Page 144 of Lavender and Honey

ELIAS: I've already got a list started of things she might need. Bedding, bathroom stuff, maybe some new kitchen things?

FINN: Let her settle in first before you redecorate the whole house around her.

I smile at Finn's practical voice coming through the text. I can almost hear his steady tone, the way he balances Elias's enthusiasm.

I smile at Soren's message, my thumbs hovering over the screen. Before I can reply, three more messages arrive in quick succession:

FINN: Do you need help with the packing?

ELIAS: We can bring dinner if you're still working.

SOREN: Do you need or want anything. Help or just company?

The warmth that spreads through my chest is becoming familiar, but no less overwhelming. Four men, all checking in, all ready to drop everything for me. I've never been the center of anyone's world before.

I type a reply to their group chat:Almost done with the first round. Just clothes and essentials.

I sat the phone down and resumed packing. I just had a few more things to do and I would be good to go except for last minute things I would need in the morning.

I finish taping up the last box, a dull ache rising in my arms, the spaces between them fever-warm. A flash of warmth rises to meet me, the sudden flush of it leaving me unsteady. I looked around the room and flipped the light off as I crawled into the bed, not even bothering to change. I was exhausted, more so than I had expected to be. My body started to feel heavy, and my body flushed. I was internally hoping I was getting sick, but with everything that happened the last week, I wouldn't be surprised if I was getting a stress fever.

Curling up in the blankets around me, I closed my eyes not even bothering to plug my phone in or send a goodnight text to the others as exhaustion won out and darkness claimed me.

Chapter Eighty-One

Iswim through warm fog, floating between sleep and waking, untethered from time and place. My body is a stranger, burning at the edges, whispering unfamiliar promises. I drift, unsure whether I am cocooned in dream or finally coming undone, until the heat of it presses in from all sides.

I couldn't be going into heat. I took precautions to prevent this from happening.Then I pause at that thought. It had been such a crazy week. I don't even remember when I took it last.

A sound cuts through my haze—a sharp, insistent ringing—and I grasp at it like a lifeline. It threads me to waking, to something outside this fevered warmth. The sound again, then silence. I breathe through my nose, slow and deliberate, but it only seems to feed the fire consuming me.

The doorbell. I open my eyes, blinking against the room's half-light. I am on the couch. I don't remember moving here… I remember laying in bed. I breathe again. My whole body aches with the effort.

Another sound, like a small animal in pain. I realize it comes from me. A knock at the door now, loud and urgent. Whoever it is, they're not going away. It starts again. I flinch, then force myself to stand. My limbs feel molten, barely my own. Each step is a mile.

The doorknob is cool against my skin. I turn it slowly.

The rush of air and light spins my vision. I sway, gripping the door frame. I look up and see a flash of chestnut hair, eyes the color of sunlight through leaves.

"Lydia! Are you alright?" Elias's voice grounds me and unravels me all at once. I feel like I am in a fever dream as he steps inside, his scent washing over me. I sink against the wall.

He kneels next to me, warm hands on my arms. "Come on, pretty girl. Let's get you comfortable." His touch sends a jolt through my overheated body.

The world blurs at the edges. I hear footsteps, then a deep voice cutting through the haze. "What's going on?"Lucian.

I blink up at them. Elias, his brow furrowed in concern. Lucian, solid and certain behind him. I try to form words, but a wave of heat silences them.

"We are taking her home," Lucian says, firm but gentle. "She was going to be coming soon anyway; we are just moving it up a day it seems."

I give another whine, tears in my eyes. The world is bright and shifting, sounds echoing through water. Elias is still holding me, his touch both soothing and electric. The others are there too. I hear them talking quietly as I curl more into myself, but in the next moment, I am in someone's arms, causing a noise of distress to leave me.

"It's alright. We got you." I don't know which of them says it, but their voice wraps around me, a promise. The movement lulls me. I don't know how much time has passed, whether minutes or days. Only the echo of my name, filtering through the fog.Elias. Lucian. And maybe Finn and Soren as well. The flare of it pushes me deeper into the haze.

I feel the movement stop, and I am newly aware of everything. Of voices. Of hands. Of the open door and the cold air and the bright sting of morning.

I blink in the light as Lucian lifts me, as warmth floods every cell of me with his touch.

"Good girl," he says, cradling me against his chest. A jolt travels through me, and I let a whimper escape. I am unguarded. Wild. Lucian seems to know, seems to know exactly what it means. I am lost, lost to him and the moment. He seems to enjoy it.

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