We were getting in deeper with these men every day, but I had to hope we’d just discovered the light at the end of the tunnel.
FORTY-FIVE
KIARA
I didn’t want to leave my nest.
In the pile of blankets and pillows and clothing I’d built myself, everything was bordering perfect. There was no Ashby pack, waiting to take us on another date. No Tobias pulling the strings behind the scenes. No rejection like the one I was expecting from Mercury.
I was safe from all things.
It couldn’t last, but I desperately wanted it to.
My nest was mostly complete to my brain’s irrational requirements. I had every pillow I could find on the edges of the bed, crafting a barricade from the rest of the world. Blankets were draped on top and in the middle, over my fluff-covered form. I’d stolen the soft robe from Leighton’s closet.
I would give it back, but I’dneededit. It was impossible to resist the compulsion, and when I tried, I’d broken down into tears and shaky, shallow breaths.
A few items of everyone’s clothing were in the centre of the nest with me. It was the next best thing to having them all here. I was curled up with the clothes, occasionally rolling around in the comforting scents.
There was something missing—other than my alphas—but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I’d circled the condo multiple times in search of something that could complete my nest, but nothing stuck out.
If I thought a simple failed search would be the end of it, I thought wrong.
The incompleteness of the nest rubbed at me more and more with every minute I spent in it. While it was still the most soothing place in the house, it wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. It wasn’t the perfect nest I longed for—not yet. It needed to be different. I just had no idea how.
Leighton had yet to return, so I couldn’t beg her to help me. There was only one option to fix it as soon as humanly possible.
I had to go talk to Mercury.
My nerves stopped me until it was literally too much to handle staying in the nest. I’d had him strip down to nothing, and when he tried to refuse I’d almost started sobbing in front of him. Even in the preheat haze of nesting and desire, I was aware it was out of line. If unavoidable.
He wasn’t my alpha, and he didn’t want to be.
“Mercury?” I faced him in the living room, keeping more of a distance this time.
The auburn-haired alpha was wearing Ambrose’s clothing. The oversized fit made him look smaller and softer than he usually seemed, but his brown eyes still didn’t have much warmth in them. I avoided eye contact.
“Yes?” he asked.
“I need something for the nest.”
“What do you need?”
Shifting my weight from foot to foot, I patted where Nyla sat strapped to my thigh. She’d been with me in my nest, so it wasn’t her that was missing.
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
He sighed heavily. “How am I supposed to help you if you don’t know?”
Those unbidden tears rose again—stupid heat hormones. I couldn’t stop them if I wanted to. I tried to hide them this time, not wanting him to feel it was necessary to help me again. I’d turned half around to go back to my nest when he touched me.
His hand caught my arm, and I gasped. There wasn’t any skin-on-skin contact with my robe on, but it was electric nonetheless.
Mercury was touching me.
On purpose.
When he tried to release me I whined, curling myself closer to him. Old books and cinnamon soothed my aches and made it less uncomfortable that my nest wasn’t perfect. It made my skin tingle, the sharp cinnamon tickling my nose.
