Chapter 50 – Malcolm
Chapter Fifty
Malcolm
Luckily, I’m not easily embarrassed. Some of the shit that’s spilled from my lips over the last few hours is unhinged. An equal amount is downright questionable, but I better understand what it means to be lost to the fog.
Kincaid gets us a suite at the main resort, and Lumen is not enthusiastic about the move. She ends up wrapped around my chest as I make the walk up to the main building. It was a battle to get her into leggings and one of K’s T-shirts, but she smells like straight-up sex.
It’s hot.
My dick presses against my sweats, which is inappropriate considering our location. There’s not much I can do when her naughty little tongue slides down my throat.
Riser runs past me with his arms loaded down with bags. He pushes the button to call the elevator as a female voice cries my name from behind me.
I turn on instinct, frowning when I spot the woman’s phone held out toward us. Bringing a hand up, I push Lumen’s face farther into my throat. Hopefully my hair will help give her some coverage.
Another woman, who’s on the younger side, joins the first, pulling out her phone.
“We’ve got fans with phones,” I tell Lumen. “Stay tucked in, and I’ll give you some coverage.”
“Oh my god, Malcolm?” one of the women squeaks. “Can we get your autograph?”
“Is that Riser?”
“Who’s the woman you’re holding?”
The Ruined Records security team keeps them from coming within ten feet of us, but they can’t take people’s phones for snapping pictures or recording us.
It’s hard.
The fans are why we’re able to do the job we do, but sometimes it gets overwhelming. Everyone deserves a break from time to time. I also understand this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them. They’ve probably never run into a celebrity before.
“Sorry, ladies,” I tell them, winking over my shoulder. “I can’t do autographs or pictures at the moment. My girlfriend is under the weather, and we might be contagious.”
Lumen snorts.
“Come on,” Riser says, catching my attention. “The elevator is here.”
“Kincaid, Parish, and Tennyson are around here somewhere,” I tell the women, stepping into the elevator. “You might be able to find them and get a quick autograph.”
I don’t experience even an ounce of guilt about leading them on. They might be able to run into Kincaid, but I doubt they’ll be able to locate Ten and Parish.
Lumen’s safety and comfort come first.
Riser joins us in the elevator, hitting the button for our floor.
The door closes, and I say, “You’d better hit a couple other floors. Otherwise, those women will likely start stalking ours.”
“Good idea,” he says, nodding. “By the way, in the future, I’d like it if you referred to Lumen as our girlfriend.”
I could bristle, but I completely get where he’s coming from, so I nod. “I’ll work on that.”
We’re still getting the hang of being a cohesive unit, but we’ll get there.
“It’s your turn to step up, Mal,” Kincaid says as the three of us stand outside the nest in our new room at the resort.
“We should send him.” I nod, pointing at Riser. “We both know he’s better at putting her at ease.”
“Let’s rock, paper, scissors for it,” Riser says, crossing his arms over his chest. “She told us she wanted time to set everything up. I’ve been taught that you don’t enter an omega’s nest without an invitation.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve heard that too,” I growl, jabbing a finger at his chest. “Why are the two of you so determined to set me up for failure?”
“It’s been close to two hours,” Kincaid says. “Someone has to check that she’s okay.”
“You said you would be the bad cop,” I remind him, quirking an eyebrow.
Let’s see him get out of this one.
“No one has to be the bad guy here.” Kincaid crosses his arms. “All you’re doing is checking on your girlfriend.”
“She never gets mad at you,” Riser says, shrugging. “Hell if I understand how you manage it, but she finds everything you do to be cute.”
I can’t help it if I’m adorable.
That doesn’t mean my packmates should throw me under the bus.
I growl, telling them that.
“Rock, paper, scissors, it is,” Kincaid says.
Those fuckers have figured out some way to cheat against me in rock, paper, scissors.
Five vicious games later—thanks to a few ties—I let myself into the nest.
It smells exactly like Lumen.
That electric scent of hers is everywhere, with hints of pears and roses mixed in.
While it’s mostly dark, the stairs up to the den-style nest are lit with LED lights, likely so someone doesn’t fall and break their neck.
My heart drops when I spot Lumen. I thought she might have fallen asleep, and that’s why she never came for us.
I was wrong.
She sits up against the head of the bed with what I think is a throw blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
When she shut herself away earlier, she brought every bit of our dirty laundry with her.
Hell, she even stole the sheets from the cabin. I assumed she wanted to tuck them around her space to ensure the nest would carry hints of our scents.
My nose twitches, and it’s clear she did stash our laundry around her. I can’t see it, but I can smell it. While it’s a bit too potent for my taste, omegas love to be surrounded by things that hold their alphas’ scents.
I stop at the top of the stairs. “Can I come in?”
She sniffles, nodding.
Damn.
We made the wrong call leaving her on her own.
I step over, grab the wand for the curtain, and pull it closed. It blocks off the fourth wall, making the space seem smaller and safer. Making my way to the edge of the bed, I pull back the comforter that rests over her legs and get settled next to her.
Her face is red, and I bring my hand to her forehead, checking her temperature. She’s a little warm, but nothing like the fever she experiences during a heat spike.
“Aww, baby doll.” I hold out my arms, trying to feel her out in the bond. It should give me some insight into what she’s feeling, but I’m not a pro yet. “Did we leave you alone for too long?”
She pulls the throw blanket off, tosses it aside, and chucks herself into my hold.
It’s awkward hugging while sitting up in bed, but I’m here for whatever she needs.
She cuddles her cheek to my chest without answering my question.
Riser or Kincaid really would have been better suited to this mission, but she’s my bonded mate. I want to be a good boyfriend.
“Here, let’s lie down,” I tell her, yanking her mostly on top of me as I scoot down the bed.
Once we’re settled, she ends up with her leg tossed over mine and her face resting on my chest. “We thought you wanted some privacy to set up your nest. A nest is supposed to be an omega’s safe place, and we—”
“You’re all getting your hopes up, and it kills me,” she whispers, cutting me off. “What if you’re wrong? You’re going to be so disappointed.”
“Not even a little bit,” I assure her. “I’m into you. Beta, omega, alpha… I couldn’t care less. I care about you as a human being.”
“You say that now, but what happens when you meet a compatible omega or one of you starts to go feral?” she sobs, then hiccups.
Goddammit.
I feel so underprepared for this situation.
I’m not eloquent.
I say the wrong thing at times, making shit worse.
“Focus on the bond, baby doll.” I reach across my chest, grabbing her hand and relocating it to rest over my heart. “Listen to what I’m telling you, and compare it to what you feel through the connection.”
It takes some effort, but I concentrate on forcing myself to purr. Sensing her discomfort helps jump-start my system into action, and a ragged, underused purr vibrates from my chest.
“I’m not the best with words, but I know you have to be able to sense how I feel about you.
” I brush my thumb over the side of her palm.
“I’m gone for you, Lumen. My chest gets warm and fuzzy when I think about you.
I’ve never fallen in love before, but I listened when my dads explained what it felt like when they met my mom.
The world stopped spinning. The same thing happened with you.
Look, it’s fast, I get it. But that spark that grows into love is there. ”
She sniffles, rubbing her cheek against my purring chest. “I’m losing my shit, Mal.”
“Nah, you’re having a pretty reasonable response to all the changes you’ve gone through recently.
” I chuckle. “You’ll eventually see me have a full-blown meltdown over losing something.
We’ll have to see if you still like me then.
Or I’ll get my feelings hurt and start a fight over nothing, just to get you to pay attention to me.
I have ADHD that came with a side of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria.
That shit always manages to rear its ugly head and fuck up whatever good things I have going at the moment. ”
“I’ll keep an eye out for that,” she says softly. “Thank you for the warning.”
“Shit. I wasn’t trying to make everything about me.” I sigh. “I just wanted you to know it’s completely reasonable for you to struggle under the circumstances.”
“Maybe,” she admits. “But I don’t even know if I want to be an omega.
I thought I did. For years, I dreamed about being one of those special, coveted omegas.
Only, it’s nothing like I thought it would be.
My emotions are all over the place to the point I’m afraid I’m losing my grasp on reality.
I turn into a sex-crazed fiend every few hours.
Not to mention, the cramps are physically painful if one of you doesn’t offer up your knot. ”
She finally takes a breath, and I pull a Riser, waiting to see if she goes on. He tried to teach me that trick years ago, but I’m too talkative to manage most of the time.
“Nesting is boring,” Lumen says, pushing up on her forearm.
“So incredibly, unnecessarily boring. There’s not even a TV in here to pretend like I’m not going out of my mind.
What am I supposed to be doing? Just rolling around with your dirty laundry?
If I am presenting as an omega, I fucking suck at it. ”
I snort, following her up. “You’re perfect just the way you are. You don’t have to nest if you don’t want to.”