Chapter 27 #2
“We are honored that you asked,” Remi tells me wholeheartedly. “It makes our alphas feel important. Needed.”
I look over at Cyrus. He avoids my eyes as he looks down at the shirt in his hand that he already grabbed. His finger and thumb loosely pinch the fabric, feeling the material. When he finally looks up at me, his eyes are dark. “This is a fucking honor, Omega.”
Remi nudges his prime with his shoulder. “Tell her.”
“Tell me what?” I ask, slightly panicked.
His eyes flash to Remi. “You knew?”
“Of course I fucking knew. Tell her so she doesn’t feel crazy.”
Cyrus looks embarrassed, but then he stands up and retreats. I wonder for half a second if he’s running away, but then he returns, holding a plain black material. When I get a closer look, I see the skull printed on the front.
My shirt.
My eyes widen. “It was you?”
He nods. “Yes. I’ve taken a few things here and there; a guitar pick you discarded at our last venue, a hair tie you put aside after one of your sets a few weeks ago, the wig you wore on your date with Malaki…
It felt like my alpha needed them. I felt so guilty for taking them, but having them in my possession satiated something in me.
And this shirt… this one is my favorite. ”
I swallow roughly. “Mine, too.”
“I’m so sorry.” He lowers his head in shame. “I wanted to tell you, but I was embarrassed about how much my alpha needed it, and then I took more, and I feel so guilty, but I also can’t stop?”
Despite knowing I should be annoyed—I was looking for that shirt all fucking day—something flutters in my core. My scent blossoms and I move forward to place my hand over his.
“You don’t have to apologize,” I tell him.
“I understand. In fact, it makes me feel so good that you needed something from me that badly, that your alpha needs my scent as much as my omega needs yours. Fuck, if I knew that was an option, I would have been stealing stuff from you guys a long time ago.”
Cyrus’s eyes flash with surprise. “You can steal anything from me anytime you want.”
“Even this shirt?” I ask, my hand going over the black material.
Cyrus’s hand clutches it a bit tighter, a rumble going through his chest.
I bite my lip. This alpha is adorable.
“I’ll let you keep it,” I decide, and he gives me an embarrassed look. “But you have to wear and sleep with my clothes so I can take something back.”
“Deal,” he says.
I look around at the others. “So… what do we do now?”
“Should we watch a movie?” Jamie suggests.
We all get cozy on the ground in a picnic nest, the overhead lights finally turned off in favor of the lamp in the corner.
The guys fill the space with my clothes, making sure they’re close enough to pick up some of their aromas.
The gesture makes my heart skip. Jamie picks a romantic comedy that’s light and happy and makes my omega relax further into the sheets.
“Where’s Flo?” I ask them as I notice the omega’s absence.
“Well, her room is down the hall,” Malaki tells me. “But right now, she’s out shopping.”
“Unfortunately,” Cyrus grumbles, which causes me to snort.
Jamie laughs. “A bodyguard is shadowing her, so she’s good. Cyrus is just being overprotective as always.”
“Do you have any close family, Josie?” Malaki asks.
Cyrus and I share a quick understanding glance before I respond. “I had an uncle that I loved, but he died when I was ten.”
“I’m so sorry, little vicious,” Lennon says.
I wave it off. “It’s okay. He was sick for a long time. It felt like he was gone way before he actually passed away.”
“What was he sick with?” Jamie asks.
“Addiction.”
There’s a loud silence following my answer.
I know what they’re all thinking; it’s the same thing I’ve thought about since things first started going off the rails with Cleo.
My past with my uncle is definitely the reason why her spiral is so hurtful to me, why it’s so important for me to be there for her no matter how much she tries to push me away.
I wasn’t able to help my uncle. I was too young, and my parents were too selfish. Maybe if I do everything I possibly can, Cleo won’t end up having the same fate.
But I don’t want to focus on that right now. All I want is to enjoy this time with my pack.
After the movie is over, I realize just how late it is.
If I show up at my hotel now, the girls might hear and question where I’ve been, but that’s not what I care about.
More than anything, I want to stay here with my matches, be surrounded by their scents and sleep beside them.
It sounds like the best comfort right now, the biggest security.
And I couldn’t give a single fuck about all the reasons why it’s a bad idea right now.
I just want them, so I ask, “Can I spend the night?” My voice is so low that I’m worried they won’t hear and I’ll have to repeat myself, but they all turn their gazes to me, their brows lifted with delighted surprise.
“Of course,” Cyrus answers, his eyes shining with something akin to adoration. “We have to be on the buses early so I can set an alarm to make sure we get up so you can get back.”
“Is there any way—” I halt my words and bite my lip, embarrassed by the proposition I’m laying out for them. I know it’s not a lot to ask as an omega, but something inside of me still feels shame from seeking out what I need.
The guys aren’t having my silence, though.
They each look at me intently, waiting for me to finish my question patiently.
When I finally get up the courage, I continue, “I know I asked if you could put your scents on my clothes, but is there any way I can take an item from each of you until I get them back? I know that’s asking a lot because we’re only allowed to bring so much of our own stuff on tour, but I really think it’ll settle my omega while we’re apart. ”
They all smile, a new burst of their scents coursing through the air as they all nod in agreement. Someone starts to purr, but I can’t tell who because they all immediately get up from their spots and then chaos ensues.
I hear suitcases being unzipped, closet doors opening. Lennon throws one of his carry-on bags out of his room, and it lands with a thump right in front of me. Malaki marches out of his room with a mound of clothes in his arms and drops them right beside me.
“What were you thinking? A T-shirt? I have this one.” He pulls out a dark maroon shirt, his scent blazing off it so much that I have to stifle a moan. “Or you can have a jacket or hoodie, just in case you want to wear a couple of our things at once.”
My omega apparently loves that idea because she conjures up images of me wearing all of their clothes, an item making it onto every piece of skin that they can find.
“Do they have to be worn?” Remi asks, stalking in with a shirt in his hand. “I wore this to the hotel gym last night.”
I hold in a groan at that statement, and my omega forces me forward to snatch it from his hand. He gives me an amused smile and my face turns beet red.
“Shut up,” I hiss at him.
“Oh, Omega,” he leans in, his voice dropping to a whisper. “I will never be over how feral you are for us. You want to know why?”
I shake my head.
“Because we’re just as feral for you.”
Before I can respond, the other three walk back in. They all have a million options, and they make little piles on the floor, separate from each other so everything can be distinguished.
Jamie steps forward, his hands full of hairbands. “These are the ones I’ve worn recently,” he says. “Maybe you can use them in your own hair.”
My hands close over them and my eyes gloss over. “That’s way better than anything I would have ever thought of.”
He grins, the bashful, boyish quality of it sending me into a tailspin of emotions. When Cyrus comes back in with a designer leather jacket and plops it onto his pile, everyone stands still once more, the suite of the room filled with my scent matches’ clothes.
“Take whatever you want, Omega,” Cyrus says, presenting his pack’s stuff. “If we need to buy more clothes, we will.”
“And then we’ll give you those, too,” Lennon says.
I feel my heart expand so much, I think it might burst. Then my omega comes to the surface, and—despite the earlier embarrassment she caused me—I let her loose.
She sorts through each pile, inhaling item after item, feeling the material for texture, and sorting through the mess that the boys just laid at our feet.
Even just with this gesture, I’m already feeling more secure within the pack, comfortable with letting my omega instincts free no matter how inconvenient they feel.
They’re never going to dismiss or ridicule me.
The realization of that is the best feeling in the entire world, and nothing can stop me from basking in the comfort of it.