I toss it over. She catches it without looking, already positioning it as some kind of structural support along the left flank of her creation.
“And that one.”
Another blanket. This one gets draped overhead, pinned between pillows to create a low canopy that transforms the center of the mega-bed into something that feels less like a bedroom and more like a den. Warm. Enclosed. Safe from the outside world and everything in it.
“Now you.” She points at me, then at the nest’s interior, finger jabbing with the authority of a general directing troop movements. “In.”
I wouldn’t dare argue.
The blankets shift around me as I settle, layers of softness closing in on all sides. The interior is warm without being stifling, enclosed without feeling claustrophobic, and every surface I touch is so obscenely soft it borders on criminal.
Phoenix follows me in and arranges herself against my chest like she belongs there.
Her back presses against my sternum. I curl around her automatically, one arm sliding beneath the pillow under her head, the other wrapping across her waist. Her fingers find mine and lace through them, pulling my hand flat against her bare stomach where her shirt rode up.
We fit.
The thought arrives without fanfare. No dramatic orchestral swell. Just a quiet certainty that settles into my bones like warmth from a fire. Her body against mine. Her breathing already slowing. The scent of vanilla and citrus woven through the clean cotton surrounding us.
For several minutes, neither of us speaks. The canyon breeze pushes against the blackout curtains, and somewhere in the house a pipe ticks as the heating system cycles on.
“I want a bonding bite.”
The words land in the quiet nest like a stone dropped into still water.
I go completely rigid behind her.
My arm tightens across her waist involuntarily, fingers pressing harder against the warm skin of her stomach. My brain stalls, boots up again, stalls a second time.
“You—” My voice comes out strangled. I clear my throat and try again. “Say that again?”
Phoenix rolls in my arms until she’s facing me. Amber eyes find mine in the dim light filtering through the blanket canopy overhead, gold flecks catching what little illumination exists. Her expression holds zero uncertainty. Zero hesitation. Zero trace of the impulsive chaos that usually precedes her more catastrophic decisions.
She looks like a woman who has already made up her mind and is simply informing me of the outcome.
“A bonding bite. From you. On me. Eventually, I want one from all four of you, but I want you to be first.” She taps the curveof her neck, just below her jaw, indicating the exact spot. “Right here would be ideal.”
My pulse hammers so hard I can feel it in my temples. “Phoenix, you realize what you’re asking?”
“I’m fully aware.”
“Last time you asked me for a bonding bite, you were in the middle of a heat that you deliberately induced by swallowing an entire bottle of pills.” I search her face for any sign of the reckless desperation that drove her then. “I had to spank you and lecture you about self-destructive behavior before I’d even touch you.”
Her mouth twitches. “In fairness, that might not have been the punishment you thought it was.”
I prop myself up on one elbow, looking down at her. The blanket canopy brushes the top of my head. “You know a bite outside of heat won’t be permanent. We’ll just have to do it all over again.”
Phoenix’s eyes brighten. Her hand slides from my face to the back of my neck, fingers threading into my hair with a grip that tightens until there’s no possibility of misunderstanding her intent.
She pulls me closer. Close enough that her lips brush the shell of my ear when she speaks.
“Then I guess we have a few months to get in all the practice we need. Over and over again.”
PHOENIX
I wake up early to a nest that is almost full.
Mason is tucked up behind me, one arm draped over my waist. Atticus is behind him and Dom is on my other side, close enough that the stubble on his cheek brushes my nose.
