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Chapter One
Nala
Ifussed with the pillow placement again. Something about it felt… wrong.
After twitching it another inch to the left and still hating it, I yanked the pillow from the bed and tossed it off the other side where I didn’t have to look at it.
“Quit fretting.”
My brother’s rough voice made me freeze before I could dive over and pick up the pillow again. The whole nest felt worse without it than it had before, and my skin itched with the need to fix it.
Sucking in a deep breath through my nose, I blew out a slow exhale before responding.
“I can’t help it.”
A grunt was the only acknowledgement I received.
I’d hoped my cycles would end with the loss of my mate. It had been a sad thought since I’d always looked forward to having children, but I was still surprised I’d survived a broken bond at all. My heat had been muted while I was still struggling through the initial grief of his loss, but instead of dying away like I should have, I felt it coming back, full force.
My biology didn’t care that I was no longer interested in mating. That I’d already had a mate and lost him too soon.
My brother’s mate spoke from where she sat beside the fire.
“I don’t understand the big deal about nests, anyway. It’s just a pile of bedding, and a messy one at that.”
I choked back the growl that the other female’s words caused. She was a beta, and there wasn’t a single day since my brother had taken over my care that she hadn’t reminded me how put-out she was about being forced to share her home. She had no sympathy, urging my brother to find me a new alpha as fast as possible, despite my protests.
My brother rumbled at her words but spoke to me.
“Edar has another two days of harvesting to do before he’ll have time to come get you. You’ll have to handle it until then.”
As if I could control when my heat came.
“Yes, Brother.”
I climbed into my nest, careful not to disturb the pillows I’d taken so long to arrange. Reaching over the side, I collected the one I’d thrown in my fit of temper. As adept as I’d grown at burying my emotions, the more hormones that flooded my system, the harder it became.
Lying down, I fidgeted with the pillow until it no longer caused a crawling sensation down my spine each time I looked at it. I’d never get to sleep otherwise, and with instincts already making me prickly, lack of sleep would lead to a fight I had no chance of winning.
As much as I missed my alpha, I couldn’t take the constant needling from my brother’s mate, and I didn’t wish to cause my brother more trouble. He’d come to find me when word of Nearden’s death reached him, then nursed me back to health instead of letting me slip away with my alpha.
At the time, I’d hated him for it, but I appreciated his care now. The years I’d had with Nearden weren’t enough, and I had no wish to die just yet.
Nor did I want to take another mate, but I wasn’t being given a choice. My only hope was to bond with another, and perhaps find fulfillment again.
***
“I don’t like leaving you on your own.”
“I’m not a child, Brother.”
His mate stepped between us, placing her hand on my brother’s chest.
“I’m sure she’d enjoy some time to herself. She still has preparations to make, and I’m sure she doesn’t want to leave her precious nest.”
I couldn’t think of any other time she had bothered to stand up for me. She was clearly happy with my decision to stay at the cabin instead of following them to the village.
“If anything happens, if you see predators or another alpha, you are to bar yourself in the cellar.”
