“We don’t have to give up our property,” I reassured. “Maybe we can hire someone to be a caretaker for the time being.”
None of us would love that idea, but the only one we loved less was spending one more night without our omega.
Benji replied to our text that he would see us right away and, at my request, not say anything to Sylvia until we had a chance to speak with him, so we drove back to the house and parked. Benji’s brother met us at the door and led us inside. “My sister is up in herturret, and my mate is feeding the baby in our room, so we have privacy. Let’s go into the kitchen, though, where it’s less likely sound will carry. I must admit, I’m curious about what you wanted to talk about so late and without Sylvia knowing.”
“She’ll know eventually,” I said, following him through the doorway, my friends on my heels. “But first, I wanted to speak with you and see if you were on board with what might sound like a crazy idea at first.”
“Oh, this I’ve got to hear, then. Have a seat at the table.” He opened the refrigerator and pulled out four bottles of lager. “I think this might be needed.”
He thought right. I accepted a beer from him and the bottle opener. Popping the top, I handed the device to Dax before taking a long draught. Cold, refreshing, and moistened my dry throat nicely. “In case you haven’t noticed, your sister, our mate, still lives under your roof.”
“I’ve noticed.” He took a drink as well. “I’m not sure how to feel about it. I love her being close, but mates living apart is not good for anyone.”
“And that’s why I asked to speak with you. We three cannot continue to live apart from our mate without our wolves taking us to bloody task. We love her, we miss her, and we want to sleep close to her every night.” At his raised brow, I added, “Sorry.”
“It’s all right. She’s my sister, but she’s a mated woman who is carrying a pup. I can’t force her to leave here though, if she doesn’t want to. I don’t think it’s because she doesn’t have enough love for you three. But she may be unwilling to give up the security she found here.”
“Benji, alpha, what do you think about us moving in here with our mate? We would of course be requesting to join your pack and respect your authority.” Hardest words I’d ever had to say. “If you will have us. Hopefully in time, we’ll be able to return to our own lands, but only if our mate is willing.”
Benji nodded slowly. “It’s a lot to ask of an alpha.”
“I know, but we would do our best to be good and loyal members of your pack.”
“No, I mean a lot to ask of you, Archer. You have your own lands and pack structure and authority. I’ve never in this life heard of an alpha willing to give up everything for his mate. And not just you but Dax and Talon as well. Any doubts I might ever have had about her being with you were already gone, but now… Now, I stand in awe.”
“You’d do it for Lily,” I said.
“Yes, but I’m grateful she never asked me to.”
“And I am not asking my mates to either.” It was so shocking to hear her voice after the silence of our first weeks together, but so amazing. “I’m all packed.”
“Sylvia, you don’t have to—”
She came over and kissed each of us on the cheek before sitting on my lap. “It isn’t because of what you just offered to do. Tonight, when I went up to get ready for bed, I couldn’t do it. I was going to call you to come and get me, but hearing what you just said?” Her eyes brimmed with tears that spilled down her cheeks. “There has never been an omega as lucky as me.” Swiping at the droplets, she flushed. “Darn pregnancy emotions.” Leaning back against me, she sniffled. “Like we could abandon Emma to some caretaker who wouldn’t love her.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sylvia
Being pregnant was a wild ride.
My emotions were all over the place, and I didn’t have little feelings. No, all of my feelings were big feelings.
We ran out of sprinkles? Might as well have been the end of the world.
Forgot to wash my favorite shirt? Catastrophic.
Not having the right size canvas for a project I didn’t even know I wanted until that very second? Armageddon.
Everything was huge.
That first month, all I did was want to sleep. Then came my second trimester, and I had energy to spare, but now that I was the size of my feelings, huge in every way, I was a slug.
I moved through my days slowly.
It was a good thing my job was something I loved and something pretty sedentary. My mates had madesure that I had only paints that were safe for our little one and more supplies than I could possibly want. Talon went so far as to get me backups of everything, just in case.
He was the sweetest. They all were, each in their own way. I was a lucky, lucky omega.
