When She Needs Them Most
: Chapter 9

My skin is sweaty, and despite being cold since I got here, I’m sweltering when I wake up. Sky’s furry nose dances around in my hair, and her paw digs into my lower back. She’s a cuddler of the highest order, and it’s adorable. I’ve always loved dogs. My mom worked too many hours for us to have one when I was growing up, and I’ve only lived in apartments since reaching adulthood. But I’ve always imagined I’d get a Lab or a golden retriever one day.

When I open my eyes, Kase’s curly brown hair fills my view. It takes seconds of blinking to determine he’s the little spoon. My nose is buried in his neck from behind, and I’ve got an arm tossed over his chest. His butt rests against my thighs, and it’s a cozy moment.

Kase was on top of the blanket when I fell asleep, but he must have relocated. His nutty, blueberry scent is everywhere. It makes my insides all warm and melty. It’s been so long since I’ve snuggled with anyone that I almost don’t know what to do with myself. He’s a very considerate guy, but alpha instincts push for them to comfort distraught omegas, and I can’t help but worry I’m taking advantage of his kindness.

Sky’s head pops up, and her muzzle comes to rest on my arm. I follow her line of sight, and my teeth dig into my lower lip as I spot Lincoln standing in the doorway.

His long brown hair falls over his forehead as his head tilts, but it’s the way his blue eyes glimmer that gives him a mischievous energy. A lazy smile crosses his face as he uncrosses his arms, swaggering across the room, like he’s in no rush.

Sky stands up, shaking out her coat. It makes the mattress wobble, then bounce when she jumps off the bed.

Kase grunts and grumbles something under his breath that I can’t quite understand. He grabs my hand, pulling me tighter around his back as he snuggles closer.

My lips roll together, and I try to hold back the laugh that wants to escape. He’s adorable for being like six-foot-three, with muscles and a multitude of tattoos.

Lincoln pats Sky and kneels at the edge of the bed. He stretches over Kase and brushes his fingers over my cheek. “It looks like I missed out on the cuddle pile.” He chuckles softly. “But I did get your washer and dryer hooked up.”

“Thank you,” I whisper to avoid waking Kase.

“I called Mrs. Wilson. She’ll be handling the repair bill for the furnace, and she reimbursed us for the few things we picked up to make the house livable.” He smiles, tucking my hair behind my ear. “Arden is still over there, wrapping up a few final touches, but we aren’t kicking you out. If you’d like to stay tonight, you’re more than welcome to. That way, you don’t have to worry about being without heat.”

It’s tempting, but it feels like if I don’t learn to stand on my own two feet, I’ll be in even worse shape when Luna arrives.

“No pressure. You can judge for yourself once you see how cold it gets tonight,” he says, like he can read the answer on my face.

“Thank you, Lincoln.”

“Call me Linc. All my friends do.” He winks and stands.

That means I actually have to crawl out of this comfortable bed and go to my house.

The worst part of it all will be leaving Kase’s nutty, blueberry scent. These alphas spoiled me over the last twenty-four hours, and my instincts don’t want to go back to real life.

Arden is more commanding than his other two packmates. There’s something about his energy that makes it hard to imagine going against his wishes. It’s that whole dominant alpha, submissive omega thing. The dominance in his gaze makes keeping eye contact complicated, let alone having to tell the man no.

“You still have no heat,” he says, frowning. He’s wearing a white button-down with the sleeves rolled up. His forearms are crazy muscular, and I can’t force myself to look away as he crosses them over his chest. “The guest room is available. You should consider staying another night. We haven’t even had the chance to put up the curtains yet.”

“I appreciate it so much, but I think I’ve stretched the limits of your generosity far enough,” I say, noting someone even made my bed.

Arden’s forehead wrinkles. “No, truly, you haven’t.”

I smile, shaking my head. They’re going to make some woman very happy one day. If I didn’t have quite so much baggage, I may have tried to see if they were interested in courting, but my life is about to change in a big way. There’s no way to tell how long it’ll take for me to get back to feeling like my old self—if I ever will.

They say motherhood changes a person. It’s impossible to anticipate how crazy life will be once Luna makes her entrance into the world. It’s coming up so fast that I haven’t even had the chance to freak out about not having a birthing partner.

“I understand your need to get settled in,” Arden says, drawing me out of my thoughts. “There’s still way too much to be done for you to tackle it all on your own. How about you save the heavy boxes for us to help with tomorrow?”

“Thank you.” I give him a grateful smile. “I’m not too proud to admit there are some things I don’t have a hope of being able to tote up the stairs.”

“Am I wrong in noting that you don’t have a crib?” he asks, prowling closer. There’s nothing particularly dangerous about the question, but something in his energy makes me take a step back.

My backside bumps the dresser, and he comes to a stop directly in front of me. “I was going to buy one, but then I decided to hold off because it would just be one more thing to pack and move.”

“That makes perfect sense.” He stands so close, but he doesn’t touch me. My neck cranes up until I can meet his eyes. “Promise me something?”

I nod without consciously thinking through the action.

“Don’t attempt to carry any of the furniture in yourself, and don’t pay for an expensive service to assemble it. Allow us to help you with that when the time comes.” His dark eyes rake over my face, and his hand comes to rest on my hip.

Damn, he’s close.

The way his scent floods my nose doesn’t help my brain stay clear. The urge to melt into him, to wiggle around and search out where that electric scent of his is strongest, comes out of nowhere.

“It’s strange, scenting your normal smell mixed with Kase’s,” he murmurs. His eyes darken, and for a second, I almost think he’s going to dip his head to brush his lips over mine. My heart races as his head tilts. His fingers tease over my side. It’s such an intimate moment, at least for me, that I feel my face fall when he takes an abrupt step back. “If you change your mind, or even wish to come over for dinner, don’t hesitate to call.” His jaw clenches. “Do you have your phone? I’d like to give you our contact info. That way, you’ll have them in case of an emergency. It also might not hurt for you to leave your spare key with us, so you’ll never truly be locked out, even if you misplace your keys.”

Well, I totally misread that situation.

My face burns as I nod. “Yeah, I left my phone out on the counter. You can keep the spare key. Lincoln has it from when you went to the store earlier.” Spinning around, I escape to grab my phone.

The faster we get this over with, the more swiftly he’ll leave. Then I can crawl into a hole and lament how totally off base I was. I don’t know why I’m even upset. It’s got to be the pregnancy hormones throwing my system all out of whack.