Chapter 7 #2
I rolled my eyes at the pack leader and tapped the paper.
“No, seriously. She actively fights the administration. She’s an outspoken advocate for Omega rights on the Silver City campus.
Organizes pushback, files grievances against the staff.
” I skimmed a little further down, my chest swelling with a wild kind of pride.
“Looks like she has a side business making her own bath bombs, candles, and custom lotions, too. Probably drives the traditionalists insane that she refuses to just sit still and look pretty.”
Stetson stared into the flames like the puzzle pieces were finally snapping together. “No wonder she dared me to send her home and wasn’t afraid to challenge me right back. She’s used to fighting for every single inch of ground she stands on.”
“Exactly,” Gideon agreed softly. “I bet she expected us to demand her submission. Instead, Boone cooked for her, and you apologized to her.”
I couldn’t help it. A shit-eating grin spread across my face. “God, I love her already. Sparkles is a warrior.”
“She is,” River agreed, his amber eyes reflecting the firelight. “Which means she isn’t going to surrender just because our scents match. We have to earn her.”
“And you need to rein your energy in,” Stetson warned, shooting me a sharp, leader-heavy look. “She is terrified of losing her autonomy. If you push her too hard, too fast, she will bolt.”
“I’m not going to scare her,” I promised, though my scent was already warming with anticipation.
“Did you guys actually smell her? The neroli. The fig. And when I got close to her neck...” I groaned, scrubbing a hand roughly over my mouth.
“Christ. That black cherry note. It went straight to my dick. I have never wanted to bite someone so badly in my entire life.”
Boone snorted, shaking his head, while Stetson shot me a warning look.
I held my hands up in surrender. “Didn’t say I was gonna. Just that I wanted to.” Then under my breath, I added, “I can be patient and wait until she begs me for it, preferably while I’m knot deep inside her.”
“Ransom,” Stetson barked.
“He’s right to tell you to rein it in,” a raspy voice cut through the smoke.
We all turned toward the cedar stump. Colt was leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees, staring into the fire. He might have been keeping his distance, but he was still one of us, and he loved this pack as much as any man sitting in this circle.
“Ransom’s lack of impulse control isn’t the only thing that’s going to make her bolt,” Colt continued quietly. He shifted his dark gaze to Gideon. “Have you told her about Wyatt and Sunny?”
A heavy, dead silence fell over the patio. The only sound was the crackle of the flames.
Gideon scrubbed a hand down his face, wincing. “I didn’t exactly have the time.”
“Oh, shit,” I breathed, the reality of it suddenly hitting me like a bucket of ice water.
“Yeah. Oh, shit,” Colt agreed dryly. “She’s a twenty-four-year-old city girl who thinks she’s just dealing with five Alphas and a Beta. Tomorrow morning, she’s going to find out she’s also auditioning to be a stepmother.”
“She grew up in a family of five,” Boone pointed out calmly. “She knows how to handle chaos.”
It was my turn to wince. “Growing up as part of the chaos is a little different than raising and taming little Tasmanian devils, Boone,” I admitted, more than a little worried now.
I loved my daughter more than breath itself, but Sunny was a force of nature, and Wyatt was entirely too perceptive for a seven-year-old.
“Colt’s right. When those kids get back from my mom’s house tomorrow, it’s going to totally blindside her. ”
“Then we make sure she feels safe, settled, and welcome before they get here,” River said, resolute. “We show her she belongs.”
I shifted my gaze across the fire. Colt wouldn’t admit it, but he’d been listening during Gideon’s entire explanation, and something behind his eyes had shifted, becoming more thoughtful.
Like he was realizing that the woman upstairs was carrying her own ghosts, fighting her own demons, just like he was.
“Since we’re being brutally honest,” I said directly to him, ensuring there was no ambiguity left between us.
“You know we aren’t letting her go. I’m saying this because you’re my brother and I mean it—figure your shit out, Colt.
I’d hate to see you push Julia away before you even get to know her.
Don’t ruin this for yourself. Omegas internalize rejection, and some hurts aren’t easily forgiven. ”
He didn’t answer, but he nodded, his jaw tight as his hand clenched around the silver chain until his knuckles went white.
We stayed out by the fire for another hour, drinking in the quiet, dissecting every word she had said to Gideon in the truck, and mapping out our courtship plans. I just hoped it would be enough to catch and keep the most beautiful woman on the planet.
When the embers finally burned down to a dull, glowing red, we scattered.
I headed back inside, locking the heavy front doors and moving quietly through the dark house. I took the stairs two at a time, my boots making barely a sound against the wood. I reached the second floor, fully intending to head straight to my bedroom and crash.
But my boots didn’t turn toward my door.
I found myself taking the next flight up, drawn by an invisible, gravitational pull I had zero interest in fighting.
I stepped off the top stair onto the third-floor landing.
For the first time in our history at the Double T ranch, the heavy double doors at the end of the hall were securely shut. The Omega Suite wasn’t just an empty, hollow space anymore. It wasn’t a constant reminder of the future we thought we’d never have.
Her scent bled right through the heavy oak.
The bright, Italian warmth of her neroli filled the hallway, layered with the soft, sleepy comfort of fig. She was safe. She was resting.
The sheer relief of it nearly put me on my knees.
I walked slowly down the hall, stopping right outside her door. I rested my palm flat against the cool wood, closing my eyes as I listened past the barrier. Faintly, so quietly I almost missed it, I heard the rhythmic sound of her breathing.
A fiercely territorial possessiveness roared to life in my chest, hot and more importantly permanent.
Sleep well, Sparkles. I hoped my scent had drifted under the door frame to keep her company in the dark. I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving you’re exactly where you belong. Welcome home.