And I helped put it there.
She wiggles in place, adjusting her position with determined little huffs until she finds a spot she’s happy with. Then she looks up at me, face soft and hopeful, her lips parted just slightly.
“Hold me?”
“Of course, baby girl.”
I can’t deny her a thing, and she immediately cuddles up to me, her head on my chest, her legs tangled with mine. I drag a blanket up over us. Viper’s aroma wafts from it as I tuck it around her.
"How's that?"
"Perfect," she sighs.
I run my fingers through her hair, and she purrs, the vibration rumbling in her chest.
Blaze drops to his knees beside us, arms overflowing with what looks like every edible scrap of food from our stash and canteens of water.
Then, without warning, he pulls out his combat knife.
My stomach clenches. That blade has seen things. Done things. The kind of violence that keeps me awake some nights.
He flips it casually in his grip, and for a heart-stopping second I tense.
He slices an apple, and I exhale.
Neat, thin slivers fall away from the fruit like everything he’s done with this knife before was just preparation for serving his Omega apple slices.
He spears one on the tip and holds it out to her, gaze soft, waiting.
"Open wide, Sparkles. Dinner has arrived."
Her purr stops dead.
Halley cracks open one glowing eye and turns her head, locking him in place with a glare sharper than his knife.
"No Alphas in the nest," she snarls, voice low. Her fingers tighten, her little nails digging in with enough pressure to sting.
Blaze blinks, confusion flickering into hurt, as he slowly pulls back his hand.
“But… I made you food?” he says, voice breaking, like a child watching his handmade gift get thrown aside.
Halley sits up and the growl that rips from her chest is nothing short of feral. It’s deep, primal, and protective in a way I’ve never heard from her. Not when she was angry, or scared, not even during her heat.
It makes Blaze scramble backwards, throwing himself off the nest.
This nest is different than the one she made during her abandoned heat. That one was made with pure desperation and soaked in fear. This one is hers. A real nest, and she’s defending it the way an Omega is hard-wired to do.
I want to fist pump. This proves my research!
In a Pack, a Beta is allowed into an Omega’s nest without hesitation. It's expected. But an Alpha? Only if invited. Not even a bonded Alpha gets automatic entry. The nest is sacred territory, and the Omega is its sovereign with her Beta as her right hand.
Only once she senses the Alpha won’t breach her sanctuary does she melt back into my arms, nuzzling me and chirruping in quiet pleasure.
Blaze’s face crumples in confusion and hurt. “Shade, she’s not letting me in. Why isn’t she letting me in?” His voice is small, raw around the edges.
There is a flicker of unease in my gut.
Is this the moment that tips him back into the dark?
