Page 62 of Nesting With My Three Alphas
Her hand drifted to her neck, rubbing absently at skin that had started to tingle with restless heat.
"It's perfect," she said, settling into the center of her creation with a sigh of deep satisfaction. "I feel like I could stay here forever."
"That's the point," Reed said, his voice rougher than usual as he took in the sight of our omega nestled in the scents of her chosen alphas.
"How long do we have?" Kit asked, though from the way her scent was intensifying, I suspected she already knew the answer.
"Not long," I said gently. "A few hours at most. Your heat's going to start tonight."
Instead of fear, Kit's expression held anticipation. "Good," she said firmly. "I'm ready."
She was ready. After months of healing, weeks of falling in love, and days of preparation, Kit was finally ready to claim her place in our pack.
And we were ready to show her exactly what it meant to be loved by three alphas who would spend the rest of our lives proving she'd made the right choice.
The sun was setting over Hollow Haven, painting the sky in shades of gold and rose that seemed to mirror the warmth building in our home. Kit's first heat with her chosen pack was only hours away.
And we were going to make it the most perfect experience she'd ever had.
Chapter 20
Jonah
The afternoon had been perfect. Kit settled in her nest, her heat building gradually and naturally while Reed finished his last job and Micah tied up loose ends at the bakery. Charlie had left for Aunt Emma's that morning with excitement about their planned adventures, and our house felt charged with anticipation for what the evening would bring.
Kit was dozing peacefully in the master bedroom, her scent growing warmer and more compelling with each passing hour. I'd been splitting my attention between checking on her and handling the practical details that would ensure our pack's privacy and security during her heat.
Everything was exactly as it should be.
Which was why the sound of the security alarm activating on my phone followed by the splintering wood from the back of the house sent ice through my veins.
I was moving before my conscious mind had fully processed what I'd heard, my body responding to the primitive alpha imperative to protect my mate at all costs. The back door hung open, the new deadbolt Reed had installed ripped clean out of the doorframe with the kind of force that spoke of desperate determination.
Someone was in my house. Someone had broken into my home while my omega was vulnerable.
"Kit!" I called up the stairs, my voice carrying an alpha command that would cut through any heat haze. "Stay in the bedroom and lock the door. Now."
Even through the door, her scent had spiked: fear laced with pheromones, the terrifying vulnerability of an omega in heat sensing a threat nearby.
The scent hit me before I saw him. Expensive cologne mixed with rage and obsession, tainted with the kind of bitter desperation that made even seasoned alphas dangerous. There was only one person it could be.
Marcus Blackwood stood in my kitchen like he owned the place, his designer clothes rumpled and his eyes wild with the kind of unhinged determination that said he'd driven here without stopping, probably without sleeping.
"Where is she?" Marcus demanded, his voice rough with exhaustion and fury. "Where's Kit?"
He knew. Somehow, he knew she was in heat, vulnerable, claimed by another pack. The thought of this man tracking Kit across state lines, breaking into her safe space while she was defenseless, made my vision tinge red with protective rage.
"You need to leave," I said, keeping my voice level despite the alpha fury building in my chest. "Right now. Before this gets worse for you."
Marcus laughed, a sound with no humor in it. "Worse for me? Do you have any idea who I am? What I'm capable of?"His gaze sharpened, taking in my defensive posture, the way I'd positioned myself between him and the stairs. "I can smell her from here. She's in heat, isn't she? My omega, wasting her cycle on some small-town nobody."
My omega. The possessive claim in his voice made something primitive and violent unfurl in my chest.
"She's not your anything," I said, my own alpha energy beginning to push against his in a way that made the air between us crackle with tension. "Kit chose to leave you. She chose us. And you're going to respect that choice."
"Chose?" Marcus's expression twisted with disbelief and rage. "Kit doesn't make choices. She does what she's told. I've spent two years training that defiance out of her, teaching her exactly where she belongs."
Training. The word hit me like a physical blow, confirmation of every suspicion I'd had about what Kit had endured with this man.
