Kai exhales slowly.
Koa sets the clothes gently on the mattress and drags it into the centre of the room so that the view of the ocean is centre stage.
Finn closes the curtains halfway without being asked and the reduced glare of the sun’s light instantly soothes me a little. I don’t want to shut out the view entirely though.
Sol lowers himself carefully to sit against the wall, watching me with a gaze that is no longer feral, but intent. He still looks pained, but I know that the doctor gave him strong painkillers.
“Tell us what you need,” he says.
I swallow. “I don’t know yet.”
And that’s the truth.
But I step toward the mattress anyway, picking up Sol’s shirt first, then Koa’s flannel, layering them slowly across the bed. The room already smells like them, but I want it thicker. Closer.
Mine.
The prickling heat deepens. Not urgent yet. But coming. And for the first time in my life, I don’t feel like I have to fight…anything.
The room feels different the longer I spend in it.
I kneel on the mattress and begin layering the extra clothes the guys brought to me with careful deliberation, smoothing shirts flat at the base and spreading items on top. I intersperse their items with blankets and the pillows they bring me from their beds. Those are particularly strong with their scents and I love it. Those to right near the top, where I know I’ll reach for them instinctively. Finn’s t-shirt I press to my face first, inhaling deeply before placing it near the centre.
The scent in the room thickens immediately.
It makes my pulse skip.
But it’s not frantic.
It’s grounding.
“I need more,” I say without embarrassment.
All four of them react at once.
Kai grins first. “Oh, we’ve got more.”
Koa is already moving. “What kind?”
“Everything,” I reply honestly. “Pillows. Sheets. Even more things that smell like you.”
“Please,” I add as an afterthought.
There’s a flicker in Sol’s eyes at that – something possessive and satisfied – but he stays seated against the wall, one arm resting loosely over his bandaged side.
He doesn’t looktoobad, all things considered, but I’m still worried about how all this is going to go with him being hurt.
“I’ve got it,” Koa says, already turning.
Kai jogs past him. “Race you.”
“This is not a competition,” Finn says dryly.
Kai throws a grin over his shoulder. “Everything’s a competition.”
Luckily, he winks at me so I know he’s joking.
I hear drawers opening down the hallway. Cupboard doors. The shuffle of even more bedding being dragged free. My heat pulses low and steady, a gentle tightening beneath my skin that grows warmer with each new wave of scent that filters back into the room.