Chapter 35 - Comfortable

COVYN

When the lunch rush downstairs ended we filed down to the kitchen to eat ourselves. This firmly ended any of our fanciful conversations with Nova and Sequoia, but allowed them both a break from talking as we told them our own crazy stories. Nova insisted on cooking, jokingly saying how it would take any of us twice as long just looking for things, but she was right. She started pulling out ingredients to make a chicken noodle soup with garlic bread, and like before Spencer put on her music for her.

Sequoia started to purr happily on the stool beside me. ’I wonder how he knew she neededsomething.’Her thoughts came through to me like a mindlink in my wolf form and I had forgotten she could do that, but as I looked around it didn’t seem like she had spoken to anyone else.‘I can’t read your mind. Incase you were wondering. This works the same way as your mind link because I am pushing my thoughts to you. You would need to be able to do the same to respond. That’s how me and Nova talk all the time.’

I hadn’t even thought to ask that. My mind flashed back to her, another life ago, presenting Sequoia to me and telling me how I would trust their opinions equally. If my memory was serving me, Nova had gone as far as to tell Sequoia to talk to me and I had cut her off.

Sequoia’s ears perked up and she turned to Nova who was looking at her sternly and I realized now that they were communicating without speaking through this shared skill. Sequoia put her head down on the stool, resting it over her paws and her ears slumped downward. Her purrs were more quiet now and her tailed curled up around her delicately. I couldn’t stand to see her pout, even if it was adorable, and rest the heal of my hand on the chair beside her to gently pet her fur. She pushed back against my hand and her tail started moving in slow flicks over the edge of the chair.

I looked up to Nova who was looking at me carefully. ’She outed me that we can speak without speaking, didn’t she?’She demanded.

I laughed at her expression which she took as an affirmative. Nova scoffed and rolled her eyes, returning to her peeling and shopping as Daley talked about a crazy party she had been to. I was glad Nova never asked why Daley stopped the modelling, or why she had moved to our pack when her pack had been of higher social standing. It was doubtful that Spencer had thought to fill her in on such a backstory, which meant that she could somehow sense that Daley’s stories held a touch of torment.

Her old pack had been great on the surface, but she suffered a lot of abuse. Her bold curves had garnished her public recognition, but her alpha had wanted her to work for him like an Omega. Sure that she would fail, he let a modelling company take her under their wing and promote her. They had only been on his pack grounds for a day when they spotted her cleaning the alpha’s house, and he had felt obligated to say yes when he had his own deal to procure from them. From then she had to go to any call, show, shoot, trip, event, whatever that the company called her for at the drop of a hat, but when she returned the alpha made it clear she belonged to him.

When her and Ellion met, she was sure he would see and sense what she had been through and not want her. He hadn’t been like Spencer, ready to leave with her if I said no. He told me she was coming back to our pack and that if her alpha came looking for her that he would be taking us to war. I heard the small crumb of a question in his words, sure of his convictions but respecting me enough that he feared I might attack him for his boldness. He had nothing to worry about, I agreed then as easily as I did with Spencer and Nova, even after knowing what she would bring here.

I had been surprised to find that I didn’t feel that obvious answer when they arrived, the one I felt in other situations because there was no way I would have acted any other way before. Apparently, even if I didn’t know about the risk to Spencer and the Dragons I would have questioned letting Nova come. Despite not changing my mind and telling them to stay, I couldn’t think of a good reason to have denied her, which left a crumb of worry with me.

Nova gave us our food and sat beside Spencer, eating it far hotter than any of us would dare. She hummed into the bite and her skin looked to darken slightly, like it warmed her so fully it believe there was sun.

Ambrose noticed too and place a hand in a chastising manner on her head. “Careful Angel, you’re slipping.”

She groaned. “I’ve never slipped before, and now it seems to happen all the time-“ She glanced at Sequoia, “-don’t patronize me, I realize changing my hair from pink was stupid. I had meant to go back, but the thing with the library distracted me and I was in the medical bay before I remembered.”

’It’s because she feels so comfortable around him,’ Sequoia giggled through the link to me.‘She hasn’t let herself be comfortable outside of being at home alone with me before. You all play a part in that too. You’ll see.’

I hadn’t realized I was staring into space, lost in thoughts of how she hadn’t been this comfortable before when Nova spoke again.

“Covyn? Are you alright?”

My heart constricted at her concern, but it wasn’t so bad this time. I felt like the pain had gotten better ever since she discovered the truth and didn’t change how she acted with me. I hadn’t turned to her when she spoke, thinking more inside myself as I tried to understand what I was feeling and thinking about our situation.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and a small paw on my knee, and I looked down to continue petting Sequoia as I replied. “Yea, no, yea. I’m good, I was just thinking about the day you burned your hand, and how it could have gone differently.”

She recognized my meaning immediately and gave me a hug, speaking to me in my mind.’ Even though you didn’t help me leave before Ambrose found out everything, my offer stands. I’m glad for the ability to finally tell people my secrets, and until the timeline catches up I’m the only one you could tell.’

I pat her back awkwardly as she hugged me, far tighter than I would have let her hug another man if she was my mate, but Spencer just smirked out, “I won’t fight you for hugging her back. I don’t control Nova, and I know her well enough to know she will give out hugs as she feels they’re needed..- but I amneverto hug another woman.”

I felt her face clench into a smile at my shoulder and she released me. “Damn right.”

We chuckled and finished our lunch. Nova was pretty covered in her layers of warm clothes but it was decided to not have her around the others much for a few days since she had last been seen with many injuries, which fortunately hadn’t included any on her face. From my history with Spencer and Ellion, and our similar training, we all knew what needed to happen to keep her safe, and that she wasn’t going to like it.I doubted any nearly immortal being wanted to be told they needed a babysitter when their first one was Fate herself.