I wheeled around to face Bat who had spent the entirety of our interaction hovering in the doorway of his bedroom which was directly across from my new nest.
“What did you put in?” I asked the tattooed alpha curiously. After our conversation outside of the pigeon coop he’d gone back to avoiding me as if I was the plague.
Bat blinked, looking a bit uncomfortable as he pushed away from the doorframe and crossed the hall to the nest pushing in between Doc and Rex. He leaned into the nest and I watched as his hand felt around for something just inside of the wall until,click! A light turned on inside, but instead of a warm, even glow, stars and moons filled the space.
I stepped close, trying not to inhale his arousing scent too deeply as I stared at the ceramic lamp that had been installed on the wall.
“A night light?” I asked, glancing up at him.
Bat nodded. “You can change the color and brightness with the remote.”
He slid the slender white remote from a holder on the wall and showed me how to work it. I was amazed as I changed the color from red, to purple, to green before finally settling on warm white and dimming it.
“Thank you,” I breathed, enamored with the entire thing. “Are you all sure about giving me a nest? I’m only here for another two months.”
Their scents were potent thanks to the fact that we were standing in an enclosed space and they mixed into a delicious swirl as I turned to face all of them.
Podcast spoke first.‘Of course, we should have done it long before this,’his green eyes were warm, if not a little bit sad at my mention of my impending return back to the past.
The other men made noises of agreement, but I ignored them, my eyes finding the one pack member who had been the most vocal about not wanting me here.
“And you?” I asked Rex who shifted from one foot to the other before shrugging.
“It’s fine, can’t have you sleeping in a cardboard shack forever. If my mom was alive she’d have kicked all of our asses,” he said, like it didn’t matter much to him, but it still filled my belly with a new kind of warmth. It wasn’t the warmth of lust that I had felt over the past two weeks, but of acceptance. As if I had a place finally here in his mind.
“Besides, princess, I think you’ve grown on me a bit.” His lips pulled up into a smirk. “Like a weed,” he finished, earning himself a round of groans from the rest of the pack.
I rolled my eyes, putting as much attitude into my voice as I could. “I have to admit you’ve grown on me as well, Rex,” I said, fluttering my eyelashes up at the larger alpha. “Like a wart.”
I turned and dove into my new nest before pulling the door shut with a saucy snap.
The pack outside rumbled with laughter, and if I didn’t know any better, Rex’s deep laughter joined the rest as I burrowed underneath all of the blankets and pillows.
Deciding that a nap was in order I settled down, yawning. For the first time since I fell into that magical mirror I felt completely content.
My last thought as I drifted off to sleep was: what if I didn’t need to go back to the past after all?
I wasn’t sure how long I slept for, but the sound of a muffled scream yanked me back into the waking world as I fumbled to figure out where exactly I was.
I was surrounded by an inky darkness. I rolled onto my knees and waved my hands through the black, trying to feel for a wall or light switch to orient myself again.
As my grogginess quickly wore away, I remembered that I was asleep in the nest that they had given me earlier in the day, and that Bat had installed a nightlight on the wall for me. I found the wall and slid my hand along it, feeling for the slender remote. I found it after some time, my fingers pushing any and all buttons in hopes that it would illuminate the space. Nothing happened.
Another scream ricocheted through the house surrounded by the sound of deep panicked voices just outside of my nest.
Something glass shattered and that was enough to make me push open the door to my nest to find three alphas and one concerned omega standing outside of Bat’s bedroom door. The lights on their phones were on and they were talking quietly amongst themselves as another animalistic scream came from the other side of the closed door.
“What’s going on?” I asked, scrambling to stand and join them in the hallway.
“Go back to bed, Juneau, Bat’s just having a bad night. It’s nothing to worry about.” Doc’s voice was tight. He put himself between me and the door as something crashed inside punctuated by a flash of lightning that filled the entire hallway and illuminated the grave expressions of the pack.
It was obvious to me that the power had gone out sometime during the night due to the storm raging outside.
‘The dark makes me feel claustrophobic.’Bat’s earlier words floated through my mind.‘I wish I could have something like this all the time.’
“Let me inside,” I moved to slip past Doc, but Storm filled the empty space with his bulk, shaking his head and sending water droplets from his soaked hair flying.
“No, it’s dangerous. He can’t control himself when he’s like this,” Storm told me as they fully blocked my way.
