the sound of his zipper filled the room and that was enough to make my perfume fill the closed draperies around my nest.
“Christ, babe,” Enzo’s voice was thick with lust as he crawled over me and began to pepper kisses along my jaw which was in dire need of a shave after three days of travel. “Your smell is making my mouth water.”
“Good.” I put my hand on the back of his neck and yanked him down more firmly to me.
Enzo made short work of my underwear and his own before our mouths slammed together once again, his fingers sliding down the lines of my chest until they reached my already painfully hard cock.
“I need it fast and hard,” I begged, breaking away from his almost suffocating kiss. “Please, Enz.”
Enzo paused and I was afraid for a moment that I’d set off his alpha-level concern that had been the biggest cockblock over the last nine months since my diagnosis.
“I’ve gotta be gentle, Artie,” he cautioned, but his hand was already slipping between my legs to prod at the slick rosette of my back hole. “You know that.”
I didn’t know that, nor did I agree with it, but if I argued I was pretty sure it was going to put a damper on the first sex we’d had in a month. “Fine, but at least say you’ll knot me?”
It was my eyes that were going, the rest of me was healthy. Enzo didn’t seem to understand that though and insisted on treating me with kid gloves when we’d previously been into some of the more hardcore sex stuff before I’d started losing my sight.
Enzo was silent for a moment before he pressed the thick head of his stiff cock directly onto the tight entrance of my ass. “Okay, but if anything makes you uncomfortable you know the safe word.”
That got me grinning.
“Pickles,” we said in unison with a chorused chuckle.
Then he slipped inside of me and we both gasped at the suddenness of it
“You’re tight.” Enzo’s voice came through gritted teeth as he slowly pushed all the way inside right up the thick lump of his knot, which, if things went well, would be firmly locked inside of me by the end of this.
Lifting a leg, I kicked it around Enzo’s back and rolled my hips up to meet his. “Fuck me, Enzo, wipe your scent all over my nest so it smells like home again.”
Enzo’s breathing stuttered. He pulled his hips back before slamming his cock roughly back inside of me.
All of his earlier worries seemed to have taken a backseat once his alpha brain took over and we now moved in tandem, no words coming from our lips but our moans filled the room.
Enzo looped an arm underneath my back and pulled me up off of my nest, pressing our chests together and sandwiching my cock in between our bodies. The friction of it nearly made my eyes roll back in my head as I felt Enzo’s hips begin to speed up. It would be a quickie, for sure, but that still didn’t make it any less toe-curlingly wonderful.
“I’m—” Enzo bit out, his head tucked into my neck right where he’d put his bond mark on me while we were still in Uni. “I’m gonna come soon, babe.”
“Go for it,” I managed to rasp, combing my hands through his dark hair. “Just make sure you’re knotted when you do it.”
I was scared that he would argue with me for a moment, his hips slowing ever so slightly, but then I felt the first hard push to get his already swollen knot past the tight ring of my ass and my emotions soared with excitement.
Leith I could get to knot me anytime and I swear it was how the burly man preferred to sleep sometimes.
But Enzo had been an intimacy enigma since I’d started going blind and this gave me hope that my previously carefree alpha was finally on his way to returning to me.
Then, before he could fully slip his knot inside of me, he pulled back. “I can’t, I’m sorry,” he whispered.
I wanted to tell him that it was okay, that I didn’t mind, but I knew he could feel the disappointment mingled with pleasure through our bond.
With a growl, Enzo reached in between us and gripped my drooling cock in his fist, letting my back fall back onto the bed as he began to slam inside of me again. It wasn’t enough to push his knot inside, but it was still enough for me to see stars as he made short work of making me come from both my ass and my cock.
He spilled inside of me a moment later before collapsing onto the nest next to me and pulling me onto his chest so I could hear the mad flutter of his heartbeat.
We lay in silence for what seemed like forever, though it probably wasn’t more than a few minutes, before I finally worked up the courage to ask. “Will you ever feel comfortable knotting me again?”
Enzo let out a rattling sigh. “Yeah of course, Artie, I really am sorry. I just keep getting into my head about it, like, what if we’re stuck together and something happens? What if you hit your head or panic?”
“I can’t really trip on anything if I’m stuck on your knot,” I pointed out dryly. I didn’t say that Leith’s and my sex life was the same as it had been before, I didn’t want to make my alpha, my first love, feel bad about his mental block.
“I’ll work on getting past this, I swear,” Enzo promised, pressing a kiss to my sweaty temple.
I said nothing, choosing instead to let his heartbeat steady me again.
“I love you,” Enzo whispered, trying to goad me into speaking.
I gave in, never one to be disappointed in him for too long. “I love you too, love, more than the moon and the stars.”
Cheesy gestures with my alphas were my favorite. I sometimes liked to think I lived in some kind of cute Rom-Com. Something like The Adventures of Artie, Enzo, Leith, and two crazy dogs—it was a working title at this point, but I was pretty sure it had all the makings of a bloody Hallmark movie.
Those movies always had a happy ending. Something I desperately wanted to learn how to create with our quickly changing dynamics.
But those thoughts would have to wait because the door to my room opened and Leith stepped inside.
I glanced over at him, having to lift my head so I could see his blurry shape due to the daytime backlighting from the living room.
I could feel him inhale Enzo’s and my mixed scents and also his rising lust at it through the bond, but then, just underneath that, was panic.
“What is it?” I asked, using Enzo’s chest to push up into a sitting position.
Leith shook his head, like he couldn’t believe what he was about to say. “I went downstairs to help the mover get the box scooted up so that the other people moving in could park their truck.”
I frowned, not understanding where he was going with this. “Yes, and…?”
“Colt Stone is either the most oblivious billionaire ever, or he’s absolutely fucking diabolical,” Leith said, ignoring my prodding.
“Leith, get to the point,” Enzo snapped, leaning in front of me to snag his shirt off of the floor.
“We’ve got new neighbors right next door and one of them is tall, gorgeous, and not happy to see me.”
Shit, I thought as I realized exactly what he meant.
What were the chances that on the day we moved in that Ciara Callaghan also moved in next door?
Despite Enzo’s cursing and Leith’s clear discomfort, a tiny thrill shot right through me.
Even though Ciara was baggage and a half, as soon as I’d gotten a whiff of her scent at the Olympics and again clinging to Leith’s skin after their confrontation in the hotel, I’d been nursing the teensiest, tiniest crush on the female alpha.