Tansy nods, but before either of us can say anything else, the doorbell echoes through the house, making Tansy flinch.
“Shit,” Beck mutters immediately. He glances toward the hall, already moving. “That’s gotta be the grocery delivery.” He looks back at us, hesitating for half a second like he doesn’t want to leave Tansy’s side. Then he swears again, softer this time, and bolts for the door. “I’ll be right back,” he yells over his shoulder, already gone.
Everything goes quiet, me and Tansy standing in the room I built for her.
Then Tansy moves.
She drifts from one corner of the room to the next, touching the velvety walls. When she reaches thebookshelves, her slim fingers trail along the edge, light and careful, testing the smoothness of it. She pauses at one of the baskets, lifts the edge of a folded blanket, then lets it fall carefully back into place.
She moves to her nest, lowering herself next to it in one smooth motion, knees folding carefully beneath her. She leans in and presses her palm into one of the pillows, then another, sinking just a little before pulling her hand back. Her shoulders ease a fraction, and that tiny change fills me with a quiet, aching pride.
Fuck, I wish I could talk to her.
Every instinct in me is screaming to say something, to step forward, and caress her cheek.
To explain why I chose those colors. Why I left space on the shelves. Why the blankets are layered the way they are.
I want to tell her I worried about the floor being too cold. That I debated the bed placement for hours. That I kept imagining her curled up here, safe and sound.
But I can’t.
My punishment sits heavy and immovable on my chest, a hard line I won’t cross, even while we’re alone.
So instead, I breathe in her scent, watching her slip her fingers along the edge of a pale pink quilt.
She looks so fragile, so sad.
Then, she finally speaks.
“You didn’t have to do all this,” Tansy whispers, finally looking up at me. She looks like she wants to cry, and my body reacts before my brain can catch up.
Everything in me jerks toward her.
An overwhelming urge to pull her to me, to wrap her up, and rumble something low and soothing from my chest.To purr.
I freeze.
Am I allowed to purr?
Is it the same as talking?
My heart hammers as I stand there, half-panicked, caught between instinct and my pack alpha’s command, terrified of doing the wrong thing. I swallow it down, locking it behind my ribs, my hands curling into fists at my sides.
“Um, Gray?” Tansy swallows hard, her eyes brimming with tears. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Yes,” I say immediately. Too fast. Too eager. But it’s allowed. She spoke first. “You can ask me anything,” I say, softer this time, forcing my hands to uncurl, then flex.
Fuck, I want to touch her so badly.
Tansy picks up the edge of a blanket, squeezing it like she needs something solid to hold on to. “Why did you pick me?” Her voice trembles a little. “At the black market. Why me?”
I don’t have to think about it. Not even for a second. The answer has been sitting on my tongue since the moment I saw her.
“Because the second I saw your big brown eyes, the rest of the room faded away.” It’s a little cheesy but true. “And then I caught your scent. Even from across the room. It pulled me in so hard I didn’t stand a chance.”
Tansy’s cheeks flush, and I keep talking like an idiot.
“We really didn’t want to claim an omega without Cass,” I tell her,needingher to know. “I honestly hated seeing the omegas there like that, but…” I suck in a sharp breath, not wanting to remind her that the only reason she’s here is because Cass was sick. “I felt drawn to you,” I say. “Unyielding. Like if I didn’t touch you, something inside me was going to rip apart.” I swallow. “Warren felt it too. Thesame way. He didn’t even have to say it. I could see it on his face.”
