would have it removed from my apartment. The box it arrived in had to be around somewhere?
“Come on, babe,” he said, wading into the nest. “Time to get cleaned up.”
I growled at him, clutching the pillow I’d been sleeping on to my chest. Ethan’s scent saturated it. I felt physically sick at the thought of Ryker taking it away.
He was beside me while I was still coming to grips with my reaction. As he pulled me into his chest, hoarse gut-wrenching sobs tore from deep inside. That I was overreacting was apparent to me, although it didn’t lessen the feeling one bit.
I tried to beat him away, not that it did me any good. He purred, taking my smaller body under his, half smothering me, and obliterating my fight.
I cried.
I didn’t know I had this many tears in me. But I cried until I was utterly exhausted. By the time I was done with my wailing, there was no more fight left. He carried me from the nest into the bathroom, where he filled the giant tub. He climbed in with me in his arms and cleaned me with a thoroughness that I had learned long ago was part of Ryker’s make up. I sat before Ryker, my back to his front, hair squeaky clean, and skin soft and glowing from his thorough attention. My mind turned contemplative as my body relaxed in the cooling water.
Ethan let me shower alone. Ryker liked to get involved with my cleaning and did not take no for an answer.
“Why do you like to clean me?” I asked. “And feed me?”
Ethan fed me sometimes too, but not as much as Ryker. I frowned. Why had I never noticed that this intimate attention was Ryker’s way of bonding?
“I just do,” he said, brushing wet hair back from my forehead and planting a kiss against the skin. “I used to do these things because my therapist said I should. She threatened to take my Controller status away unless I could convince her I knew all about the non-fucking side of Omega care. It makes you very focused when someone threatens to take your fun away,” he said seriously.
I giggled because I’d heard all about Abby since I’d met Ryker. When she finally resolved whatever was happening between her and her two Deltas, I’d like to meet her.
“I didn’t have to think about what I was supposed to do after I met you.” Those earnestly spoken words coming from a rarely serious man settled a heaviness behind my eyes, and all too soon, more tears spilled.
I was a mess.
“Please, don’t cry, Lilly. I fucking hate it when you cry. Makes me want to fuck things up. In this case, Ethan. And we both know he’s a big bastard, and that doesn’t end very well.”
I snorted out a giggle, but it turned to a shiver as his finger brushed over the little patch of skin where he would take my blood when I flushed. They didn’t need to take my blood as much anymore. Occasions when I felt stress were rare, other than in a sexual context where arousal might make it rise. “I had your blood inside me five minutes after we met.” His voice had dipped, fingers tracing over my collarbone and bringing a little rise to my heart rate. “Are you flushing, Lilly?” he whispered close to my ear. “Do you need me to take your blood?”
His lips trailed down the side of my throat, and that quickly, I could feel my body rise.
The water sloshed as I turned. I pressed urgent kisses to his face, over his jawline, and across his chest. He stilled my franticness because this was Ryker, and he never did what you expected him to or what I wanted. Instead, I was taken to the dining area, where he insisted I eat something. Then we returned to the nest, and the filthy bedding was replaced.
He hovered the whole time I made it, which I did not appreciate. It had taken me weeks to make the last one. How was I supposed to make another with him watching me like this?
Eventually, tiredness won, and I decided it was good enough.
It was then that he gave me a t-shirt that Ethan had worn for the nest. I burst into tears. “Get out!” I even went so far as to try and shut the doors.
“Not happening, babe.”
I railed at him like a mad-woman. Scratched and screeched and told him I didn’t want him