Page 67 of A Farmer’s Guide To Gamers

“So, we passed?” Jack asked softly.

“You most definitely did,” I reassured him, turning to press my lips to his in a quick kiss.

“Drinks!” Mom sang out then she swept into the room with a tray. Pa moved quickly, sweeping it out of her hand and replacing it with a clear plastic cup before offering one to the rest of us. I always loved how naturally they loved her. It was like second nature.

I could see our pack being just like this one day.

“What is it?” I asked as I looked at the cup and took a tentative sip.

“Some kind of galaxy drink,” Mom said as she gulped down half of hers. “It’s delicious.”

She was right. It tasted delicious and I immediately knew I’d only be having the one. If I somehow got talked into more, then morning chores tomorrow were going to be hell.

Everyone snagged a drink and dinner was effortless.

I could tell my family was really taking a liking to my pack, even my brothers who could be overprotective to the max. Drew was talking some business numbers to Jack at one point and I left them to it. Math was not my thing.

Snuggling into Dean’s side as we ate, I smiled when he pressed an absentminded kiss on my cheek, feeling at home surrounded by everyone.

This was everything I didn’t know I needed.

Jack

Dinner had been a ton of fun.

Tillie’s family reminded me of my Abuela and Noni who had raised me. Our home had been filled with lots of love, loud voices, and fun. My parents had been amazing, but they were always gone traveling to new exciting places for work and having a kid with them… well, it never really worked.

I know they loved me, but it wasn’t the same kind of warmness I received from my two grandmothers on a daily basis.

“Sir?”

Looking up I grinned sheepishly, realizing that I had completely lost my train of thought as I stood in line at the coffee shop. We were all setting up for a full work day today, determined to make solid progress on the game which meant caffeine was most definitely needed.

“Sorry, lost in thought,” I apologized and quickly told him my order.

After paying and getting out of the way I stood in the pickup area waiting for them to call my name.

“Jack, right?” a voice said from behind.

I turned to find a man I’d never seen before standing there. He smiled and stuck out a hand in way of greeting and said his name was Johnny.

“You must be new in town,” Johnny said, shaking my hand firmly. The sour lemon of his scent made my nose twitch, though I tried to hide it.

“Yeah. How do you know who I am?” I questioned as he stood next to me, waiting on his own drink. Maybe it was a bit blunt but the strange scent was really throwing me off. I wasn’t sure why I was getting weirded out but something about the guy felt off.

Then I felt guilty for having that thought when he was introducing himself.

“Your order,” he laughed and gestured at the barista, who had written my name right on my cup.

“Oh,” I perked up, flushing with embarrassment and feeling extra guilty for thinking he was creepy. Usually I wasn’t the one to be judging aura’s and vibes but someone randomly knowing your name had thrown me. “Yes. Just moved here with my pack. The other alpha has family here.”

“It’s one of those towns that everyone comes home eventually,” he mused. “I’m guilty of that myself. Grew up here then moved a few towns over. I’ve been thinking about coming back. An alpha gets to a certain age and realizes they need to find an omega and settle in. You know?”

“I’m realizing that.” It wasn’t often that another alpha regarded me as an equal. The guy was growing on me. Maybe if I wasn’t caffeine deprived, I wouldn’t have reacted the way I did.

I watched as the barista grabbed a drink carrier and started putting the pack’s drinks in one by one. We all needed the boost to get to going after morning chores. Tillie was eager to get some baking in and the rest of us wanted to get to work.

I’d been working on some level design. It wasn’t easy to combine Aiden’s art into a 3D rendering that worked smoothly, but with what we’d accomplished so far, I was confident it would be amazing.