Grayson flops back on the bed, then bounces and wiggles like a fool, rubbing his basil-vanilla scent all over the new mattress with the joy of a toddler.
Nix can’t help but giggle. Grayson is so goofy when he lets himself just be. Nix loves this freely happy version of his soulmate. Besides, the scent of a happy Grayson is a good scent to have in his bed.
Maybe it’ll help him sleep without ruining another mattress or tearing it to shreds. He had slept well in the nest last night, not even noticing when everyone had risen to go about their day.
He’s learning Gideon is an early riser, and he’d sent Jamie, Leo, and Luca off to make big decisions, while Rowan declined to attend.
Adamantly.
Nix is impressed that Rowan knows his limits. No one wants an assault charge to herald their departure from Ripley.
Finn had been asleep in his bed, even if he’d started in the nest with everyone else. Nix wasn’t sure why he and Tsuki ended up there, but Nix was glad Tsuki hadn’t left him to go off alone.
Exhausting himself, Grayson settles on his back.
Nix crawls up and into his arms while they lie crosswise on the bed.
“Gray, do you think Finn is okay?”
Nix can feel his bond with Grayson swirl and glow when they’re pressed together like this. It’s almost distracting how, as soon as they’re touching, Nix’s soul just locks onto Grayson’s like a magnet.
Grayson sighs in relief, and Nix can tell he feels it, too.
“I don’t think so, Angel. He’s really private, always has been. Self-contained, I’d call it. But lately, maybe for the past week, I’ve hardly seen him. He’s not sticking around for movies, and last night was one of the first times he’s been in the nest since Rowan’s rut.”
Since Nix had been with the pack, he means.
Nix had thought so, too. Finn has always been sweet and attentive to Nix, but this feels different. This afternoon outside had been perfect. Finn had smelled fine and had felt even better, but Finn hadn’t wanted to let him go, and he’d whispered things that Nix was even more sure now he hadn’t meant to say out loud. Things Nix won’t share with Grayson because they are just for them.
“Hey, let’s make your bed, and then we can decorate for the party. We’ve got a few hours to kill before we should get ready for dinner.”
He drags Nix off one side by the hand, and together, they get the crisp yellow sheets on the bed and the multicolored cover on the fluffy duvet.
Nix had chosen rainbows and tiny little suns so that even in the darkest of nights, he could be reminded of brighter days.
When they had it all made up, Nix shooed Tsuki off the pile of extra blankets and began folding them into neat, perfect squares.
“Uh…Angel?”
Nix was focused on getting the weirdly hemmed purple fleece one folded perfectly and shook it out to start again. It was difficult not to give in to the urge to just throw the pile of fabric on the bed and jump in after it.
He doesn’t, of course. There were more than enough blankets on the bed already, and if Nix had his say, he’d be in the pack nest to sleep or with someone else anyway. Besides, maybe there might be a guest who needed Nix’s room, and the less they had to tidy away, the better.
Guests in their den…er, house. Ugh. Nix’s wolf did not like the idea of that. Maybe with enough notice, Nix would feel less like growling and snapping? Either way, Nix will deal. He always did.
“Mmhmm?” he responds, adding the purple blanket to his pile and picking up a green velour one.
It is so soft, he has to rub it on his cheek. Perhaps he could sleep with this one by his head. It was cool and soft, and one extra blanket wouldn’t be too much trouble. But surely no more.
“Angel, why are you folding them all up? Wouldn’t it be cozier if you opened them up and piled them in bed?”
Grayson takes the last two—a deep blue and a multicolored one in shades of pink—and just holds them out.
As soon as he hears it, Nix knows that’s exactly what he wants to do. He can call to mind the exact texture of each of the blankets he’d folded, and he knows where they should be. Some would be under the rainbow duvet, several around the top of the bed, and even one—the green one—over the pillows.
“That wouldn’t be weird?”
It feels like he is compelled to do it, the wolf sending images of Nix and his mates curled up on the small bed, sated with the scent of family, all sleepy and content.
