17. Ella

Chapter 17

Ella

“ W hat is it? Why are you being so cryptic, Brody?”

My voice is laced with sarcasm as Brody covers my eyes, guiding me up the basement stairs.

I’ve been asleep all afternoon. At one point, he left me to have tea with Alastor upstairs; I only know because I reached across the nest to find coldness where his body once was, waking up in a blind panic.

But then to my relief, I soon found his spectacled face grinning down at me, and he did not look creepy at all.

Nor suspicious.

They’re hiding something from me, and I will get to the bottom of it.

“Not far now…” Brody singsongs behind me, but then I stumble up the stairs, hitting my shin.

“Oh, God, Ella, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just don’t understand why I can’t walk myself up. Why do you have to cover my eyes?”

“I promise, it will be worth it.”

Well, now I’m nervous.

Have they finished my nest? It couldn’t be. Kellen was still drilling and cursing the last time I checked, and it’s been days since I’ve seen the redheaded Alpha.

He's getting sawdust everywhere.

Theo is barely in the house, always at work these days. However, Brody always disappears for an hour after the Alpha returns home, and something is going on between those two.

As usual, Theo’s ozone scent lingers all over him, and it always smells of shame and regret.

So, they obviously haven’t made up yet.

My list is getting bigger by the day. There are many ways I want Theo to make it up to me, but in the end, I scratched most of them off.

There is something I want him to do, yet not alone.

I want him and the whole pack to work together.

It's time Pack Titan became a team again.

Finally, we reach the top of the basement stairs, and I hear the creak of the door.

Brody snorts behind me in excitement, and he really can’t help himself.

He couldn’t keep a secret for long.

“Not long to go now, Ella. Soon…”

“All right,” I concede, letting him walk me into the living room, and it’s funny how well I know the house now, even with my eyes closed.

Brody knows when I open them; he feels my eyelashes brush against his fingers, so I may as well just play this out.

I soon sense Alastor’s eyes, and a shiver goes down my spine.

He always has a way of dissecting me with that green gaze, as if he can see right through me.

However, his aren’t the only eyes I feel at that moment, and then I pick up on a strange scent.

A sweet scent, with a trace of vanilla and sunshine.

“Are we there yet?”

“Almost.”

Finally, Brody plops me down on the couch and now Alastor’s thick boots scuff closer. That sunshine and vanilla scent grows stronger.

“Ready, doll?”

“Yes…"

Why do I feel like this is some cruel trick? They will throw a bucket of ice-cold water over me or something.

I know they wouldn’t. Out of the whole pack, I trust Brody and Alastor the most, especially Brody.

So, why am I nervous?

“Brace yourself for cuteness overload, Ella.”

Cuteness? Why?

Finally, Alastor lowers the thing that smells like vanilla and sunshine onto my lap, and that’s when I finally hear it.

The purring.

Brody removes his hands, and now I meet the big blue eyes of a tiny brown and cream kitten at last.

It mews, and I cover my mouth.

It can’t be…

A real-life cat. And it’s not inside the tiny screen of a phone this time.

“Oh my…”

Brody loses his cool at last. “I know! He’s fucking adorable. I knew Alastor would pull through. You did good, Alpha.”

Alastor offers him a smug smile, and I look at him surprised. “Wait… you got the cat?”

His grin widens. “That I did, doll.”

My mind spins and I have no idea what comes over me. I scoop up the kitten and breathe in that vanilla and sunshine scent, and I start to cry.

I’m so weepy lately, and I have no idea what is coming over me.

Usually, my mood is stabby, but for some reason, I have started to become more emotional.

It all started from the moment Alastor found me in the underground, and I knew that Brody still wanted me.

“So, does this mean I win?”

Brody and I look at Alastor confused.

“What?” the Omega says.

He directs his thumb at the cat. “Kellen may be skilled when it comes to nest construction, but I’m skilled in the cute and fluffy department.”

I slump my shoulders. I should have known. While I love my new kitten, I should have realized that this was just Alastor trying to one-up Kellen.

And honestly, he’s winning.

I mean, it’s a cat that smells of sunshine. Nothing can beat that.

Especially as he starts kneading his claws onto my lap, curling up to fall asleep, and he’s so precious.

Brody sighs. “I told you not to turn it into a competition, Alastor.”

Alastor just chuckles evilly, and it’s hard to think that this sinister Alpha has a soft spot for kittens.

The same Alpha who once gave me a knife and has now given me a soft bundle of fur, and I’m not sure how to take it.

The juxtaposition of the two is just a little jarring.

Brody sighs, petting the kitten beneath the chin, and his tiny engine grows louder.

“Whatever. We will talk again later. Now, we have a kitten to play with. Any names yet?”

The Omega glances at me.

My mind draws a blank. Damn. Not one.

“I have a name.”

We look at Alastor.

He points at himself. “Alastor, of course.”

Brody scoffs. “We’re not naming the cat after you, asshole. It’s Ella’s choice, anyway. You don’t have to pick now.”

Thank God. Because I just don’t know right now. I’m still reeling over getting a cat.

I haven’t seen one since I was a child, and the puma I killed in the woods doesn’t count.

Alastor passes Brody a baby blue collar, and it’s so small. When he fastens it around the cat’s neck, I can barely contain myself.

I burst out crying. “So cute.”

The collar has a little bell, and now we will all be able to hear him coming from a mile away.

Brody lifts the cat in his arms, and he’s so super chill.

We play with him now.

Brody procures a little laser gun, and now the cat chases the little red light around the house, his little bell tinkling the whole time.

A distant bell rings off in my own head in memory, but I push it aside and focus on my new furry friend.

The warden tried to train me to kill with a bell once, just like he did with all the other Rogues, but I was too strong for his lame hypnotism, and he knew it.

Hence why he deemed me the most dangerous.

Kellen appears sometime later, and the Alpha freezes up when he sees the cat.

Then he growls like a dog and Brody scoops up the cat. “What? You never seen a cat before, Kellen?”

The Alpha knocks out of it, puffing out his chest as he says, “The nest is ready.”

My heart pounds.

A nest and a cat on the same day. I really am moving on up in the world.

I look at Brody and he smiles, taking my hand.

“Well, let’s go, Ella. Your new nest awaits.”

I’m not so sure how to feel. I fuss with my hands, then run them down my leggings.

Shit. Things just got real.

Brody leads me up the stairs. Kellen and Alastor follow behind— Alastor even brings the cat.

This is it.

I am finally a real Omega.

A real Omega with a nest.