Page 72 of Stream Heat
“Does this feel temporary to you?” he asked, voice soft. “This nest? The way we’ve all bent over backward to make sure you’re okay? You don’t build something like this for just ‘business.’ Not even for content.”
I couldn’t speak. I just listened.
“For me, it stopped being business a long time ago,” Reid continued. “Maybe before I even met you in person. You remember that first stream? That’s when it changed for me.”
Saying it out loud made everything real.
He was right.
I’d been pretending. Hiding behind old habits, old fears. Maybe that was why the shame and the hope both hurt so much.
“I’m scared,” I admitted, my voice breaking. “Of being vulnerable. Of what happens if I let myself care and then you all just... leave.”
He reached out, palm up, not quite touching. “That’s not an Omega thing, Kara. That’s a people thing. And you don’t have to figure it out alone. That’s what packs are for.”
Before I could answer, Theo shoved the door open with zero subtlety. “Sorry to break up whatever serious convo this is, but we have a situation.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
Reid sighed, clearly annoyed at the interruption. "What kind of situation?"
"The hovering, sign-holding kind," Theo said cryptically.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Kara
Reid backed away from me and turned toward Theo frowning. “What?”
“Your fan club showed up.” Theo was grinning, unbothered, as he glanced at me. “Apparently someone posted a clip from your heat crash, and now half the Omega streaming community is camped out on the lawn. They’ve got care packages. Bubble tea. Thai food. I think one of them crocheted you a little plushie. It might even be of Reid, I can’t really tell.”
If embarrassment could kill, I’d have died right then. “You’re messing with me.”
“Not even a little,” Theo said. “There are snacks. They look really good, actually.” He vanished.
Reid hesitated, glancing at me, then at the door. “I should check on that.”
“Go,” I said, still reeling. “I need to shower anyway.”
He nodded, but at the door, he paused. “For what it’s worth? None of us care how messy this gets. We just want you to let us have your back.”
When he and Theo left, I sat there for a long time, surrounded by my embarrassing, undeniable nest. I reached forone of the hoodies, tugged it closer, and breathed in the Alpha scent. I thought about Malik’s cushion, about Theo’s flannel, about the little things I’d collected from each of them. None of it was about biology, when I got down to it. It was about who they were, and how they’d treated me, and the fact that for the first time, I wanted to belong, not because I had to, but because with them, it felt right.
The thought didn’t make me feel weak. It made me feel, oddly, like things could get better.
There was no guarantee. My body was still a dumpster fire. My future might suck. But for the first time, I could actually picture something beyond medical emergencies and old shame. A future where I didn’t have to be alone with the hard stuff. Where I could be Kara Quinn, all of me, not just what I’d trained myself to show.
After a hot shower, I drifted downstairs, mostly because I wanted to see whether Theo was lying about the “fan club.” I found Malik at the stove, stirring something that smelled amazing. Ash and Jace were glued to their laptops at the island. They all looked up when they noticed me, like they weren’t sure how to act now that I was vertical again.
“Hey.” I hovered in the doorway, still on edge. “Is the crowd really outside?”
“Theo and Reid are talking to them,” Malik said. “They’re fine.”
“How are you feeling?” Jace asked, not quite looking at me.
“Better.” I edged into the kitchen. “Mostly wishing I could die of embarrassment.”
“Don’t,” Jace replied, deadpan. “It was a health issue. It’s over.”
It meant more than I’d expected, the way he just... dismissed the drama. Like none of them were holding it against me.
