Building a Pack is Ruff, Part 1 (The Pack Pets Omegaverse #2)

17. Teddy

Chapter 17

S am wasn’t lying when he said he had a man cave down here. Though judging by the look on Kelly’s face it’ll be a pack cave soon enough. She wanders over to the flat screen television that takes up a good chunk of one wall and starts perusing the video games there. There are a few retro systems, one that looks like it might be a raspberry pi setup, and then a couple of newer consoles. Everything is lined up on neat custom shelves with slots for the controllers and built-in battery chargers. There’s a bar area in the back with a big theater style popcorn machine on it and the glass front shows a variety of candy. In front of the giant TV are six alpha sized recliners with super plush seating. I guess he was going for the full theater experience.

The other end of the basement has a pool table and a new looking arcade tower. Kelly’s still looking through the video games, but when I look over, Sam’s scratching the back of his head and staring at the floor. His eyes flick up to mine and he blushes. “I don’t know, I always thought I would join Joseph’s pack, and I drew up plans for a pack game room and entertainment stuff. I wanted to contribute something no one else could, you know? Something that would make them happy, or at least let them see me as more than just a tag-along. Once it became obvious that that wasn’t going to happen, it seemed a shame to waste the time and effort I’d already put into it.”

He’s staring at the pool table now, and I look around the room, realizing he built most of this stuff. Not the chairs, probably, but the custom video game layout, the bar, and apparently the pool table. I wonder briefly about the arcade system.

“Wait, you mean you built a pool table?”

It’s hardly the most impressive feature in here, but damn. He meets my eyes, his blush deepening. “Well, yeah. I mean. I like pool. I also drew up plans for a library, on that wall.” He points to the bare wall behind me. “But even though I had the whole basement resealed, I’m still getting slugs in here sometimes.”

Kelly gives a little shriek and trots back towards the stairs. We both stare at her while she bounces from foot to foot. “Yes, I like nature, I do not like slugs. They creep me out, ok? I stepped on one, one night, in the dark, trying to go to the bathroom. I didn’t want to turn the hall light on and risk waking up Tuck. And it got stuck between my toes and was really hard to get off. I kind of panicked and woke my parents up with my screaming.” Now she’s the same red shade as Sam; they look like adorable bookends.

Sam turns halfway, so he can see us both as he speaks. “As I was saying, I’m still working on some sort of leak in this back corner. I keep a dehumidifier down here and it isn’t really a problem, but I want to get it completely fixed before I bring anything else down. I could have converted the nest to hold all this stuff, but it seemed wrong, even though I never thought I’d have an omega.” He looks sheepishly at me when he says the last bit.

“Oh, I know what we can do!” Kelly is hopping up and down on the stairs, still stealing glances at the ground like a wave of slugs is going to come barreling through the room and cover the stairs. She grins excitedly, eyes swinging between the two of us. “I know that you were worried about your heat starting. And it’s not supposed to for a while. But why don’t we take a trip over to Springfield? We’ll have a long truck ride to talk, then you can pick some stuff out to order for the nest. Maybe we can grab lunch while we’re out. Maybe go by the bookstore in the mall. Just make a day of it together?”

She looks hopeful when she mentions the bookstore and my mind flashes back to all the books stacked around her room when we were there yesterday. I was pretty out of it, but I remember there were a lot. She glances back to the stairs before hopping up one more step, causing a dark chuckle to rumble out of Sam. “Ok, Sugar. If Teddy feels up to it, we can take a trip to Nest-N-Stuff and go to the mall. Make sure that the two of you have anything else you need to be comfortable here.” Kelly squeals and looks like she wants to hop off the stairs and wrap her arms around him, but then thinks better of it.

I t doesn’t take long for us to get ready for the day. Kelly and I dig through our respective clothes till I’m back in my standard black jeans, black T-shirt, black overshirt, and black sneakers. She’s wearing another pair of cutoffs and a tiny shirt that has a black-and-white image of a bald guy in a cape on it. She slips on her dusty sneakers from yesterday after knocking them against each other on the porch. Jake must hear her because he comes barreling around the side of the house, knocking her into me and licking at her hands.

“Oh, you big booger. Now I need to go wash my hands before we leave, or I’m gonna smell like dog slobber all day. I love you slobber muffin Jake-y!” And now she’s talking baby talk to the dog while rubbing his ears. “Are you gonna stay here and guard the house like a good boy? Are you?” She pats her thighs twice and Jake leans against her with a groan while she scratches his ears again. I think the dog’s as smitten as me and Sam.

After a few minutes, she heads back inside to wash her hands and grab some water, and I follow Jake around the side of the house, just taking in the surroundings, since this is going to be my new home. Soon I hear the screen door on the front porch close and Sam calling my name. He’s leaning against the driver’s side door of the pickup while Kelly tries to climb in the passenger side. I walk up behind her and put my hand on her ass, squeezing a little as I give her a boost.

She giggles as she crawls across the cab and finds the center lap belt. Sam lets out a grumble about her not sitting in the back seat of the cab but doesn’t make her move. I offer to trade, but I don’t think being squished up against Sam would be the best option, plus my longer legs need more floor space.

Kelly just grins at me and shakes her head. “Nope, center seat gets to control the radio. Mine!” She starts flipping through stations as soon as the truck gets turned around. Sam and I both groan when she stops with something upbeat and poppy. She laughs again and keeps going. There aren’t going to be a lot of stations out here, probably nothing like I normally listen to, and I vow to introduce my pack to proper music—the stuff I have on my phone—soon.

She stops again and starts singing along with a song that I think is by the band Dropkick Murphys. Sarah was playing them one day at the gym—it’s kind of a punk rock with bagpipes song. Not my personal favorite, but not bad. Sam grumbles again so she turns to him. “Ok, Sam, what kind of music do you like?” He mumbles a few things off, but the only one I catch is Johnny Cash and there's no way in hell I’m doing that. I can do older metal like Nine Inch Nails, or some of the newer stuff like AleStorm and other Pirate Metal. I can even listen to punk and grunge. But I’m pretty sure my ears are going to start bleeding if we listen to country.

Kelly, true to her word, controls the radio for the whole trip. It seems to take about an hour to get to this nesting store they were talking about, and I pull up my banking app to check my balances when I see the sign for it on the highway. I have a lot of stuff already back at the center that we can plan a trip to go get soon, but for now I need a place where my inner omega feels safe and comfortable. I can at least grab some basics that’ll go with what I already have, once I can pick the rest up.