Millie
Mealtimes were my favorite. We all sat together as the family that we were. I’d never had that before, and I certainly never had that when I wasn’t the one making the food. Now that I did, I saw what it was like and vowed to make it a priority for us always.
Today, I’d insisted on making lunch. Frustrated with everything that went on with my father, I took it out on the loaf of bread I planned to turn it into grilled cheese. There was something special about the sandwich made with thick slices of good homemade bread. And you couldn’t have grilled cheese without tomato soup. Fine, you could, but why would you want to?
I made some of that with tomatoes from the farmer’s market Tyrone’s former boss’s pack sold at. It was nice meeting them and their friends. I’d bought some cards, honey, and a ton of veggies from them all. The three of them were so different from the omegas I’d known throughout my life and in the best possible way. Not only did they all have something they loved and were encouraged to do to the extent that they were at the market sharing their love, but they were just as spoiled as I was.
Meeting them reminded me that this new life of mine was real and here to stay. I was excited to see them again.
I wouldn’t say the bread kneading had been stress relief enough, but that was okay, because Felix sat down with some of the best news.
My father had been arrested.
He. Was. Arrested.
I didn’t need to worry about him anymore.
We didn’t need to worry about him.
From everything I understood about what Felix had managed to uncover, it wasn’t going to be a short stint in jail, either. He was going to be in there for a long time. Good freaking riddance.
Him and the other ringleaders of the sleuth. And the detective was working on tracking down the omegas who were already out there. He’d already found one.
“This might be the best soup I’ve ever eaten.” Cannon brought the bowl up to his lips, not even pretending with the spoon anymore, drinking it down.
“I’m glad you like it. I thought about putting the tomatoes on the grilled cheese instead, but I don’t know… It felt like a soup kind of day.”
“You know what kind of day it feels like to me?” Tyrone popped the last of his sandwich into his mouth.
“No, but I’m guessing you’ll tell us.”
He smiled. Gods, I loved the way his face lit up when he did. “After lunch. Why don’t we shift and go for a run, all four of us?”
“I absolutely love the sound of that.”
As soon as we finished eating, Tyrone and Felix made quick work of the dishes while Cannon fed the chickens, and then it was time for us to go.
It was a nice, cool day, perfect for my fur. I dropped my clothes on the porch and walked out onto the dirt before taking my fur and then watching each of my mates. I liked to go first so I could take time to enjoy each of them as they undressed then shifted. Enjoy them I did.
All four were all so different in personality, hair, and body, and I appreciated those differences as much as I appreciated the things they had in common, including the way they treated me.
I decided to lead the sleuth today and headed to the perimeter line. I might be the omega, but that didn’t mean putting my scent on the perimeter and letting the wild animalsknow that this was not a place for them, wasn’t something I could do.
We went at a good clip, going around, scenting the area, and rubbing against trees. There were no unusual scents there. I didn’t expect there to be, but still, we treated it as a normal perimeter until we got back where we started from. And that was when it was time to play.
I took off like a shot, knowing how much my mates would love chasing me and how much I loved being chased. If they had wanted to, they could have caught up to me and tackled me to the ground in ten seconds, but the game was more fun if it lasted, and they gave me a decent head start.
There were lots of tricks I learned along the way to help put others off track, and if I had left five minutes before them, no doubt I could have confused them for a good long while. But so far, I hadn’t made it out of eyesight, so I didn’t bother with any of those, instead just running and running and running toward my favorite clearing.
If I was going to be caught, that was the place to be caught.
I reached it as the sounds of them behind me grew closer and closer. I turned to face them, wondering what they would do. If it had been the three of them running after each other, playing this game, it would have resulted in wrestling, a physical challenge of some sort. But I wasn’t one of them, not one of the alphas anyway.
I thought maybe they’d knock me to the ground, lick my face, or rub noses, or something cute and affectionate. What I didn’t expect was for all three of them to shift and start walking toward me.
“Omega ours, come out and play.” Cannon licked his lips. Damn, he was sexy.
I shifted back. “That isn’t why I led you here.” It wasn’t as if I’d turned them down. It just hadn’t been my initial intent.
