The fire grows. My entire body prickles with sweat, my breathing speeding up as Jake jumps up. His lips brush the side of my forehead, and I whine, leaning into him. It’s not enough. I don’t want gentle. Or soft.
My legs press together as my scent soaks the air. Jake’s grip tightens on me, and he takes the stairs two at a time. “Nearly there.”
“Empty.” My voice feels slurred. “I feel… empty. Hurts.”
Why does it hurt?
Jake sets me down against the soft blankets that line my nest. My eyes lower, fingers tangling in them. “Wait—,”
Not right. This isn’t right.
I hold up my hand, my lips curling back and a warning snarl rippling out as he lifts his foot. Jake freezes, his foot hovering in mid-air. “Not yet.”
“Kennedy.” I drop my eyes as Oscar steps up beside him. “You need us, baby. For your heat.”
I snap my teeth instead. “Not yet.”
He crouches, watching closely as my hands fly over my things. My bedding gets tossed, pushed, rearranged. I throw items behind me, tossing out one of my pillows and burying my face in another.
“Baby,” Oscar says softly from the door. “Tell me what you need from me so we can come inside.”
A small, broken sob sounds in my chest as I hold out the pillow. He looks… hazy. My vision swims. “Not right.”
And my voice is too low. Rasping, almost. “Fix it.”
I watch warily, shuffling back and watching as Oscar presses the pillow to his nose, breathing in. “It’s too new. Smells like… plastic, almost. Get her ours. All of them. Anything that’s soaked in our scent.”
More follows as I empty out half my nest in growing agitation. The emptier it gets, the worse I feel.
“We shouldn’t have gone shopping the other week,” Max mutters from the doorway. They’re all watching me now. Jake reappears with his hands full, holding them out to me.
I take them from his hand, and he vanishes again as I frown. Another snarl ripples as Theo reaches for the light. Our eyes meet.
My alpha snarls back. “Lights.”
Above me, little strings of lights flicker on. I assess them warily before offering him a short nod.
Another heavy, dragging pulse hits me in the abdomen. The space between my legs…clenches.Empty.
It’s all wrong. My nest is wrong. I want my alphas, but they can’t come in until it’s right.
It’s not right.
I bury my face in my hands, my breaths shuddering. Deep, spicy scent wraps around me. Arms wrap around me, and I snap my teeth close to Oscar’s throat. Very sharp teeth.
But he tightens his grip. “Enoughnow, baby. We’re going to build you a pretty, soft nest. A good nest for your heat.”
I shrink back at the edge of a bark that overlays his words. But they capture my attention. Oscar shifts to the side, placing me down on a pillow. “Wait here. Don’t move.”
His lips press to mine, and then he’s gone. I wrap my arms around my stomach, fighting off that tugging feeling, shoving down the heat that prickles across my body as I watch my alphas, my lips pursed.
Layers. They work in layers. Max and Theo rearrange the toppers that line the floor, softening it as Jake collects blankets.
Oscar… isgone. Out of the nest.
My snarled complaint barely leaves my lips before he’s back. He raises an eyebrow at me before upturning the large, oversized basket in his hands.
Shirts. So many of them. All of them soft, warm, worn.
