“I’m upset about your decision to swear fealty to a Duke.”
Altair’s eyes sparkled like he had a secret, but he didn’t enlighten us to it. Sky finished weaving his magic into the blanket and placed it over the wound on Emmett’s chest. The shifter groaned, but his colouring instantly improved, face regaining some of its rich warm browns.
“It was a pleasure to meet you, angel,” Altair said, hand grabbing Sky’s before the man could go invisible. “We’re going to go see if we can find a vampire or two hiding in a closet. A couple more kills would thrill me right about now.”
Shan kept his body between Altair and I, but I gave the man a small wave. They’d helped Emmett, which meant they deserved a little respect. Shan and I had come a long way, but respect would never be his specialty and he continued to judge on first impressions.
I took the seat Sky had vacated, wanting to touch Em but knowing it was a bad idea. This was a terrible time to come on to him, and if I touched, I’d desire him more than I already did.
“His heart is stronger already,” Caspian said, relieved.
“He’ll be fine,” I reassured him, fingering the sheet that was draped overtop of Em.
The fabric was scratchy and thin, irritating my skin and making me frown. He only had a single pillow under his head, and it was skinny too. I began to twitch, staring at the bed until Shan’s finger tapping my shoulder drew my attention. All his animosity toward Altair had dissipated, and I wondered how long I’d been observing the bed. He was worried. “We should get you back to your nest.”
I shook my head. “No, we’ve got to stay here until he wakes up.”
“It’s going to be a while. He has a lot of healing to do. Caspian can stay with him, and I’ll take you to the room.”
This time my head shake was more vigorous. “No.”
Shan heaved a sigh, used to my stubbornness at this point. “Fuck. Why not?”
“I don’t want to.”
I wanted to. My nest sounded like heaven right now, satiating my craving for soft things that this medical room was devoid of. However, I didn’t want to leave Emmett, and that was currently the stronger instinct.
Grumbling under his breath, Shan left the curtained area before he snapped at me.
This level of communication between us was quite the improvement. Taking time apart instead of yelling was so very adult of us, and shouldn’t have taken this long considering Shan was over four hundred years old and apparently had memories of past lives too.
Caspian followed Shan out, promising me he would be back soon. The only reason he would leave Em in this state is if he had something to say about me, but it didn’t matter. I had a one track mind.
Soft.
Emmett couldn’t be left like this, and I couldn’t deal with it either. I went over to a cupboard in the corner and opened it, resigned to see a stack of the horrible pillows and more of the blankets. Grabbing an armful, I put them at the foot of the bed and set to work.
The cot wasn’t much space to work with, but I padded the edges with the pillows, sliding them under Emmett’s form. His scent was comforting, counteracting the sterile bleach smell of the blankets. I rubbed some of them on his chest, careful to avoid his wound, before putting them in place where I wanted them. When I’d run out of pillows and blankets, I was far from done.
Peeking out from behind the curtain, I noticed the infirmary was far less busy. I crossed the hall to an empty little room and raided all the blankets and pillows from their cupboard too. Then I went to another one, and another, until Shan spotted me and raised an eyebrow at the giant stack.
I glared at him.
Fucking nesting.
These instincts didn’t usually manifest because Ihada nest. I didn’t need to create one. Even in the suite upstairs, Shan and Caspian’s scents had been all over the place and the extra soft things from Nolan had been enough. Down here, the urges were stronger because it was so gods damned uncomfortable.
Covering Emmett in all the blankets and pillows, I was so focused on my task I didn’t notice Cas come in until he waved a hand in front of my face. He was grinning, watching me work and more than pleased my Omega side had accepted Em, even if my sane mind was barely getting to know him. “We should go upstairs, sweetness,” he said. “You’ll have a better nest and I’ll give you my knot.”
I shook my head. Clambering onto the bed, I was careful to avoid Emmett’s slowly healing wounds as I curved around his side. “No. I just want to sleep. Here.”
What a weird little desire, but I’d denied my instincts so long they were running the whole fucking show. Not wanting a knot was odd, considering I was absolutely in heat, but needing to be close to an injured mate checked out.
Not that Emmett was my mate.
My body totally thought he was, but that was different.
“Are you sure?” Caspian asked, grabbing some of the pillows and rubbing them against his neck.
