“Confirmed. I’ll wait for your message.”
Odelm released Xylo’s arm and withdrew his mental strand. He walked over to the couch and carefully pulled back the blanket. Selena groaned, and he paused until she settled again, then carefully picked her up in his arms. He unwound his tentacles from his torso and secured her with them before turning back to the other two males.
Xylo nodded and led the way to the exit.
Odelm followed at a cautious pace, afraid of waking Selena. Xylo held the door open, waiting for Odelm to exit. He passed through the doorway, careful not to bump her and heard Xylo wish Kaede a good night. Odelm was almost halfway to their suite before Xylo caught up with him.
They entered their bedroom in silence, afraid of waking Selena. Xylo rushed ahead to the nestbed, pulling back the silver blanket in the center. Odelm carefully and reverently climbed the nestbed’s stairs and knelt on the center mattress, his emotions high at the significance of the moment.
His nestqueen.
He never thought he would be able to say that again.
He unwrapped his tentacles and slid his arms from beneath Selena. Xylo covered her tenderly with the blanket, then took off his wristband and set it on the nestbed table, staring at her all the while. Odelm followed his lead.
A mental brush caressed his mental shields once again, and Odelm accepted Xylo’s teal mental strand.
“Even though you have not given her your bonding spores, I believe it would be beneficial if we formed our own connection—like the unbonded males and close nestbrothers do. It will help in moments like this when we need to communicate and do not want to wake Selena. We can keep a strand loosely connected to one another and our shields will incorporate it, like they do with our bond-strand to Selena. It will not have the strength of the deep bonded connection to Selena, but any connection is better than none. I think it worth the loss of privacy if it helps us protect Selena and our clan.”
Odelm looked up from Selena’s peaceful face to Xylo and met his gaze. He agreed though he knew it was a big decision. Allowing anyone, other than your nestqueen, to roam the shallow parts of your mind freely was a sacrifice of privacy. Though it could also create a special bond of friendship. How had he gone from being alone, to being blessed by the Fates with a second chance for a nestqueen to now being blessed with a nestbrother who wanted to form an intimate connection?
He was overwhelmed with gratitude.
Odelm sent his strand to Xylo, who accepted it right away. Xylo sent his own strand back to Odelm, and together, they willed the connection. He felt a jolt as their strands fused together to form one thicker strand, pale green and teal entwined.
Thoughts and emotions flowed from Xylo—contentment at the new connection, traces of thoughts about what he needed to study tomorrow—and Odelm was able to pick them up easily through the new nestbrother strand that linked them. Each of their personal golden nestqueen strands to Selena remained unchanged.
Odelm sighed with happiness.
“If you turn the lights off and lower the curtains, I will grab you a blanket.”
Odelm nodded in agreement.
When Xylo returned, he handed Odelm a silver blanket before lying down next to Selena.
Odelm stood there, awkwardly, examining the glowing bioluminescent patterns on Xylo’s body before he covered himself with his blanket.
When had Selena offered Xylo the center spot? He stared at all the empty spots in Selena’s gigantic nestbed and wondered which he should take.
“Lie on the other side of her. There is plenty of room and no other nestbrothers to worry about. If she has a problem with it, she will say so in the morning, but I believe she would want you there, just as she wants me here. It was difficult for me to fathom at first too.”
Odelm was about to nod and settle beside Selena when his gaze fell on the glowing white bite mark on Xylo’s neck. Selena? He glanced at her and saw that her white spots also glowed.
“Result of our coupling. I will explain tomorrow if needed. For now, go to bed. It is pretty late.”
Nodding again, Odelm gingerly lay down next to Selena, using his tentacles to pull the blanket up. He shifted to lie on his side, facing Selena, tracing her glowing white spots with his eyes.
He could feel his mind relaxing as his eyes grew heavy. It had been a long and eventful day.
“Thank you for everything,” he whispered to his new clan as sleep claimed him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight Selena
Sounds of deep breathing woke me.
Opening my eyes, I tried to piece together how I’d gotten here. The last thing I remembered was Kaede asking me about names for my cubs while I relaxed on his couch.
Yet here I was, snuggled up against Xylo’s side with my head resting on the blanket over his chest and my arm thrown over him. Lifting my head to peek, I saw none of his vines wrapped around my blanket—as I had every other morning. Instead, there were three violet tentacles in their place. And underneath my blanket, I felt another wrapped around my ribcage, beneath my breasts. Its cool, rubbery weight felt amazing, offsetting the warmth around me. I became hyperaware of the tentacle rubbing against my skin, each small movement sliding slickly against the underside of my breasts, making me shiver.
Odelm must have felt my movement in his sleep because he turned, pressing against my back as he wrapped his arm around me. His hand slid down to caress my pregnant belly through the blanket. His slow, heavy breaths on the back of my neck confirmed he was still asleep.
I laid as still as possible and let my mind wander, enjoying the quiet moment of solitude.
It was hard to believe only a few days ago I’d
