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A promise of my own space.
“You’ll see the nest before deciding,” he said mildly, getting to his feet.
“Seeing it won’tchangeanything,” I said.
It wouldn’t.
I absolutely wouldn’t let it.
“No harm then,” Dusk said, making his way down the hall. “Don’t come”—His voice floated back down the hallway—“and Umbra will carry you.”
I looked at Umbra, but he shrugged with an ‘I definitely would’ look, and I stepped after Dusk reluctantly.
I noticed the way the scents changed as I stepped further into their home, as if wolfsbane and dark opium were in the very walls. There was another trace of something else, too, but faint enough I couldn’t pick it out.
Ransom.
It had to be. Ransom Kingsman was their third pack mate. The one no one had seen yet.
Did he even live here? He had to, but if he did, shouldn’t he be as present as the other two?
I hugged myself as their pack’s scent engulfed me entirely. It should feel like a threat, as if, with every strain of a wooden floorboard beneath my boots, I stepped into the enemy’s den. Instead, my chest loosened. It was one of the curses I’d woken with. I was unstable, and the scent of alphas settled me more than anything else in the world. And yet, when they caught mine… I swallowed, shoving the thought away and trying to ignore my reaction to the apartment. Fucking biology. My body knew what he was offering. It wanted this nest, no matter how wrong it was.
Would you be getting a nest if you’d gone home with the Lincoln pack?a small voice asked.
But if they didn’t have a nest ready, they would have made one the moment they’d realised who I was. Of course they would have.
Ahead, Dusk had drawn up before a door and was turning the handle.
I heard Umbra’s low hum of contentment at my side, and I realised my pace had quickened with my heart. I balled my fists, slowing myself down deliberately.
Itwouldbe horrible. White walls and sterile metal trays flashed in my vision. Metal straps with bright lights… At the least, it would be generic, with windows, and stretching space, and?—
I froze as I reached the doorframe, staring in with wide eyes.
There was no bright open space like I’d expected.
I hated windows, but this room had none. Instead, the lights were warm with Edison bulbs in cosy lamps or hanging from the ceiling. There was a huge bed in the far corner, and the roof sloped down above it, keeping it isolated, like a separate cave. The floor was made of wooden panels, different to the rest of the apartment, with shag rugs, each tilted…
I tilted my own head, staring at the shapes across the room, the warm tapestries that were hung strangely. Even thebeddingwas… but Icouldn’tbe seeing that right…
It was a real life nest.
One being offered tome.
It’s too dangerous to let your instincts run wild, Shatter.
No scent. No nest. No alphas. No pack. No instincts at all—bury them deep.
But this was right. Perfect.
Tooperfect.
It flew in the face of every traditional idea of a nest that I didn’t want, as if it was builtforme.
More than everything else combined,theyweren’t in it. Instead, I caught the faint trace of hollowness that scent dampening mist left behind.
I didn’t realise I’d stepped in until I felt a firm hand close around the back of my neck, halting me.
