37. Maisie
maisie
I wipe drool off my face and groan.
Everything hurts.
It feels like I’ve been bent like a pretzel every which way. Shockingly, I don’t have a headache or feel like I need to pass out. With a few blinks, I’m able to locate my glasses on the nightstand and slip them on.
Lain is draped across my lap, but he doesn’t even stir with my movement. Greer is next to me, a hand on my stomach like he needs to be touching me, and Callum is nowhere to be found.
My heart picks up pace and I’m trying to self soothe. There could be a million reasons he’s not in the nest right now. His scent is thick in the room and I know he was there for my heat. I’m not gonna panic.
Fuck, who am I kidding? I start to panic.
Because this wasn’t the way things were supposed to go. They were supposed to find out we were scent matches and then we could talk things through, get to know each other better, especially me and Callum.
The universe, however, was not on my side. I lick my dry lips, running my hand through Lain’s hair. It’s somehow comforting. The last thing I remember was seeing Greer’s excitement and how amazing they all smelled in the same room and from there everything gets kind of hazy.
For some odd reason, I remember something being set on fire, but that can’t be right.
I’m really trying to not freak out over Callum not being here, but my scent or how much I’m petting Lain must give it away.
He squeezes my legs and then those pretty blue eyes of his are blinking at me.
The smile on his face is the same charming one that made me fall for him, and that alone gives me some sense of peace.
He’s happy to be here, happy to be my match, though I didn’t really have any doubts about Lain.
“Hey,” he says happily. “Feeling okay? What do you need?”
“Where’s Callum?” I rasp out.
Lain rubs my leg. He’s completely naked, not even under the covers, his pert ass on display as he kisses my thigh.
“Making lunch…dinner? What time is it?”
I grab my phone, but it’s dead. “Oh God. Did someone tell Birdie where I was?”
“Callum told Graham and uh…apparently she went into heat too,” Lain says.
My head thunks against the wall behind the nest bed. “She’s alright though?”
“Of course, she’s in good hands.” Lain clears his throat. “So, scent matches, huh?”
“Yeah,” I reply sheepishly.
“It’s why you wouldn’t let me walk you home and needed all of us together?
” I give him a nod and he moves himself on the nest bed so that he can position me for a cuddle.
Greer shifts, not waking up, but keeping a hand on me somehow.
Lain kisses my head. “This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. ”
I snuggle closer to him, loving that he not only smells amazing, but that he’s also drenched in my scent.
“Me too,” I whisper and he keeps kissing me.
Lain adjusts, clearing his throat. “I know asking the moment you’re out of heat is probably a dick move, but this means you’re staying, right?”
I take a deep breath and the Alpha stills next to me. “Yes, I’m staying. Even if we weren’t scent matches, I think I would have come to the same conclusion. It’s still kind of terrifying, though.”
“We’ll be here for you the whole way, whatever you need to feel settled and comfortable. We’re your scent matches—your pack—and we’ll do anything you need to make this transition easy for you.”
The door opens and Callum looks relieved when he walks in, only wearing his underwear.
“Oh thank fuck,” he says while placing a massive tray of food on the credenza in the room.
“Not that being a part of your heat was a hardship or anything. It’s just it all happened so fast and we didn’t know how long it was going to go on for. ”
Before I can reply to his run-on sentence, he’s putting a smoothie and a plate filled so high full of food I couldn’t possibly finish it on the nightstand for me.
“Uh. Thank you,” I say and Callum nods.
“Of course, are you feeling alright?” he asks, touching my forehead and I just blink at the Alpha. Sure, we had a good weekend in Oban together, but he’s being incredibly sweet now.
“Yeah. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this good after heat, minus the soreness.”
“I’ll get you some paracetamol,” Callum says, again not letting me reply by the time he’s up on his feet and grabbing the medicine from the counter.
I turn to Lain and he just smiles at me. “He will now be an insufferable mother hen. You’ll just have to get used to it.”
With a raised eyebrow, I take a sip of the smoothie and damn, it’s delicious.
Definitely made with love.
“Is there anything else you need?” Lain asks, and I sigh, resting against the pillows as I eat some breakfast.
“A shower eventually,” I tell him, bringing my hands to my hair to see the damage. Someone braided it, which definitely helped it not get too bad, but I know I’ll need to do a deep condition and detangle everything.
“Aye. Greer had to just keep giving you whore baths,” Lain says, which has me nearly spitting out my drink.
“You can’t call them that,” I scold with no heat and Lain just nestles close to me again.
“Whatever you say, Omega.” He sighs dreamily. “I’m so fucking happy, Mais. I think this is going to be amazing.”
“I think so too,” I tell him softly.
Callum comes back in frantically with the medicine and a glass of water, handing them to me. He acts like a nurse, making sure I swallow.
A phone rings and Lain grumbles, kissing me on the side of the head before getting up to answer it.
“Do you want to take a shower?” Callum asks.
“Yeah, but it will probably take forever with my hair. I don’t have my wet brush or conditioner.”
“We have both of those things,” he says.
I adjust myself on the nest bed. A memory of when I first went into heat floods my mind. The fucking eye mask. I freaked out when I saw it. The idea of another Omega being in this room with my Alphas disturbed me. Honestly, even thinking about it now churns my stomach.
“It’s Greer’s. He’s a bit of a diva,” Callum says.
“Not a fuckin’ diva,” Greer grumbles, clutching on to a pillow and squeezing my thigh. “You alright, sweet girl?”
“Yeah. I’m good,” I say, squeezing Greer’s hand.
“Come on, I’ll help you,” Callum says, and I swallow thickly. Getting used to all these Alphas wanting to take care of me is going to be interesting, but I can’t deny that I love the attention. “Just finish the smoothie first.”
I down the rest of the drink, which isn’t a hardship at all, and place my hand in Callum’s callused one.
He leads me to the bathroom and there’s almost a sense of shyness about being naked in front of him like this.
Though he doesn’t seem bothered in the slightest as he fills the tub up with warm water.
While I wait, I let my hair down, impressed by how well the braids held up. I mean, it’s not a style that I would wear out, and some things are uneven, but it did the job that they meant it to.
“Who braided my hair?” I ask softly.
“I did.”
“I’m impressed,” I say.
“Trust me, it’s much better than what Greer tried to do with it. You looked like a Barbie doll that a small child had handled too aggressively.”
I gasp and turn to face him, and he’s giving me a crooked smile. “Go ahead and get in. I’ll go grab the stuff from Greer’s bathroom,” he says, taking my hand and helping me step in.
The warm water has me sighing in relief. It feels so damn good. I’m nearly dozing off when Callum comes back in.
“Wet your hair first, right?” he confirms and I nod, sliding my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them as Callum grabs the sprayer and wets my hair. As soon as it’s wet, he gets to work, lathering the strands with the conditioner.
It’s quiet in the bathroom for a long time and I wonder if I should speak first or if he should.
Reluctantly, I’m the one to break the silence.
“I’m staying,” I say softly.
His hands stop moving in my hair for a moment after I say the words.
“Good. I didn’t really feel like traveling with Greer and Lain to Chicago to stalk you until you changed your mind.”
He’s done lathering my hair, just sitting on the edge of the tub, and I rest my head on my folded arms to look at him.
“I’d have wanted to stay regardless of the scent match. I was just scared.”
“Aye. I’m still fucking scared.”
“What are you scared of?”
Callum laughs lightly, scratching his beard, and I stare at him for a long while. He’s ridiculously handsome and all Alpha.
“That you’ll resent us for having to move here. That without the scent match you wouldn’t want me, or maybe that you want them more than me and I’m just someone you got stuck with,” he says it all while looking down and I can’t help but to reach out and grab his wrist.
“I won’t lie. It’s going to be an adjustment for me, a change of lifestyle and pace, but I don’t resent this at all. I want all three of you and I would never want any of you to feel as if I prefer one of you over the other. Let’s make a promise to one another.”
“What promise?”
“That we’ll talk, not hold things in. If you’re feeling left out or need my attention, you tell me and if I’m feeling overwhelmed I’ll tell you.”
“I can do that,” he agrees.
“You also need to come up with a romantic date,” I tell him, and he blinks at me a few times. “Greer and Lain have been wooing me since the minute I got here. You need to make up for lost time.”
He smirks and shakes his head. “Yeah. I’ll plan a date for you.”
“You know, they say Scottish men aren’t very romantic.”
“Ah, and what American men are?” he says back and I grimace.
“Alright, you’ve got me there.”
“Now. Let’s see if we can detangle this birds’ nest,” he says, holding up the brush, and I have to laugh about the whole situation.
A week ago this guy was ready to buy me the first ticket out to Chicago and now he’s using almost all of Greer’s conditioner and detangling my hair.
Life has a way of throwing things at you, and it’s hit me with a lot, but something tells me these Alphas are going to be the best thing that ever happened to me.