The lodge feels bigger without the layers of glitter and forced elegance clinging to it.
Four days ago, it had been dressed to impress, every surface and corner carefully curated to sell a lie. Balloons. Bubbling champagne. Flowers arranged just so. Their only purpose to convince everyone in attendance that the betrothal was real. That the love story wasn’t a farce. Now, it’s been stripped back down to rustic wood, exposed stone, and the quiet hum of the pack mingling about.
I just hope no one went through the trouble of packing all that shit up and saving it.
No, I hope all of it was burned.
In a big bonfire.
With marshmallows.
I sit at one of the long bench tables where pack members eat their meals with my laptop open in front of me, though my attention drifts more than it stays locked in on my task. Just thinking this has my eyes lifting from the screen and looking through the open archways leading into the lodge’s kitchen.
Elio stands at one of Gareth’s long metal workbenches, listening intently, while Gareth walks him through the recipe he’s putting together for tonight’s pack meal.Elio’s posture is tentative with his shoulders slightly rounded, his hands hovering above the counter like he’s waiting for permission to take up space. Any space at all. But Gareth doesn’t give him a reason to flinch. He doesn’t bark orders or rush him along.Hejust keeps explaining, patiently and calmly, his attention focused on Elio in a way that makes something warm bloom in my chest, my throat aching with happiness for my male Nightingale.
Corbin stands off to the side, watching them both with that same lovesick expression I’ve caught him wearing before. It gets me every time. It’s so soft it almost feels like it shouldn’t fit on the big alpha’s face, but it does. Perfectly.
It’s adorable—downright precious.
And it has me wondering, briefly, if I look the same when I stare at Rennick.
As if she’s plucked the question straight from my head, Rhosyn’s voice suddenly sounds from the other side of the table, her words teasing and blunt in that way that’s so classically her. “If you people keep walking around here looking like Cupid bit you in the ass, you’re going to make me feel like I’m neglecting my own mate.”
She swings a leg over the bench across from me and plunks down. Seren, who’s arrived with her, follows suit. Ivey is strapped to her chest with a pale pink linen wrap. The baby is snuggled up and fast asleep against her. Seren offers me a knowing smile as she settles in her spot.
Rhosyn keeps going. “I usually show my affection via mild bullying, but with this place crawling with googly heart eyes and grand declarations of devotion, I fear I’m going to need to switch tactics. Goddess, poor Canaan, he’s going to think I killed someone and need help establishing an alibi if I suddenly start kissing his ass.”
I snort before narrowing my eyes at her. “Are you telling me I have googly heart eyes?”
My friends answer at the same time.
“Yeah, obviously that’s what I mean. I love it for you.”
“Yes, and it’s sickly sweet. The kind of sweet that makes your teeth hurt.”
I shoot them both a mock glare, holding on to the offense for a beat longer than necessary before giving up and waving them off. “Whatever. I’m not apologizing for finally getting to be with Rennick.”
“Nor should you,” Rhosyn replies, plucking a grape from the bowl Gareth brought over earlier when I first claimed this table. It’s close enough that Elio can look out and find me if he needs me, but far enough away that he can still have his privacy with the alphas. “Everyone is happy for you,” she continues while she chews. “And if they’re not, they can suck my big toe for all I care.”
“Or we can have Amara curse them,” Seren chimes in, even though her focus has drifted to the trio in the kitchen. She also knows Amara can’t actually curse people. We both do. But the joke still lands. Nodding her chin in Elio’s direction, she switches gears, and asks, “Is he still handling the whole two mate thing okay?”
Elio smiles shyly at Gareth as the alpha shows him some kitchen gadget I can’t name, and Gareth’s answering smile is gentle and encouraging. Corbin is still practically glowing. Like I said, fucking precious.
“I think it helped that he’s had time to work through it on his own and process it before anyone forced answers on him. That way he could make sense of the pull he felt toward both alphas before he actually admitted aloud to feeling it in the first place. I have no doubt that he’s coping better than he would have had Gareth and Corbin just placed the truth on his lap like a gift they were expecting him to be thankful for.”
Elio’s good mood today doesn’t negate the initial panic attack he’d had days ago when it’d all clicked for him—when the pull to his mates outshone the engrained fear he’s been conditioned to feel toward alphas. Shaking and borderline hyperventilating, he’d come to me and admitted to having these feelings. I’d talkedhim through it, promising that nothing would happen without his permission and that Gareth and Corbin were going to move at his pace. That I’d make sure of it. It helped, but healing his trauma is going to need more than just pretty words from his new mates. He is going to need actions. Which is something I can more than relate to.
“I told you Corbin and Gareth are good ones,” Rhosyn says, reaching for another grape. “I’m glad Elio will have alphas like that.”
“When I talked to Zora about an omega having two scent matches, she said it’s incredibly rare. But there’s an old belief that when it does happen, it’s because the Goddess knows that omega will need extra love and support.”
Seren’s pale eyes stay locked on the kitchen, empathy written all over her face. “If there’s anyone who deserves extra love, it’s one of the Nightingales. The things they’ve been through…” Her mouth tightens, as if choking back her rising emotion. “They’ve earned a lifetime of safety. Elio is no exception.”
“I just wish it was something I could give to all the souls that cross our threshold,” I murmur, almost wistfully, at the thought of finding every Nightingale a mate that can cherish them. “Elio still isn’t quite ready to be completely alone with them. That’s why I’m here. He asked me if I’d chaperone.” I let my gaze flick between Seren and Rhosyn, giving them each a pointed look. “All we can really do is support him and let him figure it out on his own timeline. If we try to push him toward something he isn’t ready for, he’ll shut down.” Exhaling, I add softly, “Even if we mean well. Even if it comes from a place of love.”
Both of them wince.
Rhosyn, at least, has the decency to look openly remorseful. And Seren…my dear Seren looks at me with that immovable affection still stamped on her face, like she’s daring me to still be upset with her.
