"Oh god," Hwan breathed, his voice cracking as he took in the sight of her — pale and small and unconscious in my arms, her dark hair spilling over my shoulder. He pressed a tremblinghand to his mouth, tears spilling over his cheeks. "She looks so sick. Is she going to be okay? Please tell me she's going to be okay."
"She's going to be fine," I said firmly, putting every ounce of pack alpha authority I had into the words, willing them to be true even as my own heart hammered with fear. "But she needs rest, and she needs us. The soul sickness is bad, but being around the pack helps. I could feel it working even just carrying her here. If we all stay close, if we take care of her..."
"The nest is ready," Min-jun said, his voice steady despite the fear I could see in his eyes, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides as he stepped closer to peer at her face. "I finished it an hour ago. Extra blankets, pillows from all our rooms, everything I could think of to make it comfortable."
"Good." I started moving toward the nest room — the spare bedroom we'd converted weeks ago, when we'd first realized we had a soulmate out there somewhere, back when we'd still hoped she would come to us willingly. My footsteps were quick but careful, mindful of every shift in her breathing. "Someone get water. And food — something light, easy to eat. She's barely been eating."
"Already done," Min-jun said, falling into step beside me, his gaze fixed on Keira's sleeping face with an intensity that made my chest ache, his flour-dusted hand reaching out to hover near her hair before pulling back. "There's soup warming on the stove. Rice porridge. Some fruit. Whatever she wants when she wakes up."
Of course he'd already thought of it. Of course he'd already prepared everything. That was Min-jun — always taking care of everyone, always anticipating needs before they were spoken.
The nest room was warm when we entered, the scent of all five of us mingling in the enclosed space in a way that felt deliberately comforting. Min-jun had outdone himself — thenest was huge, taking up most of the floor, piled high with blankets and pillows and soft things that carried our individual scents. It looked like a cloud made of fabric. Like the safest place in the world.
I crossed to the center and knelt carefully, lowering Keira onto the pile of blankets with as much gentleness as I could manage. She made a soft sound of protest as I pulled away, her fingers still tangled in my shirt, and something in my chest cracked at the sight.
"I'm not going anywhere," I promised, reaching up to gently detangle her fingers, keeping my voice low and soothing as I brushed my thumb across her knuckles. "None of us are. We're all going to be right here."
She settled at the sound of my voice, her expression smoothing, her body sinking deeper into the nest like it recognized safety on some instinctive level. The four bonds she'd already formed must have been responding to the scents surrounding her — I could see some of the tension leaving her shoulders, some of the pain easing from the crease between her brows.
The others crowded into the room behind me, their scents mixing with mine, adding to the cocoon of pack that was wrapping around her. I could feel it through my own bond with her — the way our combined presence was helping, was healing, was giving her body what it needed to fight the soul sickness.
"She's so pale," Tae-min whispered, his voice thick with tears as he knelt at the edge of the nest, his hands shaking slightly where they gripped the blanket. "And thin. She's so thin. Has she been eating anything?"
"Min-jun's food deliveries," I said, not taking my eyes off her face, watching the way her breathing had already started to deepen and steady. "And whatever she ate at the restauranttoday. But it hasn't been enough. The soul sickness burns through energy fast."
"Then we make sure she eats," Hwan declared, his voice fierce despite the tears still tracking down his cheeks, his golden eyes blazing with determination as he moved to kneel on her other side. "Whatever she wants, whenever she wants it. We don't let her go hungry again."
"We won't," Jin-ho agreed quietly, his gaze fixed on Keira with an intensity that bordered on reverent, his ink-stained fingers curling against his thighs as he settled near the head of the nest. "We won't let her suffer anymore. Not if we can help it."
A sound escaped her — a soft whimper, barely audible, followed by a shift in her scent that spoke of dreams and fear and things she couldn't escape even in sleep. All five of us tensed, our instincts screaming at us to comfort, to protect, to make whatever was hurting her stop.
"She's having a nightmare," Min-jun said, his voice tight with helpless anger, his hands fisting in the fabric of his jeans as he leaned closer to her. "Should we wake her?"
"No." I shook my head, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from her face, my touch as light as I could make it, my fingers trembling slightly against her fevered skin. "Sleep is what she needs most. But we can... we can try to help. Surround her with our scents. Let her feel that she's not alone."
It wasn't something I'd ever done before — none of us had. But it felt right. It felt like what pack was supposed to do.
Slowly, carefully, we arranged ourselves around her. I stayed closest, my hand resting lightly on her shoulder, the deep indigo bond pulsing steadily in my chest. Tae-min curled up near her feet, his crimson bond humming with protective energy, his body positioned like a guard dog ready to spring. Hwan settled at her other side, his golden amber bond warm and steady, his fingers hovering near her arm like he wanted to touch but wasn'tsure if he should. Jin-ho positioned himself near her head, his violet bond quiet but present, his dark eyes watching her face with unwavering attention. And Min-jun took the spot between Jin-ho and Hwan, his rose pink bond soft and gentle, his forest-and-cedar scent wrapping around her like a second blanket.
Five alphas.
Five bonds.
One omega.
One pack.
The effect was almost immediate. The whimpers stopped. The fear-scent faded. Her breathing deepened, steadied, and the crease between her brows smoothed out as sleep finally claimed her properly.
"It's working," Hwan breathed, wonder threading through his voice, fresh tears spilling down his cheeks — happy ones this time, or at least hopeful. His hand finally made contact with her arm, just a gentle brush of his fingertips against her sleeve. "Look at her. She's actually relaxing."
"Being surrounded by pack helps," I said, repeating what I'd told them earlier, but understanding it on a deeper level now as I watched the color slowly start to return to her cheeks. "The bonds need proximity to stabilize. The more time she spends with us, the stronger she'll get."
"Then we don't leave," Tae-min declared, his voice fierce despite its shakiness, his dark eyes fixed on Keira's sleeping face, one hand reaching out to rest near her ankle like he needed some point of contact. "We stay here. All of us. As long as she needs."
"We have schedules," Jin-ho pointed out quietly, though his expression made it clear he'd rather cancel every single one of them, his brow furrowed with conflict as he glanced between Keira and the door. "Rehearsals. Appearances. The collaboration project?—"
"Can wait." My pack alpha voice rang through the room, surprising even me with its conviction, my hand tightening slightly on her shoulder. "All of it can wait. She's more important than any schedule. She's more important than anything."
