Chapter Sixteen

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

NOW PLAYING: YOU Put A Spell On Me- Austin Giorgio

Yesterday was a shit show.

We are all on edge after learning anti-pack and anti-designation groups are now targeting our shows. While their demonstration last night was relatively peaceful, there is no guarantee every stop we make will be as calm. The closer we get to anti-designation territory, the more likely these protests are to turn violent.

A thought weighing heavily on all of our shoulders. Which is why I’m taking control of our plans for the day! My mates and our girl need a nice day of relaxation before we begin our journey to the Southern states.

A knock at the door pulls my attention away from the checklist I’m making on my phone. I jump to answer it, shooing away Titan when he meets me there. Two of our security staff stand outside with an armful of bags. Half from a local chain department store and the rest from a beauty supply store.

“What exactly are you up to?” Nebula asks. He’s eyeing the bags curiously, but I block his view. He has to wait just like everyone else.

“You’ll find out in a little bit when Omen gets here.”

I grab as many of the bags as I can and carry them to the bedroom. No one is in here right now so it’s the perfect space to sort through everything. After grabbing the rest, I carefully dump them out onto the sheets and start arranging everything into piles. Face masks, hair masks, foot scrubs, everything we could need for an at-home spa night.

My heart races in anticipation when I hear another knock at the door an hour later. She’s here–my dream girl. I can’t wait to soothe all the tension from her muscles and spoil her silly!

Leaving the bedroom door mostly shut, I step into the small sitting room of our suite where my other mates are waiting. I wave them off as I jog to the door and swing it open. Hints of Omen’s sunflower and honeysuckle scent has my cock already at half-mast. So sweet and light, it makes me want to devour her.

“Hey,” she greets quietly when I usher her inside. My girl’s still a little unsure of herself around us, and that’s okay. We have all the time in the world to help her see we’d love her unquestionably–if she lets us.

“Gorgeous, you look absolutely ravishing.” I close the door and press a kiss on her cheek, taking a deep inhale of her scent. My eyes roll back at the strength of the floral notes, but I remind myself to behave. ‘Omen isn’t ready for an orgy’ has become my new mantra.

“Thank you.” The words are whispered. Her red cheeks hidden behind a curtain of her hair. She looks even more tempting like this.

“So!” I have to distract myself before I do something to make her uncomfortable. Like kiss the shit out of her. “We can all agree yesterday sucked. We’re stressed out and that’s not going to do us any good this early in the tour. Worry not, sweet girl, I have the perfect solution!”

Her icy blue eyes follow me across the room, filled with apprehension and a touch of curiosity. My hand is on the door when the doubt starts to creep in. I’d spent the last hour lost in getting things ready for tonight. I didn’t have time to stop and consider how she’d react to my plans.

She’s going to hate it.

Alphas aren’t supposed to be planning self-care nights with fifteen different face masks and a dozen colors of nail polish to choose from. They pay for spa days for their omegas, they don’t participate.

A hand rests on my shoulder, gripping tight. Callisto’s light woodsy scent helps to calm my raging thoughts. He softly mutters an offer to help me while sending reassurances down our bond.

Sucking in a deep breath, I keep a bright smile pasted on my face when I swing the door open and step inside to grab the baskets I made. “Ta-da!”

I turn around with the black storage box I’d picked out for her. The outside is covered in gray moths and fossils. Very dark academia which seems to be my gorgeous girl’s preferred aesthetic. The lid is open with a fluffy black robe carefully tied to the top with black ribbon. The bottom is filled with all of the various products I chose for her.

Hopefully, I got her skin type right.

“Oh…wow.” her voice is choked. The blush has drained from her cheeks leaving her pale.

Fuck, I’ve messed it up. Maybe I should have chosen a different box. Or ordered wine and chocolates instead. Or–

“I’m sorry, it’s all wonderful. It’s–This is… a lot. I’m not used to…” She trails off looking even more unsure of herself.

Regret pulses through my heart seeing her so uncertain. I should have checked in to make sure this was okay. I got so wrapped up in the idea of pampering her–of pampering us all–the thought never crossed my mind. Maybe I should let Nebula and Titan take the lead with courting gifts from now on.

“What part makes you uncomfortable? The money he spent or the gift itself?” Titan asks from his spot on the couch. His dark eyes study our girl with an understanding that evades me.

Omen shifts on her feet, not taking her eyes off the floor. “Both?” Her answer sounds more like another question. I’m glad Tee is taking the lead here. He wasn’t comfortable receiving gifts when we’d first met either. His family never doted on each other, only giving small gifts for birthdays and Christmas.

“Getting used to being spoiled takes time. I struggled at the beginning of our relationship too, so I can relate to how you’re feeling. The sense of inadequacy.” Omen finally glances up from the floor to meet Titan’s eyes. A sheen of tears covers her eyes, making me feel even shittier. “Tonight, we are all going to be pampered. Self-care is important to Nexus. It’s one of the ways he shows his love. Which is why he has four other boxes in the bedroom for each of us.”

“Okay,” Omen whispers. She takes a deep, shaky breath and scrubs a hand over her face, uncaring about smudging her makeup.

“As for the money, you can buy dinner later when we all decide we’re starving. Does that work for you, darlin’?”

Watching her perk back up, I swoon a little for my massive alpha mate. He knew what to say to help calm her down. I send love down the thread of our bond, thanking him for helping to salvage my moment of epic failure.

Callisto and Nebula grab the rest of our boxes from the bed while I stand awkwardly beside Omen. My mind is an awful place sometimes; too many voices from my past trying to remind me of how unworthy I am to be here with this omega.

I startle when soft fingers slide over mine as Omen grabs her box and slides it onto the chair beside her. She wraps herself around me burying her face against my chest.

“I’m sorry for freaking out,” she whispers.

“You don’t have to apologize. I should–”

“No! Please don’t,” she rushes out. “Planning all of this was very sweet. I adore that you put so much effort into something for me, I just struggle with receiving gifts and affection. It’s something I’m working on. Or trying to at least since I obviously haven’t gotten very far.”

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. If my thoughtlessness were to ruin what we’ve been building…” I blow out a sigh and press my cheek to the top of her head. The faint scent of her vanilla shampoo reaches my nose and blends with her floral scent into something even sweeter. Like a soothing herbal tea. “Tell me if I ever go too far.”

“I can do that,” she promises. Pulling back, she offers me a small smile when she looks up. The shy look sends my already racing heart into a frenzied beat. Damn, do I want to kiss her.

“So, what did you have planned for us tonight?” Squeezing her tight once, I take her hand and guide her to the chair, making sure it is angled to face the TV.

“Well, a little songbird mentioned you wanted to binge watch First Glance Pack.” Glancing at Cal, I smirk watching his cheeks blossom in the most adorable shade of pink. “While we watch, we can pamper ourselves with face masks and mani-pedis. If you want to. If not–”

“I do. It sounds perfect, Nex.”

Nebula gets the TV geared up to play the first season of the reality show my beta mate is obsessed with while I grab drinks and snacks. We all settle into our seats with our self-care boxes in reach and start the show.

I laugh when Nebula holds up the animal print face masks in his box asking Omen which she thinks he should use. With a hand on her chin, she studies all three of them seriously before choosing the pink flamingo. Her eyes are alight with laughter as she watches him carefully place the mask onto his skin.

“How does it look?” he asks, placing a hand beneath his chin to showcase his face. Omen giggles through her approval, her shoulders relaxing more and more the longer we sit and relax together.

Maybe tonight won’t be an epic failure after all. We just had to go over a few road bumps to get here.

The show plays unwatched in the background, our attention on the game of fifty questions Omen started a few minutes ago. Her feet are propped on my lap so I can paint her toes a deep purple. The smile on her face eases my lingering guilt over surprising her. My girl needed a night of pampering and relaxation, exactly like I thought.

“What about you? Do you have any siblings?” Callisto asks after he finishes telling her about his younger brother Jackson and their life growing up together while their parents worked.

Omen freezes, her eyes distant. Something I’ve noticed happens any time someone asks a question about her family or childhood. I get the feeling she doesn’t have many happy memories from growing up. Which makes me sad. And angry at her family. Who could ever treat such a gorgeous, incredible person like anything but the princess she deserves to be?

“I do,” she finally answers. “Both older. I’m the baby.” Her lips twist in a sad smile.

“You can be my baby,” I flirt. She playfully rolls her eyes, like I’d hoped. I hate seeing my gorgeous girl look so sad.

“What about you Nexus? You seem like you were the youngest too.”

“He sure is,” Titan jumps in. “Three older sisters and a big brother. All of whom make it well known he’s the baby in their family. They spoil him rotten whenever we go home to visit. I was surprised they let him wipe his own ass the first time I met them.”

Pressing a hand to my chest, I gasp in mock irritation. “They aren’t that bad!”

“Grace nearly broke her ankle running to get you a drink when you said you were thirsty,” Tee points out.

“That’s what being the youngest is all about, right gorgeous?” I glance at Omen who looks uncomfortable again. Shit.

“My sister spoiled me a little bit,” she finally supplies, her eyes focused where she’s examining her freshly painted fingernails. “She’d sneak me chocolates and little cakes from the kitchen sometimes.”

It takes every ounce of strength for me to keep myself from frowning. If her idea of being spoiled is her sister sneaking sweets from the kitchen, I can understand why my girl isn’t used to receiving big gifts like the box of pamper products.

“My big sister always spoiled me too,” Nebula tells her. “She also always blamed me whenever she made a big mess. I was put in time out so many times because of her.”

“That’s my brother,” Omen laughs. “He always blamed me whenever he knew he would get in trouble. He didn’t want to get punished for getting into things. Like when he got a hickey from some girl at school and tried to use our mother’s makeup to cover it up. The powder he used was broken all over the floor and her vanity. I don’t know why he tried to pin the mess on me when he still had cover-up caked to the edge of his shirt.”

The smile falls from her face as if the memory attached to the story hurts her in some way. The more I learn about my girl, the more I realize how much she hides behind the mask she uses. One day I hope I can break it open and see the gorgeous girl I know is hiding behind it.

“Ready for the next question?” Callisto asks, distracting her. “First concert?”

“Candy Courage!” she cheers.

“The show we opened for them?” Nebula questions.

“Nope, I saw them two years earlier when they toured. I don’t know if you’ve caught onto her obsession, but Bea is a hardcore Candy Courage fan girl. She got tickets for their show for her birthday and we went together. Their show is where I discovered my love for concert photography. And when Bea decided she wanted to work in the music industry.”

“Zale and the girls are certainly inspirational,” Cal murmurs softly.

“Did you guys grow close when you toured with them last year?”

“They’re besties with a capital B,” I quip. “Zale helps Cally Boy when he gets stuck writing a new song.”

Omen beams at the two of us, whispering her thanks when I point out her painted toes. She goes to move her feet off my lap but I wrap my palm around the top of her foot and hold them there. I don’t want to lose this contact with her yet.

Digging my fingers into the bottom of her foot, I work out all of the tension from the muscles there, smirking when she groans in appreciation. Her head falls back against the back of the couch and I take the opportunity to adjust myself without her eyes on me. My other mates absolutely notice, not that they can say shit since I can feel the threads of arousal in all of their bonds too.

“You guys didn’t answer,” she breathes, peeking one eye open to look at the four of us. Finding all of our gazes riveted to her, she flushes the sweetest shade of pink.

“We all grew up in or around Nashville, so music was everywhere,” Nebula explains. He tells her about the concert Elizabeth dragged him to when he was seventeen. A super popular female country artist. She even made them wear matching bright pink cowboy hats.

“She sounds amazing.” Omen sits up a little more, nudging her other foot against my hand. I shoot her a grin as I switch feet, glad she’s getting more comfortable asking for what she wants from us. Even if it isn’t with words yet.

“She was,” Neb replies. His voice is full of the sadness still suffocating him since her passing. My poor alpha still hasn’t found a way to manage his grief. He buries it until it overflows, bubbling up and forcing him to break down. “She died a few years ago.”

“Oh, Nebula,” Omen breathes. “I’m so sorry.”

Nebula reaches over and grips her hand in his for a few seconds. The lost look in his eyes seems to fade a little more with the contact. Once more, I’m reminded of how perfect my girl is for all of us. She’s the sunshine we didn’t know was hiding behind our cloudy skies. Warm and bright, bringing light to all of the dark places in our minds and hearts.

I’m going to keep her. No matter what I have to do to convince her, she’s mine. Maybe I should lick her so she knows it too.

Letting the impulsive thought take hold, I lean down and drag my tongue across her knee. She squeals and sits up to gape at me.

“What the fuck, Nex,” Nebula sighs. He’s used to my antics so he probably already knows exactly where my thoughts were. I don’t answer any of them, I just smile and keep massaging Omen’s feet.