Page 66 of Verses and Blooms
He rolled his eyes. “That was until they messed with my mate.”
“Aren’t we supposed to be convincing the world that we’re all sane here?” Ares said, stepping out from behind a row of plants that had been hiding him.
“You guys know we’re bonded, right?” I said with a laugh. “I can feel you all here, watching me. Just come out and sit with us.”
Caspian chuckled as he stepped out. “We were trying to give our omega some privacy, then you guys started having a serious conversation before we could move. I didn’t want to interrupt that, either.”
“Can we just establish that there’s no wrong way to handle pack life?” I said. “You guys can interrupt if you need to. Being close isn’t an interruption. Iwantyou close. If I need space, I’ll tell you.”
“And you’ll take that space while being careful,” Ledger said firmly. “I’m not losing you again.”
“I will,” I agreed.
Every single one of them nodded in agreement.
“You guys are insufferable,” I complained, but it was only half-hearted. The idea of being away from them had anxiety welling up in my chest.
I was sure our therapist would say something about being codependent, but trauma bonding was real, and in our case, unavoidable.
“Come on, let’s get back to our wing,” Ares said. “You guys need to sleep. Tomorrow starts therapy with your new therapist and getting back into the ARC routine, which means early wake-ups.”
“I can’t wait to sleep in every day when we have our own place,” I yawned, already tired.
Kane’s tea helped, but my body still felt like it was in recovery mode.
After everyone showered and changed into comfortable clothes for the night, we headed for the nest Ansel and I rebuilt instead of the bedrooms.
It might have been a tight squeeze, but with the warm lights twinkling overhead and the comfortable mattress beneath us, I was cozy and comfortable.
One by one, my pack fell asleep, soft snores filling the air.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t close my eyes for long before a feeling of unease started to creep back in.
We’d met Larissa, but we had yet to meet our therapist or the new doctors. I didn’t exactly have a good track record with those, except for Ares. We all knew damn well he should’ve never stayed our therapist once he realized we were a pack, but we had no other choice. He did the best he could, given the circumstances.
No matter how pretty they made this building look, we’d seen the darker sides of ARC too many times to believe it. We’d had to fight through medication changes, cruel staff, sedation, and isolation.
Cross was still here, but so was David. It was as if the two versions of ARC were warring and I couldn’t make peace with it.
“Can’t sleep?” Caspian’s soft voice startled me enough to make me jump.
He chuckled quietly before crawling over Kane and wedging himself beside me. Kane shifted in his sleep, rolling over and snuggling into Rydell’s back.
I almost wished I had a phone to snap a picture. My pack was adorable sometimes.
“I’m just freaking out a bit about the staff changes, I guess,” I admitted. “It goes deeper than that, but it feels like every time we’ve taken a step forward, we’ve been shoved violently backward. I just don’t want to feel like that anymore. It would be nice to feel like we’re heading in the right direction for once. I know Ares says to trust him, but… trust is hard.”
“I’ve been feeling the same way,” Caspian admitted. “I know I’m close to seeing my little girl, but so much has happened over the last several years that it’s not like I can just pick up where I left off.”
“No,” I agreed softly. “You can’t. You’rebothdifferent now. But that doesn’t mean you can’t heal together and start down a new path.”
“I want you on that path, Audrey,” he said, his hand resting on my cheek as I looked up at him.
His blond hair fell over my arm so he was all I could see. I loved him so much my chest ached and I could feel how deep his own feelings went as they echoed back to me.
“Having a kid means I’m asking more of you, but I want you and Lilly in my life. I want all of us in her life.”
“We are going to love that little girl to pieces,” I promised him. “Every single one of us. Our pack is alike in a lot of ways, and in others, so different. Imagine Lilly and Rydell in the kitchen baking cookies around Christmas time, or us having to stop Ledger from fighting off every boy that looks her way when she’s older.”
