Page 11 of Tending Our Omega
We would help to raise him. Love him like our own pup.
“Everything is packed in the ice chest and the basket. Can we leave now?” Heath asked.
“We’re early,” I said, checking my phone. “But maybe we can get there and pick a good spot for the picnic. Close to the playground, but with some shade.”
“Let’s go.”
Seth was keeping it cool, something he did well. If it wasn’t for the way he looked at Romi, I would think he wasn’t so interested, not as the rest of us. But he was. His smell sweetened and got more oaky when she was around us.
He wasn’t as much of an ass either.
Quiet, but not an ass.
We arrived at the park later than we thought. When we parked, Romi and her son were just getting out of the car. Her vehicle was older and, while not beat up, it wouldn’t be long before it petered out for good. That was okay. Once she was ours, we would take care of everything for her. Buy her a new vehicle. A new house. Whatever she and the pup needed.
“Good afternoon,” Romi said then crouched down to talk to her son. The way she looked at him was loving and patient. The young boy smiled at his mama and kissed the tip of her nose.
She was adorable with him.
“Maddox, do you remember Mommy’s friends, Heath, James, and Seth.” Each of us reached out and took Maddox’s extended hand. He shook with us like a little politician. Adorable. She’d raised a young man with impeccable manners. “Wanna go play while we get lunch set up?”
The little one ran for the playground, immediately going to the rope spiderweb apparatus and playing. All with his tongue out. He was working hard.
“He’s cute,” James said. “It’s the tongue for me.”
Romi laughed, a wind chime singing a song that went right to my heart. “He’s a handful but I love him to death.” She looked down. Whatever she’d said struck a chord. “You brought food?”
James held up the ice chest and the basket. “Seth has the blanket.”
We worked together to lay out the blanket and set up the food. I almost didn’t take out my cucumber sandwiches, but Romi spotted them. “You guys made all this yourselves?”
“We did. Not sure how much of it is edible. You might want to start with James’ food if you’re interested in taste. He’s the chef among us.”
She sat down and took one of my sandwiches instead. This was it. The sandwiches that not only lost us our omega but broke up our entire pack. Great. “This is interesting.”
Seth popped one in his mouth. “Dude, these suck.”
I took the plate and slid it back into the ice chest. “I tried.”
“At least you tried.” Romi put her hand on my forearm, and suddenly I wished I had made several inedible things just so she would touch me again. Her perfume filled the air, even here, in the park, and I couldn’t help the purr that rumbled from my chest.
“Tell us about your son. And you and how you are here. We’d like to get to know you better,” I said.
She blew out a breath and glanced at her son. Even though she ate and talked to us, she’d had her eyes on him almost the whole time. She was a good mama. I was proud of her. “My mate, my alpha, our mating, and marriage were all arranged by my parents and the pack he belonged to. We didn’t mate for love or even the slightest bit of affection. I talked to him for five minutesbefore we were mated. He was kind and, less than six months later, I was pregnant with Maddox. He was only a few months old when Andrew, another alpha, challenged my alpha for me. I didn’t understand it. My mate had to constantly defend me and Maddox because of his hearing loss, so why someone would want me as a mate was beyond my understanding.”
Because she was drop-dead gorgeous and smart and brave and determined. She didn’t see her worth, but we did.
Seth grunted at that part of the story. He would correct that later. All of us would.
“And what happened?” James offered her one of his sandwiches, and she took it. Yeah, it was better than mine by three thousand miles.
“They fought. In wolf form. They killed each other in the process. I was left with my son, and no one else in the pack wanted to be my mate. They shunned Maddox and ridiculed him for what they considered his weakness, and I didn’t want him raised with a pack who made fun of him. So I took all my money out of the bank and ran.” Tears welled in her eyes as Maddox came over.
He was sweating, and his face was red. “Mama!” He landed in her lap with a thump. “Eat?” He had hearing aids, so he could hear us, but I wasn’t sure how clearly. I also wondered if learning sign language would help him at all. Us, all of us learning to sign. I’d seen Romi sign a couple of words, but not many. Maybe we were on a similar wavelength…not that I should be jumping eighty-five steps ahead.
“Yeah, let’s get you something to eat.”
James helped her fill a plate for the little one. Cheese cubes. Pepperoni bites, which he called spicy, and some other things. He ate with his hands and studied us in between bites.
