Chapter 117

Selene

"Holy shit, Selene!" Makayla's voice jolts me from my warm, dreamless sleep, and I sit up, rubbing the haze from my eyes.

"Huh? I'm up," I groan, my voice rough with sleep.

Damn. How long was I out? And is what's-her-name gone?

I blink a few times to clear my vision, only to catch sight of Makayla's wide eyes and her mouth slightly agape as she takes in my surroundings. That's when I realize the nest of blankets and pillows is still very much intact around me.

My eyebrows pinch in confusion. "What's going on?"

She gestures down at the bedding, her eyes practically screaming "WTF." "You're about to give it away that you're pregnant. Look at the nest you've made!"

As she reaches down to touch it, a low, involuntary growl escapes from my lips. It's safe to say my wolf doesn't agree with her getting anywhere near our...well, whatever this is.

I slap a hand over my mouth, heat rushing to my cheeks. "Sorry, I don't know where that came from."

Makayla raises her hands, shaking her head with a small smile. "It's okay. Guess the motherly instincts are fully kicking in now. But you need to do something about this before Phoenix sees it...unless the nap you took changed your mind and you're ready to tell him."

I scramble to my feet, glancing nervously towards the door. "No, I'm still not ready."

Almost as if he was summoned by my thoughts, Phoenix appears in the doorway. His icy blue eyes are filled with concern as they drift towards me, then down to the scattered bedding on the floor.

"What's wrong, little wolf?" he asks, his voice low and gentle.

Everything. Everything is fucking wrong, but I can't exactly tell him that right now.

Not when I'm too afraid of his reaction.

A spike of guilt pricks my chest as I try to smooth over the mess around me. "I-I'm okay," I say quickly, unable to meet his eyes. But as he glances from me to the rumpled nest, his eyebrows pull together in confusion.

"Did you fall out of bed?" he asks, a hint of amusement coloring his words.

I force a laugh, but my voice shakes. "Uh, yeah...something like that."

Makayla joins in with some awkward laughter of her own. I shoot her a look that says, "shut up" because she's going to draw attention to herself and make him suspicious.

Phoenix arches a brow, clearly not convinced by my lie. He steps further into the room, his gaze drifting over the nest, then back at me, looking at me like he's trying hard to solve a puzzle. I just hope to Goddess he doesn't succeed.

Finally, a faint smirk tugs at the corner of his lips. "You're not usually the restless type, little wolf. You should've just told me if you needed me to go to sleep with you."

I shift on my feet, tugging at the edge of my shirt, trying to find the words to ease his worry without revealing anything. But before I can come up with anything, Makayla swoops in, wrapping an arm around my shoulder with a convincing grimace.

"You know, Phoenix, she doesn't need to be joined at the hip with you at all times. You're starting to look a stage-five clinger."

He scoffs, rolling his eyes at my best friend. "Like you can talk. How much are you away from Loki again. Hmm, almost never."

"Uhh, right now and I'm doing perfectly fine," she fires back.

He smirks. "Sure you are." He then reaches out to brush his thumb across my cheek, and I lean into his gentle touch, nearly purring at how good it feels.

Phoenix chuckles softly. "Look at my little wolf all needy, demanding my touch."

Before I get too lost in the warmth of him, Makayla clears her throat. "Selene, I really need to finish the conversation we were having. You know...about how to do the cowgirl position."

Phoenix's head snaps in her direction before flicking back to me, his eyebrows shooting up. "Is that why you fell out the bed?" he teases.

I laugh nervously, pretty sure my cheeks are as red as hers are right now. "It...caught me a little off guard, yeah. But hey, that's what best friends are for."

Phoenix hums, as if he's trying to decide if he believes us or not. Then, finally, he leans in, brushing his mouth against my ear as he whispers, "I might need a live demonstration of that later, okay?"

I shudder at the suggestion in his voice. "Okay," I whisper. But as much as his voice turns me on, my stomach still twists into knots. "Um, do you want to talk about what happened down there with Narissa?"

He nods, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his face. "Yeah, come down when you're done here. I'm going to start cooking dinner anyway."

He kisses me once, and I can still see the hint of worry in his eyes as he pulls back and turns to leave the room. Once he's gone, I let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Thanks for bailing me out," I tell Makayla, trying to calm my racing heart. "I almost fucked up."

Makayla raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "Uh, bestie, you're going to have to tell him and soon. He's not going to buy the 'fell out of the bed' excuse again."

I run a hand through my hair, nerves bubbling up again. "Fuck...I just can't do it. There was just this look on his face that said, "hey, I'm already stressed. Please don't bring a baby into our relationship."

Makayla stares at me for a minute, trying to decide if I'm being serious or not, before she bursts out laughing. "I'm sorry...but where did you even get that? I saw him confused because we were acting so fucking weird, but anything else about not wanting a baby? Nothing."

Okay, she might have a point there. But it's not like I imagined it. I'm almost sure I saw...something.

She glances at the bedding nest still sitting in place on the floor. "You think you can put those back on the bed now?"

I bite my lip, hesitant but nodding. "I-I think so."

As I start to gather the blankets and pillows back onto the bed, I can still feel the comfort of that small nest I made, a part of me not wanting to let it go. Makayla watches silently, her posture tense, as if she think I might lose it.

But I just focus on putting everything back in its place, piece by piece, trying to ignore every sense of safety and security inside me unraveling with it.