14. Zahria

fourteen

ZAHRIA

Watching Nala stare at the pillows and then slowly start pulling from the bottom of the pile has me slapping a hand over my face to hide my laughter. Her expression changed from confusion to absolute focus. None of us are able to grab her attention as she pulls what she wants and stumbles into the back room. The little growls of frustration and harumphs as she tears open new packaging reminds me of the woman I first fell for.

The woman who swung a pan at the face of her attacker—not just the woman trodden down by nightmares. We gather at the edge of the living room, each of us finding somewhere to sit as Nala figures out what she wants. I’m excited to see the final masterpiece and however it’s set up, I know I’ll love it.

“I’ve never seen someone start nesting. It always just is.” Bear murmurs, eyes wide as he watches Nala choose between a small pink pillow and a larger baby blue one. She stands there for several minutes, chewing on her bottom lip before she ultimately grabs them both.

As adorable as she is, there are important things to discuss before she needs all of us. “What did Isaias have to say about everything?” I keep my voice low, not wanting to disturb Nala or bring her into this conversation.

Montgomery just sighs, neither one of the brothers seemingly interested in rehashing the conversation from earlier. I glare at Xylo, daring him to refuse to answer. “Ria, he couldn’t give us much. Michael—” The Beta stops and looks over to see where Nala is but she’s not paying us any attention. “He was a deadbeat, a straggler. He was Kieran’s nightmare for decades. I’m not sure where in that time he started working for POCA or when he deviated. We don’t have much information and since Michael never talked…”

“We have nothing. Great.” I wanted a little more control before Nala’s heat. I wanted to know that we were safe here but that’ll probably be impossible. Not until those Alphas we’ve been watching are taken down. “So, we just wait?”

Xylo shakes his head. “One of my old friends invited me to a club opening in Canes Lake. I don’t have any of the details but it’s in a few days. We haven’t talked in years so I think it’s all connected. We keep an eye on those Alphas’ movements and see if we can’t connect the dots. Right now, though? We have to focus on Nala. I called Dr. Ashford and he had some interesting things to say.”

“Like what?” We all say in unison.

The Beta snorts, throwing up his hands. “Just that Nala’s heat is going to be unpredictable. She’s under a lot of stress so it could be anything from a few hours to a few days. She could need all of us or just one of us. Hell, it could be just the spikes and nothing else.”

“But she’s had heats before,” I offer. “Why would she not present the same?” It feels weird talking about Nala without her present but we need to make sure we’re all on the same page too.

Bear scoots closer, folding his legs into his lap. “Because the same stress factors are gone. Her body is trying to right itself which means whatever heat cycle she should be on, she probably hasn’t been. Isaias mentioned that Kieran’s first heat with them was really short and then he had flares later on. Whatever it is, we can handle it.”

I’m about to respond when the sudden burst of lavender fills the room followed by an agonized whine. That’s nothing like the spike she had in her apartment, nor the one this morning. I scramble to my feet and rush into Montgomery’s bedroom, staring at our beautiful Omega scrunched over, her arms tightened around her belly.

Pillows and blankets cover every bit of space in the corner of the room, an explosion of pink, yellow, and blue fluffiness and warmth staring back at me. Her hips are rocking back and forth, her ass parked in the air as she unknowingly presents herself to us. The others crowd around my back as I wait for her to direct us. As much as I want to strip her bare and give her everything she needs so that her sweet cries bounce around the room—her comfort and safety mean more than my desires.

It’s going to be hard holding back my instincts but for her, I’ll do anything.

I turn to the guys, clearing my throat to steal their attention before we all lose our heads. I’m not worried about them backing off if she needs space but we do need to prepare for being out of service for up to a week. “Bear, check the fridge and make sure we have enough ingredients for things to just pull out and eat. Don’t look at me like that. I know you put in an order for finger foods. Xylo, can you call her brother and let them know, especially Ren so he can log in her absence at work? Montgomery—”

“You’re a natural-born leader, Zahria. I’ll let my uncle know we’ll be out of commission for a bit. Go take care of our Omega before she gets mad at us for abandoning her.”

I laugh, waving them out of the room. “She won’t get mad at us.” That’s until I turn around and see Nala glaring at me with her bottom lip jutted out. A whine tears from her throat as she stands up on wobbly legs, grabs my hand, and then drags me into her nest. I didn’t have this version of Nala on my bingo card but I think I fucking love her.