Page 32 of Omega's Bears

Chapter Nineteen

When I wake up, I’msuffused with a feeling of happiness and well-being, but it takes a few minutes to remember why. The fact is that I’ve just been so happy in general lately that, for a moment, my current bliss almost doesn’t stand out. It’s not unusual for me to wake up feeling content.

But then, the memories flood back in. The realization I came to this morning. I’m going to be a mother. Our clan is going to have a litter. My heart soars and I sit up slowly, carefully, afraid I’m going to dislodge something, even though I know, with certainty, that that isn’t how this works. My body is so much more precious today. I can’t believe that, just yesterday, I rode a motorcycle on the highway. All I want to do now, until these babies are born, is lie still and keep them safe. It’s the only thing that matters.

“How are you feeling?” a soft voice asks.

I turn. Luka is sitting behind me, stoking the fire, watching me with his usual concerned gaze. I look around the room for the others, but Luka is the only one here. He must have come back alone to check on me. For a moment, I’m actually glad I was sick this morning—usually, finding ourselves alone in the den would be an opportunity for me and Luka to have sex, but I know he won’t pursue that while he’s not sure if I’m feeling well, and I feel as if I should abstain until I’ve told everyone that I’m pregnant. I’m not sure why, exactly, except that I don’t want to get into another situation where we don’t all have the information we need. It was so uncomfortable when the men weren’t aware that they’d all imprinted. Better to begin this new journey with all the cards on the table.

And for the same reason, I decide I’m not going to tell Luka anything until the others get back. I want to tell them all at once. It should be something we share together as a family. If I tell Luka first, the others will always remember that he was the first one to know. I don’t know if that will bother them or not—learning that they’d all imprinted didn’t bother them, I was surprised on that one—but I know that if the shoe was on the other foot, I would be hurt if someone else received this information before I did. I would wonder why. And I don’t want Jack and Ryan to have to live with that question.

So, I keep things deliberately vague with Luka for now. “I’m feeling a lot better,” I tell him. “I think it was a temporary thing. Honestly, I’d be outside right now if Jack hadn’t given an order. We all worried too much.”

Relief breaks over his face. “I’m so glad to hear it,” he says. “I have to admit, I was concerned about you.”

I laugh. “I could tell.”

“Well, you don’t have to laugh!” But he’s laughing too, so I know he isn’t angry. “It was alarming, Cami! We didn’t know what was wrong. You’d have been worried too, if it had been one of us.”

“I suppose you’re right,” I concede.

“Are you hungry?” he asks. “I was thinking about making some stew.”

“Stew sounds amazing.” And impressive, given our usual non-diverse store of ingredients. He isn’t going to make fruit stew. The meat will work well, I know, and so will the mushrooms, but what else is he going to put in the cookpot? I scoot closer to the fire. Luka is the most impressive chef among our clan, but even he’s going to be hard pressed to make stew out of what’s available.

But he takes me by surprise. Reaching into his backpack, he begins removing ingredients. Fresh vegetables with tags that indicate that they came from a grocery store. A can of beef stock. Bundled herbs. Even a brand new knife, the blade shiny silver, clean and never before used. He arranges everything before him, then pulls out a can opener and removes the lid from the beef stock.

I stare. “Luka, where did all this stuff come from?” It’s almost a rhetorical question. I can see where it came from. Luka went shopping. But I’m stunned all the same. I have never seen the Hell’s Bears go shopping. I’ve never even seen them in a store....

My thoughts skid to a halt. I have seen them in a store. Once. When they were robbing it. My mind flashes back to the convenience store, to the frightened face of the clerk and the easy way Jack threatened him with violence. I look back up at Luka, who’s still wearing his gentle smile. Was he just out threatening someone, stealing from someone, so that we could have herbs to make stew?

“Luka,” I say again, my voice shaking, “where did this come from?”

The smile fades from his face. “Cami, what is it?”

“You stole these things,” I whisper, certain I’m right.

“I paid,” he contradicts me, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a receipt. He passes it over. I scan it, only half seeing. There’s the list of every item laid out in front of me, and sure enough, a total at the bottom. He did pay. I breathe easier.

But only for a moment. Then the obvious dots connect in my mind. “Where did you get the money?”

He sighs. “Cami....”

“Give me your bag.” I feel like I’m going to faint, or maybe vomit again.

He looks wary. “I didn’t buy anything else.”

“The bag, Luka.”

There must be some kind of unexpected force in my voice, because he hands it over. I feel around inside for more items of questionable origin. He just told me himself that he didn’t buy anything else, so if there’s anything here that shouldn’t be, I’ll know it wasn’t paid for.

But when I pull my hand out, the only thing I’ve found is a bundle of bills, secured by a rubber band.

I ignore Luka’s expression as I remove the rubber band and fan the bills in my hands. It’s a huge bundle. I can tell, just by looking, that it’s considerably more than they took from the convenience store. And that means stealing money is a regular thing for the Hell’s Bears. Luka may have paid for the ingredients he’s planning to put in our stew, but he paid for them with stolen money. They might as well be stolen, as far as I’m concerned.

Luka’s watching me, looking upset. “Cami, it’s just how we do things....”

I shove the money back into the bag. I don’t want to touch it. I don’t want to look at it. And I’m definitely not going to eat Luka’s stew now that I know this. All I can see is the expression on that poor kid’s face at the convenience store. Who knows whether he’s gotten over that ordeal, whether he’ll ever get over it. Even though I know Jack never would have hurt him, he has no way of knowing that. He thought his life was on the line. That’s horrible. I want nothing to do with it.

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