“Yeh. We could gather up the pillows. Put them on one of the bunks?” Sin wrinkled his nose, like he wasn’t sure if that was a good suggestion or not.
I glanced around. There were so few pillows. I couldn’t take them all.
My skin started to itch, though, and I snatched a pillow from the bunk Sin was sitting on. “I—I only need one or two.”
Karma’s knife clattered to the floor and he stood up, brushing cement dust off his sweats. “We have more than one or two.”
“But you need those.”
He didn’t deny it, but still gathered every pillow from the bunks around the room. There were six total. “Which bunk ya want?” He squished the pillows in his arms, glancing around.
Four bunk beds sat in the harshly-lit cement room. My attention caught on the one farthest from the front door. The bottom bunk of that one was the darkest, hidden from the worst of the fluorescent glow.
But that was where Sin slept.
His scent was strongest there.
I couldn’t take that one—wouldn’t that behisnest? Or at least as close as he had to one? He didn’t really seem to nest much.
Would they be okay if I wanted to make one of my own?
I knew the only reason everything had worked out was pure luck—that Vandle was a seer and the dark bond was safe—so I still felt nervous hoping for more.
Sinking my teeth into my lower lip, I picked another one of the bottom bunks—this one with much more aggressive lighting, and far too close for comfort to the front door. Before I could sit down, Sin’s chest rumbled.
I froze. Was that… a growl?
Did that uh… mean I’d chosen wrong? Was his nest not the other bunk in the corner?
“Choose the one you really want,” he demanded.
It may as well have been a dark bond command for how quickly I fled to the back of the cell and flung myself onto the bottom bunk that I’d originallyneededwanted.
Maybe that was a bit over-dramatic.
“This is yours though,” I whispered, hiding half my face with the pillow but catching Sin’s gaze.
Karma began to pile the rest around me, marking each one with his salty ocean storm scent.
“If you want it, it’s yours. I’m not attached.”
I’m not sure I believed him, but maybe… maybe we could share. If he was willing, I was too.
I began reorganizing the pillows Karma brought me while he collected the blankets, a pleasant tingling sensation warming my chest.
15
PHANTOM
After over a year in Anarchy together, our pack had developed a routine.
Breakfast was usually followed by a quiet morning in which we’d catch up on anything we needed to do (like finishing up jobs for the Archiva pack). After lunch, we’d head to the gym, and the evenings were spent either back in the cell, or playing or gambling with the Emerald pack in the square. That, or we’d visit the cages for a show, to watch or participate in the fights.
If Sin was a part of the entertainment, I’d always turn in early. There were a few of Justin’s pack that weren’t as big on watching, and we’d usually head back to the cells together.
Crescent, however, threw a wrench in any routine.
It was early in the evening now—the first full day with our new omega, and I had to figure out what we would be doing from here. We’d discussed a bit more earlier in the square—as well as catching Vandle up with politics—but the main thing I could do now was wait for Sin to get that key.
