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“Ascent match? What thewhat, now?” Onyx asked, looking at Curran with comically raised eyebrows.

“You heard me,” Curran bit out. “Give it another hour or two and you’ll be able to smell it for yourself. Our pheromone dampeners were already active when Emma and Elijah arrived. No one else in the group has that excuse, so I’d be very interested to hear why they didn’t bother to mention it.”

He was staring straight at Gabriel as he spoke, but even being on the periphery of that alpha growl had me hunching in on myself, trying to be small. Elijah flinched hard on the sofa.

The red mist was swirling in tighter and tighter as Curran faced off with Gabriel, whose expression could have been carved from marble. I couldn’t breathe... I couldn’tbreathe...

The strangled omega whimper of distress that tore free of my throat was quite possibly the worst sound I’d ever heard. It was definitely the worst one I’d ever made. Three alphas whirled toward me as though jerked by imaginary ropes. I wanted to disappear through the floor. I wanted not to exist. I wanted—

The terrible tension in the room snapped, the angry line of Curran’s shoulders bowing as all the bark went out of him.

“Bloody hell, luv,” he muttered. “Sorry.Sorry. Come here.”

A moment later, I was enveloped in strong arms, a cloud of amber and myrrh surrounding me. I gulped air, finally able to take a full breath... and immediately collapsed into tears.

“Nest,” Onyx said firmly. “Elijah, honey, do you need a hand?”

The tiny whine that came from the sofa shouldn’t have made me feel better, but somehow, it did. At least I wasn’t alone in my omega pathos.

“Please,” Elijah rasped.

I had a flash of remembered awareness that both Onyx and Gabriel were injured. Then I let it go. They were alphas. Wounds and bandages wouldn’t stop them from helping Elijah.

“Come on, Absinthe,” Curran murmured against the top of my head. Corded arms swept me up, and I finally allowed myself to turn inward, letting everything go.

I was only vaguely aware of the gentle sway of being carried. The next thing I knew, I was in a nest—cozy and dim and soft, smelling of nothing but neutral fabric detergent and surface cleaner. It wasn’t quite the safe and private me-smell I instinctively craved, but it was so much better than if it had smelled of strangers.

There was an honest-to-god sunken bed inset in the cushioned floor—piled with the most decadent fake furs I’d ever felt against my skin. Designer coats from fancy fashion houses had nothing on the softness of that bed as Curran laid me down in it. I whimpered again, unable to stifle it, and burrowed in.

Then Elijah was next to me, and someone was pulling off my shoes. I let it happen. Let everything around us happen without any further input from me. I didn’t want to think about how good it felt to fall headfirst into trust—but I was falling just the same. This was safe, even if I didn’t want it to be. Even if I couldn’t afford to get used to it.

Alphas were guarding the nest, protecting Elijah and me from harm while we shut down for a while. I closed my eyes, blocking out everything but the feeling of soft fur blankets and the too-right scent of the five of us mingling together. Curran lay down between us, gathering Elijah against him with one arm and me with the other.

Another body curled up behind me.Gabriel. His nose pressed against the nape of my neck, warm breath tickling my skin. The bed shifted beneath another addition of weight—Onyx, lying down on Elijah’s far side.

“However long you need,” Curran said. “We’re not going anywhere.”

His rough purr rumbled beneath my cheek; Onyx’s lighter one joining it a few seconds later. Finally, a third purr started up at my back. The deep vibration seemed to resonate in my ribcage, unknotting the terrible tension lodged there.

Elijah made a soft sound like a stifled sob, and his hand scrabbled for mine over Curran’s chest. Our fingers tangled, and I let everything else slip away for a bit, floating in a warm sea of security and pure, animal sensation.

When I became aware of my surroundings again, a callused thumb was stroking my temple in a slow, soothing rhythm.

“You back with us, beautiful?” Onyx asked.

I blinked and groaned, having no idea when Curran had slipped out from between Elijah and me, or when Onyx had replaced him. My skull was pounding like a drum, and my stomach made a discontented grumbling noise.

“What time is it?” I asked. The words were a hoarse whisper.

“No idea, sorry,” Onyx said. “Curran and the boss are getting us some food. Three cheers for twenty-four-hour room service.”

My head felt like it weighed a metric ton, but I lifted it far enough to see Elijah still passed out cold with his face pressed against Onyx’s neck, breathing in the clean scent of spruce and berries.

“Oh,” I said brilliantly.

Onyx grunted. “We kind of took things out of order. Nest, food, shower instead of shower, food, nest. It’s all good, though.”

I hated myself just a little bit for asking the next question, but I couldn’t stop it spilling out. “Is Curran still angry?”