It’s the aroma of her Heat, and it’s our job to take care of her.
My cock is rock hard at the thought of providing for her every need.
Doing laundry, cooking, pleasuring her—I’d sacrifice air to make sure she’s content.
Breathing isn’t as important as making sure she’s happy, is it?
I enter the office, which has turned into our cat room. Josie, Posie, and Rosie are all asleep against Ash in the pet bed, and Marlin and Mervin are loafing on a tower.
I unlock my computer and continue to work on Blair’s present.
What Rowan and I started have turned into something that we may eventually pitch to our partners in the industry.
But for now, it’s just for Blair.
I’m so lost in my work that I don’t even notice my Omega enter the room until I catch a whiff of her scent.
“Hey,” she says softly as I spin in the chair to face her. “What are you up to?”
She’s just as beautiful as before, but there’s more color to her face and she looks well-rested. She’s dressed in a pair of Travis’s sweatpants and an oversizedWicked Bytesblack sweatshirt, and I grin when I see that she’s wearing our merch.
She peers at the screen and frowns. “Is that a cat?”
I pat my thigh. “Sit on my lap and I’ll show you.”
To my surprise, she accepts the offer, and my inner Alpha lets out a rumble of contentment. I wrap an arm around her waist and turn us back to the monitor, breathing in her sweet floral scent.
“It’s not much yet,” I admit. “We were hoping we would have more time before we showed you.”
“What is this?” she leans over and peers at the monitor, her nose wrinkling in confusion. “Is that…is that therescue?”
“It’s in the early stages of development,” I admit as she looks at the 8-bit crude graphics. “But it’s eventually going to be a cat rescue game.”
She turns to me. “A cat rescue game,” she parrots.
I can’t decipher what’s in her expression, so I continue to explain myself. “You said you used to play cozy games, andRowan and I thought this would be a way to get you back into them.”
“You’re making me a video game?” she asks in disbelief, delight in her eyes. “But you make horror games. You can’t possibly have time for this.”
“It’s a side project to work on,” I say. “Besides, sometimes I need a break from all the gore and tragedy.”
“Piper said you also made an app for local trappers and colony feeders,” she says disbelievingly. “You did all that in aweek?”
“I couldn’t really sleep without you,” I admit. “And I’d rather turn that energy into something productive, not harmful. This was my way of still being close to you.”
Even though I was falling apart while she was gone, I refused to give in to the loneliness, even when it threatened to eat me alive.
I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t let my brother see me crumble when he was barely holding on himself.
Blair’s eyes turn glassy. “You’re unbelievable,” she says. “Ryland…”
“Hey, I worked on the cat game, too,” a voice says behind us, and I roll my eyes. “Don’t let my brother take all the credit.”
But Blair is only looking at me, her lips slightly parted. “Thank you,” she says, “for both the video game and the app.”
“Don’t thank me for either yet,” I chuckle. “The game is just a concept, and Mari is still having a hard time figuring out how to use the app.”
She shakes her head in disbelief while her scent blooms around me.
