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Lifting a hand in the offer of a handshake, she grinned and took it. “Well, then I, Gareth Lee Watson, promise to have open and honest conversations about how I’m feeling when it comes to keeping my family safe.”

“Likewise, I, Bailey-Rose Thatcher, promise to come to one of you when my self-doubt raises its ugly head.” Holding up a hand to stop me from speaking, she continued, “In addition, knowing how important my safety is to you and the reasoning behind your reactions, I won’t call you out on it unless it’s unreasonable, and we need to talk about it right then and there.”

I shook my head as I chuckled to myself. “Damn, you’re as crafty as your mother, you know that?”

“Where do you think I learned it from?” she countered, then gripped my head, turning it up to look at her.

The way I could get lost in her gaze was unlike anything I thought possible. As a man who never believed in the fairy tales people told about soulmates, I was now well and truly converted. When her lips met mine, I groaned, savoring her taste and the feel of her in my arms. With every passing second I spent with her, this woman was becoming my whole world. You can’t tell me that isn’t something magical, and there’s no way it can be explained with science. Scent is only one part of the bonding process. It didn’t create anything more than a need to be around the person. Yet here I was on the verge of telling this woman I was falling madly in love with her if I wasn’t already.

Bailey pulled back from the kiss, making me almost pout, but seeing the expression of a woman who’s thoroughly been kissed on her face had me grinning. “Well, baby girl, it seems we’ve come to an understanding.”

“Hmm,” she hummed, a little too dazed to speak.

“Hey, what do you say we put all this serious stuff to the side and let us show you something fun?” I asked, combing my fingers through her hair, brushing it off her face.

“I think that is a fantastic idea,” Bailey-Rose agreed, taking my hand so she could attempt to pull me to my feet. “Are the rest of you coming?”

That was all the others needed to hear before setting aside their cocoa and standing.

Guess that’s a yes.

Gareth led the way upstairs, still holding my hand which I was grateful for. I tried to keep how the story about his sister made my heart ache. So many things about the way Gareth reacted to various situations made so much more sense now. Of course, my episode after he nipped my neck would send him spiraling. Then there was the overreaction of me jumping out of the car. It was obvious Gareth carried around so much guilt about his sister that those emotions were bleeding out into other areas of his life. Now here I was, a woman he was charged with looking after who was sick and at risk for many things. I just hoped he would keep his end of the deal and be honest with me.

When we got to the base of the stairs that led to my room, he stopped to look at me. “I’m going to have you close your eyes while I carry you up to your room. Then when I give the order, you can open them but not a moment before, or you’ll ruin the surprise.”

My curiosity was running wild as I nodded eagerly. Gareth scooped me up in a bridal hold, giving me a warning look, so I slapped my hands over my eyes as promised.

“Not that I don’t trust you, Rosie, but I think two of us are going to go ahead so we can block the view if you cheat,” Lysse said, poking my side, making me giggle.

Excitement flooded my system to the point I wondered if I was bouncing in Gareth’s hold like I thought I was in my head. The flight of stairs seemed to never end, and I was about to jump out of my skin if they didn’t hurry up. Finally, I was set down, and hands rested on my shoulders.

“Okay, baby girl, you can look,” Gareth whispered.

Dropping my hands, I let out a shriek of elation and raced over to the giant hanging nest. Without hesitation, I flung myself into the pile of pillows and blankets the guys had filled it with. Laughing, I rolled around in the fluffy mess like a kid in the season’s first snow. This was glorious.

When I saw the bed, I thought there would be no way they’d go for it. That, and I wasn’t sure if the ceiling with all the glass panels would be able to hold something like this. Not only had these men taken it upon themselves to get me the bed of my dreams, but they set it up and filled it with bedding that smelled like them. I had a room with a bed so I could sleep in our pack home with my Alphas. This was the beginning of our forever, and I was over the moon, so much so that all the excitement and acrobatics set off a warning buzz from my monitor.

It wasn’t a full-on alarm but a warning I was getting close. Most of the time, this was how I managed to avoid what happened in the living room on our first meeting. Then again, I’d been highly emotional since things happened with Randall, which caused my normally low resting heart rate to be higher than my typical. Flopping onto my back, I closed my eyes and took slow, deep breaths, working to slow down my heart rate. My senses were flooded with the aroma of my Alphas—chocolate, blueberry, cinnamon, graham cracker, and sweet tea with that tang of lemon—the perfect way to cool off during the summer.

The more I thought of my guys, the calmer I became, but another problem I didn’t think about arose. Their scent was starting to become lost as I began to perfume, sending out a come-hither call to my Alphas. Jerking upright, I found all five of my men with their gaze locked on me, noses flared as they took in my wantonness. I gulped loudly as the mental picture of them stripping out of their clothes and coming to join me played out.

The calmness I’d been trying for flew out the window as I locked gazes with Yun-Sun. My cool, calm, and collected Alpha looked like he was on the verge of snapping. The energy around him shifted slightly, causing me to feel a little on edge. It was almost like I knew something was about to happen that I needed to be aware of, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. His normally warm, sweet scent of blueberry and melted butter became more tart. It wasn’t bad or off-putting, it just had a sharper edge to it than normal.

Slamming his eyes shut, Yun-Sun’s hands fisted as he turned on his heel. Before I could say anything, he marched out of the room with the others right behind him, leaving only Warrick and me behind.

“What just happened?” I asked, sliding out of the bed and heading for the door.

Warrick caught my hand, shaking his head when I looked back. “Let them cool off, Care Bear. They left for a reason, and you need to respect that.”

“I don’t understand,” I pressed.

Letting out a sigh, Warrick urged me to sit with him on the cute mint-colored loveseat. “Do you know what rut is?”

“It’s the Alphas version of a heat,” I answered.

“In a manner of speaking, yes. Unlike an Omega, Alphas have no trigger or warning when rut rises. Some Alphas have them more often than others… it’s rather individual. During this time, they become filled with hormones that make them slightly unpredictable, possessive, and flooded with the urge to dominate. When an Alpha is in full rut, it can last a day, two, or even three in some cases. They will be single-mindedly focused on the need to protect their Omega, becoming unreasonably aggressive to those not part of the pack. It’s one reason when this happens, they are asked to stay home,” Warrick explained.

With this new information, I pictured the way Yun-Sun looked at me, saw how I felt, and the change in his posture. “Are you saying he’s in rut now?”