“A very good thing,” she says, placing her face against mine, marking the shit out of me.
A purr unexpectedly rumbles out of my chest, reverberating against the hardwood floor.
Hailey sighs happily, and I don’t fucking move. Me and her cat stare at each other as this Omega rubs herself all over me.
She suddenly pauses, clears her throat, and stands up.
“Um. Well…I’m not sure what that was. You’re probably exhausted. Let me just go get Smokey’s stuff,” she says, her scent is back to normal, but she seems embarrassed, before she darts out of the room.
I stare at the cat a little longer, and I swear he’s glaring at me.
“Don’t worry, I’ll win you over too,” I tell him as I get on my feet.
Hailey is in my home, her cat is safe, and I can finally get some solid sleep.
CHAPTER 17
HAILEY
Between me and Smokey,I probably overpacked. But a girl can never be over prepared; this is a new place and the more of my belongings I have, the more comfortable I’ll be. Plus, I don’t think the guys like the idea of me needing to go back to my apartment to get things.
My favorite pillow smells like me, which has me frowning. I want it to smell like Earl Grey and forest rain.
The house smelled like them, stronger in some areas than others, but when Sterling opened the door for me, to the room I would stay in, my jaw dropped.
“Is this…?” I question, not able to finish my sentence.
“It’s obviously not perfect. You can do whatever you want to it,” he says as I walk into the room.
No, room is an understatement. This is a nest. A real fucking nest. Not the boring, rent-a-nests Lavender Moon had. My first heat was barely memorable, the nest a complete blur, nothing notable. Honestly, I’m pretty sure I just disassociated and let my body do what I needed it to.
But as I look around this nest, I realize at this very moment how badly I wanted one. There’s a window in here, but the blindscover any light coming in. Unlike the rest of the house, this room has a massive white rug in the center of it, along with a pack-sized bed. The bed sits on the floor, a soft gray frame bracketing the bed.
There have to be at least twenty pillows on the bed, ranging in different shades of soft pink. The downy comforter is white and pristine.
There’s a soft pink couch in the corner, and a simple gray nightstand by the bed. A vase of pink flowers sits on top of it, along with a box of tissues and a remote.
“Like I said, you can change whatever you like. I want it to be perfect for you,” Sterling says.
I wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze.
“It’s amazing,” I tell him, truly meaning it. I mean, sure, now that I think about it, the idea of adding some warm lighting and maybe a few paintings, oh, and a mini fridge would be great too.
I clear my throat instead. “There is something missing,” I tell him. When I look up at his handsome face, I can tell he’s exhausted.
I’m pretty sure Nate passed out the second after we found Smokey. There’s an instinct to take care of him just as much as he wants to take care of me.
“What’s that?”
“It doesn’t smell like you or Nate in here,” I tell him.
I swear his forest rain scent cocoons around me like a caress as he clears his throat.
“Do you want me to get some of our things?”
“I think I’d actually like it better if you stayed,” I say honestly.
I’m wiped from today, from the scare at the apartment, to seeing how afraid Nate was for me. And now I’m here, in their house, in this beautiful nest they had set up for their future Omega—which I’m starting to believe should be me with every passing day.
