“I like that idea,” I shrug, avoiding eye contact with Fury. My wolf already has his tail between his legs, back curled, “I could take her down to the center for a day. I wonder if she’d enjoy the axe throwing.”
Clay growls at me, then, “I want to take her there.”
“We can both take her? We do different activities. You take her on the ropes and zips, I'll do axe and archery.” It’s a simple fix, really, and it means we can both have eyes on her and enjoy a little friendly pack competition. I can picture her now with one of the compound bows, guiding her from behind… straight on my cock. Said cock gives an interested twitch, and I frown down at it. Staining the carpet once is an accident, twice might be alittle much, and from the heat I feel on the back of my head, it wouldn’t be as acceptable a second time.
“Do you really think we should be giving her sharp objects to throw, considering she’s already tried to escape?” Teddy’s face is dark at the thought, “That feels like… Such a bad idea. I don’t think we need any more missing limbs in the pack.”
“Pfft, I think Atty would look great with an eye patch when she pokes one out with an arrow,” Cutting through the tension, Fury laughs, his big wolfish grin brightening the room and bringing some levity back even as Lucas storms back to settle on the opposite sofa. He’s got clean sweats on now and his stupid fluffy leopard slippers on his feet with the big clawed toes on the end; a Christmas gift from Teddy one year, I think. Our Beta fills him in when he sits, a tangle of emotions crossing his face.
“She… I don’t want her,” He sighs, and the fight seems to leave him all at once, staring at our Omega. He’s as suckered in as the rest of us; it’s not hard to see, but he’s so damn scared of going through it all again. He should just tell her, she’ll understand, she’ll see why he's not warm and open. “I won’t lose another Omega. Especially not to pack politics, Brynn’s been breathing down our necks for a while, and… I’m not a wolf; I don’t understand all your damn rules. It’s like speaking a whole other language.”
“You already speak a whole other language,irmão,”Fury reminds him with a wry grin. He hasn’t stopped stroking his hand over our Omega’s head, running his fingers through that rich, reddy-brown hair until the waves settle across her shoulders. He’s so careful with her, handling her delicately so as not to pull at any tugs too hard, his fingers working to untangle them. With his own long black hair, I figure he’s got it down how to deal with knots. “Surely you can do this for her? She’s a scent match; the longer she’s here, the more painful it’ll be for you both to fight it. You need to decide whether the pain of your pastoutweighs the love in your future, and stop letting it hold you back.”
Lucas squares his shoulder, a demonic hiss escaping from between his clenched teeth. It’s not the first time the two Alphas have been at each other, but Lucas is quick to remember he isn’t the Cardinal of this pack, despite his past, “Do you think I enjoyed losing two Omegas?! Do you think I enjoy reliving the heartache of having to confirm that it was Tomas on that table? Of finding Maggie in a puddle of her own blood? I. Cannot. Take. Another. Loss.” His anger crumbles away, body slumping like a puppet with the strings cut, and he buries his face in his hands, “She won’t want me, I cannot look at her without thinking about all the ways she could be taken away, how many ways we could lose her. I’m a cat too, she cannot want—“
“I think you should all stop assuming what I want.” A small voice remarks. Skye sits up, tugging the blanket more firmly over herself when she notices how it's fallen. “I think I’d want you fine, but you won’t give me a chance.” She scans the room, meeting each of us with intent, “I never want to be a kept Omega. I don’t want to be bound by a pack that’s going to force stupid rules on me and turn me into some awful breeding machine…” Lips pursing thoughtfully, she goes silent, sinking back into Fury as the purring starts up. She looks ready to continue before I open my mouth and stick my whole foot in.
“We don’t want kids.” I blurt, and five sets of eyes turn to me. Sure, the pack has talked about it previously, but we all like our lives the way they are, and with most of us having weird schedules… It just wouldn’t work. We do pack bonding nights on Mondays usually, though Lucas is hit or miss in attendance, and otherwise, there are only maybe two of us in the house at a time.
“You… Dont..?” Hesitant and careful, Skye's face is a mess of her emotions. Relief, clear and pure, is at the forefront, and I wonder what’s happened to her to make that thought terrify herso much. She’s contemplating me until I feel as naked as I am. It’s hard to make a shifter feel awkward; we’re naked so much of the time, but the minty depths of her irises are drowning me. Murmurs of assent join mine around the room, and Clay breaks the silence with a grim set to his lips.
“My daddy was an abusive asshole. Never wanted them in case I ended up like him. Got a vasectomy fresh in my twenties and never looked back. Mama Moore was a little disappointed, but it didn’t make much of a difference when I’m knot deep in Teddy’s ass.”
“Most feline shifters can only reliably breed with their own,” Lucas mutters, “We have some… Difficult… Anatomy, especially as an Alpha.”
Difficult is right, he is pretty precious about his shower time, and is usually the most clothed of all the shifters in the house. But we’ve still all seen him at some point, and it makes me ache a little, even knowing I’m not into guys and would not be taking that anywhere near me.
I should be more concerned about possibly scaring our Omega given the outburst, but her scent has brightened, sweetened just a little, and Fury gives me an appreciative look. Letting me know I’ve done good saying what I did.
“You don’t want to keep me home. You don’t want to use me for that.”
“No, darlin’, Clay’s smile is soft, voice quiet. “Hell, we’ll support whatever you want to do. You want to help Teddy on the farm? Sure. You want to work at the center with us? We’ll find you a spot. You want to work in the city away from us? We’ll get you a car. If you want to sit in your nest all day and be a pampered little Omega, that’s good too,” His hand flies up as she scowls, “I’m just saying it’s an option. Just give us a chance.”
Silence deafens us as we watch the wheels turning. With the soft overhead lighting and the hearth blazing away, she looks like a ravaged angel, all sleep-ruffled and flushed.
“And what if I want to do something I shouldn’t?” She asks, a breathy whisper as she clutches the blanket.
“Naughty, naughty Firecracker,” Fury barks a laugh, pulling her closer, “We’ll be your alibi.”
“And what if I want to burn down the auction houses?”
It’s my turn to chuckle, “Then, babygirl, we’ll hand you the matches.”
Skye
Two weeks pass peacefully after my night on the sofa and the abrupt heat spike. The thought of Atlas’s wide shoulders between my thighs still makes me flush with heat, and I’m not ashamed to say I’ve ridden my fingers to the thought more than once. My days so far have been a mixed bag. Lucas gave me a shot to hold off my heat, but warned that it won’t hold off the little spikes, so at least that is taken care of for now. Most of my time has been spent following Teddy around the ranch, being shown how to take care of chickens and the beautiful horses he has stabled in the massive barn out back. Nights are spent tucked up—usually with Fury, Atty, and Clay—watching TV and listening to Fury’s phone ring with call-outs. My Cardinal makes sure to tell me about everyone, but my favorite so far is the farm down the road that has llamas and alpacas. Though I enjoy hearing him tell me about the abscess he digs out of Kuzco the llamas feet even less, gagging at the far too detailed retelling.
Each night, I’ve helped with dinner, once more beside Teddy as he putters around the kitchen, stepping in when he struggles. Clay pulled me aside a few days ago to make sure I knew to support him, but don’t ever make him feel like I'm pushing him out of the way. I don’t know why he’d think I’d do something like that. As an Omega with plenty of my own shortcomings, I know all too well how much it stings to have someone point it out, or worse, try and‘make up’for it. When I’d been asked outin the 10th grade because he‘felt sorry for me, and knew I’d never find a date by myself because of my size,’I quickly learned how to throw a punch. Mom and Dad had not been impressed. Nothing that Teddy could do would make me think less of him; his endless kindness and patience for this pack make him the most important person in my eyes.
We are prepping a big batch of bolognese tonight, and laughter floods the kitchen as we chat.
“I promise it’s not crazy!” I giggle, watching Teddy’s jaw drop as I shake the bottle into the sauce pot, “The cook at the house used to make it this way, and he was English! He swore by this stuff.”
I do wonder if I should be using ingredients that I can’t even pronounce the name of, but it’s what Simon had made it with, so it’s how I learned to cook it when I escaped as a young teen to the kitchens.Worch. Woreceses. Woooooster sauce.I’m sure I’ll get there someday, but today is not that day.
“Christ woman,” Teddy limps towards me, reaching to snatch the bottle, “I didn’t even know we had this stuff, let alone when it was bought. Are you sure it’s safe?”
Blowing a raspberry at him, I lean in to press a quick kiss to his cheek, “Trust in the force, Padawan,” I stir the pot again, trying to measure out amounts that I need for the massive batch cooking pot to feed six people, four of which are shifters who need masses of food, hence why we are making it all at lunch time and will reheat it at dinner.
