Page 86 of Omega's Flight
O ver time, I began to wonder if I'd been fooling myself about Cas’s interest. He stayed busy looking after the pack's legal needs, and I was busy working and raising my pups and taking my lessons, sneaking in golden hours for painting or drawing where I could.
Life went on, like it always does, and gradually my hopes and fears around Cas faded and I began— not to forget him, but to worry less about him. My little family fell into a routine and if I sometimes felt a little lonely despite Bax's visits and invitations and the constant running back and forth with the pups, it was a familiar loneliness, worn almost comfortable over the years.
Until early one morning, when the sun had just barely started to peek above the walls, a loud banging from the empty house next door distracted me from my drawing. It was loud enough I worried it would wake the pups and, dammit, this was my time—I didn't want it interrupted and eaten up with puppy demands. Besides, every once in a while I'd hear something from one of the empty houses and find teenagers in there, making a mess because the houses were just going to be torn down anyway, they said. They were usually smart enough to pick houses at the far end of the neighborhood from me, but I guessed that tonight they'd somehow forgotten that I lived here. So, I threw on my jacket and shoes and stormed out the front door to yell at them.
Only it wasn't teenagers, it was adults. I recognized one of them as the beta that had been over to my house to fix the flickering light in the pups' room and stopped him as he was going inside. "What's going on?" I asked.
"Sounds like you're getting a neighbor. We're supposed to make sure everything's working and safe." He nodded at the house. "You might ask the Mate if you're curious."
"Thanks." I couldn't go anywhere with the pups still asleep in their beds, and as friendly as Holland always was, I wasn't that comfortable here that I was going to call the Alpha's Mate and demand to know what was going on next door.
But I did have someone I could call.
The phone rang a few times, then went to voicemail. I left my message and sat at my kitchen table, puzzling over the sudden activity and maybe just a little worried about how this would affect me. Probably not at all, but I'd learned to take nothing for granted over the course of my mating. Actually, over the course of my life.
Suddenly, I wanted my mother.
The phone rang and I grabbed for it so fast it squirted out of my hands and onto the floor. Like a mad wolf, I lunged after it and finally got my hands on the little plastic block. "Hello," I gasped into it.
"Are you all right?" Bax's voice.
"Yeah, sorry, dropped the phone." It was only then, when I had him on the phone, that I realized it might be a bit awkward to ask the former Alpha's Mate what he was up to. I thought about it for a second, then remembered that this was Bax. And, well, I had him on the phone... "They're working on the house next door?"
"Oh, Lysoonka, I was going to call you and it slipped my mind! Yes, can you help out for a bit later to clean up after the maintenance guys are done? We've got another omega looking for sanctuary."
Word was getting around. "Let me know what I can do. But my pups are still asleep and they'll be wondering where I am when they wake up."
"Hang on." I heard muffled voices for a few moments, then Bax was back. "If you're okay with it, Fan can stay with them and let you know when they wake up. His Pap says he'll let him bring the laptop with him to play games."
"Are you sure? He's only nine."
Bax laughed. "And an alpha. I don't think he'll have any problems keeping them in line. And most of us will there to help, anyway. But if you have cleaning supplies, could you bring them over?”
"Sure." We hung up and I made a cup of tea to go stand out in the chill on the front porch and watch the comings and goings from the house next door. It wasn't in as good a shape as mine, but most of the banging seemed to be two shifters up on the roof, stripping away shingles and tossing them hither-thither onto the ground. I grimaced. "You guys are going to pick those up, right? I have pups here."
"Don't worry," one of them said. "There's a yard crew coming in after to make sure it's all safe an' everything." He grinned down at me, friendly in the way the Mercy Hills shifters seemed to be, without the subtext that always seemed to happen at home in Jackson-Jellystone. Certainly without the entirely overt insinuations that I'd gotten in Nevada Ashes. And I realized in that moment that my instinctive flinch of expectation every time I spoke to someone who wasn't omega had faded. I was changing, and I liked it.
"You boys want some tea?"
They looked at each other, then the guy I'd been talking to turned back to me. "Sure, if you're offerin'."
"I am. Give me a few minutes. You think the guys inside would want some too?"
"I imagine so. Thanks."
I smiled at them and went back inside to put a pot on to boil and count out tea bags for a half-dozen cups. While the water was heating, I got all my mugs down from the cupboard and lined them up on my tray with the sugar and milk.
Before I took the tea out, I checked on the pups, happily asleep still, and breathed a sigh of relief that the noise next door hadn't disturbed them. I was struck by how beautiful they were, although maybe someone else wouldn’t think so. But they were to me, and I supposed that was all that counted. With one last fond look, I closed their doors and took the tray out to the workers.
At the last second, I dashed back inside and added a plate of cookies, though I was running pretty low and I'd have to get back up to the Supplies desk to get more. With all the other things I was doing, I didn't often have time to bake for myself and the pups, but they thought store-bought was exotic, so there hadn't been any complaints yet.
Although shopping was going to depend on if I had the credits left. I'd felt incredibly rich at first with the stipend that Mercy Hills provided for everyone, and then the extra that I'd been earning working around the pack. The spending had gotten a little out of hand, but I was getting a grip on it now.
It had ended with Holland making me a loan from the pack, with the agreement that I would pay back a little every month. I understood what Denver had been talking about better now, and after putting in a few extra hours each week doing maintenance around the enclave, I was pretty near even.
And, I had to admit, proud of myself for not needing an alpha to rescue me. The pack had treated me just like any other silly teenager, even though I was a full decade older than most of them, and then had helped me solve my own problem the same as they did with the teenagers. Like they trusted me to learn and be a grown-up about it and knew that all I needed was a nudge in the right direction.
It was an amazing feeling.
