Page 119 of Dream Girl
“Evan, wait,” he called.
I turned around. “Don’t you see,we’re literally doing to her what Caroline did to me.She can’t go home, Brennan. Wes and I aren’t going to give her up, so we’re going to have to figure this out. Quick.”
“So she says. We don’t even know who she actually is.” He made a face.
“Stop being a knothead. I’m done with this. She’s getting cold.” I started walking again.
She snuggled into me. “Mmmm.”
Relief flooded my chest. I’d done something right. I could be enough for her.
“We’re going to Wes, okay?” I whispered to her.
“You’re going to choose her over me?” Brennan’s voice flickered between anger and heartbreak.
“I shouldn’t have to choose,” I snapped. Tears pricked my eyes, and I went into Wes’ suite, closing the door.
Wes met me in the doorway to his room, worry on his face and pouring through the bond. “Just saw your texts.”
“We need you.” I crushed myself into his arms, Grace between us. Desperation flooded me. I needed to feel complete and loved.
“I’m right here. Spiral, like what you did?” His voice went gravely as he held us to him.
“Yeah, I got her temperature up, but we need you.” I trembled a little, with need, longing, and desperation. I needed him to soothe my nerves, to reassure me.
“You’ve got me.Always.”He began to purr, filling the room with calming pheromones as the scent of fresh laundry overpowered me, turning every inch of me into jelly, as I melted into him.
“Umpf,” Grace muttered. “Mmmm.”
Those were good noises.
“Bed, both of you.” Wes pushed us into his room and onto the bed, smothering us with his body as he threw lots of blankets over us.
Death by alpha smooshes?Yes please.
His chest was up against me, rumbling with his purr, the anxiety and panic I’d felt before floating away until I was content.
Safe. Warm. Loved.
“What happened?” he whispered, his hands running up and down my back, him still practically on top of Grace and me, shielding us with his body, protecting us, loving us.
“I woke up and Grace wasn’t here. I found her asleepunderher bed, with only Mr. Hippo. She’d had a seizure, a little one–and was showing all the signs of a spiral. I… I took her with me into my nest and got her warm, and kept her safe, until…” My chest shook.
Fucking Brennan. He could have fixed everything so easily. He was right there, holding my hand. All he had to do was snuggle us, purr for us, maybe tell her he was sorry. It would have fixed so much.
Instead, he made it worse.
“I’m sorry I didn’t wake up or hear my phone,” Wes apologized. “Why did you go to your room? Curious.”
“It’s an omega issue, and I figured that’s what she needed. Me and a nice safe space,” I confessed. It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time.
“Then it was the right move. I can’t think of anyone who’d know better than you what to do in a situation like this.” He kissed me. “Thank you. Thank you for taking such good care of her, for loving her. You give her things I can’t, and I’m so grateful for that. I… I wonder why she left the bed?”
“I don’t know. But she didn’t just fall asleep under her bed. First, she disassembled her nest and sanitized everything in her room. We fucked up, Wes. We fucked up so badly. You alphas don’t even understand what we’ve done to her,” I sobbed. We were the worst. This was the worst. She’d erased herself because ofus.
“None of this is your fault,” he soothed, stroking my back as he purred.
“It’s Bren’s–and yours for not shutting his bullshit down before we ever brought her home.” Angry tears streamed down my face. I felt awful that she’d had to go through this for us to notice what she truly needed.
