Raney stops again, and the look in her eyes as she stares down the shop assistant brings the hairs on the back of my neck to standing. Kind of makes me want to go rub one off.
I guess omegas, like alphas, have their own way of doing things, because before I can open my mouth, the shop assistant smiles gently and submissively at my omega and tells us all she’s happily packed to five alphas.
“Nice,” Raney says through clenched teeth. There’s still a lot of unsaid between them both.
It’s pretty cute watching these two omegas talk and posture. They keep dropping their eyes. “I assure you, my attention is on you, and not your alpha,” the woman asserts in the most subdued tone I’ve heard.
Raney’s not a bitch, and never has been, she’s just as out of sorts by all this as I am. Maybe it would have been comforting if I had dragged Koz in here, so she could see how we’re all pretty much mirroring each other. Instead, I start looking all around Birdie, hoping it’s the focus she needs. And it is. A blazing smile breaks over her face as she takes a step closer to the owner. “Sorry about that. I’m a little thrown being here. Surprised. Nice surprise though. Getting vocal about my alphas is new.”
“Trust me, there’s nothing to apologise for, everything about being an omega is overwhelming but so damn good. You wouldn’t believe what some omegas have done walking through those doors,” the omega soothes as she glides up next to Raney and takes her hand like they’re old friends. “Now how about we start focusing on you since I heard on the grapevine you need to set up your first pack nest. I got in a shipment yesterday of some brand-new blankets I’d love to show you.” She’s muted when she talks, but she knows how to work the room. The mood changes again into barely contained excitement as she guides them towards the special little carts made for shopping at Birdie. And you get a gist as to why her store is the ultimate omega nesting shop when you spy the white timber framed carts, complete with drinks and snack holders. The four of them swoon, and despite not trying to, I can scent how happy they all get.
Watching Raney’s eyes nearly roll back in her head when the owner helps her pull on a special Birdie shopping jacket, complete with Raney’s name on the front, is going to be one of those happy memories of my girl that stays with me for a long time. She shamelessly snuggles into it. And then she shows me and everyone watching how much of an omega she is as she softens and glows. Happiness rolls off her, and across the distance the way the colour in her eyes deepens, tells me how perfectly we got today right.
With her being completely distracted by fluffy throws and silky pillows, the Scorned interrogation starts in earnest. The sneaky omegas send Simona my way first.
“Raney asked what your favourite colour was,” she says, her lips drawn tightly like she’s trying not to smile or breathe me in.
I get the breathing thing; I only want Raney’s scent filling my lungs. Completely impractical, but it doesn’t mean I don’t try. Leaning over, I nab the tester of neutraliser spray on the glass display stand next to me, and give it a couple of squirts. “It’s not about what I like, is it?” I shrug, purposely not looking at her directly.
I guess I pass some test, because she sits on the seat next to me, her feet curling under her, making her look like a kitten.
Simona stares at the side of my head. “Puck bunnies?”
“Raney,” I offer without pause, my eyes tracking the woman I’m talking and thinking about.
“A contract with any team and more money than you need?”
I laugh. “Raney.”
“Opportunity to hunt down Reid.”
Nodding my head, I smile when Raney picks up a pillow, dropping it again when she sees the price. “Raney.”
“Really?”
Frowning, I grab my phone quick and shoot Raney a text telling her to put the fucking pillow in someone’s cart. “Yeah, of course. There’s people around who make their living doing that shit. Gotta help them and their packs out, you know what I mean?”
She laughs, and the sound is as delicate as she is. “Can I take your photo?”
I stop being nice, because some things are just not right to ask, even in fun. “You’ll have to ask my omega that.”
“Yours, hey?”
“Simona, I’m more than happy to play one thousand questions with you and I’ll answer every one of them, but I kind of think helping Raney get everything she needs for her nest is more important. Don’t you? She just put a pillow away without putting it in her cart like I asked her to.”
She gets up without another look and scurries over the polished timber floor, right up into Raney’s space. Simona throws half a dozen of the pillows in Tristan’s direction before she launches herself at Raney, giving her a swaying cuddle. I shoot off an update with a suggestion Koz checks his card limit, not watching the girls because every second I spend in here, it’s getting harder not to chase my girl down and bury her face first into one of the nesting displays.
Tristan’s next, and we go through a similar scenario, except where Simona was quiet, Tristan is anything but. After one too many glares from Raney, I finish it as gently as I can. “Hey, Tristan, do me a favour and make sure she goes back and grabs a couple more of those lilac candles. One’s not enough. By the looks of it, she’s starting to act like she’s ready to run.”
“Nice avoidance, mister,” she barks back, her bubble-gum scent getting dull as her emotions bubble up.
“Did it work?” I ask, turning to look at her.
Tristan’s finger is up, jabbing in the space between us. “I’ve wiped her tears away.”
I stare her down, not because I’m pissed off, but I want her to listen so we don’t need to keep doing this forever and a day. “What happened between me and Raney is always going to be a part of our story. But you also know I was pretty young at the time and what happened was not my fault. I should have protected her, yes, but her getting attacked gutted me as much as it hurt her. I do appreciate you being there when I couldn’t. But let’s not keep hashing this up so it becomes something we can’t move past. I’m not going anywhere, no matter how many questions you three throw at me.”
“We have a right to keep asking those questions, Puck,” she nearly fucking spits my name.
