Faith & the Dead End Devils (Sweet Omegaverse, #8)(134)
Omikron was gone for good. I hadn't seen Adam in months, hadn't heard from him in weeks, but apparently he and his pack had been busy.
Chance stirred at my side, the last of my pack left in bed with me this morning, and then joined me in squinting up at the screen.
"That mean what I think it means?" Chance asked, wrapping his arms around me and drawing me closer. Morning light was faint in my new nest, and without the rest of the pack, the room felt cozy but a little too large.
"Yeah."
"How do you feel?" Chance asked.
I licked my lips and he turned his head to stare at me. "I thought I'd be more…relieved?" His brow furrowed, and I cleared my throat. "I'm not afraid of Omikron now, but I…I haven't been for a while. I've known how safe I am here, with all of you. Taking down the last of Omikron is… I guess I'm just happy for Adam."
Chance's face relaxed, and he pressed a kiss to my shoulder. "You're right. You've been safe. It's nice to hear you've felt it too." He kissed my skin once more, passing King's bondmark and trailing down to my collarbone. His hair was getting long again, sliding through my fingers, and I sighed as he sat up, beautiful and otherworldly in the soft morning glow of the nest.
"Come on, let's catch Ghost and Bear before they leave for the morning."
I debated drawing him back under the covers with me for a slow morning sex session, but I could always drag him and King back to bed with me later. I dressed and followed Chance out of the nest, down the narrow spiral staircase.
Coffee was brewing and a skillet was sizzling. The morning light filtered softly into the large open living space, with a huge stove fireplace at the center that kept our home cozy in the drizzly northwest winters.
Bear leaned over the kitchen counter, watching me descend from the nest. "Morning, Butterfly," he greeted, catching King and Ghost's stares.
"You're up early," King said, flipping an egg in the skillet.
"To see me," Ghost said, hurrying to reach Chance and me at the bottom of the stairs.
I still used their old road names, although Bear mostly went by Courtney to the rest of the world now. They were still the men I'd met in Dead End, but we were less tense in our new life.
Ghost and Chance kissed slowly at the bottom of the stairs, and Ghost caught my arm, drawing me between them before I could pass by. Their lips landed over every available inch of me until I was laughing and twisting away. Chance smacked a final kiss over a faded bruise on my throat. He bit me less often now, just when I begged, but there was usually a mark from him somewhere on me.
"Breakfast inside or outside?" King asked.
He already knew the answer, and Bear was pulling open the sliding door that led to our balcony deck.
"Outside," I said, grabbing one of Bear's hoodies from the couch and sliding it over my head. Mornings were chilly up the mountains, even deep in summer.
I paused in the center of our cabin. King had found it before we’d left Dead End and kept it as a surprise. He knew me better than I'd even realized. The large main room was surrounded by windows, pine trees and maples and oaks rising high on every side of us. Opening the door to the balcony let in morning music, birdsong and the occasional chitter of squirrels who knew I left crumbs behind for them to steal.
It was private here, serene. We were the last stop on the narrow mountain road, and there was a cute pack of betas who had an organic farm down near the base, and traded their grown veggies and fresh eggs for the mushrooms and berries and roots I foraged on the mountain.
"I've got to get to the shop early today to finish up an engine, but I should be done not long after lunch," Ghost said, heading for the door that led down to our ground floor garage.
"I'm out early too. We should go down to the lake," Bear said. "Give our Butterfly an excuse to wear that bikini she just got."
"She wears it on the deck while I try to study," Chance said, winking at me.
"You're getting As, don't throw me under the bus," I answered.
"C'mere, princess, try these," King called.
Bear stopped me on the way, bending his head and kissing me with coffee-flavored lips. "Be a good girl today," he said.
"Train the alphas well," I said, nodding.
Bear had started a small community program in the nearby town, training alphas on designation, on caring for an omega emotionally as well as sexually. The local omegas would be lucky, but not as lucky as I was.
I joined King at the kitchen counter, a poached egg resting on top of what looked like smoked salmon and an English muffin. It was drizzled with a yellow sauce, and in King's defense, it looked and smelled delicious. But we both knew how this was going to go.
I accepted the fork he passed me and dug into the beautiful breakfast, wincing slightly at the sudden bleed of rich, yellow yolk over the plate. I took my dutiful bite, chewing slowly, swallowing hard.
King raised an eyebrow, waiting for the verdict.
"Too runny," I whispered, blinking up at him.
His eyes narrowed. "Brat. Go outside and wait for your breakfast."
"I liked the sauce!" I said.
"It was from a bottle," he groused, bumping me away with his hip. "Out."
I hid my grin behind Bear's massive sleeves and hurried out to the deck, closing my eyes against the flicker of sunlight through thick layers of leaves, listening to the larks that had nested above the house.