CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX – BIRDIE
We make it back to the house just as the first drops of rain start to fall. Colt hisses like a wet cat, and I laugh as he almost claws his way through the back door. “I thought you were a water baby,” I tell him, shaking stray drops from my hair. “Are you worried you’re going to melt?”
“I’ll make you melt,” he replies, stripping off his shirt and advancing my way with a gleam in his eye. “See how you like it when you’re dripping from head to toe.”
I back away, but Axel comes through the door, casting Colt a quelling glance.
“Storms always make him nuts,” he tells me, stepping around us and grabbing a blanket off the back of the sofa.
His skin is streaked with rain, and I wait for him to rub it over his arms, but he wraps it around my shoulders instead.
“Go stoke up the fire, Colt. And find yourself a dry shirt.”
Colt sidles off with a wink in my direction and Axel hands me another paper bag. “I got you something else,” he says. “You don’t need to use it, but it might help with run-ins like the one on the boardwalk.”
Imaginary run-ins, I think with burning cheeks, but when I open the bag, it’s the last thing I’m expecting. “You want me to dye my hair?”
“New life, new you,” he says with a shrug, but something flickers through his gaze. “Let the ghosts chase some other caramel-haired girl.”
“It’s muddy brown,” I tell him, brushing a self-conscious hand over the damp strands. “But pink? You don’t think that would look silly?”
“I think it would look beautiful,” Hog tells me, taking the box from my hand and reading the small print. “It’s called Pearl Blush.”
I know it’s just marketing, but somehow that description makes it even more appealing.
Hair dye was in short supply in the compound, although some women made do with a henna wash.
We certainly never got our hands on something as exciting as Pearl Blush.
“I shouldn’t,” I say, biting my lip. “I need to blend in, not stick out. It’s safer. ”
Axel gives me one of his pack alpha looks. “Birdie, it’s our job to keep you safe. It’s your job to be happy. If you want to dye your hair, then do it. Or I can take that box back to the store and swap it for another color.”
“No.” I grab the box back from Hog, cradling it against my chest. “I want to try this.”
“Okay,” Axel says. “Then let’s go. It’s better if we use the bathroom sink.”
“We?” I blink at him. “You want to help?”
“I’m good with hair,” he says, earning a snort from Colt, who’s wandered out in another thin-as-air tee. “I promise I know what I’m doing.”
I give him an uncertain nod, but the prospect of turning my hair ‘pearl blush’ is too tempting to argue.
Hog and Colt both watch me with warm eyes as I follow Axel into the bathroom at the end of the hall.
It’s spacious, with mint green floor tiles, white wood paneling, and a glass-wrapped rainfall shower.
“That makes a lot of sense,” I tell him.
“First time I smelled you, your scent reminded me of a forest after a rain shower.”
He’s digging extra towels out of the vanity, but he glances over his shoulder. “Oh, yeah?”
“Mmm. It was a nice change from the way other alphas smell, even if I didn’t want to admit it.”
He pauses, his head tilting. “Why didn’t you want to admit it?”
I resist an eyeroll but fold my arms across my chest. “In case you haven’t noticed, I find it hard to trust alphas.”
“I get that.” He places a fluffy blue towel and a wicker basket on the vanity, a smile curling his lips. “But you’re warming up to us a little, I think.”
I hold my fingers up, measuring out an inch of air. “A smidge.”
He smirks, patting the folded towel. “Lie here,” he says, “and I’ll see if I can improve on that.”
It takes me a moment to realize what he means, and then another few awkward seconds to get into position on the vanity.
I feel strangely vulnerable, stretched out with my hands over my chest and my head tilted over the basin.
But I forget my qualms as Axel runs warm water over my hair, his fingers gently stroking my scalp.
The scent of lavender and vanilla fills the air as he rubs his thumbs in soothing circles.
An alpha is washing my hair. Although, washing is misleading.
He’s pampering my hair in a way I’ve never experienced before.
Showers in the compound were always rushed and noisy, the budget shampoo leaving my hair lank and tangled.
But this is sublime, and my lashes flutter closed as he runs the water again, washing the sweet-smelling suds away.
“Next time I’ll give you a deep conditioning hair mask,” he tells me, patting my face with a towel. “We have to skip it this time so the dye will set.”
I nod, sitting up when he directs me so he can dry my hair. When he’s done, he moves me to a wicker stool and snaps on a pair of gloves. He sections my hair and starts to apply the dye, while I study his reflection in the mirror.
He looks… calm. Peaceful, even, although his attention never wavers from my hair. When he catches me staring at him, he smiles and nods to a couple of magazines on the vanity. “This next part is a little boring if you want a distraction.”
I think I have all the distraction I need, but I peek at the cover and smile. Omega Allure. They seem to have become firm fans since I uncovered Charlie’s stash.
While Axel applies the last of the dye and sets a timer, I flick through a magazine. But it’s hard to lose myself in the articles when he’s standing so close, his forearms flexing every time he touches my hair.
“You’re good at this,” I tell him when he finally directs me back to the basin. “How did you learn?”
A touch of strain pulls at his mouth as he helps me get settled. “Charlie was pretty particular about his grooming routine, but he liked it when I fussed with his hair.”
He precedes to show me why, washing out the dye with careful hands and then massaging a setting conditioner into my scalp.
Once again, I’m acutely aware of his fingers sliding over my skull, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles into the soft skin of my temples.
Awareness flares down my spine, pooling in my belly, but it’s hard to ignore the little voice in the back of my head, reminding me that this alpha is grieving.
I might be a convenient stand-in for his mate, but Axel would give the world to have Charlie back where I am right now.
“I’m sorry he’s gone.” I squeeze my hands together in my lap, feeling my nails bite the palms. Talking about Charlie is always like dancing on a landmine, but Axel deserves to hear it. “I know I haven’t said it before, but I mean it. I’m really sorry he’s not here with you right now.”
“Thanks.” Axel’s scent passes over me like a warm caress.
“And same to you, of course. I know you guys weren’t in touch for a while, but he missed you, Birdie.
” His gaze is on the comb he’s slowly running through my hair, but when he lifts his eyes, they’ve darkened with pain.
“I think that losing you was his only real regret in life.”
My throat aches and this time it isn’t because of Reeves and his bullshit.
I try to swallow it away, but the need to confess burns like acid on my tongue.
Lies and misdirection are fine when you’re running for your life, but this man has offered me refuge with his pack.
He’s told me over and over that I’m safe, and even if it all changes when they go on their next mission, I owe them for Razor.
No one else in my life has ever taken my side over an alpha, let alone put him in the ground for abusing me.
“Holy shit!” Colt whistles from the doorway a few minutes later.
Axel has spun me away from the mirror while he dries and styles my hair, claiming it will enhance the big reveal.
“Pink is my new favorite color,” he adds as he saunters over to the vanity and perches on the edge.
“What shade is it again? Flamingo spritz?”
“It’s pearl blush,” I inform him, touching it a little self-consciously as Axel smooths a treatment oil into the ends.
He’s dried it pin-straight, reaching repeatedly into the wicker basket for products that I’ve never seen before.
The air is a sweet mist of sprays and creams, and I can’t resist running my fingers through the silky strands.
“It’s stunning, Birdie,” Axel finally says, spinning the stool to reveal my reflection in the mirror.
“She looks stunned, alright,” Colt says, leaning down and peering at my face. “Baggage, sweetheart, are you okay?”
My mouth forms a small circle, and I have to swallow to find my words. “I’m… Is it really me?”
Colt smirks as he reaches out and strokes my hair. “If you’re a gorgeous twenty-something with hair like flamingo feathers, then yeah. That’s you.”
I turn my head slowly left and right, marveling at the different shades of pink. “It doesn’t look silly?”
“It looks hot as hell,” he hums, sliding to his knees on the bathroom mat in front of me. He rests his hands on my knees, leaning forward to rub his cheek against my hair. “Makes me wonder if you’re really a kickass manga assassin, come to chop out my heart with a magic katana.”
I don’t know what any of that means, but I can read the flare of heat in his eyes. As I run my fingers through the smooth lengths, I look at Axel in surprise. “It’s so soft.”
“Like silk,” Colt agrees, then tilts his head back to smirk at his pack alpha. “Looks like the big dog rolled out all the fancy products.”
“He spent a long time on it,” I confirm.
“Of course he did,” Colt snorts. “He’s been itching to get his hands on your hair for days.” He snaps his fingers and pulls me to my feet. “Come on, little bird, we have to take your new look for a spin.”
“Don’t get it wet,” Axel warns. “It still has to fully set.”
It’s Colt’s turn to roll his eyes. “Relax, boss. We’re just gonna sit in the sunroom and watch the storm.”