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His chest rumbled as he purred for me, and I whimpered in happiness, gripping his shirt to my face. Then Ryan poked his head back up front, pushing Declan out of the way. My lip pulled back to growl at him, but his shirt was right there, being pressed against my nose. My eyes rolled back in my head and I licked my lips. That was where the vanilla cupcakes were coming from. I hadn’t known that betas could have such potent smells. I wanted to bury myself in these shirts and never come up for air.
Something was missing. I needed something else. “Where’s Riley’s hoodie? And your shirt, Victor?”
Riley’s hoodie found its way up to me seconds later, and I bunched it together with my other two shirts. Victor finished one-handed unbuttoning his shirt and was struggling to get out of it. Unwilling to let go of my prizes, I whimpered when I realized I couldn’t help him. Ryan, ever the observant one, saw what was going on.
“Here, alpha, allow me.”
He reached over and helped Victor pull the shirt off, one arm at a time. Immediately, he handed it to me, and I repeated what I had done with all the others. Apples, cranberries, and a hint of oats joined the others vying for attention in my nose. My eyes narrowed so that I could focus intently on the men surrounding me in the car.
“You’re all mine. You belong to me now.”
A collective purr of happiness came from both my alphas, and Ryan’s face split into the widest grin. Gathering my bounty of procured shirts, I used the lever and pushed my chair all the way back. Declan grunted as it squished his knees, but I ignored him. He would be fine. I slipped off my seat and into the footwell on the floor. I didn’t have enough room or items to build a proper nest here, but I was sure going to try.
“Hurricane, please sit back in the seat. That’s so dangerous. What if we get into an accident?”
I peered up at my men happily, a dreamy smile on my face. Each of them was watching me with rapt awe. All we needed now was Riley and we would be complete. Stuffing Victor’s shirt in the crack between the seat and the center console, so that it dangled down where I was, I looked up and met his eyes.
“Then I guess you’d better drive safely, don’t ya think, alpha?”
“You are going to be the death of me, hurricane.” He shook his head at me.
“Ah, but what a way to go, huh, brother?” Declan said, hanging his head between the seats to watch me.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Chapter30
Riley
Why was it so flippin’ hot? It was autumn. It was supposed to be cool. I had every window downstairs open and the light breeze from outside was blowing my hair around. Yet, I was still overheating. I stripped down to a pair of pajama shorts and Storm’s tee shirt. It stretched tightly across my much bigger chest, but I couldn’t bear to part with it.
Her scent was becoming masked by my own, but if I tried really hard, I could still bring it to the forefront of my memory. When I had put her shirt on, it shocked me it fit at all, even with the tightness. I had lost too much weight from not eating.
That was why I was now sitting in the kitchen with a gigantic bowl of cereal in front of me and Dell standing by, his arms crossed, making me eat. He said I needed to gain some of it back or he was taking me to the doctor’s and having IVs put in to feed me. The cereal still had no flavor, but I forced it down to make him happy. Finishing the bowl, I turned it to face him, showing it was empty. He grunted and took it from me.
“Good girl,” he praised. “You need to make sure you keep eating. I don’t like how much weight you’ve lost.”
“I know, Dell. I’m sorry.”
He nodded and started rinsing out my bowl. “Are you going to stay downstairs today?”
I swallowed thickly. My room was where I felt the most comfortable. I liked my little makeshift nest I had made inside my bedding. But ever since Drew had told them the reason for my melancholy, my bond to Storm, my family had been making me come out of my room more and more. They said that I was wasting away up there.
“It’s too hot up there. I’ll try to stay down here with you as long as I can.”
“Too hot? Riles, are you getting sick?” My brother dried his hands and then came over, placing the back of his hand on my forehead, then my neck. “You’re burning up. Come on, let’s go get you situated on the couch. I can bring your bedding down from upstairs?”
“NO! Sorry, no. You can’t touch it. It’s perfect.”
He chuckled. “Okay, omega. I won’t touch your nest. I like my limbs attached.”
He ruffled my hair and helped me to my feet. I was still getting used to being upright after spending so much time curled into a ball on my mattress. Together, we walked over to the old floral-patterned couch my parents had gotten at a yard sale before I was born. It looked like it, too, the filling coming out of torn places on the cushions.
Dell got me settled. I was lying on my side with a pillow tucked under my neck. He pulled down the small, thin blanket sitting on the back of the couch and covered me with it. He moved to go close the window and I stopped him.
“Please, leave it open. It’s so hot.”
He pursed his lips but nodded. “I’ll let Mom and Dad know that you’re not feeling well so they don’t close them.”
