Page 79 of Want It All

‘Take her to the nest, Seb,’ I said softly. ‘Keep her wrapped up and warm. Make her feel safe.’

Sebastian glanced at me, his face creased in a rare expression of indecision.

‘Seb, baby. She thinks Byron rejected her. She’s in shock. She needs warmth, comfort, and she needsyou. You’ve got this, handsome. Take your omega to your nest and make her feel better.’

He nodded, scooping Rose into his arms. The blanket slipped but didn’t fall, baring one of Rose’s smooth shoulders. My chest wrenched to see them that way, both vulnerable and hurting.

Usually, I would have waged a one-alpha war against anyone who dared to make Sebastian’s life even the slightest bit inconvenient.

But myscent matchhad done this to him. Tothem.

A fissure rent through my chest.

‘Will you come with us, alpha?’

I shook myself, realising that Sebastian had paused outside the door to his nest, Rose pressing her face into his neck.

I swallowed. ‘Are you inviting me into your nest, omega?’

‘I am,’ Sebastian answered quietly.

I’d never been in Sebastian’s nest.

I’d seen it, of course – from the doorway, handing Sebastian pillows and coverlets and watching as he fastened swathes of gauze to the ceiling and strung fairy lights over the low, wide bed. But it was his space, not mine, so I’d never stepped foot in there, and as he was yet to have a heat, I never had reason to ask for admittance.

Which didn’t mean I didn’t want it, desperately.

My eyes pricked with tears. ‘It would be an honour.’

Sebastian carried Rose inside and laid her gently on the bed. He touched her lightly, carefully, rubbing the blanket on her limbs and chafing her bare feet and hands to warm them.

‘That’s it,’ I murmured. ‘She needs your touch, your skin. Your body heat.’

Another blanket lay folded at the end of the bed. It was one I’d bought Sebastian, so soft it felt like touching a cloud, and I draped it over them both. Rose was still worryingly pale, but her eyes were focused on Sebastian, which I hoped was a good thing.

The nest smelled like him, the delicious cherry scent making my mouth water, but my instincts protested that the scent should be stronger. It should have been on every surface, and so heavy that it pulled me under the moment I stepped through the door.

My scent should have been in here, too, but of course there was nothing. It wasn’t just the lack of scent; there should have been memories in this place, days of fucking and lovemaking, of comfort and cuddles and kisses in the dark, of falling asleep with limbs entwined.

I hadn’t realised how desperate I was for Sebastian to have a heat. Not until I was here, in the place it would happen.

‘I’ll make you both some hot chocolate,’ I said, because a hot drink containing too much sugar could never be a bad thing.

‘Don’t go,’ they said as one. My stupid alphapreenedat the idea of my omegas needing me.

‘Stay, Tris, please,’ Sebastian added, and that settled it.

I wasn’t going anywhere.

‘Alpha,’ Rose croaked, and lifted her hand towards me.

I reached and took her fingers in mine, glancing at Sebastian for permission before climbing into the bed. The omegas had snuggled on their sides, so I settled behind Rose. She rested her head on my bicep and I tentatively lay my other arm across her waist, my hand cupping Sebastian’s hip. A purr rumbled in my chest as Rose nestled against me.

There was no way to stop my cock from hardening – it had softened after Byron left, but apparently it loved being pressed against Rose’s plush ass – but I held myself still. Even so, I caught a hint of Rose’s scent in the air, with the undertone of mint my senses seemed to find in her perfume. The mix of chocolate and cherry was closer to how the nest should have smelled, but it still wasn’t perfect. My vanilla should have been here, too, entwined with Byron’s salted caramel.

The nest looked slightly different to the last time I’d seen it. It had previously been a mix of navy blues and silvers, simple and elegant. Now, there were some sea-greens, creams, and golds added into the mix, with a splash of white from some new star-shaped lights hanging from the net above the bed. Beach colours.

I wondered why Sebastian had made the changes, and whynow, when his nest had been the same for the six years I’d known him.