Page 60 of For All My Effort

That was what I was feeling. In my heart, my body, even my soul.

Chapter Sixteen

When I woke up the next day, I still felt exhausted. My mouth felt gross since I hadn’t brushed my teeth after dinner, and I hated the smell of food tainting my nest. Wrinkling my nose, I made a mental note that I was going to clean out my nest as soon as possible.

I knew that Seb was still in the nest with me, my other alphas already gone. Considering my mate should have been at work, I already knew something was wrong. If it was a normal day, Seb would have left the nest to put on his faux-suit pajamas rather than stripping down to his boxers last night and calling it good enough. If we were just taking a pack day, all of my mates would be with me.

“Is it bad?” I asked, my voice croaking at the first use in a few hours.

Seb dropped his phone, turning to face me. He didn’t respond right away, leaning down to kiss my face. My forehead and cheeks and nose and chin and eyelids and then finally my lips.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I mumbled.

“You have all of us, you know that right?” Seb asked.

I nodded, feeling just a little bit of the tension leaving my body. He was right, I did know that my mates would support me. If I was being honest, that felt like the only thing I was sure of.

My mates had warned me, and I didn’t listen. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

“A part of me wished I could just convince you to stay up here in this nest until everything passed,” Seb admitted.

“I’m not hiding away in here.” That had me sitting up, glaring down at my mate. “I might have freaked out yesterday, but I can handle it today. Yesterday was an emotional fluke. I was already sensitive because of how the concert ended.”

“Of course, princess.” Seb kissed my forehead, but I could feel that his lips were fighting against the pull of a smile.

“I’m serious.”

“I believe you.”

I glared at my mate who just smiled at me. His pride was more than obvious in his smile and his scent. Getting up, I huffed and changed into a comfy set of pajamas before bracing myself to leave my nest.

I ignored the fear of whatever I was going to see downstairs. Ignored the embarrassment for how I’d reacted last night.

Grabbing my mate’s hand, I pretended I wasn’t squeezing it harder than normal, and we made our way downstairs.

Almost immediately after leaving my nest, I heard noises coming from the first floor. No one was yelling, but multiple conversations were happening, the news was on TV, and all of my mates were pacing, the scent of stress filling the room and making my nose wrinkle.

Jackson was on the phone, his hand pressing the device so hard against his ear that I wondered if it hurt. Han, too, was on the phone, pacing, walking back and forth as he listened to whatever the person on the other line was saying. Zeke was making breakfast, all the while glaring at the TV. He had a notepad on the counter, and I watched as his gaze barely flicked down to whatever was in his pan, his attention fully on the screen as he wrote something down with his free hand.

My instincts went into overload. I needed to comfort my mates, calm them down, reassure them.

I went to my first alpha, hoping that calming him down would help with the rest of the pack dynamic. He was still holding the phone to his ear when I wrapped my arms around him, pressing our bodies close. I felt his muscles relax under my grip, his large frame curling over mine in an awkward, yet sweet hug. His apple scent surrounded me, the frustration making his usually crisp, fresh scent come across as sour.

Inside my chest, I felt a purr start. My mate had done so much to comfort me since I woke up in the hospital. Helping me through my heat, pack meetings to ensure I was feeling safe and happy, staying home to protect me, carrying me like I wasn’t a burden when I needed to be as close as possible to him. His presence was always near, just around the corner, ready to help me with whatever I needed or wanted.

Once he was calm, I raised onto my tip toes and kissed him. I loved his thick lips. I loved his muscular body and his dominant temperament that meant even in this kiss he took charge. His mouth pressed harder against mine, demanding my lips part for him as his tongue made its way between my lips, tasting me.

My hands roamed over his body, simply holding on as my mate took what he needed from me. As he pulled away, still so close that our lips were touching, I stared at his face. His eyes were closed, his scent quickly losing some of its sour edge.

“I’m going to fix this for you, rebel.”

I kissed the tip of his nose. “I know you will.”

Reluctantly, he let me go, and I made my way to Han. He was on the phone still, no longer pacing, watching me as I neared him. Pressing the phone between his head and shoulder, he opened his arms for me.

I collided with him so hard that he had to take a step back. This close, I could hear someone on the other end of his conversation talking. It didn’t sound like he was talking to Han, more like the phone was simply catching the other male’s side of a conversation.

“How are you feeling?” Han asked, talking quietly, probably so he wouldn’t catch the attention of whoever was on the other line.

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