Chapter 38

I could still taste her on my tongue.

My little Omega who was now sated and soft, trapped on Vaughn’s knot beneath me. Happiness and so much more surged through my chest. She knew, and she wanted us. Nothing had ever felt so right as having her in our house and in our nest. Her nest.

As soon as possible, I wanted her here, making the nest into what she truly wanted. Making our space hers and showing us how we could shift our life to fit around her. Because she was ours.

I smirked. “Well, that wasn’t really how I thought telling her would go.”

The others laughed quietly too, and Rowan nodded. “No kidding.”

Joel was the one who looked at me. “You have her phone, right?”

“Yeah.”

“We need to call Ellie and her parents. They weren’t there for the show in the breakfast room. I’m sure they know by now, but we still need to tell them.”

I stepped carefully around Vaughn and Isolde. “I’ll do it. I’m the one who punched the best man, and I can own that.”

“Don’t go too far,” Vaughn whispered. “In case she wakes up.”

No, I wouldn’t. The panic and pain I saw earlier wasn’t anything I ever wanted to see again, and the bruises on my knuckles weren’t enough. Punching Beau had felt good, but it didn’t compare to the pain he’d inflicted on Isolde. My baby girl.

I grit my teeth, trying to quell the anger, and grabbed her phone from where I’d left it. There were already texts and missed calls, so I chose Ellie and pulled up a video feed.

She was talking before she even looked at the camera. “Holy shit, where did you go? Everyone is freaking out, Iz.” Ellie froze when she saw me. “Where’s my sister?”

“Isolde went into heat this morning. We’re at our house taking care of her.”

“Oh, okay. That makes sense. Honestly, it all happened so fast, no one could really say what happened except for Beau having a black eye and you guys carrying what looked like an unconscious Isolde out of the house.”

I winced. “That’s on me, and I apologize for causing a disturbance, though I’ll be honest, I’m not sorry for hitting him. Isolde panicked when I tried to leave the room because he left her alone during her last heat. And I lost it.”

Ellie glanced around behind her. “You have no arguments from me. I don’t like him. I’ve never liked him, and I have no problem with you hitting him.” She snickered. “Can’t say he’s happy about it, though. He’s still in with Warren, yelling.”

Taking a deep breath, I kept my voice even. “Where is Warren in this?”

“He wants to talk to Isolde when she’s back. He’s bothered by what happened last night, and last week in the entryway. But it’s hard when you’ve known someone for so long and you’ve never seen their bad behavior up close the way he has these past few days.” Her sly smile gave me hope. “I’m pretty sure he’s right on the edge. I looked in there, and he’s pretty much just staring at Beau, pissed off. But Warren will never jump to a conclusion without all the information. So he needs to talk to you and Isolde. But he’s pissed.”

Not where I hoped he’d be, but we could work with that. Even Isolde would recognize the difficulty of changing your view of someone. She’d just become aware of how toxic some of his behaviors were while we’d known her. So as long as Warren wasn’t taking his side, we were in an okay place.

“Still,” I said. “I know I probably strode in there and caused all kinds of chaos. I’m sorry about that. Are your parents okay?”

“They’re fine. Just want to know where Isolde is.”

I nodded. “Will you tell them? I’m not sure how long her heats are, but everything should still be fine for the wedding.”

Ellie waved a hand. “Do whatever you need to. If you guys need anything, let us know. We’ll do it. After everything, we just want Isolde to be happy.”

“I appreciate that, and I’m sure Isolde does too, even if she doesn’t recognize it.” I saw Warren approaching in the back of the frame. “I should get back to her.”

“Keep us posted.”

Leaning against the wall, I blew out a long, slow breath. I barely remembered getting to the breakfast room. My Alpha was in full control, only looking for the source of pain for my Omega. I remembered the shocked look on Beau’s face and savoring the crunch of his jaw under my hand. His eye too.

I wasn’t sure how many times I hit him, but it wasn’t enough.

Cade turned the corner and saw me slumped against the wall. “Everything okay?”

“Seems to be for now. Warren wants to talk to us and Isolde once her heat is over. I think he wants to get a different side of the story than the one Beau has been feeding him.”

“Fair enough. You okay with grabbing the blanket from your bed? We don’t have nest blankets and stuff, so we thought something from each of us might make a good blend of scents until we can buy them.”

Hell yes, I was okay with that. I wanted Isolde wrapped in our scents for the rest of fucking time. “I’ll help you grab them.”

Walking into the nest again almost put me on my knees. Isolde’s red hair spread out against the blue of the pillows, making it so much more vibrant. In the dimness here, she was like a fallen star, bright even in the darkness.

It was a good thing she knew she was ours now, because I was in love with her. There was no way not to love her. Every hesitant smile and worry that crossed her mind. Every time she trusted us enough to let go even though she was afraid. Each piece of herself she revealed was another piece that fit against me, completing a picture I hadn’t even known was missing something before we met.

I dropped the two comforters I’d brought to the side, instead stretching out beside her and pulling just my blanket over the two of us. She let out a little sigh, shuddering and stretching into the new warmth like a cat.

Joel smiled at us from across the nest. “She’s more relaxed. She still had tension at the estate. Here it’s like she melted.”

“Good,” I murmured. “She needs a place where she doesn’t have to have any walls.”

It didn’t matter how long it took for her to wake up, or how many days her heat drove all of us to fuck, knot, come, and start all over again, I wasn’t leaving her.

I tucked my fingers around her hip and pulled her closer, my lips on her temple. The scent of magnolias and roses drowned me, and I was happy to drift away, but I couldn’t close my eyes. Couldn’t miss a single second. Because she was here, and she was ours.