Page 47 of Ruffled Feathers

“Are you checking out other Alphas there, Omega?” someone whispered in my ear, and the scent of browned vanilla and sweet tobacco flooding my nose told me it was Truett.

A smirk curled my lips. “You have to admit, he’s kind of hot, in that giant tank kind of way.”

Truett grunted, pulling me back toward his chest. “Is that so? Is that what you like, Strat? Do you want a giant to pick you up and throw you around?”

Well, I wouldn’t say no to that, but I wasn’t interested in Rex. Not in the way I was interested in the man behind me. “Mmm, no. I prefer my Alphas with smart mouths and stacked bodies.”

He nuzzled the back of my neck, making me want to pant. “Hmm, that sounds like someone I know.” He nipped my shoulder, and I barely bit back a moan.

“Sonny?” I teased.

“Cheeky,” he growled. “We still have to talk. I know that, but I can’t stop fucking thinking about you. You’ll let us court you, won’t you, Omega?”

My heart stilled in my chest. “Do you all agree? Is this something everyone wants?” I hadn’t felt so uncertain in my life. So nervous.

“We all agree. I think OJ might even like you more than she likes us.” He spun me around, so I was looking up into his face. He was only a few inches taller, but it was enough to make me tilt my head back. “Do you know, before she designated, OJ was trying to convince me that you were the perfect Omega for us? At that point, she meant for just me and Sonny, but I told her that if there was going to be an us, she was included in that. She didn’t know it yet, but there was only ever going to be a future for our Pack with OJ in it.

“The fact she’s an Omega is a curveball, but it doesn’t change what we want.” He kissed my cheek, just to the left of my lips. “We want you too, and we’re happy to work hard to show you that.”

They already had me. But it wouldn’t hurt for them to make grand gestures, to show Otillie-James what she deserved. “Okay, but you have to court us both. Me and her.”

Truett grinned, that smile with those dimples making my stomach do swoops.Unfair bastard.

“This is how I know you’re perfect, Strat. You’re a stubborn fucker, just like in the courtroom, but you are still looking out for our girl’s best interest. We’ll woo you both. Just you wait.” He kissed my lips quickly, then bounded off to help herd Kevin the pig into the truck.

Our girl.I loved the sound of that.

Seven hours later, animals had been placed in stalls, kitten cages had been set up, birds had been placed in temporary aviaries, and the Remorne Pack had all gone home. We’d had a bit of a cookout in Lance’s backyard, and I still couldn’t believe this place. Or that he’d been living under a bridge when he could’ve been here.

But I didn’t pretend to understand people’s trauma, or what led them to the decisions they made. I might have made a different choice in their position, or maybe I wouldn’t have. It was hard to know without living someone else’s life experiences.

The Beta in question was haunting the house like a ghost, trapped somewhere between the past and present. I didn’t know much about Lance, only what Otillie-James had told me. I didn’t know where he fit into the Pack they were building. However, I thought he’d be staying around, which meant if I wanted to be part of her life, it would be pertinent for me to get to know him.

He was standing out in the backyard, throwing a rope toy for the dogs, including Akio, who was kindly letting Doodles the zombie dog get to it first. Doodles, however, had trouble holding onto the toy with his messed-up mouth, so Akio would pick it up and carry it back to Lance.

Honkers the Labrador was lying on his side, doing his best impression of a speed hump, exhausted after a big day of moving house. I reached down to scratch his ears, his tail thumping twice the only indication that he was alive.

Akio gave me the side-eye, but sidled up to me so I could scratch his ears too. “He seems to be enjoying the company,” I said lightly as Doodles jumped all over the bigger dog.

Lance nodded. “He was lonely.” He threw the rope again, both dogs running after it. Even Honkers attempted to sit upto chase the rope, but immediately decided it was too hard and flopped back down. Doodles leapt over him on three legs, like he was an Olympic long jumper.

“He doesn’t seem so lonely now. He seems content, even. I know the group has accepted him, and he seems to have accepted them in return.” I grinned as Doodles and Akio played tug of war with the rope, though Akio only had to lightly shake it, and the scrappy little dog went flying. “I wish it was that easy for us. Without the conjecture, the overthinking, the what-ifs and buts. Just pure acceptance. Then no one would have to be lonely anymore.”

Lance looked at me from the corner of his eye. His face was a mess of scars, but somehow, they just made him interesting. One pulled up the corner of his mouth, tugging at in a way that must’ve been almost painful, even now. “I don’t think you’ll be lonely for much longer,” he murmured, and I wanted to shake this big, stupid brute.

Okay. So subtle allegories aren’t going to work.

I stepped in front of him, looking him in the eyes, startling him for a moment. Maybe making sudden movements toward a former Marine with PTSD wasn’t my smartest idea, but I was all in now. “Neither of us has to be lonely anymore, Lance. She has enough to give us both. They have a place for us all. She looks at you like you’re the last piece of candy in the bowl; she wants to eat you up in one bite.” I shrugged and stepped back. “No one needs a martyr when they can have a hero, Lance.”

Leaving it at that, I went back inside his house and found a collapsed Otillie lying on the couch, watching some reality TV show about an animal rescue—probably getting ideas. Ideas I’d help her achieve, if it made her happy. Sliding onto the spot beside her, I crawled between her thighs and rested my head on her lower stomach. Immediately, she scraped her fingers through my hair, making me purr.

Laughing, she smiled down at me, and I wondered if you could fall in love with someone in a week. I hadn’t seen it; my parents hated each other. My grandparents had too, before they died. My friends’ parents were either divorced or both working full-time careers, barely seeing each other.

From what I’d seen, love was a fantasy. And this love at first sight stuff? A fairytale.

But when she looked down at me, her eyes sparkling, that feeling in my chest felt a lot like love.

She stroked my cheeks. “Thank you for today.”

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