Page 3 of Our Haunted Omegas
“Or at least for you to tell me where to find them,”Cobalt corrected me.
“Crilus isn’t going to suck your dick again,”Teal said.
“It isn’t just ---”Cobalt started but Teal and I both laughed.
“Why are you so hung up on him anyway?”Teal asked a second later.
“He gave really good head!”
“The only place we took a shipment to today was Garner’s Grocery,”Teal said a second later.“We just dropped it off about an hour ago. So, they’re probably still stocking it. If they don’t have it no one in town will. You might have to try to drone it over from—”
“No time for that, Teally,”Cobalt shook his head.“Drive already!”
It took nearly an hour to make it to Garner’s Grocery. It was a big brick building that was designed to look old-timey but was newly rebuilt after the war. All the buildings in this old-fashioned part of town were rebuilt. Every time we drove through it with our grandcarrier he made it a habit to point out things the architects got wrong in their redesign. I always suspected one bad day, he’d stomp on the whole section of the city just to have it redone correctly. Thankfully that day hadn’t arrived yet.
“Let’s separate inside. Maybe they can just give them to us in the crates,” Cobalt said, taking his seatbelt off before I even pulled properly into the parking space.
“Open that door before I turn this off and I’ll lock you inside. I don’t want another dent because you’re impatient,” I warned him.
“It only happened once. Like a year ago, Indi,” Cobalt grumbled.
“Yeah, but I remember it because it was only a year ago. We’ll get the fruit delivered to him and then—”
“We’ll hang out with him,” Cobalt said, and I didn’t bother to argue with him.
I, like most of London, wanted to go home and sleep tonight. Tomorrow night would be a long affair with us staying up all night to honor the sacrifice the magic users made so long ago. Sure, we didn’t have to, but it felt wrong to not honor the tradition that sprang forward from a movement that started in our hometown. Even Teal would cut this seed-vigilante shit for a night to come celebrate with us.
“Can I go now?” Cobalt asked. “Oh, shit! Wait! I was going to say we should---”
“Split up inside and find someone to ask. I know. You said it.”
“Sometimes I don’t know if I say shit or think it,” Cobalt sighed.
“It doesn’t matter which if you’re talking to me,” I shrugged at him. “Or Teal.”
I didn’t need to say the quiet part aloud. It was exhausting to talk to anyone who wasn’t one of us. I loved our family and would take several machine gun rounds for our parents and siblings and extended family but they exhausted me. Always talking or having to direct the communication at them. They were never in sync with us. So it took extra effort to communicate things that I could say with a look or a breath to Cobalt or Teal.
“The only other time it’s worth it is in situations like this,” Cobalt said as the car’s wings lifted and we stepped out. The night was warm and muggy. A cloud of gnats flew around the parking lot as if they were gossiping in a circle. I glanced up at the stars but they blurred by when Cobalt grabbed my hand, entwined our fingers, and dragged me into the Garner’s Grocery.
Inside the store was brightly lit and all the light blue shelves were equipped with lights that glowed, illuminating the items in stock. The whole place smelled like someone spilled a fruit salad meant for a giant’s family reunion.
“Maybe they should just have the party here,”my dragon chimed in, his wolf-shaped ears turning this way and that listening for anyone who might mutter anything about a lime or a coconut. Neither of them was native to London but folks loved their tropical drinks.“Pineapples are better. They’re not native but pineapple is better than coconuts in drinks. Now when it comes to chocolate….”
I let him ramble as Cobalt dropped my hand and shooed me off in the opposite direction of him. He headed toward the loading docks while I headed deeper into the belly of the store. I was Cobalt’s backup plan. We both knew that if the fruit hadn’t been stocked already his jaunt out to the loading dock was all that would be needed. It’s not like the employees enjoyed stocking fruit.
“You don’t know that,”Teal teased me.“A job is a job and stocking shelves with food is an important job.”
Okay. He was being serious again. He was always serious these days. Not that I blamed him. He’d found something serious to be passionate about.
“I’m back here!” Someone snapped.
“Are you yelling at me?” I called back.
“Did you just toss a box of sponges back here? If you did, then, yes, I’m talking to you!” he snapped again. “If not, I’mtalking to Missy, the Queen of Not Watching What the Hell She’s Doing!”
“Fuck you, Ambry! The sponges go back there! I put them back there! Saved you a walk, didn’t I?” a woman snapped back as I wound my way through the shelves trying to find them. I smelled the wolves before they ever came into sight, and I stopped in my tracks. I grabbed ahold of one of the light blue shelves and shook with the need to rip it down or climb up over it. I breathed in deep trying to settle down my dragon. I reached out for Teal and Cobalt at the same time. They had to know – needed to know what was going on. Either the angry sponge man or woman were my mate. My attraction never discriminated based on gender or parts or whatever else folks were creating labels out of these days.
“AGAIN!”my dragon roared inside my thoughts. He wasn’t about to give up breathing in the scent of his furry mate. I gave in and drew in another deep breath before he forced my hand on the shelf issue. The guy. It was the guy. The shewolf’s scent was there but it wasn’t her. It was him. The angry wolf. The wolf who didn’t want to be clocked with a box of sponges again. Wait! I didn’t want her to clock him with sponges either!
