My eyes go wide and I shrink back into the blanket. “Yes, Daddy,” I mutter.
Phantom lets out a deep chuckle before leaning down and kissing my hairline. “Good girl,” he whispers warmly.
When he straightens and heads back into the kitchen, I pull the blanket up to my eyes, hiding the blush that creeps over my cheeks, melting back into the comfort of the couch cushions.
Not long after, the rest of the alphas and Cross emerge from their rooms, chatting quietly as they pour coffee and set the table. I keep my eyes down, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone right now. But if any of them can pick up on what happened in the kitchen, they are at least polite enough not to say anything.
But that changes when Joker swaggers into the room, throwing himself onto the couch beside me with a shit-eating grin. My eyes go wide with warning, but Joker only giggles.
“You scream so pretty, beautiful. Might have to see what other sounds you make sometime soon,” he teases, winking.
I groan as I pull the blanket all the way over my head, sinking into the couch with my face hot enough to fry an egg.
“And she didn’t even have a knot in her yet,” Phantom adds from the kitchen.
“I assumed. Otherwise, breakfast wouldn’t be almost ready,” Cross replies.
I’m on my feet and scurrying away before Joker can grab me, hiding my face with my hair. But I don’t make it far, Bones grabbing me around the waist and hauling me over his shoulder, making me yelp.
“You can hide after breakfast,” he mutters, just low enough for no one to hear but me.
He’s surprisingly gentle as he puts me down in a chair, the legs scraping along the floor as he pulls it close to his seat, draping an arm over the back. Something passes through the room, and the conversation moves on, much to my relief.
And as promised, the moment I finish eating my portions, no one stops me from dashing out of the room and back into the nest.
Chapter forty-two
Thedoorsofthebarn are wide open as I sit on the threshold, watching the trees sway in the breeze. The sky is full of low-hanging, grey clouds, no blue to be seen. It’s been threatening rain for a few days, but the most we’ve had is a light drizzle every now and then. The air is starting to turn chilly, and I snuggle into the fuzzy blanket shirt Cross gave me, pulling the hood up around my ears.
It’s been almost a month since the team pulled me from the facility, and over a week since that package showed up at the house. And the shift from that first week to this past week has been profound. I cook when I want to, not because I have to, these days. And I’m finally sleeping restfully, the dark circles under my eyes fading noticeably every time I look in a mirror.
Physically, I’ve never felt better. But mentally…
My head snaps around as the crack of a branch fills the air, my heart kicking in my chest. Nothing emerges from the tree line, but I still retreat a few feet back from the open doors. After several long minutes, I let my shoulders drop.
“Can you come over here for a second?” Siren calls out from behind me.
I whip around and clear my throat before scuttling away from the door toward their computer station. Siren doesn’t look up, typing furiously as I stop just outside of arm’s reach. I drop into the rolling chair I’d pulled up a while ago, turning around and pulling my hood and hair out of the way to expose the back of my neck. We’ve done this several times as Siren tries to hack the encryption on this fucking tracker, with varying degrees of success.
I don’t know if it’s just been the forced proximity that’s softened Siren to me, or if there’s something else going on in their head. But thankfully, the open hostility has ceased. There are still lingering glares every now and then, but I’m not going to break the fragile truce by asking about them. I can only manage my behavior and try to be the least intrusive into their life as I can be.
When they lift the scanner, the cord stretching back into the computer, the now-familiar beep fills the near silence. I hold my breath for a moment, waiting until Siren puts the scanner down before letting my hair cascade down my back again. I look over my shoulder tentatively, eyes flicking between Siren and the screens.
“Well, that’s something new,” Siren mutters, almost to themselves.
I turn more fully, trying to see what they’re seeing. But the screen is a mess of numbers and characters, none of which look like words.
“Good new or bad new?” I ask, barely above a whisper.
“Good new. Very good new. I think…hold on. Let me just run this through…”
Siren trails off as their fingers fly over the keys, pulling up another program, moving data around, all at breakneck speed. A moment later, lines of code appear in a pop-up window, and Siren lets out a whoop of excitement.
“Fucking finally!” they shout, turning to me with a wide smile.
I smile back softly, more confused than anything, but going with the flow for now. Not that Siren notices, as they turn back to the screen, their blue-green eyes flicking back and forth as they read the code.
“Okay, so yeah. This is good. I’m not seeing anything that reads like a detonation sequence, so I don’t think there’s any explosives in there,” Siren says, chuckling at their own joke.