Page 20

Harlan

As beautiful and wonderful as shifting with our mate had been, our time together in our fur couldn’t last forever. And all too soon, our beautiful wolf was at her apartment, and we were at our house without her.

It physically hurt to be away from Lily.

Rowan, Benji, and I all felt it. It was a dull ache, one I couldn’t shake but also couldn’t fully describe.

The thought of her suffering, even for a second, for any reason, was too unbearable.

Even considering that she might be struggling the way we were had my stomach in knots.

We were the alphas and should be the ones shouldering all her pain.

I called the guys to a meeting. We weren’t formal like that normally, but what I wanted to discuss felt important enough to make it so.

It was time to do something about the room we’d made for our mate.

We’d said we needed to wait until our omega agreed to be with us.

And at the time, it felt like the right timeline.

But now that we knew Lily, it needed to be ready for her.

Thinking of her ready for her nest and us not having it done on time… My beast couldn’t handle it.

I couldn’t handle it.

It was time we made that decision.

They both sat at the table with me. Benji’s shirt was misbuttoned, and Rowan hadn’t even bothered with one.

“What’s up?” Roan leaned back in his chair, his feet in front of him, attempting to look nonchalant and failing miserably.

“I think it’s time we fixed the nest.” Pussyfooting around the issue wasn’t going to do us any good, so why bother. “We started the room and then locked it tight. It’s time to open it up again. We need to be ready. Her wolf needs it. We need to be ready.”

“Are you saying we need to be ready?” Roan stuck his tongue out.

“Not helpful. No need be a dick,” I told him. “And yes, we do.” I was not going to feel bad for not being eloquent enough. “So, can we take a vote on it?”

“Nope, don’t need—” Benji stood up. “We’ve been itching to do this since we first built that room. Let’s get it done.”

When we unlocked the door, mustiness slammed into me, and I sneezed. It was worse than I expected. “Cleaning first, it is.”

We opened all the windows in the house and set up a couple of fans.

Airing it out would go a long way. That’s when the cleaning began.

Once upon a time, people did spring and fall cleaning, and I was not sure what the occasions were that humans used for deep cleaning where they would wash walls and ceilings, not just do everyday-type cleaning.

But that’s exactly what we were doing.

We started with the ceiling after we saw a cobweb because one was too many. From there, we cleaned all of the walls and the floors then got out the sheets and blankets from the closet and made up the bed.

By the time we were done, the nice, clean room looked like it belonged in a freaking hotel.

“We need to do better,” I grumbled.

“Yeah, we do,” Roan agreed.

We made a list of things we wanted for the space to make it comfortable for her, including more blankets, pillows, rugs, chairs…those kinds of things. And curtains. She definitely needed curtains.

List in hand, we headed off to the closest city to find everything on the list.

We were able to get everything pretty easily, including a chair that was like a cross between a hammock and a bao bun.

It looked uncomfortable, almost like you might get mushed inside, but the salesman insisted we each try it out.

Really comfortable. And the shape gave it a nest-like quality which made it perfect.

We managed to fit everything in the pickup truck, grateful that we didn’t have to wait for delivery. Our animals weren’t going to allow us to rest until it was complete.

It took longer to shop than it did to put everything in place. The finished room was nice. But it wasn’t her nest yet. It needed something else.

We decided to look at it again the next day and then decide if it needed more or maybe less. But fresh eyes were needed.

The other guys went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. This needed more than what we gave it and until I figured out how to make it the nest she deserved it to be, I wasn’t going to be able to sleep.

I went out to my welding tools, dug through all my supplies, and found a bunch of silverware I’d picked up in a lot.

I spent the entire night playing around, welding pieces together until I had a bouquet of flowers and a vase—all of it made out of silverware.

And by bouquet, I mean, I made a bunch of lilies. They turned our beautifully.

When we all decided it was time and went into the room to see what adjustments needed to be made, I set my vase of flowers beside her bed.

Roan looked around. “I think this is it.”

“Same.” So did Benji.

Leaving only me left to agree and I did.

This nest was beautiful, but more importantly than that, it shouted Lily. It was her space, when she wanted it. If she wanted changes, we’d facilitate that. If she wanted to move in tomorrow, we’d help her. We were on her timeline, as it should be.