He walks away from me, still talking as I take a deep breath and think about our lives a few weeks ago. While Wells and I were content, the level of happiness we’ve found with Claire is stark. And shockingly, having Elliot here isn’t the worst thing either.
“Grab a lighter and get to work, Alpha,” Wells says, handing me a lighter and I do exactly what he said. Apparently, I don’t doa good enough job as he comes behind me and takes a sniff of the candle I’m lighting. “Yuck. Take that outside and blow that shit out.”
“What’s wrong with it?” I ask and Wells gives me a dirty look. I shrug, taking the candle outside and blowing it out there like he asked.
When I return to the nest, Wells is fluffing all the pillows.
“I didn’t think she would want to do this so soon. We haven’t even decorated the nest with everything she wants,” Wells says while he dims the light.
The stars shine through the skylight and the candles with non-offensive scents sparkle throughout the room. A room that used to be empty—a promise of a future Wells could see, but I couldn’t.
I wrap my arms around his waist and pull him toward me, squeezing him tight. What if he had given up on me? What if we didn’t go on that damn cruise? What if he wasn’t so fucking good at knowing me better than I know myself sometimes?
“This is all because of you, you know that?”
“Pfft. You saw Claire first, don’t forget that,” he says, and I shake my head and let him wiggle out of my grip just enough so he can face me.
“I didn’t really know what love was until you inserted yourself into my life and I’m so grateful that you did. You’ve shown me what true happiness is, and you’ve always inspired me to be a better man. Without you, I’d be nothing. I might have seen her first, but if I didn’t have your charming ass by my side, there’s no way we would be here right now. I love you and finally being able to bond with you is going to be one of the best moments of my life.”
Wells looks at me thoughtfully for a long moment, before wrapping his arms around me.
“You’re right, you need me. I need you too. I’m so happy, Forrest, and soon we’ll finally be able to feel it all down the bond,” he says dreamily. “I love you, and I never doubted we would have this for a second. Now let me go get our Omega.”
He pulls back and I lean down and kiss him tenderly before he leaves the nest and beckons Claire into the room.
In this short moment of silence, there’s nothing but anticipation and the lingering insecurities I have to push away from my thoughts. Everyone in this pack believes in me, and I need to believe in myself if I’m going to be the one to take care of us all.
The responsibility doesn’t feel crushing; it feels like my purpose, doesn’t mean it’s still not intimidating.
I scent Claire before I see her. Her cinnamon apple cake makes my mouth water, even more so knowing what’s about to happen.
When she rounds the corner, she seems almost shy, and it makes me want to wrap her up in my arms and never leave this room.
“It’s beautiful in here,” she says softly, looking at the small touches we made in the room to make this night special.
Wells wraps himself around Claire, resting his chin on her shoulder.
“However you want tonight to go is exactly what we want,” he says, and she smiles, kissing his cheek before biting her lip.
“Wells, I want to feel you when Forrest bonds with you, so he should bond with me first. I’ll want his knot while he does that. But what about you? I know you’ve thought about bonding with Forrest for a long time now.” She turns around in his arms to look at him.
Neither of them asks me what I want, because honestly all I want is my bond mark on them and for them both to enjoy theexperience. I want to make them both happy in however they imagined this moment.
“Well…not that I fantasized about it too much, but when I did, it was with Forrest fucking me while I was also fucking our Omega, so we were all connected. Sometimes other people were in the room but they didn’t have faces, not that?—”
Claire covers his mouth with his hand.
“Go get yourself ready for that. We won’t bond until you’re back,” she tells him.
Wells looks between both of us, like he doesn’t like the idea of missing a single minute, but Claire is right. If he wants to take me, there are some preparations that need to be made.
“No penetration until I get back,” Wells counters, pointing at both of us.
“We’ll be right here. Go get ready,” she tells him with a wave of her hand. He’s quick on his feet, heading to our bathroom to get himself ready.
Claire turns toward me, and it seems like a lifetime ago that I found her in distress on the side of the ship. The woman I look at now means the world to me, and I’m not even sure I have the words to properly express my feelings.
“You ready for this?”