Page 112 of A Nest of Maple & Mist

Jason sat in front of me, our Apex the picture of composure and comfort. He cupped my face, his thumb brushing the swell of my cheek. I leaned into the touch, floating on a cloud as they took care of me.

“Good girl,” Jason praised.

The corners of my eyes crinkled with the breadth of my smile. His hands disappeared beneath the surface of the water. Strong, callused fingers dug into the tight muscles on my calves, kneading the spot.

A dry rasp itched in my throat as I moaned, luxuriating in how good it felt to be taken care of by my pack. As Jason worked on a tender area near my butt, the last dredges of fog cleared.

A nagging sensation prickled in my fingertips.

My hand drifted upward, my fingers trembling as they searched the sensitive skin at the crook of my neck.

Smooth. Unbroken.

I shifted to the other side, feeling the scent gland there. Nothing. No raised skin, no scab, no nothing. Disappointment twisted in the recesses of my mind, slicing through me like a dull blade. I had no right to be upset.

Yet, I was.

Logically, I knew there was no bond. I didn’t sense any of them. But a vague memory from my heat played on repeat.

“Mia?”

Jason maneuvered me into his lap, more water splashing onto the tiled floor. Emotion churned in my stomach until bile burned in my mouth.

Eventually, I found the courage to look up and meet Jason’s patient gaze.

I held off as long as I could, knowing once I did, I’d fall apart. My emotions were a train wreck. My body was a disaster. And worst of all, my hormones had fluctuated between insanely happy and at peace to heart-wrenchingly destroyed in a matter of seconds.

Despite my best efforts, my lips wobbled.

My fingers tangled with each other under the water, twisting and tugging.

“You didn’t… Shane was going to, and you stopped him.”

Gently, Shane coaxed me to look at him with his hand on my neck. His expression softened, a touch of lingering guilt glimmering in his tired eyes. He reached out, tucking a damp strand of hair behind my ear.

“Love. There is nothing more we want than to bond you.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Sweetheart,” Ty murmured, burying his face in my shoulder.

“Mi. That’s not something we’d do without you agreeing to it. It needs to be a conversation.”

“But I asked for it,” I whispered, my small voice surprisingly indignant.

“That wasn’t you, baby girl. That was your omega. The heat is a powerful thing. It’s primal. It makes you crave things with an intensity that doesn’t always leave room for your mind to keep up with your body. We didn’t want to mark you like that. Not without you expressly telling us that’s what you wanted.”

He leaned in, pressing a lingering kiss to my forehead.

The tight coil of rejection in my chest slowly unraveled. While the disappointment still rooted itself low in my belly, at least I could reconcile it.

They didn’t reject me.

If anything, their restraint had been admirable.

“I understand.”

My head collapsed onto Ty’s shoulder. At that moment, Jason and Shane stood, water sluicing off their bodies, their cocks hanging between their legs. My eyes widened, remembering having all three of them multiple times.