Page 110 of Written in Scent

Jamie shifts me in his arms, he keeps me held aloft easily, cradling me against his chest. I press my cheek to him, shielding my eyes from the lights that feel too harsh all of a sudden.

The pack follows as Jamie carries me upstairs. Adrian stays close on one side, while Chase walks on the other, his pine forest presence grounding and solid. Alex trails just behind us, following close like an invisible tether.

The stairs creak loudly under our collective weight. Each step sways me gently against Jamie’s chest. His heartbeat is steady beneath my ear. The warmth of all four alpha scents rises around me like steam from a bath, thick and comforting, filling my lungs until there’s nothing else. My fevered skin drinks it in.

We reach the open door of the nest. Jamie pauses right at the threshold and sets me gently on my feet just outside. For a moment the world tilts, but his hands stay on my waist, keeping me upright.

“We’re right here,” Adrian says softly.

“We have you,” Chase adds, voice rough with emotion.

“Always,” Alex finishes, the single word full of promise.

Jamie’s hand brushes my cheek one last time. “Whenever you are ready.”

I step across the threshold into the nest alone. The alphas wait respectfully in the hallway just behind me. Their presence stays close enough that their scents reach toward me, but they give me this private moment to make the space my own.

My hands tremble as I move deeper into the soft haven. The fever turns everything hazy at the edges, like the world is wrapped in shimmering silk. I sink to my knees in the center of the bed and let my fingers explore the layers they prepared for me. I rearrange the pillows first, shifting them until the angle feels perfect against my cheek. I smooth the blankets with deliberate strokes of my palms, erasing every wrinkle until the surface feels inviting and even.

Then I reach for their shirts one by one. I lift Jamie’s shirt and press it to my face, breathing in the bright golden amber and warm vanilla that always makes me smile. I tuck it beside a pillow. Adrian’s burgundy sweater comes next. I inhale the cool rain on stone and crisp paper deeply, letting the scent calm the fire racing through me. I layer it carefully over a blanket.

Chase’s flannel shirt pulls me in the strongest. The moment I bring it to my nose, his pine forest and clean musk scent grounds me completely, taming the wild beat of my heart. I hold it longer, breathing him in again and again, before I place it near the spot where my head will rest.

Alex’s collared sweater is last. His dark cedarwood and heat warmed skin scent wraps around me like a firm command. I press it to my cheek and add it to the arrangement, adjusting until the blend feels balanced and complete.

I add tiny instinctive touches. I tuck a corner of fabric here. I fluff another pillow there. I fold an edge so that the scents mingle in just the right way. Slowly the nest transforms. It stops being something they made for me and becomes an extension of my own skin, warm and safe and utterly claimed.

When it finally feels right, when every layer sings with safety and home, I turn in the center of the bed. My voice comes out hoarse with need.

“Come in,” I whisper. “I’m ready.”

Chase steps through the doorway first. His massive frame fills the space, but his deep brown eyes stay soft with emotion when they meet mine.

The black tattoos covering his arms and chest shift under the tight fabric of his shirt as he moves closer. I reach for him instinctively, my hands fisting the front of that shirt and pulling him down to me. Our mouths crash together in a desperate kiss, open and hungry. I grind against the hard line of his body, needy sounds spilling from my throat before I can stop them.

“I need you, alpha,” I gasp against his lips. “I need your knot. Please.”

He groans a purr, low in his chest, the sound vibrating through me. His hands map my body with reverent hunger at first, as if he’s memorizing every curve and hollow. Then the heat surges in me again and his touch turns urgent.

We tear at each other’s clothes. My fingers trace the beautiful black ink on his skin, following the lines of art that cover his shoulders and chest. His palms slide over my fevered skin, gentle even as his breath grows ragged. The last of my skirt and top fall away. His jeans and shirt join them on the floor. His cock is bigger than any I’ve ever felt before, thicker and longer, and the sight of him sends another wave of slick rushing through me.

Tears prick at the corners of my eyes as he moves between my thighs. They’re not tears of pain. They come from overwhelming relief and love, from the way his protectiveness almost cost us everything and from the certainty that he’s here now, choosing me exactly as I am. A single tear slips down my cheek. Chase brushes it away with his thumb, his own eyes glistening.

“I will always protect you,” he whispers against my throat, voice rough and broken. “But never by holding you back. Never again, Elodie. I swear it.”

There’s no time for foreplay, my instincts rearing at me that Chase needs to be inside me. I guide him to my entrance, eyes locked to his.

He pushes inside me as gently as he can, giving me time to adjust. The stretch is more intense than anything I have felt with Jamie, deeper and fuller, a burn that borders on too much before it melts into perfect pleasure. I cling to his shoulders, nails digging into inked skin, a gasp tearing from me as he sinks in, stopping at his knot. He pauses there, breathing hard, forehead pressed to mine.

“You are so perfect,” he murmurs. “So good for me.”

Then he begins to move. Each thrust is deep and measured at first, building with the rhythm of my heat. I meet every stroke, hips rising to take him deeper, the wet sounds of our bodies filling the nest along with our mingled scents.

Pine forest and clean musk wrap around my strawberry and peach until I can’t tell where I end and he begins. Tears fall freely now for both of us. His drop onto my shoulder as he drives into me harder, chasing the knot we both need.

The base of him swells, pressing against my entrance with every thrust until the pressure becomes impossible to resist. One final, powerful stroke and his knot locks inside me. The fullness is shattering.

I cry out, back arching, as the knot sinks deep and the fever drops in one sudden, glorious rush. The painful cramps ease instantly, replaced by waves of pure relief that roll through me again and again. My body clenches around him, milking him, and Chase groans my name like a prayer.