Page 30 of Verses and Blooms
It was as if he was taking me in for the first time, and he winced. “Okay, you’re right. You definitely should wash that off.”
I turned around to face Ledger, the alpha I knew had kept them all together, made sure Rydell wasn’t losing his mind completely, kept everyone safe, and led the search for me. I held my hand out to him.
“Join me?”
Ledger didn’t hesitate to put his hand in mine and follow me upstairs, a grin on his face. I glanced back long enough to tell Ares that I’d be down soon.
“You sure you want me to help you? I understand if you need space.”
He barely got the words out when I scoffed. “Space is the last thing I want right now. I’ve had space, and I’ve had plentyof time to think while I was locked in that cell and injected with heat meds. You guys were the only things that kept me from losing my mind. I knew I had to fight to get back to you, that I had to try whatever I could to make it out alive. I was prepared to fight.”
“You did fight.”
“Oh god, I killed a man, Ledger,” I admitted. Horror and disgust hit me right in the chest.
“You protected yourself,” he corrected me, “and don’t you ever doubt that for a second. Do you hear me, Wilding? That man had to die. Tell me you understand that.”
I took a shaky breath and nodded.
“In reality, I did know that,” I admitted quietly. “But he wanted to?—”
“I know, Wilding. But he didn’t get that chance. You made sure of it. In fact, he can’t hurt any other omegas ever again.”
I let out a long breath, realizing he was right. I had made sure that man couldn’t cause any more harm.
“You did good. You did what you had to do to survive, and you did survive.”
“Only because you came for me,” I admitted. “The fight was out of desperation, my body was spent.”
“I’ll always come for you. Hell, I nearly called my father. I was willing to risk it all for you.”
My eyes widened at his words. “You didn’t call him, did you?”
“Of course, not,” he said quickly. “Well, I shouldn’t say that. I was very fucking close. But Ares talked me out of it. Told me to trust him.”
“He sure likes to ask us to trust him,” I grumbled, but couldn’t stop the smile. It was nice knowing he had the calm control we all could use a little more of in our lives.
“I think that’s for good reason,” he said. “Look at all the resources he brought.”
“If he’s going to get everyone out of there, then I have to believe him.”
“He will,” Ledger agreed. “Now, how about that shower? I have a feeling Ares and the others won’t wait long for us.”
“They better, or they’re going to see more of you than they asked for,” I joked.
“I’m not worried about that. They better get used to it. If we’re going to go through a heat, they’re going to see a lot more than my bare ass.”
His words had a laugh bubbling out of me.
“Is it silly that I’m nervous about this heat? Like, I’m so excited, I want to spend this heat with you guys…”
“But you’ve also never had a heat,” he finished for me.
“Exactly.”
“Well, this is your chance to feel normal. To have a heat and the nest you deserve.”
“I do deserve it,” I said softly. “Though, I don’t really know what to do for a nest. I’ve never had a chance to think about it. I barely was allowed a blanket before here, and ARC doesn’t give omegas nesting supplies.”
