Page 84 of The Other Omega

It wasn’t long before all five men appeared in the doorway.

They’d changed since dinner. Their uniforms were gone, replaced by plain shirts and dark trousers, and their damp hair told me they’d already showered. Without their weapons, coats and all the silver bits on their uniforms, I’d expected them to look a little less intimidating.

They didn’t.

If anything, the casual clothes made it much easier to notice exactly how big all five of them were. And although I needed this mating to work, looking at them made me realise I really wanted it to work too.

“I’ve finished.”

Their attention moved from me to the nest around me.

Leon looked over the blankets, cushions, half-drawn canopy and soft lights glowing beneath it. “It’s beautiful, sweetheart.”

I couldn’t help smiling. “I think so too.”

Lucien studied everything with the same serious concentration he seemed to give almost everything else. By the time his eyes came back to me, I was weirdly desperate for his approval.

“You’ve done beautifully,” he said.

That pleased me far more than it should have, and the slight change in his eyes made me think he knew it too.

I climbed out of the nest and stepped aside, expecting them to come in, but none did. It took me a second to realise they were waiting for me to invite them.

These men could probably walk into almost any room in this realm, and nobody would dare stop them, yet they wouldn’t take one step into my bedroom without permission.

“Come in.”

Alaric entered first, and the others followed, but they’d taken only a few steps toward the nest before something inside me went, No.

“Wait.”

All five stopped.

I stared at them, trying to figure out what was bothering me. They were clean. I knew they were clean. I could scent clean skin and unscented clean clothes, but they had done something, sat somewhere, because a foreign scent clung to their clothing: smoke and alcohol? I couldn’t stand the thought of any of that ending up in my nest.

“You need to shower.” I looked at their wet hair, then down at their clothes. “Again. And… those aren’t coming into the nest.”

Heat climbed into my face as soon as the words left my mouth.

I barely knew these men, and here I was ordering all five of them to strip and shower again. Unfortunately, being embarrassed didn’t make me feel any less strongly about it.

“You can wear clean towels, but they stay outside.”

Alaric inclined his head. “Understood.”

“Thank you.”

His gaze stayed on mine. “There’s no need to thank me for making you comfortable, Omega.”

I shivered at his words, then watched, almost enthralled, as all five of them left to shower again. I climbed back into the nest and pulled a blanket over my legs while I waited. My heart was already beating faster by the time I invited them in again.

They came back and stood before me, forming the hottest lineup I’ve ever seen. Wet hair, clean skin, taut muscles, and towels wrapped around their waists.

Oh.

Alaric was the biggest, taller and broader than the others, with dark hair scattered across his chest. Caius was almost as big, with vicious scars covering most of his body. Lucien was leaner and incredibly toned, while Leon had beautiful golden skin and a broad, defined build. And Darius… He was all taut muscle and protruding veins, everywhere.

All five of them were watching me too, so I lifted my chin and let them see that I was definitely interested.