Chapter 203
“Push.” I called out and I felt the sofa shift. “We almost have it.” I heard a groan, and then we were through the doorway. “Ugh,” I moaned. “Finally.”
“Why did you have to change the fucking furniture?” Toya groaned as she placed the new piece down in my bare living room.
I collapsed onto the last piece of the huge sectional we just moved in. I could feel the need to nest itching at my skin, and I didn’t know why. “Has your nesting ever kicked in?” I turned to face her where she had sunk into the overly plush, dark grey fabric my wolf craved as soon as she saw it in the store.
I turned my mind inward and called out to my wolves…but other than the random needs she sends my way, Nix has been MIA since Rowan left, and Megan has stayed away too.
Hello? I called out, but nothing. I miss you both. I hoped I could see them, but I understood; she needed her space. I just wanted them to know how much I missed them.
I was so absorbed with my wolves that when Toya finally answered me, I was surprised. “No, but I have never had a reason to nest.”
“Wait, what?” I rolled onto my side and stared at her.
She smiled but shook her head. “I want you to understand this is just my mother’s rambling and has in no way been proven even a little bit.” She faced me and waited until I nodded before she continued. “My mom, in her travels, has studied the nesting habits of the she-wolves of all the packs. And she noticed something, or so she said. The she-wolves of unranked and low-ranked wolves only nested when they were actually pregnant, leaving the rest of the time to focus on their lives and roles in the pack. Gammas and Betas nest when they first move in with their mates, and then again when they are pregnant. But Alphas, well… we nest when we meet our mates the first time, when we have sex for the first time, when we finish the mating ritual, when we are pregnant—pretty much any excuse with our mates makes us nest.” Toya rolled her eyes. “A little overkill, but that was her theory.”
“What if we hadn’t met our mates yet?” Or decided to reject them? But I kept that thought to myself.
Toya lifted her shoulder. “I guess it depends. Alpha females have the intense need to nest. Our entire drive is to take care of our packs, our families, our men, and our pups.”
I felt my stomach drop. “I have no pack under my care. My family is broken. I have no pups, and no man…”
“Maybe your wolf is acting this way because she is unsteady. You have nothing and no one to watch over. So the first sign of getting one of her desires threw her nesting into overdrive?” Toya looked at me and I could feel my cheeks redden. “Look.” She grabbed my hand. “I know things are weird between you and the King, and you might not be mates…are you mates?” She stared at me for a moment, but then moved on. “Whatever. But with your parents being away and your pack in hiding, you’re too young for pups. Maybe, just maybe, that when things became so intense with the King, and us forming this group, your wolf’s nesting kicked in.”
“This group?” I looked at her. “You mean the girls?” Toya nodded.
“You feel responsible for us, don’t you? I know I feel responsible for everyone.” Toya smiled.
I thought about it for a minute, but I knew she was right. “I do. I think that’s why I started the training.”
Toya nodded. “I had something I wanted to talk to you about, and I promise we will swing back around, but I don’t want to forget about this.”
I pushed up on the cushions and turned to her. “What’s up?”
Chapter 203
“Thora…” Toya started, and I had to think for a moment. “She was there the first day in the café?” She prompted further.
“Right…” I thought about the brunette. “She was the girl that came over from Nina’s camp. But I haven’t seen or heard from her in a minute.” I scratched behind my ear. “What’s up with her?”
Toya nodded. “That’s her. She wants to know why we pushed her out. She wants to train with us.”
No. Megan’s voice startled me.
Megan? Where have you and Nix been?
I can’t talk, Amy. Just listen to me when I say that Nix and I feel the same on Thora. The answer is no. Then she was gone again.
Toya was staring at me, and I realized I had gone quiet. “No.” I would listen to my wolves. “My wolf doesn’t feel a connection to her, and I don’t trust her.”