Chapter Thirteen
Vaughn
“Good morning.” Holt was the first to greet our female when she came down the hallway and into the kitchen.
I jumped up and placed her plate in the empty space at the kitchen table. I’d gone all out for breakfast, and the guys had teased me about trying to impress our omega.
Guilty as charged.
“Coffee, Katie? Tea?”
She offered a soft smile and nodded. “Good morning. Coffee, please. But I can get it.”
“Sugar and cream are on the table.”
With a large cup of coffee in her hands, she sat down and widened her eyes. “This is some breakfast. I don’t even think the diner cooks this much in the mornings.”
Poe laughed. “Vaughn is showing off.”
“For me?” she asked. Her cheeks and ears instantly went red.
I shrugged it off. “I can’t help it. A beautiful woman is here for breakfast. What am I supposed to do, pull out the instant oatmeal packets? You know me better than that.”
That caused a pause but every word was true. Surely this omega had been called beautiful hundreds of times in her life and that was low-balling.
“It’s great. Thank you. Call me impressed.” She filled her plate with a biscuit, ham, an omelet, and a big scoop of cheesy grits. But not enough. Not nearly enough for a shifter or an omega who hadn’t been eating a lot.
“Get as much as you like, Katie. Seriously, don’t be shy.” Holt’s words convinced her to get more food, including one of my famous blueberry muffins.
“So tell me what you do for work, Poe. I know Holt is the sheriff and Vaughn works here in the home but not you.”
Poe got up and refilled his coffee. “I write novels.”
Her eyes raised. “What genre? Gosh, I haven’t had time to pick up a book in…a long time.”
What had she been so busy doing? And with who? She would tell us in her own time.
“Cozy horror.”
She stopped eating while we all let out a chuckle. Poe knew what he was doing saying that. “I don’t think those two words go together, Poe. Explain?”
“The environment is cozy. Fireplaces. Blankets. Cabins in the mountains or woods. Comforting food. It’s irony. Juxtaposition. You get the reader comfortable and let their guard down and then things begin to change. Next thing they know, they’re in the middle of a psychological nightmare.”
Katie paused and looked around. “Am I in the middle of said book because this place is cozy and calming and secure and last night I slept like the dead.”
Another round of laughter. Our omega was sharp as a tack. “No. This is actually how we live, omega. Comfortable. Peaceful. Cozy is kind of my thing.”
She met my gaze. “You do it well, Vaughn.”
“Thank you. Poe, why don’t you grab one of your books for Katie? She has time to read while she waits for her truck.”
“That would be amazing. I’d love to read it. I might get spooked and run to one of you for safety but I’d love to read it.”
We’d love the running-to-us-for-safety part.
“Sure. Let me grab one.”
She finished her meal and patted her stomach. My wolf strutted inside me, knowing we had something to do with her safety and satiety.
“How about we all go for a run?” Holt suggested. “Unless you have a deadline, Poe?”
“Even if I did, I’d rather write all night than miss a run. Katie, are you in?”
A wide smile took shape on her heart-shaped face. “I haven’t let my wolf out in a long time. You’re sure you don’t mind if I join you?”
“We don’t mind at all. Let’s go.”
Holt was onto something. Our wolves would bond with their omega almost immediately. We would be able to better anticipate her needs once that bond was started. The more we could anticipate, the better mates we could be to her.
Plus, personally, even though I regarded myself as a gentleman, I would discreetly look for an alpha’s mark on her skin.
Perhaps Holt was right, and she was running from an alpha or a mating gone wrong.
We went outside and undressed, not an uncommon thing among shifters, but this was new. Katie didn’t show any sign of shyness, and I saw no mark on her perfect skin. Her curves had no end.
I couldn’t wait to get my greedy hands on them.
We shifted together, almost at the exact same time. Her wolf’s fur was red, the same shade as her human hair. And damn, our omega was fast.
Once we ran around the forest and we showed her the river and the small waterfall, I lay down on a rock near the water to rest.
Imagine my shock when Katie, her wolf, our omega, lay next to me, her head next to mine.
Poe and Holt took their places on the other side of her, and I felt something in me change. The bond was there. New and barely a whisper, but there, all the same.