“You good?” Rin asks, stepping into the kitchen and leaning against the counter.
“I’m great,” I say, nodding my head. “Just great. Awesome, really. Did you see that Snow raided me? I got a bunch of new followers and subs.”
“Right,” Rin says slowly, putting his hands on my shoulders. “Do you want me to finish this up and you can make us a nest?”
I think about it for a moment before nodding my head. “Yes, please. Can I have your hoodies?”
“Of course,” Rin says, taking off his hoodie and handing it over. I look at Maki and he removes his jacket as well.
I move into the living room, rearranging the couch and sliding our coffee table out of the way. Then I get to work. I’m not sure how long it takes but by the time I have a nest made, Rin is coming into the living room and letting me know the food is done.
I quickly put mashed potatoes and corn into a bowl, covering it with gravy and then placing a few chicken nuggets on top. After grabbing a glass of water, I step over to Kei’s room.
“Hey,” I say softly, letting him know I’m behind him. He’s still neck deep in SkyDive but I can see he’s starting to lag. His eyes are drooping and he’s not even yelling at his chat like he usually does.
“Hey, Rodney,” he says, looking up at me and yawning. “Oh shit. That smells amazing. One second,” he says, muting his stream. Then he turns his back to them so they can’t try to read his lips.
“Are you ready to stop for the night? I made dinner and I also made a new nest.”
“Everything okay?”
I really want to pretend like everything is fine but I feel really scattered after everything that happened tonight. I have all these instincts to retreat into my pack and allow them to comfort me. Feeding them all has helped a lot, but I need a little more.
“I’m okay,” I say, handing him the glass of water. He starts drinking it and I’m soothed, just a little bit. “I could use a pack snuggle though.”
Kei is an alpha shifter, so he’s got a lot of instincts of his own. He sees himself as our pack alpha, always needing to scent mark us before we leave the house, and make sure we’re taken care of. If anyone understands the need to lean into our instincts, it’s him.
“Okay,” he says and I know he’s tired from the way he doesn’t tease me. I hand him his bowl of food and he gives me the smallest smile “Let me end stream and I’ll meet you out there.”
“Thank you.”
“I get it,” he says with a shrug. “Sometimes you need what you need. I’ll be there in a second.”
I give him a nod before making my way back into the kitchen. I grab myself a bowl of food, my mouth watering. When I get into the living room, Maki and Rin are already in the nest. I slide into place beside Rin, tucking myself against him until we’re hip to hip.
“This is really good,” Rin says, taking a big bite of food.
“Why are the nuggets shaped like dinosaurs?”
I chuckle softly. “Aren’t dinosaurs basically chickens?”
Rin shakes his head before turning towards his mate. “It’s because they were all out of the regular kind so we bought dino nuggies. I swear, they taste better than the regular shaped ones. Maybe these will be my go to from now on.”
I lean my head against Rin’s shoulder as I eat. It doesn’t take long before Kei is stepping out of his room and into the living room, joining us in the nest. Before he gets all snuggled in, he rubs his wrist about my throat, scent marking me. I might not have the strongest nose, but having him do this makes my body relax even further.
“So,” Kei says after taking a giant bite of food. “What happened tonight? Did your guys’ stream go okay? I noticed Azaad was pretty busy with you guys. I barely saw him tonight.”
“It was okay,” Rin says with a smile. “Something interesting happened though.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I kept forgetting to mute my mic and completely embarrassed myself in front of someone really hot.”
Kei nods his head. “Got it. Business as usual then.”
“Hey!”
“What? You never remember to mute. I keep telling you to rebind your keys so that you’re always muted and have to press to talk but no, you’re stubborn.”
