Chapter 74

My room was done.

It seemed like a silly thing to be so excited about, but I’d always been someone who needed her own space. It was an Alpha thing—we called it denning, an instinct that harkened back to the old days of fighting for and protecting territory. Obviously we weren’t competing for the best caves anymore, but we still got comfort from having our dens.

I stood outside the door, jittering with nervous excitement as Jordan reached for the door knob. I hadn’t been part of the redecorating process, being a little busy with the whole saving-people thing, and this would be the first time I even knew what color the walls were.

Jordan took a deep breath and swung the door open, revealing her masterpiece.

My breath caught as I stepped into the transformed room. It was completely unrecognizable, a soft and soothing purple replacing the cream on the walls and gauzy curtains filtering sunlight through the windows. Everywhere I looked, there were moon flowers.

Moonflowers embroidered on the bottom of the curtains and edges of the pillow casings, moonflowers sculpted into the trim, moonflower vines painted around the doorways—they were in and on everything. Jordan had seen to every little detail, each tiny addition proof of her care for me.

their silvery petals seeming to glow in the soft light. Her eyes were drawn to a corner where a beautifully crafted crib stood, its wood matching the rest of the furniture perfectly.

"Jordan, it's... it's perfect," I whispered, tearing up as I looked around overwhelmed. There was a canopy over the bed, and a modest but stunning crystal chandelier hung in the center of the ceiling.

I took in every change, every detail as I slowly pivoted in place, my mouth open. These rooms were like the ones from the Victorian era, when people would take meals and entertain guests from their private chambers, and as I twirled in slow motion I saw Jordan had moved the sitting area to the other side of the room. Where it had originally been had been repurposed into, into—

I let out a short sob, hand instinctively moving to my belly. There, in a backdrop of curtains, sat a baby crib.

“Oh, Jordan…” I breathed, walking over as if magnetized to it. It was stunning, probably hand-carved, and the dark, shining wood begged to be touched. I reached out, stunned.

“You like it?” Jordan asked nervously. “I know you said you didn’t want to put the baby in a separate nursery right away, so I thought…”

“I love it,” I choked out, gently caressing the mobile that hung from the ceiling above it. It was a cascade of felt flowers. “I can’t believe you remembered.”

Jordan smiled, pleased and relieved and proud, and if I weren’t so busy taking stock of each beautiful addition I would have thrown us ingo a hug. My chest was so full.

A sharp intake of breath behind me made me turn, Elroy standing wide-eyed in the doorway. I felt a smile pull at my cheeks as I watched him look around just like I had—and still was, honestly. It felt like everywhere I turned I found something new to ogle over.

“This is incredible,” Elroy murmured before finally looking at me. “May I come in?”

I beamed at him giddily. It had skipped my mind that he should ask to enter, but it solidified this place as being truly mine. No one could come and go as they pleased, not even my Mate.

At my nod he took a few steps into the room, staring at the details Jordan had so carefully created. “This is…extraordinary,” he said with wonder.

“Jordan designed it,” I smiled. Jordan ducked her head, ears going red.

“Not alone,” she said. “A bunch of the Omega staff wanted to help. Liam carved the crib, Bella picked the paint… All I really did was put it all together.”

“Don’t downplay yourself,” Elroy praised, “this was a huge operation. Organizing everything must have been a huge task.”

“Thank you,” Jordan said, still blushing at the ground with a smile of her face. “I just…wanted Luna Olivia to know how much we care about her.”

“We,” I repeated to myself, mind still replaying one simple fact on repeat; A bunch of the Omega staff wanted to help. My pack members, people I had sworn to protect and care for, who were consistently denied decency at every turn—they had all done this for me? Spent their time, their skills, to make me this sanctuary?

I’d barely done anything in the grand scheme of things. Hell, I’d only been here two months. That my people would do this for me was…

Well, there were no words. All I could do to show my gratitude was walk over and pull Jordan into an embrace.

“I love it,” I said, voice shaking. “Thank you Jordan. Thank you.”

“This isn’t the Pearl Room anymore,” Elroy said. “From now on, this is the Lily Room.”

The Lily Room. A room made for me, filled with the flower that had become my symbol, and now it would be known as mine as it was passed down from Luna to Luna. It was physical proof of the mark I was making, the change I was able to bring.

I squeezed Jordan harder.

“Let’s stay in here tonight.”

I stepped out of the bathroom (which was, obviously, stunning), wringing my hair dry with a towel. Elroy was already there, sitting in the white armchair, and he looked up at me with a tender smile. My heart flipped.

“Ready for bed?” he asked softly.

“In a minute,” I said, stepping closer to him. “Look. I think my bump’s officially visible.”

Elroy’s smile widened as he put his hand on my stomach, his warmth seeping into me even through my pajamas. “Hello, pup,” he crooned, and I hadn’t thought I could fall more for him but clearly I’d been wrong.

I wasn’t sure why I said it in that moment, but it felt right so I let my thoughts fall from my mouth. "Elroy, I've been thinking about our contract."

His eyebrow quirked. "Oh? What about it?"

"Well," I began, my heart racing, "I was wondering if we could revisit some of the clauses. We put in some strict stipulations about how we’d interact with each other, and I just feel like we don’t need them anymore.”

I watched Elroy’s face eagerly, searching for a reaction, but Elroy’s face was surprisingly neutral. "Can you explain why?”

“Well, I just…feel like we’ve moved beyond that point, I suppose,” I said, unsure how to say what I meant without just blurting out that I’d fallen in love with him. I was pretty sure he felt the same, but now wasn’t the time for confessions. “I mean, I don’t feel like I need to hold ‘breach of contract’ over your head to get your respect.”

“Did you before?” Elroy asked, brows pinching.

“No,” I assured quickly, “but I didn’t know that when we wrote up the contract. We put a bunch of stuff in there that’s really just basic decency and I feel like we’ve evolved past needing a punishment system for things like that.”

It was true. According to our contract, if Elroy tried to touch me when I didn’t want it or fail to get me medical aid or something else serious like that, he forfeited his rights to our baby. I could walk away none the worse for wear if he ever did something horrific.

I knew now that I wouldn’t be walking away.

"Well, you’re right about that,” Elroy said, gaze flicking to the clock on the nearest nightstand. “Still, let’s leave it as it is for now, okay? It’s important to have a safety net, even if we never need it.”

I felt my hopes deflate. I just…wanted our relationship to be a little less ‘contract’ and a little more ‘caring.’ I sank back into the chaise, trying to hide my disappointment.

“Of course. You're right. It was just a thought."

As Elroy changed the subject, telling me to go dry my hair so I didn’t sleep on a wet pillow, and I clung to that. The contract didn’t make him give a damn about how well I slept, so that was proof that the contract meant nothing at this point.

I couldn't lie though, it hurt me to be rejected like that. It was like he was saying he was fine with the way things were, how stiff and formal it all was, but then I reasoned that it only looked that way on paper.

We were growing closer every day, and that wasn't changing just because of some words on parchment.

Right?