Page 45 of Ruffled Feathers

I was all about my own wants and needs, and I hadn’t even thought about anyone else.

My phone vibrated, and I snatched it up. I really had no chill.

Strat: Not as much as I miss you. Let me know what you find on Lance’s mystery tour?

Me: I will. You should come around this week. Would that be okay?

I wanted to slap my forehead. I sounded like such an awkward weirdo. The bubbles bounced at the bottom of the screen for a long time, like he was deleting and rewriting the message a dozen times. Probably trying to work out how he could tell me he wasn’t interested in me like that, without hurting my feelings.

Maybe I’d misjudged. Maybe the heat hormones had colored the whole experience, and he hadn’t been as into it as I was, without his own heat hormones feeding off mine.

I was convinced he was writing a message to let me down easily, and I wanted to throw my phone out the window, but I couldn’t take my eyes from the screen.

Strat: If I had my way, I’d never leave.

Happiness flooded every single one of my limbs, and I bounced a little in my seat, trying to control my excitement.

Truett reached out and gripped my hand. “You okay there, OJ?” I showed him my phone, and he grinned back. “You like your handsome Omega, huh?” He said it lightly, but I could feel the weight behind his words.

Tilting my head, I raised a brow. “Don’t you?”

He dragged me closer to his side and kissed my head. “Absolutely. And I think we should court him as a group, if you’re happy with it, and your Omega doesn’t mind.” He lowered his voice. “When it comes down to it, you’re our first priority, OJ. Later, as our Pack grows, the Pack as a cohesive whole will be apriority, but you’re the girl we’ve wanted forever. Loved forever. Your comfort means the most to us right now. When you’re ready to court Strat, let us know. If you’re never comfortable enough to have another Omega in the Pack, so be it.”

He placed his lips beside my ear. “If you want to bring in a certain Beta, we’d be okay with that too,” he whispered lightly, so the guys up the front couldn’t hear. “This Pack is yours now, baby. You shape it however you feel is right.”

I blinked up at him, trying not to cry, trying to find the words I needed to tell him how I really felt.

“We’re here,” Lance said softly, something slightly off about his tone. I dragged my eyes from Truett to look out the window.

My breath caught in my throat. “Holy shit. Who owns this place?”

A huge house sat perched in the middle of rolling pastures. Trees bracketed the back of the house, making it feel secluded and private. I looked down at my outfit. Maybe I should have dressed nicer.

Lance opened the passenger door. “I do,” he replied quietly, climbing from the car and walking toward the pasture.

I blinked. I didn’t understand. Not at all.

I looked over at Truett. “Did you know about this? Did it come up in that background check I know you did?” I knew this Alpha—the first thing he would’ve done when he’d met Lance was a police check, then a more thorough background check. Always looking out for my safety, even if I did want to throat punch him at times.

He shook his head. “No. Not a single word.” He kissed my fingers. “There’s only one way to find out. Let’s go ask the man in question, shall we?”

Wherever we were, Akio was familiar with it, because he was trotting around like he owned the place, looking more like a dog than I’d ever seen him. Lance was standing beside the fence,looking out over the pasture, like looking at the house caused him physical pain.

I indicated the guys should stay back, and walked toward him. “Lance?”

His jaw was flexing, tension radiating from his body. “I know what you’re thinking. If I have a place like this, why am I mooching off you? Maybe it was an elaborate scheme to take advantage of you.”

I screwed up my nose at him. “Actually, that hadn’t even crossed my mind.” I placed a hand on his lower back, feeling him practically vibrating with tension. “Can I hug you? You look like you need it, and it’s sending my Omega a little crazy.” He looked down at me, his eyes wandering over my face incredulously, but eventually, he lifted an arm, and I snuggled in beside him, sighing happily at the contact. “Talk to me, Lance. I’m not going anywhere.” I kept my tone light, but I was imploring him to trust me. There had to be a reason he’d been living under a bridge, instead of in the million-dollar farmhouse in front of us.

He sighed and pulled me a little closer, as if I gave him comfort. I didn’t think I’d ever been prouder in my life. I rested my cheek against his shoulder silently; he’d speak in his own time.

“I inherited this place when I got out of the Marines. It shouldn’t even be mine.” He was silent again for a long time, and I was beginning to wonder if that was all he was going to give me. “I was a foster kid. In care since I was four, shoved around from place to place until I ended up with a bad attitude, and eventually, a juvenile record. When I was at a careers day thing at school—I got free food, so I never skipped—there was a military recruiter there.

“He took one look at me and said, ‘Son, you’re at a crossroads. For someone like you, there’s prison, or there’s the military. One road leads you to being nothing more than alifelong drain on society. The other lets you be a hero. You choose.’” Lance huffed. “Obviously, I chose the military. Went through bootcamp. Went on to become a Marine. Got accepted into one of their spec-op units. Still waiting to be the hero.”

Honestly, it was more words than I’d ever heard him speak in a row. I just squeezed his hand. I didn’t want to interrupt, but I wanted him to know I was here, present and listening.

“Anyway, when you’re in an elite military group that you can’t talk about with other people, you kind of begin to look at the team as your family. There were six of us, and two war dogs. One was Akio.” The dog in question was currently peeing on every fence post along the tree line. “My commander was a career Marine. Had come up through the ranks. He was an amazing tactician, marksman, and could kick my ass in hand-to-hand combat.

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