“Now, everybody just hold your horses there. We haven’t even talked to her about this, and what the hell are we gonna do with an omega anyway?”
Too late though, Jacks is knocking on her door, after a few seconds of her not opening it he reaches over the door frame and pulls out a tiny key to unlock it–you know, that seems like a safety hazard. But in retrospect, I wonder if she even knew it was there, I doubt she could reach it without a step-ladder.
Jacks’ voice drifts out of the other room, “Great news, we get to keep you.” followed by a high-pitched scream. “Oh, and how do you take your eggs?”
Xan
Candice comes out wrapped in a towel, dripping and mad as a wet hen, dragging Jacks behind her. Snatching the key out of his hand, she shoves him out of her room, and relocks the door. Going back to finish getting cleaned up.
Jacks is out of her room and back in the kitchen finishing breakfast, apparently she likes her eggs unfertilized–her words, not mine–so she’s getting them scrambled. Jacks is back todancing around the room cooking, Gabe and Leo are bent together over the iguanas tank having what appears to be a serious discussion, and I have nothing else to do, so I might as well invade her privacy a little more.
I wander down the entryway and around the corner to what appears to be an office and a bathroom. The office has posters and drawings hanging all over it. Some of them I recognise as being famous, most I don’t…quite a few are incredibly risque, and I can’t help my grin looking at some of the sketches.
Looks like we got a kinky one, awesome.
There are more bookshelves in here, loaded down with sketchbooks, so I guess she draws as well. Pulling one off the shelf I open it and flip through it…and close it, quietly putting it back on the shelf. I can feel all the blood in my face, as I leave the room, and walk back to the living room to sit quietly on the couch and not bother anyone. That was…jarringto say the least.
There were so many dicks, just on that one page…it was like a page of dicks. I don’t mind dicks, I mean, I have one, and I certainly enjoy Jacks’. But I have to wonder why I just opened a book filled with them. I know omegas are supposed to have a high libido, but that seems excessive. Does she draw them? Are those from previous lovers? I feel like I should ask, but at the same time I am a little terrified to do so, as some of them didn’t look human at all.
So here I sit, on the couch, trying not to think about those books and wonder exactly what we are getting into. Should I tellGabe and Leo? I think they might want to know because some of those were really disturbing. I don’t even hear her door open or realize everything has gone quiet until she sits on the couch beside me.
Should I ask? If we are planning on courting her, isn’t this important information? I just can’t wrap my head around how to ask and I must look like I have something going on in my mind, because Jacks comes over and pokes me in the back of the head with his spatula. He’s finally finished cooking, and the counters are covered in food…I don’t know who all he was planning to feed, but I’m fairly certain it is more than the five of us could eat in a day.
He piles two plates high, one with a stack of super fluffy pancakes, and the other with a generous helping of bacon and eggs. He brings them over and sets them on the coffee table in front of the omega, then goes back for a glass of water and one of orange juice, syrup, grape jelly, strawberry jam, and apple butter. The omega’s fridge has got to be empty at this point. He sits down, pulls her into his lap and starts to offer her bites of bacon.
She squirms a little at first, but eventually gives in and eats what he’s offering, and his purr starts back up, vibrating the whole couch. Getting up, I wander over to the kitchen. There’s a fancy coffee maker, but only a canister of decaf on the counter.
What the hell? It’ll have to do. I grab a couple pieces of bacon, roll them in a pancake and start eating while my coffee brews.
Gabe’s sitting at the far end of the couch and he looks about ready to settle in for some sort of serious negotiations. “So, we noticed your office when we came in. What do you do for a living Candice?”
She doesn't get a chance to answer, because that is when I inhale the bacon roll-up I was chewing.
Thank fuck Leo knows the Heimlich.
Chapter 13
Jacks is an amazing cook. It felt a little weird having him feed me, but the little voice in my head enjoyed it, and kept talking about all the other things we would enjoy having him feed us. When I couldn’t eat another bite, the guys descended on my kitchen and finished everything off. I guess it's been a stressful day for all of us, but I was kind of hoping for some leftovers to use for dinner tonight.
Now I need to order more groceries–one more hit to the budget.
Aside from some small talk, me avoiding questions about my work–and Xan almost dying on my kitchen floor–it was surprisingly relaxing. Xan and Leo clean the kitchen after they eat, while Jacks wraps me in his arms and goes back to purring. He keeps running his fingers through my damp hair, detangling it gently, andit feels so good.
Why does everything with these alphas feel so good? Why am I so comfortable with them?
I admit, my experience with alphas is pretty limited. Grandpa was one, and I’m sure there were some in school, but my designation came in late, after I graduated. Which is how I managed to avoid going to an omega school, but after all the warnings he gave me, and my being alone for the last three years, I just don’t interact with anyone really.
I catch my eyes drooping and it takes tremendous effort to not just let go and sleep, but as much as my body is telling me everything is good, these are still strangers. Gabe is settled beside us, Leo is on the other end of the couch texting. Xan is leaning against my bookcases, his foot tapping up and down rapidly. When Gabe reaches over to touch my ankle, I jolt, and Jacks’ arms tighten around me.
“Candice, I’m real sorry, but we need to go. I still need to talk to you about your car, but this’s been strange…nice, but strange.” Gabe’s voice is soft, but I can feel Jacks’ arms contracting more as he slowly shifts away from him. “We were talkin’ earlier, and we wanted to ask if it would be alright…if you might be open to the possibility…”
“Oh dear God, man.” Leo interrupts. “Candice, I believe you may be our scent match, which I fully admit is incredibly rare, and we would like to know if you would be open to the possibility of exploring it with us. As such, we would like to ask your permission to formally court you. There, see how easy that was?” he looks pointedly at Gabe.
“Well, yeah, what he said, but we really do need to get back to work. Xan and I got a lot of appointments, and while Trey can handle most of the work, nobody can understand him when he answers the phones. And I’m gonna bet that Leo here has his own set of appointments he needs to get to, right?”
“Yes, well, I was just texting Stephanie to make sure everyone was covered for the moment. However, Freddy’s owner is coming in about 30 minutes, and Idoneed to be there to discuss aftercare from his surgery yesterday.” At my puzzled expression Leo continues, flustered. “After I looked at the scans on Sunny, I wanted to be there for you. Even though I was worried you would hate me for telling you what was going on. However, the problem was taken from my hands when an emergency came in, and since I am in charge of the exotic pets, I had to take care of it. Now the patient, Freddy, the monitor lizard, is ready to go home, but his owner needs discharge instructions.”
I read about monitors, much bigger and more aggressive than Iggy. But she was stunted anyway, so a lot of adult lizards were. Before I can voice any of this though, Jacks slides off the couch and is backing up towards the nest, still holding me tightly, one arm under my breasts while the other is pressed against my throat. My feet stumble slightly, not used to walking backwards, but he doesn’t let me fall. Just keeps me pressed firmly against his hard chest.
