Twenty-Four
I should be absolutely wrecked, and in some respects, I am, but waking up post heat, after a heat where my needs were not only met, but exceeded, has me feeling like this is the real start of everything.
If I allow myself to wallow in the memories of trying to ride through heats alone, on that pallet bed in a hole, then I’m going to fall into another depression.
There’s no room for depression in this new home, because I’m choosing to continue to believe these alphas that have done such a good job of easing me through my heat, being attentive to every little thing I could possibly want, and spoiling me rotten.
I get flashes of them taking turns bathing me between heat spikes, feeding me nutrient dense foods and keeping me hydrated, swapping out linens and somehow rotating to wash laundry and cook full meals for everyone without me even noticing.
My old life is a relic of my past, a past I’m fully ready to let go of.
Having been cleaned before I fell asleep last night, I wake up sore, but only in the best way, head on Monet’s chest with Clement behind me, Moon curled around my legs, and the rest of the guys not much further, reaching out to me even in sleep.
“What’s that smile for?”
I sit up and reach for Jos, my big strong doctor alpha, who’s clearly assessing my health without trying to be too obnoxious about it.
He plucks me out of the nest of exhausted alphas, bringing me to my closet to get dressed.
He goes straight for a cute gray lounge set without me even having to think about what I want to wear, stooping down to put some cushy socks on my feet and comb out my hair before pulling it up in a ponytail for me.
I quite literally don’t even have to lift a finger.
When he’s done with his assessment that he tried to disguise as putting clothing on me, tension leaves him and we stand in the closet, wrapped around each other.
That’s when I remember he asked me a question. “Hey Jos?”
“Yes, Fable?”
“Would it be completely irrational of me to want to return to my house and get some closure? I thought I’d never want to go back, but I think I need to.”
“Any thoughts of what you wanted to do with the house? We could move into it and make some renovations to make it work for all of us, if that’s something you want.”
“You’d give up this gorgeous, modern space for a house that’s practically crumbling in some places? Do you know how much we’d have to do to that thing to make it even comparable to here?”
“Doesn’t matter,” he says against my hair, pressing a kiss onto me. He tows me out of the room by the hand, saying something about feeding me.
“What do you mean, it doesn’t matter? How loaded are you guys?”
His eyes crinkle, and I decide that’s my favorite look on him. “Well enough off that we could all retire next week if we wanted to and our children’s children would have something left to inherit.”
“Do you guys…want kids?”
He freezes, realizing how casually he brought that up.
“Maybe. Later, though. We would never consider that when we’re still so focused on getting you settled here and we’re selfish.
We want you to ourselves for a good while.
If that’s something you don’t want though, then that’s okay too. We’ll figure it out as a pack.”
I study his face to ascertain the truth of his words, but he looks steadily back at me, making me drop my concerns. “Okay. I don’t know if I’ll ever want any, but maybe in a few years I’ll be open to considering it. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
He nods like he appreciates my truth, smiling again as he presses a kiss to the back of my hand. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”
He proceeds to cook a huge breakfast for everyone, the scents of spicy sausage and roasted potatoes filling the air, mixing with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. It smells like a home. Possibly my home, if I give into it.
I take measure of the room around us as if it’s the first time I’ve seen it, and it kind of feels like it is.
I note the white of the walls and the bare floors, the almost lifelessness of it all, wondering what it would look like with a splash of color here or a vase of flowers there as the sun breaks through the window.
The dining table is well-used, scuffed in places plates usually rest, telling me about their lives before I ever walked in here.
I want to get up there. Letting the impulsivity take control, I climb onto my chair and step onto the table, toes dancing between the place settings people are starting to take for breakfast.
The table is long enough that I can walk from one end to the other and get different viewpoints of the house, and that different vantage point is what finally does it, what makes it sink in that I don’t ever have to leave this place, and no one’s asking me to hide in it.
Ignoring the curious looks and stares, I continue to survey the room like it’s my kingdom, letting my omega rise to the surface and get all bubbly that we’ve found our alphas and they’re providing. Maybe I can start to dream about what I want to do with my life outside of just surviving.
I look at the kitchen cabinets, full of kitchen things and not empty spaces for me to disappear into, then the couch where I know we’re going to hang out and watch shows together, to the staircase that leads to the bedrooms and my wonderful, beautiful nest, and the windows looking out to their massive yard and the front door and just, everything.
I grab my orange juice glass from where I was sitting and hold it up, waiting for everyone’s attention.
“I’ve never done this before, but…I would like to make a toast. That’s what you say, right?
I think so. I want to raise a toast to this pack, for the possibilities of what we can become, and how we’re all here, together, and there’s not a single one of you I feel like punching. Well done.”
Amused, Moon stands up, brandishing his ice water. “A toast to our omega, for being patient with us and for allowing us to prove ourselves to you, and for helping us to see that things are not always as they seem.”
Monet is next with coffee. “To Fable, for helping us to remember that there’s light in the world, and that being part of a pack means we’re never going to be in the dark.”
Clement. “To all of you, my packmates, but mostly our beautiful omega, for making this house into a home we want to be in, at long last.”
Edric. “To Fable, for reminding us it’s okay to be gentle.”
Jos clears his throat and holds his mug of tea between his hands, contemplating before meeting my eyes and making his impromptu toast. “To you, Fable, for seeing all of us, and wanting us anyway.”
I crack a smile at that, tears forming in my eyes at how overwhelmed with affection I am; but we can’t stop until everyone’s said something cheesy and embarrassing, so we all turn to Calloway and wait for him to think of something. We don’t wait long.
“To our darling girl, for proving my family wrong and making me feel like a better alpha for having been around you these past weeks.”
Finally it’s Anderson’s turn and he looks a bit nervous. He doesn’t have a drink, but he climbs up onto the table with me, directly under the enormous chandelier and the vaulted ceilings.
When he speaks, it’s quiet, but I know everyone can hear him. They’re all crowding into the table, hands ready in case I somehow trip and try to fall to my death, tuned in completely to whatever Anderson is about to tell them.
“When I met you, Fable, I was confused and panicking because even through that window you were behind, something inside my chest knew you were meant for me. I’ve been looking for missing pieces of a life I wanted for a long time now, because life in Trash Haven has never been what I thought life should be.
It’s hard to think about how different things might have been if any number of variables changed, but we’re living in the reality of variables that led us here, to this moment, where we’re standing on a table and making weird announcements. ”
We all laugh at this, the sense of pack encompassing everyone and binding us more tightly together.
“When I was little, I never thought much about vampires, certainly didn’t dream about becoming one, but if I could go back in time to see my younger self, I’d make him dream about just that, because I’d tell him that becoming this, as awful as the transition was, and as sick as it made me, was all worth it, because I get you. ”
He turns his head to the side, addressing his packmates.
“Not only do I get you, Fable, but I get these guys, who are strong enough to keep me in place, yet empathetic enough to sense when I need room for growth. This is our family, our pack, and whatever comes next, it’s going to be a hell of a ride.
To our pack. Let’s keep doing weird shit and supporting each other, and may we never forget how to laugh. ”
We all toast to that and then Anderson pulls me into his arms, the rest of the guys escorting me off the table, and breakfast resumes with very little fanfare. We joke and steal food off plates that aren’t ours, then argue about who’s going to do the dishes, and the day settles around us.
We’re lazy and allow ourselves recovery time, and by the end of the day we’re exactly where I thought we’d be, by the tv in a massive pile, watching trashy shows and throwing popcorn at the screen when the dumb characters do dumb things.
It’s…everything, and so far beyond what I ever imagined possible when this whole thing started.
The only shadow we’ve really got hanging over us is that there’s a pack out there somewhere that thinks I belong to them, but I know that with this pack behind me, we’ll figure it out.