Page 107 of Pack Me Up
I don’t know if I helped, but at least I didn’t make it worse.
* * *
I wake up with my perfect omega wrapped around me, and I instantly start my purr back up. She didn’t wake up again with a nightmare, and I feel like the best alpha in the world for giving her that.
Dawn is peaking through the curtains when the rest of the pack starts to stir.
It’s the purr that wakes them, probably. Or maybe the fact that Brittney is not where she’s supposed to be. Either way, I feel it.
Fox rolls over, his blue eyes catching mine in the reflection off the glass. He doesn’t say anything. He just watches, calm and calculating, a tiny smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
The twins are next. Colton’s the first to lift his head, hair wild, eyes bleary and red-rimmed. He sniffs the air and grunts. Then he spots Brittney, still folded against my side, and his entire body goes alert. Cody wakes up with a groan, immediately mirroring his brother, and together they stare down at us like we’ve grown new limbs.
Saint is the last, or maybe just the last to admit he’s been awake. He stands in the doorway, face unreadable, eyes sharp enough to cut diamonds. He doesn’t speak, but his gaze pins me, then slides to Brittney, then back to me.
Everyone is worried about her.
Brittney wakes up a few minutes later. She blinks, squints at the light, and then freezes when she realizes where she is. She jerks back, face going scarlet, and stammers, “Sorry I made you sleep on this lumpy couch with me.”
“Don’t apologize. I loved it.” I say, letting my hand drop, even though I already miss the weight of her. “You were having a rough night.”
She scrambles up, tugs the blanket higher, and shoots a terrified glance around the bus. When she sees everyonewatching, she shrinks, tucks her chin in. “Why are you all staring?”
Colton lies. “We were all just, uh… doing security stuff.”
Cody snickers. “Super secure.”
Saint clears his throat. “Are you okay?” he asks, clinical as always.
Brittney nods her head, eyes fixed on the vinyl floor.
Colton, never one to let silence hang, leans in over the back of the couch. “You want breakfast? We can make instant oatmeal. Or Hunter can try to burn the bus down with a panini press again.”
I flash him a middle finger. “That was one time.”
Cody grins, “Three, actually.”
Fox eases onto the little bench seat outside the nest, elbows on knees. “Nightmares?” he asks, but there’s no judgment in it, just curiosity.
Brittney nods, and for a second, the mask slips. She looks up, face raw and open, and says, “It was my dad. And my mom. They used to— They didn’t want me. Not really. They just wanted what I could do for them. Their death is bringing everything back up for me.”
Saint doesn’t flinch. He never does. “That’s over now,” he says, voice flat but certain. “No one will touch you. Not while you’re with us.”
Fox nods, slow and deliberate. “You’re safe now.”
The twins slide in on either side of her, Colton nudging her with his knee, Cody tossing a grape at her from the fruit bowl in his hand. It bounces off her shoulder, and she actually laughs, a tiny, startled sound.
I stay where I am, watching her. She looks… lighter, like the weight has shifted, even if just for a second.
She pulls the fuzzy blanket tighter and says, “Thanks. All of you.”
Colton gives her a two-finger salute. “Any time.”
Cody snags another grape and tosses it at me. I catch it, just to prove I’m faster than him.
Saint stands up, stretches his back until it cracks, then starts prepping the coffee pot with military precision. “Next stop is two hours out,” he says. “Eat, drink, then rest. You’ll need it.”
Fox leans over, voice pitched low. “If you want to talk about it, you can. Or you can just hang out and listen to Colton’s terrible jokes. Either way, you’re not alone.”
