They leave the comforting to me for now.
Nyx’s melodious laughter fills the room, and I can’t help but grin.
We’re all in our room, now fully furnished as we’d wanted. The bed is one of the large ones that the powers-that-be had been supplying mated packs, and it’s topped with so many fluffy pillows that even I’ve nearly slipped to the floor in the middle of the night a few times.
Most of the furnishings were left as-is, although we added a bookcase by the sitting area where we each have a section to ourselves for some favorite stories. Laurant—excuse me,Andrew—wasn’t allowed to have books in his room when the GBE were in charge. Apparently, he was good enough to force into servitude, but not good enough to have his own things aside from clothes.
Oh, and we now have a telly seated on top of a dresser across from the bed.
That is what Nyx is rolling in laughter at.
We’d been granted some recuperation time after our return, and we’d spent most of it in our room, holding each other close in bed, or reading quietly together by the fireplace.
The bonding has been a really nice reprieve and a good break from responsibility, which, for us, will be greatly increasing very soon.
So many more people have arrived, from Cursed in hiding to everyday civilians who are incensed by the information packets we continue to drop across the globe, now that we control the satellites and information networks. Many of the freed prisoners from Long Island have also joined us here. Their physical wounds were healed by fellow Cursed, but Andrew and I will be helping their psyches to heal soon enough.
I’m looking forward to the exercises we have planned this weekend at the training grounds.
Another eruption of laughter, this time from Erich as he passes me the bowl of buttered popcorn across Nyx’s lap.
I really hadn’t been paying attention to the film he and Nyx had chosen, but that they’re enjoying it makes me happy. Just like this popcorn I’m inhaling.
Andrew chuckles beside me on the bed before hopping off to the floor. “I’ll pop some more.”
My hero.
Oh—and we got a microwave, too. Pretty sweet. I’m not sure who procured it, but I’m happy it’s here so we don’t always have to go downstairs to heat up food on a whim.
Call me lazy.
But as I curl up with my pack in our soft, cozy bed, I don’t think it’s laziness. It’s comfort.
Loved by my pack, snug in our room… It’s almost like wanting to nest.
Our close proximity as a pack, especially a mated and bonded pack, renders suppressants less effective, but all the Omegas here still take them to avoid full heats. We know that there’s too much at stake to chance going through a real heat with danger looming, or worse, someone getting pregnant. I was only a little surprised by how quickly everyone agreed. Just about unanimously, as well.
When Andrew returns with another bowl of popcorn, he hands it to me and takes the empty one away while I dutifully pass the snack to Nyx beside me for her to share with Erich. I get a tender kiss on the cheek for my offering, and I grin again like a fool.
The movie ends shortly after we’ve scarfed down the second bowl of popcorn. As Nyx excuses herself to brush her teeth in the adjoining bathroom, Erich cleans up our snacks and Andrew lets out a yawn.
“We have a long day tomorrow.” Erich pulls off his shirt with a yawn of his own.
Tomorrow is the first day we’re all going to try and let the creatures inside of us communicate with the outside world, hopefully teach us some things.
We still have no idea why our entities are more talkative or active than others, but Nyx said that Mira and her pack have been doing a bit of experimenting on their own. Colt’s mental powers have been helpful for communication between them all and their entities, so he’s going to join us tomorrow, since Andrew is a part of the so-called test.
“It’s my hope that it won’t be too draining.” Andrew places his glasses on the nightstand and begins to unbutton his shirt. “We’ll be meditating through most of it.”
“This could take more than one session. I mean, Nyx and I have been doing well, talking to our own entities and eachother’s, but they haven’t spoken out loud since…” My voice trails and I shake my head, like I’m trying to rid myself of the memory.
It isn’t the fact that this being took over my body—at least, that doesn’t bother me so much now. It’s the memory of how I’d felt, the things that were said.
I hadn’t remembered any of it at first, but bits and pieces had started to replay in my dreams, until I remembered the entire encounter.
I’m still a bit embarrassed, truth be told. I never wanted to say those things aloud, tell anyone how I really felt inside. And there’s a bit of a struggle there still. It won’t disappear overnight.
But now, I talk to my pack about my feelings, my insecurities. Even when the little voice in my head—mine, not the entity’s—tries to tell me that I don’t want to.
