Page 51 of Shades of Scars

Caito doesn’t let me dwell on it long. “Come. Let’s go see what your other alphas are up to.” My small overnight bag slips off my shoulder when he grabs it, and I follow him down the hall to the first room that opens up to the den I’d woken up in after my attack. That’s where we find Apollo, lounging back into the cushions on the couch with a sketch pad on his lap and a piece of charcoal held between his stained fingers.

He glances up when we step into the room, and his eyes immediately zero in on me. Burning amber irises sear me where I stand, and I shift, rubbing my thighs together at the heat I find simmering there. It’s reserved just for me.

Leaning forward, he places his sketchpad and the piece of charcoal down on the coffee table before he climbs to his feet. “You’re ten minutes late.” His attention shifts to Caito, and then he stops dead, one foot raised to take a step forward to head towards us. “Fuck.” He breathes out on a sigh, disbelief sparking to life in his eyes when he looks from the mark to me, and back again. “I amsojealous.”

I snort at that, crossing my good arm around my middle. Caito told me when I slipped the sling on this morning that I should be able to take it off after this weekend, as long as I don’t overuse it. “Well, make sure you tell me to bite you when you’re about to knot me and you’ll get the same results.” I roll my eyes, but the hungry growl he emits does weird things to my insides.

“Oh, really? I’ll keep that in mind…” He trails off, lifting charcoal-stained fingers to his lip to brush his thumb over it. I shift again just to have some damn friction between my already slick-dampened thighs.How the hell did that happen?I swear, these alphas are going to drain me dry of slick. I’ll never be able to have sex again when they’re through with me.

This right here is why I’ve been opting not to wear panties lately. No point really when they just end up soaked whenever I’m in the presence of one of them.

And the dresses make for easier access…

The scent of my slick hits the air, and both alphas groan. Apollo makes grabby hands towards me, but then Lark’s voice cuts through the room, drawing my attention to where he has poked his head around the corner. “Nuh uh, bro. Wren will be upset if you work up our omega and ruin his surprise.”

Apollo groans again, but this time it sounds like he’s being murdered. “No fair. Where is he anyway? Oh, fuck. Did Raven murder him before she left?” He twists around as if he’s about to head off in search of the pack lead, but then the alpha in question steps into the den from another doorway which I’m just now noticing that I’ve never been down. Not that I’ve spent a lot of time here or anything.

“Oh good. He lives.” Caito arches a brow at Wren, but I’m too focused on the way he shifts his body nervously into the room. My omega instincts are immediately on alert the moment he lifts a tattooed hand to rub over the back of his neck.

Today, he has his long, ice white braids twisted into a top knot on the crown of his head, leaving his neck exposed. I have the sudden urge to lick him, and I have to force myself to stay still so I don’t go to him to do just that.Dammit. I want to bite him just like I did Caito. I want to see my mark on all these alphas.

This is turning into a fucking problem.

I spy Caito smirking at me when he catches me lick my lips while watching Wren shuffle on his feet. Something has the pack lead worked up, and I bet it has everything to do with this supposed surprise that keeps getting mentioned.

“Scarlett, I…” Wren trails off, finally looking up to meet my gaze, and I damn near melt when he bites his lip. It’s so damn unfair that they are all this sexy. My shoddy omega hormones can’t handle it. That’s why I keep giving in to them. He opens his mouth as if he’s going to continue, but then his eyes dart to Caito, and then freeze.

Just like with Apollo, he blinks rapidly for a long few seconds. He opens his mouth, then closes it, before opening it again and gapes. He’s like a fish out of water, gasping for breath. He looks back to me, and I offer an unapologetic shrug. I really don’t have an explanation for the actions of my inner omega.

Caito really shouldn’t have challenged me to bite him. This is all his fault, really.

“I wanted to show you something…” He trails off, looking slightly put off now. “Uh, it was supposed to be a surprise, and then Lark made me realize how foolish I was being. I really thought it would be a great way to make you happy, but now I’m not so sure I haven’t gone and fucked it all up.” He’s rambling now, and I arch a brow at him which promptly makes him snap his mouth shut. “How about we just show you?”

Tentatively, he holds a hand out towards me. He still looks nervous as hell, and part of me finds that super adorable. I’ve never had an alpha be nervous around me before. I only hesitate for a moment before I move to him, slipping my fingers into his open palm.

I love the way he wraps his big, warm hand around mine. The other three alphas fall into step behind us as he leads me back through in the direction he’d originally come from. He brings meto a halt outside of a partially closed door, before he lets loose a sigh and pushes it open.

Letting go of my hand, he steps to the side and gestures into the room. I’m confused for a moment when I step inside. There are boxes and bags everywhere, some of them half open. It’s a huge room with at least two other doors that I think might lead into a closet and a bathroom maybe. The only piece of furniture I see is the massive mattress that’s spread out on the floor taking up a good portion of the room.

Something starts to prickle at my omega instincts while I scan over the room. I step up to one of the closest stacks of boxes, peering into the top most one that’s already been cut open. Familiarity tickles my brain when I pick up the piece of fabric sitting inside. I take it out and it unravels, hanging down for me to hold it out for inspection.

It’s a shag rug. One in the exact color I once picked out for my dream nest on my Pinterest board. On autopilot, I move to another open box and pull out a pillow that also looks very familiar, and a frown tugs at the corners of my lips.

It takes longer than it probably should to come to the conclusion that my instincts have already been screaming at me for the past several minutes. Something I’d already known the moment I’d first stepped into the room.

“Did you… is this…” I trail off on a whisper, clutching the pillow to my chest as I whirl on the alphas now crowding in the doorway. They haven’t stepped over the threshold, as if the room itself is something sacred to just me.

Caito is smirking. Lark is smiling that soft smile he reserves just for me. Apollo looks like the cat that got the cream. Wren still looks incredibly nervous.

“We wanted you to have a safe space for when you stay over. I mean, if you ever stay over. This isn’t meant to be a bribe or anything. We’ve had this room vacant for our future omega. Imay have done a little online sleuthing and found your dream nest board on Pinterest…” Wren scratches a hand over the back of his neck again in that nervous gesture while he rambles.

Holy fuck. Holy fucking shit.“You… tried to build me a nest…?”

Wren blows out a breath, exchanging looks with the other three alphas. He nods. “Tried. Then Lark kind of reminded us that you might want to decorate it yourself. I thought about doing it myself, but then I didn’t want to mess it up and possibly upset you. Then I was going to hire a designer, and Lark also pointed out you might not like the foreign scents in your nest. We just want to give you a safe place here. No strings attached.” He shifts on his feet, and I’m still just staring at him, stunned.

I can’t find words. He’s done gone and broke my omega brain by gifting me a damn nest in his pack house. No alpha has ever gone out of their way to do something like this for me. In fact, the first time I’d ever been allowed to build a nest had been when I first moved here.

I’m quiet for so long that Wren begins to babble again. “If you don’t like it, we can toss all the items and start over. I just went overboard and got everything off your dream board without asking. I should have asked. We can get you whatever you need for your nest, Sweetheart. We just want you to be comfortable-” I can’t help it. I throw myself at him, cutting him off mid-ramble. He catches me easily, and I don’t even care about the twinge of pain in my shoulder from the stupid sling when I crush myself to his body.

---