“It’s empty,” I said as I walked into the living space, my alphas all hovering around me. Houses didn't come with furniture. In the stress of everything that had happened, I hadn't considered the fact that our furniture had been burned to a crisp.
Also, everything I had bought for Landry was gone, which was devastating. I was trying to focus on the good, that all my alphas were safe. I could re-buy stuff.
It still stung, though.
There were going to bemanyshopping trips before the baby came.
“Not much of our stuff was salvageable,” Merrick said. “We’ve ordered a few basics, but we wanted to show you the nest room.” He led me through the house.
“This place is stunning,” I whispered as we moved as a pack through the property. I had expected Merrick to take me upstairs, because that was usually where the omega suites were located in big houses, but instead, he took me down a hallway to a large room on the ground floor.
“What do you think?” Preston asked.
What did I think?
I thought it was freaking insane —in the best way.
Attached to the back of the house, three of the walls had floor-to-ceiling windows that opened to give the room an insanely light and airy feeling. At the same time, there were curtains and blinds that could be drawn if I was craving something a bit cozier.
“This is incredible,” I muttered, walking around the room.
“Honestly, it’s pretty impressive,” Merrick agreed. “Good craftsmanship went into this place.”
“I love it.”
Every one of my alphas beamed at that answer.
“As weird as it feels to say, I'm really happy we all contributed to this place. As much as I liked your house, man…” Wilder looked at Merrick, who held up his hands in surrender.
“I totally get it. This place feels more like a team effort.”
I stood in the middle of the room, looking around. “I suppose we better start building my nest.”
The guys all stood around the boxes of flat-pack furniture with looks of confusion on their faces.
“I don't even know where to start,” Preston said. “There's so much.”
“We're going to have to start somewhere,” Nolan added, assessing the pile with a shrewd eye.
“Shall we pick a room and start there?” Merrick suggested, scratching the back of his head.
Wilder shook his head. “That would be a useful idea if any of these boxes were actually labeled. I don't know what's inside half of these.”
I sat in the corner, giggling at their conversation. Box after box of furniture had been delivered for the new house, but we had yet to set anything up. We desperately needed to, though. The house was pretty barren, and we had a baby coming soon, so getting the place ready was the first priority.
The idea of new furniture was a little bit exciting, but I wasn't the biggest fan of new furniture smell. My guys were going to have to rub themselves all over the new stuff to get their funk on it.
“In that case, we just need to start ripping into boxes and building things.” Preston sighed, grabbing a box and tearing open the side.
“I’ll order us some lunch?” I suggested, pulling out my phone. I knew full well that if I offered to help build anything, I would be told off by my alphas, who were insisting that I needed to rest. Not only was I heavily pregnant, but ever since the fire, they had been extra cautious.
They all murmured in agreement. They were going to need fuel if they were going to spend the entire day building furniture.
“I’ll grab some trash bags,” Merrick said, heading toward the kitchen.
Luckily, we had done several grocery runs for basics, like trash bags and dishwashing liquid. Some of the shopping trips had been extortionate. Replacing everything you owned was truly expensive. The guys were adamant that I needed to buy all the toiletries and makeup that I had before, and that receipt made my eyes water.
Slowly but surely, the end was in sight, though. A few more weeks, and I would be fully settled into our new home, ready for our baby boy to arrive. The first thing Preston had done after buying the house was set up copious security cameras. Edward and several of his associates were in prison, and would be for a very long time, but that didn’t stop him from worrying.