"The nest." Tae-min mumbled against my shoulder, not opening his eyes, his voice thick with sleep, his words slurring slightly. "She should sleep in the nest."
"We all should." Hwan added, stirring in my lap, blinking up at me with sleepy golden eyes, his hair mussed and flattened on one side from where he'd been lying. "Pack pile. It's basically mandatory after movie night."
"Is it?" I asked, amused despite my exhaustion, looking down at him with a soft smile.
"New bylaw." Tae-min murmured, the callback to earlier making his lips curve into a sleepy smile, his eyes still closed. "Article two."
Getting everyone to the nest was a production. Tae-min had to be physically hauled off the couch by Jin-ho, complaining the whole way about his tired muscles. Hwan clung to my hand like a particularly affectionate koala, stumbling down the hallway with his eyes half-closed. Min-jun walked ahead, turning on the soft lights in the nest room and adjusting pillows with practiced efficiency. Jae-won brought up the rear, his hand on the small of my back, guiding me forward.
The nest was exactly as I'd left it that morning — blankets and pillows arranged in careful layers, items carrying each of their scents woven throughout. But it looked different in the dim light, more intimate somehow, the shadows making it feel like a secret space separate from the world.
"Here." Min-jun guided me to the center, his hands gentle on my arms, positioning me with careful intention, his dark eyes soft in the low light. "You go in the middle."
"I always end up in the middle." I said, but I was already sinking into the blankets, the combined scents wrapping around me like a physical embrace.
"Because that's where you belong." Hwan said simply, curling up on my right side immediately, his arm draping over my waist, his nose pressing against my neck, his breath warm on my skin. Tae-min claimed my left side, pressing his back against mine in a position that felt strangely protective — like he was guarding me even in sleep. Jin-ho settled near my head, not quite touching but close enough that I could feel his warmth, his scent surrounding me. Min-jun stretched out near my feet, his hand wrapping around my ankle like an anchor. Jae-won lay behind Hwan, his arm reaching over both of them to rest against my hip, his presence completing the circle.
Five alphas. All around me. All touching me.
Safe,my omega breathed.
I fell asleep faster than I would have thought possible, surrounded by warmth and scent and the steady rhythm of five breathing bodies.
The nightmare came without warning.
I was drowning — no, I was being pulled under, hands grasping at my wrists, my ankles, dragging me down into darkness. I couldn't breathe, couldn't scream, couldn't fight. The weight was crushing, suffocating, endless?—
I jerked awake with a gasp, heart pounding, skin slick with sweat. For a moment, I didn't know where I was. The darkness pressed in, and I felt the bodies around me as constraints rather than comfort, panic clawing at my throat?—
"Keira." Jae-won's voice cut through the fog, low and calm, an anchor in the chaos. "You're safe. You're in the nest. You're with us."
I sucked in a breath, then another. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I made out shapes — Hwan still pressed against me, stirring slightly at my movement. Tae-min's warmth at my back. The others around me, sleeping peacefully.
Not drowning. Not trapped.
"Bad dream?" Jae-won asked quietly, his hand finding mine in the darkness, his grip firm and grounding, his fingers threading through mine.
"Yes." My voice came out hoarse, shaky, rough with the remnants of fear. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to?—"
"Don't apologize." Jae-won squeezed my hand, his thumb rubbing soothing circles against my palm, his voice soft but firm. "Bad dreams happen. Especially when things are changing."
"Is everything changing?" The question slipped out before I could stop it, raw and vulnerable in the darkness, my voice small.
"Yes." Jae-won's honesty was gentle but unflinching, his grip on my hand steady and sure. "But change isn't always bad. Sometimes it's just... different. New."
I lay there in the darkness, Jae-won's hand in mine, and let my heartbeat slow. Let the panic recede. Let myself feel what was actually there — not chains, not cages, not drowning.
Just warmth. Just safety. Just pack.
"Go back to sleep." Jae-won murmured, his voice soft, barely more than a breath in the darkness. "We'll be here when you wake up. All of us. Always."
I believed him. I closed my eyes, let myself sink back into the warmth of the nest, and thought about my mother. About her warnings, her fears, her broken bond that had shattered her completely. She'd chosen to break free because she felt trapped. Because her alpha had been a cage, not a shelter.
This — this pack, these alphas, this feeling of being held without being constrained — this was different. This doesn't feel like drowning, I thought, the realization settling over me like another blanket, warm and soft. It feels like floating.
Maybe her experience didn't have to be mine.
Maybe I could choose something different.
