She sits there, her lips pressed tightly together as she thinks. It’s so darn cute.
“Was he strawed about it?” She shrugs her shoulders, unsure about her answer.
“Aww, good try but nope.” I bump her lightly on the shoulder with mine, and freeze. What the fuck did I just do? I quickly look at her, checking her over, making sure I didn’t freak her out. But she seems okay, and I let out the breath I was holding. “He was outstanding in his field. Get it?”
“Those are the lamest jokes I’ve ever heard. Man, your game is weak.” Callux manages to say through laughter.
“Stop it. I think they’re cute.” River chastises him, and I preen with her approval.
We continue like that for the rest of the ride. Each time she laughs, I feel like I’m breaking down her barriers a little more.
***
Roman
“I need the three of you to be patient with her. She’s not going to be ready to jump into bonding with you,” Storm tells us as if we’re children. I’m not an idiot.
“No one is going to force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. My brothers have already built a relationship with her through their messages. Just in case you need to be reminded about that. Me... well, I’m a little further behind them, but I plan to let River take the lead.”
Storm nods in approval, apparently happy with my answer.
“Where do you plan to live?” he asks.
“We have a house,” Holden answers. “We already have a room that we set aside for a nest for our omega.”
“And if she doesn’t want to move into your home?”
“Then we’ll get a new one that she approves of. It’s just a house right now. It’s not like we have a sentimental tie to it.” I bite back the sarcasm, not wanting him to hear it in my voice.
“Are you going to try to prevent her from doing her work?”
Fuck, this man is really giving us the third degree. I thought all the questions they threw at us while River was sleeping were bad, but I was wrong. I guess I can’t blame him, though. If it were my sister, I’d be doing the same. All I can think is it’s a good thing that Nash isn’t in the truck with us. He can be hotheaded and not think about what he’s saying.
“Why would we do that?” Holden asks.
“Because she’s an omega,” Storm blurts. “She loves what she does and the people she helps. If you take that away from her, she’s going to resent you.”
“We’d never think about doing that. Hell, we’d want to help her. There’s a lot of shitty stuff going on in this world, and it’s time someone steps up and does something about it. We’re proud of her. I can’t wait for her to tell us all about what she does.” It’s the truth, too. We’d be fully willing to help her if she’ll let us. There’s been far too many missing omegas popping up on the news as of late.
He continues to ask us questions, and we continue to answer. Sometimes Holden, sometimes me. Each question he asks is cleverly tailored to see how we plan to treat her and what we’ll allow her to do.Allow. As if we’d ever dictate what our omega could do. We’d never be that controlling.
As we near the Ashbourne property, he asks one last question.
“If she wanted to leave and come live with me, what would you do?”
“We’d follow her. I can run my business anywhere. People always need something built,” I answer.
“Nash and I can switch schools or transfer to taking online courses like River,” Holden answers. I can see him in the rearview mirror as he shifts his head to look out the window. “If it’s what River wants.”
“Have we passed your test?” I ask Storm, and he just smiles, giving me a thumbs up.
Chapter 42
River
It’s been a week since I came home from the nightmare of my heat. But it wasn’t completely a bust. I found my Kismet bonds. Well, more like they found me. It’s weird. Until I smelled their scents, until it enveloped me, I never wanted a pack. Now, I find my mind changing with every minute I spend with them.
When I asked them to take it slow, I thought they’d resist, but they didn’t. They made a plan to spend one-on-one time with me. Courting me. Giving me the time I needed to get used to being with them.
