Page 75 of Nesting With My Three Alphas
"Better?" he asked, noting how my breathing was already becoming less labored.
"Much better," I admitted, feeling my racing heart begin to slow to a more manageable rhythm.
"Good girl," Jonah said, the praise making my omega preen despite my exhaustion. "You're learning to trust me to know what's best for you."
The phrase should have triggered my defenses, should have reminded me of Marcus's controlling behavior. But this felt completely different. This was care, not control. Protection, not possession.
"How do you know?" I asked quietly. "How do you know what I need better than I do?"
"Because I've been watching you for weeks," Jonah said simply, moving the cloth down my arms with gentle efficiency. "Because I've been learning everything about you. What makes you feel safe, what makes you panic, when you're pushing yourself too hard."
He'd been learning me. Not trying to change me or control me, but studying me so he could care for me better.
"And because," Jonah continued, his voice dropping to something more intimate, "you're mine to protect. That means protecting you from everything. Including your own instincts when they're not serving your best interests."
The quiet possessiveness in his voice was different from Reed's demanding claims or Micah's gentle devotion. This was deeper, more fundamental. The bedrock certainty of an alpha who'd claimed the responsibility for my wellbeing and would never take that lightly.
"I like when you take charge," I admitted softly, surprising myself with the honesty.
"I know you do," Jonah said with quiet satisfaction. "Your omega recognizes pack hierarchy. You need to know someonestronger is looking out for you, making the hard decisions so you can just be."
When was the last time I'd been allowed to simply exist without constantly calculating, managing, performing?
"Is that what you are?" I asked. "The pack alpha?"
"I'm whatever you and this pack need me to be," Jonah said, beginning to wash my hair with the same methodical care. "But yes. Reed and Micah are incredible alphas, but they look to me for guidance. Just like you're learning to."
The warm water cascading through my hair, the gentle massage of Jonah's fingers against my scalp, was incredibly soothing. I could feel my heat settling into a more manageable simmer instead of the desperate urgency that had been driving me.
"How much longer?" I asked, though I was no longer panting with desperate need.
"Until you stop asking how much longer," Jonah said with gentle amusement. "Until you're thinking clearly enough to want me for the right reasons."
"What are the right reasons?"
"Because you love me," Jonah said simply, tilting my head back to rinse the shampoo from my hair. "Because you want to complete our bond, not because your heat is demanding it. Because you trust me to claim you properly when you're ready to receive it."
No one had ever told me that this was what bonding was supposed to be like. That my readiness was more important than an alpha's desire or my heat's demands.
"I do love you," I said quietly. "More than I thought I was capable of loving anyone."
"I know," Jonah said, beginning to rinse my body with clean water. "But right now, your heat is doing most of the talking. Iwant to claim you when Kit is making the choice, not when your biology is making demands."
The distinction was subtle but important. I could feel the difference now. The way my desperation was settling into something deeper, more intentional.
"You're very wise," I said playfully, leaning into his careful ministrations.
"I've had practice," Jonah said quietly. "Sarah taught me the difference between what someone needs and what they think they want. Sometimes the kindest thing an alpha can do is slow down."
The patience he was showing me, the willingness to deny his own obvious arousal in service of my actual wellbeing, was the most alpha thing I'd ever experienced.
"I think I'm ready now," I said after he'd finished rinsing me clean and my breathing had returned to normal. "Really ready. Not heat ready, but Kit ready."
Jonah studied my face carefully, looking for signs that I was still being driven by biology rather than choice.
"Tell me why," he said finally.
"Because I love you," I said simply. "Because I want to complete our pack bond. Because I trust you to claim me exactly the way I need to be claimed."
