“Nate?” Gabrielle’s voice shakes.
“It’s me. Won’t you come out?”
The blankets move in a pattern that I’m pretty sure means she’s shaking her head.
Cade crouches next to me. “Whatever is wrong with the nest, we can fix it.”
Another sniffle.
“What’s wrong with the nest?” I cast my eyes around, taking in the little touches that Gabrielle has made since our shopping trip. Her glow in the dark stars are scattered right across the ceiling, the floor covered in various blankets, cushions.
The blankets move, and finally, Gabrielle appears, tear-stained with her hair everywhere.
She looks adorable. And frustrated.
“It’s a stupid omega thing,” she grumbles.
Pounding footsteps appear down the hall, and Hudson skids to a stop in the doorway.
“Sweetheart?” he asks, his gaze landing on Gabrielle. “What is it?”
She chews on her lip. “Is everyone coming?”
Cade gives her an apologetic smile. “I thought it might help you feel better.”
She nods slowly. “It… it does, actually. Thank you.”
“So what can we do?” I ask her softly. “Whatever you need.”
Her eyes skitter past me.
“Axel will be here soon,” Cade says, tossing his phone down. “He was at the gym.”
She covers her face with her hands.
“I’m sorry. I’m a mess. I don’t know what’s going on with me.”
“You have instincts,” I say gently. “There’s nothing wrong with that. It comes with the territory, kitten.”
She throws up her hands. “But I don’t know anything about them!”
We exchange looks. “You’ve never learned?” Cade asks her. “About what it means to be an omega?”
She shakes her head. “It wasn’t something I thought about when I was with my mom. And after… well, the OC taught us their own crap, nothing about any of this.”
They wouldn’t have.
“What about the Center? They have open sessions for omegas to go and ask—,”
She’s already shaking her head, face paling as she recoils back into her blankets. “I don’t want to go there.”
“Steady,” I soothe, my hand out. “You won’t go anywhere you don’t want to, kitten. In this case, we’ll just have to follow your lead, okay? So tell us what you need.”
The urge to soothe her draws my voice low, the barest edge of a bark making her sit up straight.
“Ineedyourscents.”
I blink at the blurted words. “Our scents?”
