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Hana waved me over. “Come here, my love.”
I abandoned my pacing and climbed onto the couch between her and Gabe. She kissed me softly and stroked my cheeks, their combined scent of sweet tea and mint filled my nose and forced my muscles to relax.
They wrapped me securely between them with their heads resting against mine. I sighed, letting the rest of my tension drain. They made it very difficult to be stressed in this house.
Gabe pulled one of the blankets over us, and I closed drowsy eyes, curling into Hana.
“There's my sweet boy,” Hana crooned. “Everything will be alright.”
Gabe pressed up against my back, tracing soothing patterns on my arm, his breath warm on my skin.
I heard the van pull in, and I tensed up, extracting myself to walk over to the connecting door to wait.
Hana sighed from the couch and came to join me, Gabe on her heels.
“We shouldn’t crowd her,” Gabe said.
“Well, if Jasper would sit tight, I wouldn’t have to be over here,” said Hana.
The door to the garage swung open, and Nicky appeared between Tony and Billie, Spud's carrier in her hands.
“Oh, you’re all here.” Nicky's gaze dropped to the floor.
Tony waved us out of the way.
I wanted to do something to soothe Nicky, but it felt weird to ask when I knew her so little.
“We’re going to take her to Billie’s room for a little bit,” said Tony. “We’ll be down later tonight.”
I let them pass, my mouth pulling down with worry. I wanted to be a comfort in this situation, and it tweaked against my omega instincts to not be able to provide that.
The three of them went upstairs, leaving me alone again with Hana and Gabe. It was silly to feel left out, but I felt it all the same.
“What do we do?” I asked.
Gabe shrugged. “Whatever we want until she's ready.”
Hana pulled me into her arms. “She just needs time to settle, and then I’m sure she would welcome you being there.”
I tried to relax. I sucked in huge lungfuls of her fresh scent to clear my head, but it didn’t completely remove the lingering worry.
“Babe, if you’re going to be wafting omega distress scents, we’re going to have to distract you,” said Gabe.
Even as my thoughts focused around Nicky, my body responded to his words. This pack could run a master class on sexy distractions.
“I could get on board with that,” I said. It was certainly better than staring at the ceiling and waiting for them to re-emerge.
I couldn’t be a very good support for Nicky if I was a ball of anxiety.
“Do you want to stay here?” Gabe asked. “Or do you want to go upstairs?”
“Maybe upstairs,” I replied. “We can go to my room.”
The three of us ventured up, passing Tony's closed door, and into my own room. I flipped on the lights and dimmed them, leaving everything illuminated in a soft glow. My room was the largest in the house, in order to accommodate the entire pack being in here for my heats. A kitchenette gave us easy access to food so we didn’t starve, and the bathroom was spacious enough that we could all wash up at the same time if we wanted to. My bed was the biggest too, leaving enough room for anyone to rest during a heat without being jostled by the fucking.
There was usually someone in my bed, if not the entire pack, and I liked to have any option to keep them all close. The whole space was decorated in warm tones—brown, cream, and terracotta—with a plethora of shade-loving plants set out of reach of Roscoe to give pops of colour. Thick earth toned curtains were held back with matching ties so that when my heat rolled around we could close them up to make my nest super cozy.
My own little sanctuary.
