I wave at him half-heartedly. “I know, I look like shit. Let’s get this over with.”
My legs are shaking despite my bravado. They might be ready for me to leave, but the idea of being separated from them is enough to send my stomach into a twisting frenzy.
When I pause, letting out a sharp breath of pain, a hand appears at my elbow. Gray looks gutted when I glance up at him, his azure eyes blazing into mine.
“It’s going to be alright,” he whispers, and I look away from him as Logan pulls open the front door.
Ollena stares at us from the top step, her lips pressed together as she scans me up and down.
“Sienna Michaels,” she says with a nod. “Cohens.”
Her nod towards the pack is decidedly frostier as Tristan welcomes her in. She looks back at me, her face tightening as she takes me in.
“Are you well?” she asks abruptly. “You look quite different from last week.”
God. Has it only been a week?
Forcing a smile, I spread my hands out. “Unfortunate timing. I seem to have caught a bit of a sickness bug. I’m feeling a little better now.”
Gray’s arm slips around my waist. “Terrible timing. Just as we were getting to know one another,” he says.
“Indeed.” Ollena’s eyes scan the hallway, peering past Jax. “Just us?”
When Tristan nods, her shoulders relax slightly, and she turns to me.
“I’m sure you know why I’m here,” she begins. Gray continues to hold me, his arm taking more of my weight as I begin to sag. He holds me upright without complaint, his fingers gently caressing a circle on the skin at my waist.
“I do.” Swallowing, I nod towards the nest. “The nest is this way.”
We stroll down the hall, each step feeling like lead in my legs, weighing me down. Sweat beads on my brow as Gray looks down at me in concern.
“Si,” he whispers. “You need to sit down.”
“Shhh!” I swat at his arm. “After.”
We pause in front of the door, and I brace myself.
Ollena sniffs. “The second Bonding Trial is to support your development as a cohesive pack. As a bond between alphas and the omega develops, the urge to nest grows greater, and you must produce an acceptable nesting area to pass the Trial. Do you have an area prepared?”
My mouth feels bone dry. “I—,”
“She does,” Tristan interrupts, and I blink at him. Ollena frowns at the interruption, looking at me. Behind her, Jax nods exaggeratedly, so I jerkily mimic his head motion and he gives me a small smile.
“I do,” I whisper.
Maybe.
Tristan turns the door handle to push the door open, and I blink. Then again. Very rapidly.
Because the space in front of me is not the room that I’ve spent the last week desperately trying to clear.
Dozens of flickering candles placed carefully onto low wooden shelving cast a soft light over the piles of cushions and soft-looking blankets lining the floor. The warm light flickers against the clean white walls, cleared of the oil and paint that flicked across them yesterday.
But it’s the back wall that truly takes my breath away.
Inky black paint covers the entire wall. And over that… stars.
Dozens of stars. Constellations scatter across the space, making what would have been an open space cozy and inviting.
