Is this what healing feels like?
Knox
Icheck the picnic basket for the third time, even though I already know everything’s there.
All the finger foods are packed tight. I’ve got the cut fruit resting on top of the sliced cheese wedges. The crackers are slid safely to the side, buffered by the granola bars and a couple pastries I picked up from Tansy’s bakery last night after work.
I’ve got a hot Thermos of water to make us some tea to sip on, I’ve got napkins and paper plates, and I’ve got the blankets and pillows piled in my truck. I even packed an extra hoodie of mine, just in case she needs it.
I’m ready to woo my Omega.
After hauling everything out to my truck and closing the tailgate, I lean my hands on it for a second. There’s a buzz beneath my skin, an anticipation I’ve never felt before in my life. The Alpha inside of me paces like a caged animal, ready and waiting for her scent to fill me up again.
I’d give anything to fill her up on that blanket.
“No,” I murmur to myself as I push off the truck and dig my keys out of the pocket of my jeans. “We get to know her first. We claim later.”
A rumble of disapproval rattles my chest.
I need to think about something else. Anything else. Anything other than the fact that I’m needlessly jealous that my pack knows what my Omega feels like, but I don’t.
“It’ll come with time,” I tell myself as I climb behind the wheel of my truck. “She just needs time.”
And I need her.
So, if time is what she needs, then that’s what she’ll get.
After cranking my truck and getting it all nice and warm, I check the time. Almost a quarter to six in the morning. I don’t have long before I need to be picking her up. I pull my phone out of my pocket and open up our messages, sending her a quick one.
Knox:On my way, Sunshine.
My chest tightens as her response comes right on the heels of mine.
Lia:I’ll be outside waiting for you.
Waiting.
For me.
Another low growl slips out of my throat before I can stop it. I scrub a hand over my face and laugh under my breath like I didn’t just react like a caveman. Too late, though. My Alpha side is preening, clutching onto that one simple sentence like it’s a promise.
She’s waiting for me.
“Let’s get on the road, then,” I mutter to myself.
By the time I pull up in front of her place, the stars are just beginning to fade away. I see a shadow move out onto the sidewalk in front of her temporary apartment building, and just like that, there she is.
Her hair is pulled back in a low ponytail. That beautiful body of hers is wrapped in a light jacket that does nothing to discourage me from staring, her legs hidden beneath a full-length skirt.
She looks like she stepped right out of a daydream, basking beneath the early-morning sky like that.
But what gets me is the smile on her face when she nears my truck.
Time to show her I can be a gentleman.
“Morning, Sunshine,” I say as I hop out from behind the wheel.
“Morning,” she replies, voice still sleepy-soft. “You’re right on time.”
