A brief look of surprise crosses her face before she answers, “It was one of my favorite places to be. Especially when Connor was there. We ended up sleeping there at least a couple times a week instead of our bed. It was a place I always felt safe.”
“Does your nest here feel like a safe space?”
She doesn’t respond right away, which makes me wonder if there’s another reason she hasn’t been in here much. Especially with her heat coming up, I would’ve thought she’d spend more time here than anywhere else in the house.
“It’s starting to. It’s not how I want it yet so it doesn’t put me at ease the way a nest should. The pack bed is my safe space in the house,” she explains with a shy smile. “It’s the only place that has all of the pack’s scents.”
Oh, now I get it. The nest doesn’t have our scents or at least, not strong enough. I thought most of us gave her clothes to help with that, but it must not have been enough. But I can help fix this. I return my gaze to her, noticing how lost in thought she looks.
I tap her forehead. “Gonna tell me what you’re thinking so hard about? I’ll go gray with worry if I don’t find out.”
That gets her to roll her eyes at me. “You made that joke before.” I don’t respond, waiting for her to answer my question. I’ll wait all night because something is bothering her. With everything going on, how could there not be?
Sighing, she says, “With all this talk of safe spaces it just made me think about how unsafe I feel outside of this house, especially away from the pack.” She rolls over to lie on her back, now staring at the ceiling as she continues, “I always have fear and panic simmering underneath everything.Underneath my autopilot ‘every day going through the motions’ mode. Underneath the emotions I was compartmentalizing—everything.Those emotions and lockboxes, when they broke open, even under that grief for Connor. It was always there simmering low until it would bubble up every now and then, like what happened at the bowling alley. But now, it’s there just under the surface like I’m one sneeze away from it breaking free and having me spiral again.”
Of course the stalker getting in contact with her would bring those feelings to the surface. My own feelings from earlier rise in response.Useless. I may not be able to magically make her fear go away but I’ll always be here for her. She’ll never have to face this alone again.
Sitting up so she can see me, I say, “When you spiral, I’ll be right there with you going down that road with you, so I can bring you back to me. Back to us where you belong.”
Her eyes are swimming with emotion but she doesn’t say anything. I brush my hand along her cheek and her eyes close in response. “Sunshine. You know why I call you that right?” I ask as she opens her eyes to meet mine. “Because when I first saw your true smile, it lit up my world.”
Thea bursts out laughing, grabbing my hand as she does. “You’re so corny sometimes.”
“You love it,” I tease.
“Maybe I do,” she says with a glint in her eyes. Suddenly it feels like we aren’t talking about my amazing personality.
I lean over her so our faces are closer together. “Say it.”
“What?” She smirks.
“What you love.”
“I love…chocolate chip pancakes. I love Duke.” She pauses. “And I love you.”
“I love you too, Sunshine,” I whisper, closing the distance between us and softly kissing her lips. Maneuvering us so we’reboth lying on our sides, I hold her to me, inhaling the sweet vanilla and woodsmoke scent. Letting it fill every nook and crack in my heart and soul. My omega, my scent match.
“Please tell me that wasn’t the order of things you love,” I say jokingly.
She tilts her head up and smiles teasingly, which I playfully growl at before hugging her tightly to me. This right here is my favorite place—Thea in my arms. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure this lasts the rest of our lives.
4
JAKE
Aweek has passed since he made contact and we aren’t any closer to arresting him than before. Parker is running himself ragged checking our systems for any possible way to find this guy. Thankfully our phones didn’t have a breach. We still don’t know how he found out about her date at the ice rink with Liam.
Logan arrived today and we’re going to lay out our next steps. Having him on our side will be invaluable especially when we’re trying to arrest this asshole. Though the small, alpha part of my brain believes that’s not enough. I can’t let myself go down that road. Keelan already said something along those lines the other day. No one said anything to negate it. I think we’re all feeling it and want this to be over for Thea. If we can link him to Connor’s murder then he’ll go away for good. If it’s only a stalking charge, then we could be dealing with this all over again in a few years.
Right now, it’s just Logan and me in the dining room. Keelan, Parker, and Eli are working elsewhere in the house. Thea was in my nook area last I saw her. Though I guess now it’s turned into our nook. I’m definitely not mad about it. That was alwaysmy little spot to retreat to within the house and having her scent now imbedded there has made it so much better.
Logan looks just the same as when I last saw him three years ago. If only a little more haggard. His blue eyes, similar to Ben’s in their iciness, are dull. His dark brown hair, verging on black, is in its normal short style, though not as neat as he normally had it when working a job. I was surprised how happy I was to see him again. Closing the door on my previous career naturally led to a decline in the relationships I had with most coworkers there. All except Logan. He’s my oldest friend, even longer than I’ve known everyone in the pack.
The files he brought are laid out on the table in front of us. He’s clearly done a deep dive into Mark Henderson. Before we get into it, he says, “I’ve called in Campbell’s team for security. They’re on their way, should be here tomorrow.”
I groan. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Why them?!”
“First, short notice. And second, they’re good at their job. You know that.”
