Then we came to the final bedroom that was up a narrow flight of stairs, and Lennon paused.
“What are you waiting for?” Brooks asked as Lennon rested her hand on the brass knob.
“I don’t know,” she said softly. “It feels like I’m living in some kind of fever-dream that the heat is causing.”
“Then we’re all having the same dream then,” Zeke pointed out. “What do you think is behind the door?”
Lennon turned to look at us, her teeth pulling in her bottom lip and nibbling nervously on it for a moment before she answered. “I had a very specific vision about what my ideal nest would look like and it’s kind of embarrassing. I couldn’t even find magazine clippings of anything like it so I had a drawing…”
We glanced at each other and I saw the same curiosity I was feeling reflected on the faces of the rest of the guys.
“Well nowI’mcurious,” Maverick said, his voice low as he reached under Lennon’s arm and twisted the knob, pressing aquick kiss to Lennon’s flushed cheek as he pushed the door open behind her.
Lennon turned and made a noise, her earlier hesitation forgotten by whatever she was seeing as she stepped inside.
“Is this what you drew?” Maverick asked as they filed in after.
I was last to step inside, trying to see around the bulk of their shoulders in order to get a look at what they were talking about.
“Yes,” Lennon croaked, her voice full of tears. “I can’t believe they would go this far for me.”
Finally managing to skirt around Brooks’ bulk, I finally saw what they were looking at. The room was the largest in the house—definitely the primary suite—but the majority of the room was taken up by the hulking structure of what I assumed was Lennon’s nest.
It was a large circular structure that rose up from the floor and was padded all the way around. The mattress sat inside of it and it looked wide enough to fit at least ten people comfortably.
There were thick curtains pushed against the wall on either side and when I looked up I could see heavy duty railings circling around the structure of the bed that allowed them to be closed or opened and the panel on the plush headboard told me that it was all electric so it could be done while lying down.
“Your family loves you, Len, why wouldn’t they do all of this for you?” Brooks asked with a frown as he reached out to hold her face in his hands, brushing away a stray tear that had trickled down her cheek.
“It makes me feel…” Lennon trailed off, looking almost confused by the rush of emotion she was feeling.
“Seen,” I finished for her, my own voice hoarse as feelings that I couldn’t quite name welled up in my chest. “It makes you feel seen.”
I thought about my first impression of Lennon Holloway. I’d assumed she was a spoiled princess who had everything handedto her since she’d been born. That everything had come easy to her and she’d never faced hardship ever in her life.
But I’d quickly learned that not everything was as it seemed with the Holloway family.
They presented a seriously strong front for the public, and yes they loved each other, but they were struggling under an absurd amount of pressure.
And Lennon seemed to be taking on the brunt of it without asking for help.
From the moment she’d nearly passed out in Arizona I’d kept a closer eye on her and noticed how she struggled to take care of herself because she was so focused on making sure everything else was perfect for her mother’s campaign and that her brother was keeping on the straight and narrow.
It was too much like me and that had made me angry at first because she should have had the same problems because sheshouldhave been a spoiled princess.
I hated the idea that my scent matched omega, even if I was still in denial about admitting it, had to go through any sort of hardship.
Lennon blinked at me, her gray eyes full of surprise. “Yes. That’s right, I think I feel seen.”
Then she immediately burst into tears.
Maverick, Zeke, and Brooks rushed in to comfort her, wrapping her in a hug that I didn’t feel confident enough yet to join.
Turning, I headed back down the stairs to organize our suitcases. There would be time to talk to Lennon later, but for now there was no space for me up in that room with that nest.
Chapter Twenty Six
“Do you feel better?” I ask Lennon as we lay curled together in her new nest, still fully clothed. Her sobs had abated some time ago and we’d fallen into a comfortable silence that I didn’t mind sitting in for as long as she needed… except for the uptick of need that had slowly started to ebb down our shared bond over the past few minutes.
