Once the last of the cheese was put on the wooden cutting board, I heard her stir. Snacks called her from the deepest of concentrations. I’d learned so much about her through observation alone. She wore our hoodies more than her own clothes. Every time one of us bought her clothes, she kicked up a fuss of a lifetime and then softened, thanked us, and, nine times out of ten, wore said clothes the next day. She liked to earn her own money. Unnecessary but fine by us.
She worked hard. She had excellent scores in her classes and had been upgraded to a baker at the bakery instead of an assistant.
Harper loved breakfast the most.
“I didn’t hear you come in,” she said, entering the kitchen. She walked over and wrapped her arms around my torso.
“You were working hard. I heard the typing.” I embraced her, placing some kisses on her head. “Need a snack?”
“Always. This is why I’m getting chunky.”
“You’re not chunky. You’re beautifully curvy and eating a healthy diet instead of starving yourself.”
She sighed. “If you say so.”
“I say so. I can’t get enough of looking at your curves.” Because looking was all she would let us do since her heat and the morning after. I didn’t know why we were being shut out, but I had faith that she would come around.
Miles was taking it the worst. He walked around in a brooding stupor. He tried not to show us but I knew.
“Is that right?” she teased.
“That’s right. You know you’re gorgeous.”
“What’s going on?” Lev asked when he and Miles came in. Miles was working from home today, and Lev always did. No matter what, we made sure we shared dinner.
“I was telling Harper how gorgeous she was and how her growing curves suit her.”
Miles walked over to her. She had left my hold and had started snacking. “Your curves are incredible, omega.”
That earned him a full blush, the one that turned even her neck red. “Thank you. Um, what’s for dinner, Rowan?”
I let the abrupt change of subject slide. “Honey-mustard baked chicken and veggies with that pasta salad you like so much.”
Harper groaned and popped another piece of salami into her mouth. “I ate that for breakfast one time with my eggs. It was so good.”
We ended up cooking together that night. As we sat down to eat, something changed in the air. Maybe we were allgetting comfortable with each other. Maybe I was being overly optimistic. There had been tension in the house after her heat. We’d done everything backward, not because we wanted to but because of biology. We’d mated her before anything else. We hadn’t been on a date with her. Not courted her. No courting gifts. Hardly even any flirting and then bam, we’d seen her naked and at her most vulnerable.
So now, we waited for our omega to ask for more.
Once dinner was finished, Lev and Miles did the dishes while Harper and I went into the living room and put on the latest crime doc. Our girl was a crime-doc junkie.
Several times while she was watching the show, she looked up at me and sighed but said nothing. I knew better than to press. She would tell me whatever was on her mind when she was ready and not a second before.
Lev and Miles said their good nights with kisses on the temple and Lev giving her a big bear hug. Once they were gone, she turned to me again. “Things have been weird since the heat,” she said.
“Not weird,” I answered her honestly. If we were going to get over this hump, it wasn’t going to be with candy-coated confessions. It would come with raw truth. “A little tense. We don’t want to push you for anything you’re not ready for.”
“Like what?” She sat up and turned her whole body to face me.
Time to lay it all on the line. “We want you to be ours, omega. More than that, we want to be your pack. We want to court you and love you, we already do love you. We want to live this life with you, omega. To be your alphas.” She said nothing. I took her hands in mine, trying to pour some of my calm into the bond. “We also know your pack, your old pack, caused you trauma and emotional hurt that will take time to heal from. However long that takes, we will be here. Waiting.”
“Why? Why wait on me?”
I laughed though there was nothing funny. “It’s simple, omega. We love you.”
“I want to. I want all of that but…”
“It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything but I wanted you to know.”
