Page 83 of Claimed By My Exiled Alphas
“Jace did good?” Hollis asked, squeezing her fingers gently.
“So good.” She looked up at me with eyes that were clearer now, more herself despite the heat still burning through her. “He was perfect.”
Pride and affection swelled in my chest. “Team effort now. We’re all here to take care of you.”
“I made tea before we left the house,” Hollis said, producing a thermos from the supplies Cassian had organized. “Raspberry leaf and nettle. Good for heat symptoms and keeping your strength up. Cassian had the foresight to grab a thermos.”
“Just playing to my strengths,” Cassian said with the faintest hint of a smile. “Someone had to think ahead.”
The three of us coordinated without needing to discuss it, falling into a rhythm that felt natural despite being new. Hollis helped Talia sit up enough to drink some tea and eat one of the energy bars. Cassian refreshed the warm washcloths. I stayed close, one hand on her leg so she could feel my presence through the bond we’d just started forming.
“Your turn soon,” I said to Hollis, watching the way Talia’s scent was already shifting toward him, her body recognizing the next alpha she needed.
He nodded, and I saw the mix of anticipation and nervousness in his expression. This would be his first heat, first time bonding with someone. But he’d be perfect for her in completely different ways than I had been.
“She’s going to need you next,” I said quietly to him while Talia drank some tea. “Are you ready?”
“I’ve been ready since the day she walked into my bookstore.” He met my eyes. “Thank you for taking such good care of her.”
“That’s what pack does.” I clasped his shoulder briefly. “Now go show her your version of gentle.”
I pulled on my jeans and caught Cassian’s eye, tilting my head toward the door. He understood immediately, standing from where he’d been organizing supplies.
“We’ll be in the living room,” I said to Talia, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “Right here if you need us. But you and Hollis deserve some privacy.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, and I felt gratitude through our new bond, mixed with anticipation for what came next with Hollis.
Cassian and I left the bedroom, closing the door most of the way but leaving it cracked in case they called for us. We settled in her living room, the scent of her heat still permeating the cottage but manageable now that we weren’t in the same room.
“That went well,” Cassian said quietly, pulling out his phone to check something. Probably making notes about timing and supplies needed, because that was how his mind worked.
“Better than well.” I leaned back against the couch, feeling the echo of the bond I’d just formed with Talia. “She trusted me. Trusted us.”
“She did.” He looked up from his phone. “You were good with her. Patient. Exactly what she needed.”
“Hollis will be too. Different, but just as good.” I smiled slightly. “And then it’ll be your turn. The three of us, all bonded to her. Actually building a pack.”
“If she wants that with me too,” Cassian said, and there was uncertainty in his voice I didn’t often hear.
“She will. She already does.” I met his eyes. “You’re part of this, Cassian. She chose all three of us.”
We sat in comfortable silence, two alphas waiting to support our omega and our packmate. The heat would cycle for days, and we’d all be needed before it was over. But the hard part was done. She’d let us in, accepted our help, started forming bonds that could become permanent if we all chose it.
We were building a pack. Messy and complicated and absolutely perfect.
And I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
Chapter 23
Hollis
Iheard Jace call us in, and my heart started racing. This was it. My turn to care for Talia, to show her that I was an alpha worth bonding with. My first heat, first bonding, first time being part of something this profound.
Cassian and I had been waiting in the hallway, giving them privacy while coordinating quietly about timing and what might be needed next. Now we stepped into the bedroom together, though I knew instinctively that Cassian would hold back, let me have this moment first.
Talia lay in her nest, skin flushed and damp with a fine sheen of sweat that caught the dim light. Jace’s fresh bite mark was visible on her shoulder, already beginning to heal but unmistakably present. The scent of their bonding filled the room, rich and satisfied and deeply right. But underneath I could already smell her heat building again, that sweet vanilla and honey taking on desperate edges. Her body’s cycle demanding the next alpha.
My body responded immediately, alpha instincts surging at the scent of an omega in heat who needed me. But I breathed through it, stayed centered, remembered everything I’d learned about being present rather than reactive.
