“I’m sorry about your jacket,” Flora sighed.
“My jacket?” I asked, my voice thick with sleep and emotions.
“The one you gave me that first night you met me. I forgot to give it back. It was destroyed when that asshole trashed my place. It was a really nice jacket.”
“It was.” I hummed in agreement. “I saw you wearing it the next day.”
She stiffened against me. “Oh… I…”
“I liked it,” I admitted. “Seeing you wrapped up in it, knowing you were carrying my scent around with you.”
“Even then, your scent made me feel better. From the moment I saw you, I just knew.” Her quiet confession made me smile against her hair.
“That’s damn good to hear, little omega. I want you to know you are always safe around me. And I… I feel the same.”
“Really?” she asked, pulling back to look at me questioningly. “You seem so… aloof? Indifferent?”
“That’s just a byproduct of my job.”
“Hmm… I guess I never thought of that. So,”—she lay her head down, and I closed my eyes, breathing her in as everything got heavier, quieter—“is it okay that I sleep here?”
“Always.” I smiled, squeezing her before I allowed myself to drift away even more. “As long as you stop talking.”
Flora laughed, snuggling into me, and right then, nothing else in the world mattered.
That night, I slept like the dead, which was highly unlike me. I wasn’t an insomniac by any means, but I usually slept on the lighter side—another byproduct of my job.
But having Flora nestled against my side, her scent lulling me into a restful slumber, was all it took to make me sleep so deeply I could feel it in my muscles.
When I cracked an eye open, I found her looking up at me, still wrapped around me.
“Morning,” I said sleepily.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you,” she whispered. Her hair was falling messily around her face, her cheek wrinkled from being pressed into the pillow. Flora looked delightfully rumpled first thing in the morning.
“You could never disturb me.”
“That’s not. Ugh, never mind.” Flora rolled her eyes, a smirk lifting her cheek. “I should probably get going, though. I don’t regret sleeping in here, but I would rather avoid all the growling from Spencer and teasing from Chase.”
Part of me wanted to be nervous about that, but I couldn’t sense any embarrassment or regret from Flora, just… irritation that was directed solely at my pack mates.
“Fair enough. But you'd better get going, then. Spencer wakes up early.”
Her brows shot up, and she straightened abruptly, tearing out of the bed. Flora paused at the door, looking over her shoulder at me. “Of course, he does. Masochist. I bet he’s the kind to work out forfun.” She said it with such disdain; I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Little omega, you don’t know the half of it. There was a time he would get up at four a.m. every day to run twelve miles,thendo a workout.”
Her horror-struck expression was comical.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let him make you work out.”
“See, this is why you’re my favorite.” She grinned. “Thanks. For last night.”
And with that, she sprinted back to the guest room. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face if I tried, which was definitely new. But I was pleased to keep this moment a secret for a little while. Flora was here, her scent all over me, and I was going to bask in it for as long as I could.
Iwas her favorite.
When, in the last seven years since I had been scarred, had someone chosen me?
