A horrible, sterile off-white color.
I sit up, dropping the blade as I whip my head around to look at the walls.
They’re the wrong color too.
My hands brace on the mattress beneath me as I push myself forward. Horribly scratchy fabric attacks my hands, and I whine, everything feeling like too much at once as the wrong-colored walls close in on me and the fabric scrapes against my sensitive flesh. Why does it smell wrong? Where are my packscents?
I scramble off the bed as fast as I can, needing to separate from this abomination of a nest I’ve found myself in.
Wait.
Nest?
I’ve never had anest.
Blinking rapidly, I breathe in through my nose. I don’t have a nest.
I do not have a fuckingnest.
If there’s no nest, that means I can’t have a heat, right?
The walls are not the wrong color, and the fabric is not scratchy.
It’sfine. I’m fine. Everything is fine.
My omega vehemently disagrees with me, and my heart rate only picks up.
Fucking hormones.
The door to the bedroom flings open, and Hayden stands there, West close behind him. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Did something happen?”
I open my mouth to tell him that nothing is wrong, but all that comes out is another damned omega whine.
“Fuck!” Hayden panics, grabbing my arms and looking me over. “Her scent is all over the place. Is it a heat thing, baby? What do you need?”
My bottom lip wobbles as he pulls me into his chest, his purr soothing me. I feel my body relax slightly, some of the stress leaving me as I’m finally able to form words. “I…” My voice is muffled by his shirt, and Ihatehow weak I sound. “Nest. Scents.Please.”
“On it.” West’s tone is no nonsense as he shuffles around the room, and I hear a door open and shut. A moment later, the water in the shower turns off. Hayden keeps his arms around me, his smoky pepper scent calming me down considerably.
“What happened? Is she okay?” Sam’s tone is panicked as I hear his footsteps approach.
“It’s a heat thing,” Hayden explains, his purr still rumbling. “She needs our scents for her nest.”
“Dammit!” Sam curses, making me flinch. Is he mad at me? I don’t want him to be mad at me.
My pyro must sense my train of thought through the bond, because he snaps at Sam, “She thinks you’re mad at her, cut it out.”
“Fuck, baby, no,” Sam pulls me out of Hayden’s arms and wraps his own around me. My cheek rests against his bare, slightly wet chest. His scent isso goodright here. Coffee and whiskey has an omega purr rattling out of me, and internally, I’m horrified.
I can’t seem to stop though, even as Sam lifts up behind my knees and holds me to him. Wrapping my legs around his waist, my nose tucks into the crook of his neck as he carries me to the bed.
“Wait!” West rushes in, and in the next instant, a buttery soft, plush fabric is being smoothed over my arm. “How’s this? I found it in one of the linen closets.”
I snatch the material and rub it against my cheek, my purr growing louder. I can’t speak, but the way I clutch the blanket to my chest apparently does the talking for me.
West nods as he gently takes the blanket before spreading it over the entirety of the bed, and then Sam climbs in, still holding me. Something in me soothes at being held by my alpha while the others rush to take care of me. Hayden appears, a small pile of dirty laundry in hand, and dumps it on the edge of the bed.
Crawling out of Sam’s arms, I approach the pile of clothing. Picking up a wrinkled T-shirt, I sigh happily when I scent Sam’s whiskey and coffee.
