Page 90 of Captivated By Alphas 1, Fated (The Blood Moon Chronicle #4)

“Eli?” Adrian’s voice came through the door, laced with concern. “Everything okay in there?”

“Fine!” I called back, my voice strangled with embarrassment. “Just fighting with supernatural underwear! Nothing to see here!”

There was a pause, then Adrian tentatively asked, “May I help?”

I looked at myself in the mirror—half-dressed in hopelessly tangled silk shorts, my tail creating abstract art in the air, my face flushed with mortification. Pride warred with practicality, and practicality won by a landslide.

“Yes, please,” I said weakly. “Before I accidentally strangle myself with designer sleepwear.”

Adrian entered with the careful movements of someone approaching a spooked animal. His eyes took in my predicament, and his lips twitched with barely suppressed amusement.

“The tail goes through the back opening,” he said gently, reaching for the waistband. “Not the leg hole.”

“There’s a back opening?” I twisted around, trying to see what he meant. “I thought that was decorative!”

“Very functional,” he assured me, carefully guiding my tail through the proper opening. “There. How does that feel?”

I looked down at the shorts, now properly positioned. They were… revealing. Like, barely there revealing. The silk clung to every curve and hollow, leaving very little to the imagination.

“Sheena,” I said suspiciously, “exactly how much fabric went into these shorts? Because I think she forgot about half of it.”

“They’re meant to be comfortable for sleeping,” Adrian said, though his eyes darkened as they tracked over my form. “And temperature regulation.”

“Temperature regulation, my ass,” I muttered, tugging at the hem. “These barely qualify as underwear. If I bend over, I’m going to scandalize the furniture.”

The matching top was almost worse—so thin it was practically transparent, with a neckline that immediately slipped off one shoulder. Combined with the microscopic shorts, I looked like I’d stepped out of someone’s very specific fantasy.

“I can’t wear this,” I protested, catching sight of myself in the mirror. “I look like I’m auditioning for a calendar that would make my grandmother faint.”

“You look beautiful,” Adrian said quietly, his voice rough with something that made heat pool in my stomach.

My ears flattened against my head in embarrassment, while my traitorous tail perked up at the compliment. “That’s not helping.”

Adrian stepped closer, his hands coming up to cup my face with infinite gentleness. His thumbs brushed across my cheekbones, careful not to touch my sensitive ears.

“Hey,” he murmured, his voice soft as silk. “You’ve been through hell tonight. You’re allowed to feel overwhelmed.”

Before I could respond, he leaned down and pressed the softest kiss to my forehead, his lips warm against my skin. The gesture was so tender, so unexpectedly gentle, that a purr rumbled up from my chest without permission.

“There,” he whispered against my skin. “That’s better.”

The purr intensified, vibrating through my entire body as his scent wrapped around me—cardamom and rain-washed forest, safety and warmth and something that made my leopard side practically melt with contentment.

“I hate that I do that now,” I mumbled, though I made no move to pull away from his touch.

“I love it,” he said simply, pressing another soft kiss to my temple before stepping back. “It means you feel safe.”

Before I could process that declaration, the door opened and Jace stood there. He took one look at me in Sheena’s creation and went completely still.

“Jesus,” he breathed, his eyes darkening to something closer to midnight than blue. “Eli…”

“Don’t,” I warned, my face burning. “Whatever you’re thinking, don’t say it. I already feel ridiculous enough.”

“You don’t look ridiculous,” he said, his voice rough. “You look…”

“Like I’m wearing napkins held together with wishful thinking?”

“Perfect,” he finished, and the raw honesty in his voice made something flutter in my chest.

“Thomas is stable,” he said after a moment, clearly forcing himself to focus. “Surgery went well. The internal bleeding has been stopped, and he’s responding well to treatment.”

Relief flooded through me so fast it left me dizzy. “Thank God. Can I talk to him?”

“He’s still in recovery,” Jace said gently. “But the doctors are optimistic. He should make a full recovery.”

I sagged against the bathroom counter, suddenly feeling like all my strings had been cut. “He’s really going to be okay?”

“He’s going to be fine,” Jace assured me, crossing to steady me with gentle hands. “Ray’s entire team is stable too. Everyone’s going to make it.”

The relief was overwhelming. Combined with the exhaustion and emotional overload of the day, it left me feeling wrung out and hollow.

“I think I need to sleep now,” I admitted, swaying slightly on my feet. “Before I fall over and add ‘death by exhaustion’ to today’s list of disasters.”

Jace scooped me up before my legs could give out entirely, carrying me to the enormous bed like I weighed nothing. Adrian and Cole positioning themselves around the room—Adrian settling into the chair by the window, Cole claiming the armchair in the corner.

“You don’t have to stay,” I said, though my voice lacked conviction. The thought of being alone with all these revelations was terrifying.

“We’re not leaving,” Jace said firmly, settling me against the pillows with infinite care. “Not tonight.”

A gentle scratching at the door announced Titan’s arrival.

He padded in with his usual lack of grace, still looking confused by my new scent but determined to fulfill his self-appointed guardian duties.

After a moment of deliberation, he jumped onto the bed and settled against my side with a contented huff.

“At least someone’s handling this better than I am,” I mumbled, burying my face in his thick fur.

Jace leaned down, his hand smoothing my hair back from my forehead. “Get some rest,” he murmured, pressing the softest kiss to my temple. His scent wrapped around me—sandalwood and cedar, strength and protection—and my enhanced senses drank it in like I was starving for it.

Adrian appeared on my other side, his fingers trailing lightly across my cheek before he pressed a tender kiss there. “Sweet dreams, beautiful,” he whispered, his scent of cardamom and rain-washed forest mixing with Jace’s in a way that made my leopard side practically purr with contentment.

Cole approached last, his touch more restrained but equally gentle as he brushed a strand of hair from my face. His kiss to my forehead was soft, reverent, and his scent—mountain air and warm amber—completed something I didn’t even know was incomplete.

Surrounded by their combined alpha scents, I felt something deep in my chest settle in a way I’d never experienced before.

It was like coming home to a place I’d never been, like finding something I didn’t know I’d lost. My new supernatural senses were overwhelmed by the rightness of it all—their protection, their care, the way their scents seemed to create a cocoon of safety around me.

“Why does this feel so…” I started, then trailed off, too exhausted to find the words.

“So right?” Adrian finished softly. “Because it is.”

I didn’t understand what he meant, but my leopard side seemed to. A purr rumbled through my chest as I drifted toward sleep, surrounded by warmth and protection and scents that spoke to something primal inside me.

My dreams were full of silver moonlight and pristine snow, and for the first time in my life, they felt like home.