Tiffany hugged her, the action uncomfortable, especially with all six alphas standing around and staring. After that, she dragged Alison by the wrist, and even when Alison offered a pleading look to her alphas for some help from the overly-excited blonde girl, they only grinned.
Useless alphas.
Half an hour later, Alison sat in her bikini on the edge of the pool, her feet in, with Kara beside her.
The event had been even larger than she’d realized, and by the time everyone had arrived, she wished she had just turned around and left, even if it meant upsetting Tiffany.
Claire had come, her alphas and her infant daughter along. Tracy, her daughter, and her three mates were there. Kara, of course, and her mates, and lastly Ashley, who Alison hadn’t met but whose mates she knew enough not to trust, had all attended.
Alison knew Kara professionally rather than personally, partly because she never cared for gettingtoo chummy with others. Still, it was hard to have another omega in town who did whatever the fuck they wanted andnotat least be acquaintances.
“Don’t babysit,” Kara told her quickly. “I did, and there isn’t enough whiskey in the world for that nonsense.”
“You gave her daughter whiskey?”
Kara laughed, leaning her weight back on her hands. “Oh, no, I drank the whiskey. Cullen is surprisingly good with kids. By the time Claire got back, I was wasted.”
Alison chuckled at the irreverent blue-haired girl’s story. The truth was, it was impossible to know if Kara was lying or telling the truth. Alison had learned that early, but it didn’t mean she didn’t trust the girl—well, as much as she trusted anyone. Kara wasn’t the type to sell her out, but the details of any story she told were likely only fifty percent true—at best.
“How is mated bliss?”
Kara cast a heavy side-eye. “You thinking of settling down?”
“Well, I had figured neither of us ever would, but you went and blew that to hell.”
Kara kicked her feet to splash her mate, Damon, who was swimming in the pool with Tracy’s daughter. He grinned in her direction, cupped water and splashed Kara.
She laughed before turning her attention back. “What can I say? I wanted someone who had to take care of me when I’m old and gray and can’t see anymore. That’s why I collected the young one. He’ll be able to read well past the rest of us.”
Kara’s flippant words didn’t hide the affection beneath them. She might pretend that the alphas she’dchosen meant little to her, but the truth rested in the way she looked at them, in the way she’d unconsciously lean toward them.
Is that love?Alison hadn’t ever had that, hadn’t known it or understood it.
In fact, she’d written off the entire idea as a joke, as some sort of trick people used to justify the idiocy of pairing off. She’d seen how well matings worked in her lifetime, and she’d never once believed love had anything to do with it.
It was a fairytale people told themselves to excuse their bad choices.
Except…when she turned her gaze to findheralphas seated with Kieran and Joshua and Bryce, a pang went through her chest.
Could she ever have this sort of life? Could she ever fit into this sort of world? Smile and laugh and play with the offspring of her friends, be comfortable in a social setting? Just another person enjoying a party?
It all felt beyond her.
Even right then, the most she managed was to sit off to the side with Kara. Claire stretched out, Kaidan sitting behind her on the chair. Tracy held Claire’s daughter, smiling down at the baby as if she were the most precious thing in the world. Ashley sat beside Tracy, clearly gearing up to steal the infant for her own cuddles. Their alphas all might have sat back, engaged in their own conversations, but the connections were still obvious. They’d glance over, gazes seeking their mates as if drawn. Only once they’d found them would they return to their own talks.
It was all so normal. Wholesome. Kara had never quite fit in, much like Alison, which might be why they both sat on the outskirts of the party.
Though, from the start, when Alison had walked in to find Kara holding the infant, talking with Claire, it had been obvious that the other woman, for all her faults, had found a place in the group.
And it was a place Alison doubted she could fill, even if she wanted to.
Being part of a group like this felt like tearing off a tiny piece of armor for each of them, risking herself for each of them.
Not that she wouldn’t put herself at risk—she’d made her life’s work taking care of omegas like these—but actually getting to know them, having any sort of lasting connection?
That wasn’t her. It wasn’t safe and she didn’t think she even knewhowto do it.
Her stomach rolled, telling her exactly what it thought about the entire idea.
