Page 38 of Mating With My Grumpy Alphas (Hollow Haven #2)
Willa
I woke slowly, wrapped in warmth and the most incredible scents I'd ever experienced.
For a moment, I couldn't remember where I was or why every nerve ending in my body felt like it was humming with satisfaction.
Then awareness crept back in layers. Elias's lounge and the makeshift nest we’d pulled around ourselves.
The night we'd spent learning what it meant to be loved by three alphas working together.
The way they'd worshipped my body like it was something precious instead of something to be endured.
A warm hand traced lazy patterns across my bare shoulder, and I turned my head to find Rhett watching me with soft eyes that looked nothing like his usual gruff expression. His dark hair was mussed from sleep and my fingers, and there was something vulnerable about seeing him relaxed and unguarded.
"Morning, beautiful," he said quietly, voice rough with sleep.
"Morning," I whispered back, hyperaware of the other warm bodies pressed against me.
Wes was spooned behind me, one arm draped possessively across my waist, his breathing still deep and even.
Elias lay on my other side, close enough that I could feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against my ribs.
Being surrounded by all three of them should have felt overwhelming, but instead it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Like this was how I was meant to wake up every morning for the rest of my life.
"How are you feeling?" Rhett asked, and I could hear the careful concern in his voice. Making sure I was okay after everything we'd shared the night before.
"Perfect," I said honestly, stretching languidly and enjoying the way all three alphas responded to the movement. "Better than perfect."
Last night had been a revelation. Not just the physical pleasure, though that had been extraordinary.
But the emotional safety of it. The way they'd made it clear that my comfort and consent mattered more than their own needs.
The way they'd worked together instead of competing, each using their unique strengths to take care of me.
Elias taking control after he made sure that I was ready for him to do it.
Sometimes love means letting someone take care of you without keeping score, I thought, remembering Rhett's words. I was finally beginning to understand what that meant in practice.
"What time is it?" Wes asked sleepily from behind me, his arm tightening around my waist as he stirred.
"Early," Elias answered, though I hadn't heard him wake up. "Sun's barely up."
"Don't care," I said, turning in Wes's arms so I could see all three of them. "I don't want to move. Ever."
"We could stay here all day," Rhett said with a grin that was pure temptation. "Order food, ignore the outside world, see what other ways we can make you make those pretty sounds."
Heat bloomed across my cheeks as memories from the night before flooded back.
The sounds I'd made when Elias had used his mouth on me while Rhett and Wes held me steady.
The way I'd sobbed their names when they'd brought me to climax over and over until I couldn't tell where one sensation ended and another began.
"Tempting," I admitted, because it absolutely was. "But we should probably face reality at some point."
"Reality's overrated," Wes said, pressing a kiss to the sensitive spot where my neck met my shoulder. The casual intimacy of it made my heart skip.
"Reality includes moving my stuff to your cabin," I pointed out, though my voice came out breathier than I'd intended. "And I have to work today."
"No you don't," Elias said with the kind of quiet authority that made my omega instincts purr. "I called Pine & Pages already. Told them you needed a personal day."
I blinked at him. "You did what?"
"Called in for you," he said simply. "Figured after last night, you might need some time to process. And moving is stressful enough without trying to squeeze it around work schedules."
"When did you call them?" I asked, confused about the timeline.
"About an hour ago," he admitted. "I've been awake for a while. Wanted to make sure everything was arranged so you could focus on what you need."
The casual way he'd taken care of logistics without being asked made my chest tight with emotion. This was what it felt like to be considered, to have someone think three steps ahead of your needs and quietly remove obstacles.
"What about your jobs?" I asked, looking between the three of them.
"Already handled," Rhett said. "Jake's covering the garage today. He can manage the routine stuff, and anything complicated can wait until tomorrow."
"I cleared my schedule too," Wes added. "No meetings, no site visits, nothing that can't wait until tomorrow."
"And I own my own business," Elias said with a small smile. "Advantage of being your own boss."
I stared at them, trying to process the fact that they'd all rearranged their lives around helping me move. Not because I'd asked, but because they'd anticipated what I'd need and made it happen.
"You didn't have to do that," I said softly.
"Yeah, we did," Rhett said firmly. "You're ours now. Taking care of you is what we do."
The possessive certainty in his voice should have scared me. With Sterling, possessiveness had meant control and isolation. But this felt different. This felt like protection and consideration and the kind of claiming that made space for me to grow rather than demanding I shrink.
"Besides," Wes said, his hand finding mine under the covers, "I've been looking forward to this. Having you in my space, making it ours."
"Our space," I corrected softly, and the smile that spread across his face was brilliant.
"Our space," he agreed.
After Elias prepared breakfast that tasted like love made edible, we finally managed to extract ourselves from the tangle of limbs and contentment.
The process of getting dressed was an exercise in distraction, each of us stealing touches and kisses until Rhett finally declared that if we didn't leave soon, we'd end up right back in bed.
"Would that be so terrible?" I asked, and the heat in his eyes told me exactly what he thought about that possibility.
"No," he said roughly, "but you deserve to have your stuff in our home. Deserve to wake up tomorrow in our bed, not as a guest."
Our bed. The possessive pronouns were doing things to my omega instincts that should probably be illegal.
The drive to my rental house felt like traveling backwards through time.
Three weeks ago, I'd been a different person.
Scared, isolated, convinced I didn't deserve good things.
Now I was sitting in Rhett's truck, surrounded by the scents of three alphas who loved me, going to collect the pieces of my old life so they could become part of something new.
"You okay?" Wes asked from beside me, because apparently my emotional state was written across my face.
"Just thinking about how different everything is," I said. "Three weeks ago, I thought I'd be living in that house for months. Maybe years. Now I can't wait to leave it behind."
"Change can be good," Elias said from his position behind the driver's seat. "Especially when you're moving toward something instead of away from it."
"What am I moving toward?" I asked, genuinely curious about his perspective.
"Home," he said simply. "Family. The life you were always meant to have."
The certainty in his voice made my chest tight. I was still learning to believe that I deserved those things, but hearing him say it with such conviction made it feel more possible.
It didn’t take long to pack me up. I hadn’t arrived with much of anything and it wasn’t like I’d been throwing money around trying to fill the house up with things.
By the time we were finished Mrs. Henderson was waiting for us outside, her weathered face creased with what looked like genuine regret.
"Hate to see you go, dear," she said, accepting the keys from my slightly trembling fingers. "But I understand you've found yourself a proper situation."
The way she said it, with a knowing smile and a meaningful glance at the three alphas flanked around me like a protective wall, made it clear that Hollow Haven's gossip network was as efficient as ever.
"Yes ma'am," I said, surprised by how steady my voice was. "I have."
"Good," she said firmly. "You looked like you needed some taking care of when you first arrived. Glad to see you found folks willing to do it right."
As she drove away, I stood looking at the house that had been my refuge for such a short time. It had served its purpose, giving me space to heal and figure out what I wanted. But it had never felt like home. Just a waystation between the life I'd escaped and the life I was building.
"Ready?" Rhett asked, and I realized I'd been standing there for several minutes.
"More than ready," I said, and meant it.
"This is it?" Wes asked, looking at everything we'd loaded into the truck, looking at the small pile that represented my entire life.
"Sterling didn't like clutter," I said automatically, then caught myself. "I mean, I like to keep things simple."
"We'll fix that," Rhett said matter-of-factly. "House needs some personality anyway."
The casual assumption that we'd be acquiring things together, building a life that would accumulate the comfortable debris of shared days, made my omega instincts purr with satisfaction.
Nesting wasn't just about soft things and safe spaces. It was about permanence. About belonging somewhere long enough to make it truly yours. And for the first time in as long as I could remember the thought of nesting somewhere didn’t make me want to run.
Or at least not run away from it. I was definitely ready to run straight for it with an open heart and three alphas at my side.