“Well, give me a shout if you need me. When you find something you like, feel free to bring it up to the counter and I’ll hold on to it for you. Have fun!”
With that, the sales associate leaves my pack to browse.
“We need pillows,” Hayes says, frowning as he holds uptwo different options. “But how many pillows is too many? And is this one supposed to be shaped like an exhaust pipe?”
Liam chokes out a laugh, grabbing the cylindrical pillow out of my brother’s hand. “That’s called a bolster.”
“How the fuck do you know that?” Hayes asks.
Our beta shrugs. “My mom.”
Right. Liam grew up relatively well-off. He doesn’t talk much about his family—outside of Cici and to tell us what a dick his father is—but I suppose it would make sense that he’d know all the fancy names for things like the different shaped throw pillows. People with money care about stuff like that.
“Just grab some that you like. We can always buy more or get rid of things Liv doesn’t like.” Sawyer picks up a velvety pillow made out of silver fabric. The material has a crinkled look, and I can’t help reaching out to stroke it. It’s soft and plush. Perfect for a nest.
“You guys pick the pillows,” I tell them. “I’m going to find some blankets.”
There’s a whole wall of shelves filled with different blankets, and I wander over, imagining my smarty-pants burrowing into a pile of plush throws. I want her to feel safe and cozy. To have a sanctuary she can escape to when the four of us get too loud or overwhelming. Or when her big, beautiful brain demands space to puzzle something out.
Soon, there’s a pile of pillows, blankets, soft washcloths, fairy lights, candles, dimmable lamps, a thick, wooly carpet, and a huge stack of velvet curtains that are the perfect shade of purple behind the counter. We may end up needing a few more things once we put it all together, but it’s a good start.
“I think your omega will love all of this,” Anne says, beaming at us. “They’re so lucky.”
“We’re the lucky ones,” I tell her honestly. “Thanks for all of your help.”
We’re significantly poorer when we leave The Omega’s Nest but one step closer to having the one thing that will always make us feel like the richest bastards on the planet. Liv.
Dipping my brush into the dark purple paint, I ignore the chatter of my packmates as I move my arm in sweeping arcs. The peonies are familiar. They’re a common floral tattoo design, after all. But these are the largest flowers I’ve ever created. The tightly packed petals and broad leaves create a pattern that somehow both adds interest and dimension to the room, and makes it cozier and calmer at the same time.
“Looks great, Wild.” Liam’s eyes wander over the wall, appreciation clear on his face. “She’s going to love it.”
“I hope so. Somehow I’m more nervous about this than any of the tattoos I’ve done, and those are permanently on someone’s skin.”
“Because you care about her.” He says it with a shrug, like it’s no big deal. But it’s a huge deal. I do care about Liv. A whole hell of a lot. She’s changed the trajectory of all our lives in a huge way. I don’t know that any of us considered settling down until she showed up.
“What was she like when you took ballroom dancing together?” I ask Liam. Somehow, I can’t see my friendormy omega twirling around the ballroom. But that’s not the kind of life my brother and I lead. Our parents weren’t poor, but they weren’t well-off, either. We had plenty, but it wasn’tballroom dancingkind of plenty. But knowing Liv the way I do now, I can’t see her enjoying some stuffy dance class.
Liam’s face breaks out in a smile. It’s the kind of smile that tells me he’s remembering something important. Something precious. “She was quiet at first. I could tell she felt out of place. While so many of the other omegas werepreening and prancing around, the females flipping their hair and giggling at all the alphas in the room, she watched it all. This slip of a girl stood there, analyzing everything and everyone.”
Our beta pauses his hanging of velvet curtains along the entire length of the wall with the window and stares off into space. “I was the only beta in the class. None of the other girls gave me the time of day. Even at that age, they were focused on earning the attention of an alpha.”
Sawyer reaches out and squeezes Liam’s shoulder. While our beta is pretty tight-lipped about his family life, he’s made some comments that lead me to believe his bio-dad has expressed disappointment in Liam’s designation on more than one occasion. It’s difficult not to internalize that kind of shit, even if none of the rest of us see him as lesser in any way. Hell, he’s far more levelheaded than the rest of us, and he’s kept us out of trouble many times. I don’t know where we’d be without him.
“But Liv...” Liam’s smile turns wistful. “The way her little nose wrinkled at all the puffed chests and simpering giggles told me she wasn’t impressed. I was still nervous when I asked her to dance, but when she looked up at me with this relieved smile on her face, I was a goner.”
“I remember her talking about those lessons when she’d tag along with me and Henry. She hated almost everything about them. Except for her dance partner.” Sawyer grins at Liam and shakes his head. “Didn’t have a clue you were that dance partner.”
“Her mom didn’t let her have a cell phone at that age, so we lost touch. But I never forgot her.” Liam rubs a hand over the back of his neck, his cheeks flushing scarlet. “And I may have, uh, kept an eye on her social media when she was old enough to set it up.”
“Stalker,” Hayes says with a chuckle.
Liam shrugs, not denying it. “Wouldn’t you do the same in my shoes?”
My brother grunts his agreement. Hayes is just as gone for Liv as I am. He probably wouldn’t have only watched her movements online, though. He would have built a blind in a tree by her window to watch over her at night or something. Obsessive fucker.
“Who would have thought you’d be courting that same omega, huh?” I go back to painting, more determined than ever to make this nest perfect for the woman who saw one of my best friends when no one else in the room did.
“Yeah.” Liam smiles broadly as he slides another curtain over the rod. “Who would have thought?”
