Page 38 of Bliss & Her Idols

But outside heats, I’ve never invited a man into my nest.

Sleeping like this? With Cricket’s casual touch, his knee touching mine, and our scents mingling?

After thirty years alone…?

It’s intimate but also, it feels like I’ve been waiting for exactly the right man to come along who fills this place like the ghost of him was always there.

I snuggle more closely against Cricket.

Cricket’s purr deepens. “Is this a dream?”

I smirk, before feathering kisses across his nose.

Cricket scrunches his nose in shock, before chuckling. “Okay, okay, this is real.”

Satisfied, I settle back.

We’re facing each other; our gazes meet each other’s intently.

Cricket licks over his dry lips. “I lay in bed at night — for the last year that we’ve been working together — thinking about you.”

My breath stutters. “Same.”

Cricket’s eyes widen with awe. Pink spreads across his cheeks.

“I’d turn off the computer,” he says in a breathless, confessional rush, “and then slip back into the darkness of the kitchen, which is where I slept by the stove at night. I never stopped thinking about you. It kept me warmer than the stove.Your nest is incredible. As a NH Reject, my pack didn’t believe in letting me have one. Thank you for allowing me into yours.”

“Don’t thank me for that. You’re my soulmate. You feel it too, right? This is your nest as well.”

He blinks in confusion. “I feel it. But that doesn’t mean…mynest?”

“Yours.”

“How am I lucky enough that my best friend is also my soulmate?” Cricket’s eyes are bright. “That you’d share your nest like this…? You’re kind, Bee. I knew that you were smart and the type of brave Omega that I’d always dreamed of becoming. You’re an inspiration. It’s why you’re the only one that I trust about my Dragon.”

Now, it’s my turn to blush. “You kept me going too, knowing that I would be talking to you every night.”

“Sometimes, my youngest brother would throw some of his dirty laundry at me before bed. He knew that it’d give me an excuse to use his sweaters like a blanket for the night and then wash them in the morning. I never had anything else to keep me warm. But now, you’ve already given me so much.”

“You deserve it,” I say, fiercely. “In this pack, you’ll get the same as everyone else. We’re equal. Why didn’t your brothers do more to help you?”

“I raised my brothers,” Cricket’s gaze slides away from mine, “but they were Alphas. I don’t blame them. I understand how conflicted they were about helping me. They could have taken out their frustrations about being abandoned in the forest by our parents for most of their childhoods on me. They didn’t. Most of the time, I couldn’t cook them more than soup. Their toys were secondhand and stolen. They didn’t protect me but they didn’t hurt me. How can they fight their Alpha instincts?”

He shrugs.

My eyes narrow. “Well, that’s bullshit. My brother is an Alpha. He’d burn down the world to protect his pack and tear out anybody’s throat who threatens Omegas, as you witnessed with your family. He’s not a sweet puppy. He’s awolf. A hunter. But so am I. And my best friend in Haven is an Alpha, Lion. He’s just as protective of Omegas. I’m sorry that your family have taught you that their dynamic gives them the right to treat you as lesser, but it's not because they’re Alphas. It’s because they’re fuckingAlphaholes.”

Cricket lets out a startled laugh and then covers his mouth. “You cussed. And about Alphas.”

I grin, mischievously. “Get used to it. Want to try it,Knot Crusher? After all, you put out devastating memes about Alphas.”

Cricket looks scandalized for a moment. “But that’s online.”

“I know that it’s harder to do these things in real life. Now that you’re in the Wolf pack, however, you have that chance. Want to try it out?”

Cricket takes a deep breath, before tipping up his chin.

“Fucking Alphaholes,” he whispers, before repeating more loudly, “Fucking Alphaholes!”

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