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But still, I believe that none of them are going to try anything. They’ve all had ample opportunity to “rut me into the mattress,” as Chase put it, but they haven’t.

I still think I’ll have to find some way to be useful, but maybe it won’t have to be painful and humiliating.

“Thank you,” I say, squeezing his hands.

“Now, that doesn’t mean we’re not gonna be here when you are ready,” Chase says with a smirk that has my cheeks and other places of my body warming. “But even then, you’ll have nothing to worry about. I don’t know what you’ve been through in the past, but anything that happens between any of us will be because you want it to happen.”

His words are so overwhelming tears start spilling down my cheeks. I frantically wipe away at them, embarrassed to fall apart like this in front of him.

“I’ll go grab that stuff I was talking about earlier,” he says, giving my knee a small squeeze before standing and giving me a bit of privacy, leaving me in the comforting cloud of his ocean breeze scent.

I feel the absence of his presence deep in my chest. It’s like his presence comforted something deep inside me and without him I’m starting to panic.

I clutch the bundle of what looks to be their t-shirts to my chest, lifting it up to bury my face into them, inhaling the intoxicating mix of the Ward pack’s scents.

A few minutes later, after I’ve managed to calm myself down a little bit, Chase comes back into the room with a few things in his hands and tucked under his arms.

“Okay, to start off, I have these,” he says, placing a bottle of prescription pills next to me. “These are pain killers, Char probably explained this to you earlier, but you’re gonna need them for the next few days for your ribs, every eight hours. Here’s a proteinbar, you’re not supposed to take them on an empty stomach, are you allergic to peanuts?”

I shake my head, taking the chocolate and peanut butter flavored protein bar he hands me.

“Here’s a water bottle to wash all that down,” he says, placing more stuff next to me. It’s sweet, watching him so intently explaining all the things he’s brought up for me, just so I can be more comfortable. “This is a bag of ice wrapped in a towel for your ribs, and I think that’s everything.”

“Thank you so?—”

“Shit, wait, I have these!” He says. “Sorry for interrupting, I just think these are important for you to have. The other guys mean well, they’re just sometimes a little clueless about certain things.”

He hands me a pair of clean boxers.

“These are mine. They’re clean, I promise. I think you can tell but everyone else in the pack will be a lot further away from your size than I am. They’re the stretchy kind so hopefully they won’t be too big on you.”

I flash a genuine smile up at him.

“Thank you, Chase, I really appreciate all of this. You really didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to,” Chase says with a grin. “I know it’s not a lot, sorry we don’t have more stuff we could give you, but hopefully it’ll be enough to tide you over until we can get you more stuff.”

My eyes go wide at the idea of them spending money on me. “No, please don’t get me anything more?—”

“No,” he says, his tone firm.

My mouth shuts instantly. He’s been so kind and his scent has been so soothing, I’ve almost forgotten that he’s an alpha. I bow my head in shame. What was I thinking, saying no to an alpha? Especially one that’s gone above and beyond for me like this?

He lifts my head, his touch on my chin far too gentle for my disrespect.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that,” he says.

“Don’t apologize, I’m the one at fault?—”

“Luna,” he says, his tone firm again. “Please listen to me. I know you haven’t been taken care of before, not like you should. Not like you deserve, not for anything you’ve done, but just for being you. We want to make up for lost time. Please, just let us take care of you.”

I swallow hard, unable to tell him no when he’s pleading with me so earnestly, his eyes so full of emotions I can’t identify.

“O—okay,” I say, promising myself that I will find a way to make it up to this pack.

“Perfect,” he says, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I’ll leave you to get settled for tonight. There’s a lock on the door if you feel safer with it.”

With those parting words and that soft touch, he leaves me, shutting the door behind him and leaving me in a room that’s slowly starting to feel too big.