26. SASHA

Chapter twenty-six

SASHA

The next few days are absolute bliss, even with the heat spikes that Amiri and Kolsen ruthlessly fuck me through. However, they confine me to the house, telling me that my scent blasting through the club is just a little too overwhelming for Camila in public. It doesn't help that my temporary mark has her feeling nearly as needy as I am.

Well, it does help when I suddenly need to fuck something and Camila is laying on the couch ready for the taking. Amiri has been working from home to keep me sated but I need all of my mates. In one place. I've even started rearranging all the pillows and blankets in my nest, propping them up in multiple different ways until frustration overtakes me.

This is another part of my heats that I hate—the moments when I can't think straight. I'm not yelling for a night but I can't focus on anything either. Nothing truly important anyway .

The suppressants I've been on for far longer than I should have been aren't helping. The violent heat spikes, as fun as they are in the moment, leave me rendered useless for half the day either sleeping or eating whatever Camila hand-feeds me. I think she can tell that I'm not happy with this part of myself but I'm not voicing that shit aloud.

She's been sleeping beside me, anyway, Kolsen and Amiri taking turns holding her while the other holds me. It feels absolutely perfect but there's something missing. Camila isn't truly comfortable here. She says she is but I can see that that isn't the entire truth. I catch her pulling at the bracelet Amiri gave her now and then and find that dragging her back to my nest gives her the quiet she needs. Unfortunately, it doesn't last.

Yesterday morning, I figured out why.

Her art.

Camila has never mentioned what role her art took in her life but I suspect it gave her an out for all of her emotions and all the loud thoughts swirling through her head. It's why with a little help from my Alphas, I set up what I thought would be the most fantastic courting present for our Beta. She'll like it. She has to.

I roll over in my nest, confused to find it empty. Camila hardly ever leaves before I do, her scent lingering on my pillows. Sitting up, I survey the dimly lit room, Kolsen resting at the edge, gloriously naked. "Was wondering if you were going to sleep the entire night away. Our Beta is curled up in your other nest."

I don't like that. It might be the prettiest nest I've ever built just beside the patio with a view of the city life but Camila should be here. With me. With us.

Kolsen snorts. "Sasha, she needed sleep . You kept waking her up last night to fuck and she's tired. Ames made her tap out this morning and threw her into your other nest. If it makes you feel any better, Camila didn't want to leave." I crawl toward him for kisses, Kolsen playfully tugging at my collar to pull me closer. I straddle his lap, consumed by my Alpha. "By the way, I think everything is here."

I sit back, eyes wide. "Really?" He just chuckles as I scramble off his lap, tripping over a pair of pants as I struggle to get them on. There's no time to waste, though. In less than a day, I'll succumb to my heat and Camila needs this. I can feel it. With my pants barely on, I run across the hall into the second guest bedroom where my nest is perched against the farthest wall. It still holds the same black and reds, Camila tightly curled up by the window. The morning rays shine on her adorable face, her nose scrunched up as she twitches in her sleep. The little whimper that falls from her lips tells me she's not dreaming of me waking her up for another round or even my Alphas. As I get closer, I see her hands fisted into the blankets, her lips slightly parted as she cries out.

"Buttercup?" I ask softly, reaching for her. She shoots up, throwing a fist at my face and I stumble back, laughing at the force she put behind that. "Please tell me you thought I was Teo or your father because damn, you hit hard."

Camila sits there dazed for a moment before scrambling toward me. "Sasha, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to." She's cradling my face, peppering kisses all over my cheek. It'll bruise but I'm not mad at it.

"I know you didn't mean to, buttercup. Remind me never to get you angry. Come on, I have something to show you."

Her eyes narrow at my cheek. "We need to put ice on that."

"After. I promise. Pinky swear." My heat is already trying to rear its ugly head again but I just need like half an hour before that happens. Fifteen minutes even. Camila sticks out her bottom lip in the most adorable pout before pushing to her feet, only wearing Amiri's shirt. No doubt he carried her in here last night and dressed her. I wonder if he slept in here too. Lucky bastard.

I wrap an eager hand around her wrist and drag her down the hall to the bedroom she was supposed to stay in almost a week ago. As far as I know, she never actually slept in here. Everything has been pushed to one side to make room for the canvas I bought, one big enough to sit along the wall in Temple once it's finished. It took me a good few hours to find everything, including the paints she'd need. I went through several jars of red paint until I realized she mixes and makes the shade that I fell in love with.

So I bought all different kinds, hoping it would be enough.

Thank fuck we have enough money to do crazy shit like this.

Camila steps into the room, her hands perched against her belly, confusion riding her expression. "Sasha, I don't know what all this is."

"To paint! Reid asked during that lunch and I saw that look on your face. You miss it. Buttercup, I knew something was missing when I saw you start sketching. I got you this." I nibble on my bottom lip, waiting for her to say something but she doesn't. "I wanted to hang this in the club. Over that one awning where Kol fucked you. Goddess, I wished I had been there." I push her forward a little, pointing to the cans. "I even got the paints."

"You all see me so well. There's no space to paint in here and-"

I know Kolsen and Amiri have mentioned this a few times so I don't understand why Camila won't ask. Why she won't take. Why she won't seek out what she wants. Kolsen told me that he wants her to ask for what she wants but she hasn't. My heat has made it easier for her not to ask but both of them have made it clear that this is her space too. I'm only territorial over my nests. The rest of the house could be redecorated for all I care.

Camila hasn't touched any of it .

"This is your space too."

"I don't want to change any of it, Sasha. I really don't."

"But you need a space that's yours. A place you can escape to." I'm not sure how I didn't see it before, that while she finds solace in my space, sometimes she wants a place that's just hers. I vow to make sure she gets that, that this bedroom stays set up for her for as long as she needs it. "Done. Anything else?"

Camila shakes her head as she moves toward the canvas and then starts surveying the paint I bought. Kolsen has had to set most of it up but it's perfect. Or at least I hope it is. This half of the room is covered in a clear tarp to protect the floors but to be honest, I don't care about anything other than Camila creating her next masterpiece.

"I do need one thing," she whispers as she gestures for me to step up beside her. She pulls my hand and dips it into the black paint and presses it in the middle of the canvas. She's put me in the center of her art piece, my heart swelling with joy. However, she's my piece of sunshine and I need her to know that more than anything.

I pull her hand and dip it into the red paint that I mixed up yesterday and place it offset of mine. The shade is perfect. Camila hums her appreciation of it as she steps back and draws her hand to her face, thinking through how she wants to complete it. Her brows furrow and she frowns as her tongue darts out to lick her lips.

"Why does this taste like cherry?"

"I bought it from the shop I get most of our hardware. Nearly everything is edible. Seems like the paint is too."

The look Camila gives me is anything but innocent.