Page 26 of Where There's Smoke
The scene in front of me could only be described as chaos. Fluffy, cozy,comfortablechaos.
Melody’s bed—previouslymybed—was covered in a variety of fabrics and pillows. I was a pretty simple man, happy with a pillow and a sheet when I was going to bed in my usual spot. So, where the hell had all this fluffy shit come from? It was a mystery to me, except for the fact that one of the shirts in the pile looked familiar.
Had she…?
Curled up in a bowl of soft supplies, in the middle of the mountain of blankets, was Melody.
Lying with her knees almost to her chin, she was clutching what looked likea fewT-shirts to her chest, her eyes scrunched closed as she slept. Though I was tempted to wake her up and ask her what the hell had happened, I wanted to leave her to her rest. She looked so peaceful in her nest.
Wait. Oh, shit.
She wasnesting.
I turned to leave, even though, deep down, I wanted to stay, to watch her sleep peacefully. But that was ridiculous, and I wasn’t looking to start a potentiallyextremelyawkward conversation with her.
Nesting meant there was a good chance she was going into heat. If she was still denying she was an omega, we were in for a problem. I gripped the handle to leave, turning it slowly so it didn’t creak when she stirred, her eyes opening as she looked at me blearily.
“Melody?” I asked cautiously.
“Elliot?” She mirrored my curious tone.
Well, I supposed it was too late to avoid the conversation now. Better to rip off the Band-Aid.
“What happened here?” I asked, my voice surprisingly gentle. Even though she’d raided half the firehouse to get these materials, I couldn't help this soft feeling in my chest. Which annoyed me to no end.
She sat up, chewing on her lip, and glanced over at the small playpen next to the bed, where the puppy was still happily snoozing.
“It wasn’t comfortable…” she admitted in a small, confused voice as she looked around at the mess of fabric around her.
“So you built a nest?” I asked, trying to soften the words a bit.
Her eyes widened, and she started shaking her head. “No! It’s not a nest!” Melody insisted, climbing out of bed and crossing her arms. The impact of the movement was somewhat lessened when she reached out and rearranged one of the pillows to make that perfect little rounded shape that she had nested in.
Her eyes filled with tears. “I…I can’t describe it. One minute, I was trying to sleep, and the next, it was like nothing I could do would make this bed comfortable. It needed to be arranged in a very specific way, otherwise the entire world would end. It’s stupid, I know.”
“It’s not,” I said, shaking my head in disagreement. In fact, what she was saying sounded very normal—for an omega.
My eyes drifted over her little nest. I did my best to ignore the small burst of pride at the sight of it. Why was I proud of her forbuilding a nest? It wasn't like she wasmyomega. And the nest most certainly wasn’t for us.
I quickly closed off that line of thought. The last thing I needed was to imagine what she and I would do in that nest together if we were a pair…or a pack.
I didn’t need a hard-on making the whole situation even more uncomfortable.
“Is…is that my shirt?” I asked. There were a few gray LADFD T-shirts in the nest. While attempting to be subtle, I inhaled deeply, and several familiar scents registered.
The nest smelled like my pack.
Andonlylike my pack.
There was no hint of any other firefighters at Station Seventeen. Why had she picked out our shirts in particular, and how had she even known they were ours?
A small wail left Melody’s lips, and her eyes filled with tears.
As a firefighter, I was used to crying women. They were practically part of the job. I often met people on the worst day of their lives. This was different, though. In my day job, I had a level of detachment that helped protect me—all firefighters were that way. We cared, but we couldn’t caretoomuch.
But Melody… Ihatedadmitting it to myself, but what I was feeling was way more than professional courtesy or empathy.
She was so strong, full of bite, but soft and sweet to the core. The urge to protect her was overpowering, like it had been the first time I saw her. As much as I was annoyed as hell about it, I doubted that feeling was going anywhere anytime soon. Melody had managed to worm her way under my skin.
