Page 49 of For What It's Worth

“You didn’t ruin it. I made the decision to ignore how I felt about the nest because I wanted you. And I’m really glad I did because … well, because I enjoyed it. A lot.”

Don’t blush. Don’t blush. Don’t blush.

“I did too, little bear.”

I could feel the truth from his scent. Although, his lingering sadness reminded me of listening to a playlist meant to make you cry. I got it. Words weren’t always enough—even if I wanted to force Jen into a happy mood to match mine I couldn’t. It was a weird feeling of helplessness to know I couldn’t help Jen’s mood. He had to come out of it himself, and to do that, I needed to be happy. Which meant I couldn’t be caught in a vicious cycle of worrying over Jen, making myself upset, and in return, making him upset.

There was even a small part of me—one I hated to acknowledge but couldn’t deny—that liked Jen being upset. Not the emotion, but the fact he felt more real in this moment. My mind had a tendency to intertwine Jen my professor with Jen my alpha, but in this moment, he was truly only my alpha. Which was something I needed after he went all strict teacher on me earlier. I loved both sides of my alpha, but the key was balance.

“Let’s get my stuff all packed up,” I suggested. “Aidan and Enzo are probably wondering what’s taking us so long at breakfast.”

Jen nodded, his relief that I was dropping the topic a silent emotion between the two of us. It was slightly awkward for me as I made my way to the bathroom to clean up. Thank goodness we hadn’t started packing up yet. It meant all my odor reducing washes were still in the shower. It was a quick in, wash, out, and get dressed before focusing on packing everything up.

My only personal belongings consisted of the blankets and pillows in my makeshift nest and my clothes. I knew from moving into the dorm that my wardrobe fit in two large suitcases, but the pillows didn’t have a way to be carried except by hand. The only problem? My nest material smelled heavily of omega perfume, even from before today.

Even with the door closed and Jen still inside, the barest hint of toasted marshmallow and arousal crept through. It wasn’t enough to draw the attention of anyone outside my room, but someone would surely notice if I took the fabric down the hallway. Betas might have the weakest sense of smell, but no one could ignore how drenched the fabrics were.

And even if they considered I simply broke the rules and snuck an omega onto campus, fucking them in my dorm, how would I explain away the additional alpha arousal when it was only Jen and I?

The door opened to my closet-nest and despite his put together appearance, I could still scent the wayward emotions coming from Jen. Plus, my alpha’s muscles were tensed, making him appear like a stiff board instead of the loveable alpha concerned for my well-being. That meant it was my turn to take care of him.

“I have scent blocking washes in the shower. Why don’t you take a quickie, and I’ll start packing the clothes?”

Jen nodded, giving me a smile that was probably only seventy percent real happiness, and then headed to the bathroom. The door had just shut when a boring phone ringtone went off. Immediately, I knew it was Jen’s phone since even my default ringtone was customized to a windchime-esq sound.

“Who is it?” Jen yelled from the bathroom.

I found the phone on the clothes on my bed, most likely from Jen simply throwing it. “Enzo. Do you want me to bring it to you?”

I was already walking toward the bathroom when Jen called back, “No, you get it, little bear. Tell him I’m taking a shower.”

There was a rush of excitement at answering Jen’s phone, followed by deep laughter coming from the bathroom, but I didn’t even manage a single word before Enzo started talking. “What the hell’s taking so long? What are you doing? Is my Koda okay?”

“Koda is fine. In fact, she’s happy to hear from you.”

“Orsetta,” Enzo said on an exhale. “How are you? Why are you and Jen not back yet? This is my third time trying to get ahold of Jen.”

“We stopped by my dorm to pick up my stuff to move. We sort of got distracted and fell asleep.”

Enzo chuckled, the sound somehow affecting me even through the phone. “Is that right?”

“Yes,” I squeaked.

He sighed. “I guess I couldn’t have expected him to wait to pound your sweet pussy when he had you all alone. Tell me you’re coming home soon.”

“Um, we still have to pack everything up in the car.”

“Is that what Jen’s doing now?”

“No, he’s, um, he’s in the shower.”

“I can imagine he’s not very happy about that.”

“He not ecstatic right now.” I didn’t want to lie, but I also didn’t want to put myself in the relationship between packmates. I’d bonded in my own way to each male and each alpha had their own relationship with the others of the pack.

“I would not be either if I had to wash off the scent of your pleasure.” I wasn’t sure if it was his intention to turn me on or if he was simply being ruthlessly honest, but the result was the same. Was I supposed to be able to get this aroused by another alpha so soon after being knotted? My breathing became shallow, arousal heightening when I heard Jen chuckle from the shower. He’d obviously guessed what was going on. Or maybe he could hear with his protective alpha ears. But either way, it did nothing to help ease my body’s increasing excitement.

“Please don’t talk like that,” I whispered to Enzo. “Not when you can’t help me relieve the ache.”

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