Page 60 of When She Needs Them Most

Getting Chelsea back upstairs and settled into the nest doesn’t take long. I’m more surprised I don’t see Sky, but if I had to guess, I would imagine Linc kept her in his room tonight.

Here’s hoping he and Kase had the presence of mind to go for gut shots, but based on the sounds alone earlier… They got out their rage. Those two truly do act like brothers. They fight and make up on a weekly basis, with no grudges held.

I tuck the blanket around the little omega. “You know which door is mine if you need me.”

She nods. “Yeah, thank you.”

“Always,” I say, trying to pump myself up to actually leave the nest.

Chelsea tugs her arm free of the comforter and pats the mattress next to her. “You could stay until I fall asleep, if you want to.”

My mouth goes dry.

“I would like that very much.” I nod for her to scoot over, and she moves to the middle, which if I was a thoughtful alpha, I would have given her easy access to the edge. I’m sure she needs multiple bathroom visits a night, but I suppose she can roll over and exit on the other side of the bed.

I climb onto the mattress, waiting to see if she’ll face me or give me her backside, since I know she can’t sleep on her back. She rolls away from me and scoots until her rump hits my hip. Rolling onto my side, I perfectly frame her back.

“Goodnight, love,” I murmur as my arm comes to rest in the indent above her hip.

“Night, Arden.”

Christ.

Tonight was a roller coaster that I would be happy to never revisit.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Kase

“Where is she?” I growl, clutching my ribs as I shove myself out of my chair at the kitchen table.

“Sleeping.” Arden rolls his eyes and buttons his cuff before moving to do the other. “She barely slept. She was up and down all night, going to the bathroom.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t know, considering she told me I wasn’t invited to sleep with her,” I grumble, heading to the oven to check the biscuits. She enjoyed Arden’s at the diner, so I asked my mom for a recipe and followed it to a T.

Well, for the sausage gravy.

I’m not talented enough to make biscuits from scratch, but I did spring for the extra butter name brand variety when I panic shopped at seven a.m. as the grocery store opened.

The biscuits are puffy and golden brown, so I tug them out of the oven, setting the pan on the stovetop, even though the timer says there’s a minute left. I move to check the gravy, which has been resting on low heat, and it smells delicious.

“Quit your complaining. At least she’s still here,” Arden says from behind me. “I think it would be best if we leave Chelsea with free roam of the house today while we all head to the office.”

“Fuck, no,” I hiss, dropping the lid and turning to face him.

“Yeah, that goes double for me.” Linc jogs into the kitchen from the back stairs. “I’ve got a shit ton of groveling to do.”

“Did you talk to my mom?” I ask, because she recommended the same thing.

Not that I told her the specifics, but she recommended a freshly cooked breakfast, flowers, and a card.

If that doesn’t work, she told me to call her back this afternoon, and we would go from there.

She’s about thirty minutes outside of Blacksburg and desperate to come meet Chelsea, but she understood when I told her I thought it would be best to wait a few days.

“No.” Linc scoffs. “But I did wake up no less than seven times last night, and every single time, I picked up Chelsea’s misery in the bond. Most of it was physical discomfort. She’s good at hiding it, apparently.”

“While I understand your need to smooth things over as quickly as possible,” Arden says to Linc, “I would caution you against pushing too hard. She and I had an enlightening talk last night.”

---