Knight Life In Vegas (Sin City Omegas #3)

Chapter 46

O ur first beginner class was ridiculous, but also cute as hell. Charlotte had already taken them through the equipment basics and now we were moving on to one student at a time per instructor actually getting on the back of a horse. She glowed. Passing on a love of horses to a new generation had her practically skipping around the arena. The kids oscillated between nerves and excitement.

I had Ollie on Sugar Snap since he was our smallest student, and he was practically vibrating with how jazzed he was.

“How are you doing on Snappy?” I asked Ollie.

He grinned at me, showing off the missing tooth he had lost last night. His first baby one to go. “I love her.”

Parents watched from the sidelines, Beau front and center to watch our boys even if he wasn’t quite chill enough with the horses to participate. Charlotte was working on him, but even though I adored them, I could see how someone might be intimidated by these giant four-legged weirdos.

I had still been braced for Charlotte to recover from her heat and panic, but I got less worried with every hour that passed. She was so relaxed in the bond. The horses brought her peace and she blossomed around us. Consistency really paid off when you were trying to heal someone. It wasn’t even hard to do. I’d wanted her from the start and that had only gotten stronger since the bond.

My omega was a warrior. The pain she’d been carrying might be there forever and I caught whispers of it every so often, but she was getting stronger than it. The bond let her lean on us in a whole new way. Insecurity could hardly win when every time we noticed her starting to slip into it, our own emotions about her blasted it down like a fire hose.

Charlotte walked by me with one of the students on Applesauce, leaning over quickly to kiss me. Affection from her lit up like a sun in my chest. She loved me. She loved all of us even if the words hadn’t officially left her mouth. I felt them on repeat every moment she was with us.

I managed to get through the rest of the lesson before I broke down and dragged her into my arms. “How am I supposed to get through the day when you’re running around the arena, shining like a little star?”

“You managed.” She smiled up at me and laced her fingers in my hair to pull me down for a much more thorough kiss than before.

“Not easily,” I groused. “Do you think you love this enough to keep doing it?”

“Couldn’t stop me if you tried. I love everything about it.” Her hazel eyes were wide, and nerves tripped down the bond. “I love you too. I’m sorry I didn’t say it back right away. It’s still kind of scary, but I’m working on i?—”

I swallowed up her last word in a kiss that had her moaning against my mouth. “I’d wait a hundred years to hear you say it.”

“Mommy, stop kissing Daddy. It’s gross!” Ollie yelled.

My heart squeezed. “Today is the best. I get an I love you and an induction into Ollie’s Daddy Hall of Fame on the same day?”

I scooped Ollie up, spinning while he shrieked with laughter. “Daddy, quit it! I’m gonna get dizzy.”

“My apologies, Sir Knight.” I popped him back on his feet.

“Quit hogging Dad.” Sammy latched onto my other side. “You got him the whole lesson.”

Oh god. Don’t fucking cry.

I did anyway, dropping to my knees and pulling both of the boys into a hug.

Ollie patted my cheek. “Why you crying?”

“Just happy, kiddo.”

“Oh, okay.” Apparently that was his cue to wriggle out of my arms and go running over to the edge of the arena to make sure Beau had been watching his lesson the entire time.

Charlotte was teary-eyed as she kneeled next to me. “Sammy, you’re calling Dylan Dad?”

“Is that bad? They’re all acting like the dads on TV.”

“You can call me anything you want, Sammy,” I insisted.

Charlotte kissed Sammy’s forehead. “I just worried you would always miss your dad in New York. Not everyone has room in their hearts for more parents.”

“I don’t even know New York Dad,” Sammy confessed. “The TV dads are always there and ours never was. I know you didn’t say the ones living with us were ours, but?—”

“They’re yours,” Charlotte promised. “ Ours . It’s all still new and I didn’t want you to feel pressured to accept them.”

Sammy looked me right in the eye. “I like them. Everyone’s nice to us. Do you love Mommy? The TV dads always love the mommy.”

“I definitely love your mom,” I replied. “And you and your brother.”

Sammy looped his arms around my neck. “I know. I gotta go brush my horse.”

Without another word he bolted away, leaving me emotionally decimated on the arena floor.

Charlotte kissed my cheek and pulled me close. “I knew the boys didn’t have many memories of Andrew, but I hadn’t realized how bad it was. I don’t even know if Ollie has any at all.”

“We’ll make a million new ones with our pack.”

“Mommy!” Sammy yelled across the arena. We turned, seeing Chico helping Sammy back onto Sassafras. “Dad says I can ride for five more minutes. Is that okay?”

Nervous excitement and weepy happiness tripped down the bond from Chico and Charlotte, tangling with my own.

“That’s fine, honey,” Charlotte called back.

“I’m not emotionally equipped for children accepting me as their dad.” I hiccuped and Charlotte pulled me closer.

“I’m so relieved,” Charlotte whispered.

“Definitely good they like us, considering there’s no take-backsies on a bond.”

“In fairness, you guys are very hard to not like.”

Eduardo picked Ollie up where he was still telling Beau about every detail of his lesson, tossing the six-year-old over his shoulder. “Come on, little man. You can tell Beau all about it while you brush Sugar Snap.”

“Can you help me, Daddy?” Ollie asked while upside down.

Eduardo’s stuttered swell of emotion whacked all of us in the chest. “You bet I can.”

“They’re all stealing my Dad Thunder,” I said with a laugh. “I’m gonna have to comfort myself with being the first one Sammy called Dad.”

“It’s not a competition.” Charlotte laughed and pulled me into another kiss.

“I’m always in competition to be the favorite.”

“It’s a four-way tie.” Charlotte rose up, pulling me with her. “Come on. Let’s go make sure all the horses aren’t only half-done.”

We checked over the horses together and made sure all the equipment was properly put away.

Leo was fussing over Eclipse when we passed by. “You guys did great. Way different vibe than the shows, but it was nice spending time with the kids. We’re doing adult classes too, right?”

“We had a lot of interest in it,” replied Charlotte.

“Do you think…”

“I’ll ask Madison if she would like lessons,” Charlotte promised.

“Really?”

“I think she’d like it. Good excuse to spend more time together.”

“He’s got it bad for your bestie,” I whispered to Charlotte as we continued on.

“Better him than the one she’s with,” she replied.

I gave a mock gasp. “Princess, are you encouraging an omega to step out on her alpha?”

“I’m just letting her see what else is out there. I would expect her to either get the go-ahead from Tyler that he’s okay with packing up, or for her to leave him before she pursues anyone else.”

“Sounds terrifying for her.”

“I have no doubt that it would be. I just need her to realize what she wants now rather than years down the line, when she’ll have missed out on so much time with someone who actually gives a damn.”

I swung Charlotte up into my arms bridal style. “We’re turning you into a romantic.”

“It’s new territory for me.” She laughed and followed it up with a yawn. “I could sleep for a year. I feel like I used to recover from heats faster. I don’t know if it’s just because I’ve gotten older, or what.”

I slipped my arm around her waist. “In fairness, you were particularly voracious. Hot as hell, but damn, girl. I wasn’t sure I was gonna make it through.”

Charlotte hummed thoughtfully. “Do you think that’s just because of the scent match making it all more intense?”

“Probably. I bet the bonds amped it up too.”

“Makes sense. I get the feeling it went absolutely wild to make sure those bonds got snuck in before the opportunity was gone forever. I think maybe that’s another reason I’m not freaking out about it like I thought I would. It’s not like I have the luxury of time. If this was my last heat, I’m okay with everything happening at once rather than wanting to later and not having the chance.”

“I don’t like you being rushed, but I’m not upset over getting to bond you early.”

She blinked back tears, sorrow rising in the bond. The others noticed too, immediately making their ways over.

“What’s wrong, princess?”

“I just really wish my parents could have met everyone. I think they would’ve loved all of you.”

I drew her out of the horse stall so everyone had room to wrap around our omega.

“I miss them.”

Beau kissed the top of her head. “They may be gone but they’re not forgotten. They’d be so proud of you.”

We couldn’t do anything about her loss except love her enough that it filled in some of the broken pieces. Her grief wouldn’t lessen, but hopefully with enough love we could help her grow around it.

Heaven knew I had a lifetime of it ready to give her.