15. Talya
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TALYA
W e climbed into two UTVs. Ainsley, Ronan, Colby, and me in one, while Lohtus, Blakely, Kasen, and Emerald took the second. I was in the front with Ainsley driving, gripping the handles as he took off down the long field along the fences. We sped by, the gripping wind whipping through my hair. Horses ran along with us on their side of the fence.
“Though we specifically don’t do anything with the horses, there’s a riding ranch at the back of the property. And while we rarely visit, we do spend time with the horses on occasion. They’re big, soothing creatures. Beautiful,” Ainsley said.
I nodded, watching a group of them follow as if we were part of their herd. Grinning, I took in their sleek bodies and the movement of their muscles as they ran. Their hooves hit the ground in a steady thunder. Their fur was sleek and shining, their untangled tails and manes moving behind them like my hair was.
“They are beautiful,” I agreed. “Powerful.”
Though I was mainly watching the horses, my glimpse of Ainsley’s smile made my heart stutter. A shiver raced through me as I glanced behind me at Colby. He was leaning back in his seat, relaxed, a smile on his delicious lips. He was studying me instead of the view.
My gaze flickered to Ronan. He was a beast. Huge. Reminding me of a sports guy, like one of the big ones that could block a dozen men without skidding back an inch. His piercing dark eyes were on me, and while I knew I didn’t actually smell him, his scent filled my lungs from his shirt that I still wore.
The horses broke away when the fence came to an end, and we turned off. The expanse of gardens that laid before us was mesmerizing. I hadn’t ever seen so many vegetables in one place in all my life. My eyes must have shown my surprise because Ainsley chuckled, a sound that went to other places—south of my stomach!
Thankfully, our UTV was still moving, so he couldn’t catch the change in my perfume. It was all swept behind me. Right to Colby… and probably Ronan. My cheeks heated. Fuck. I squinted as Ainsley spoke, trying to ignore my reaction.
“There are orchards in the back. Oranges and peaches mostly, but there’s other kinds of citrus, too. We provide for most of the island and ship some away as exports.” He followed along the edge of the fields, and with his movement, lights started to peek out of the rows. “The employees are here a lot. All hours. I’m guessing they get paid well.”
“You just oversee it?” Colby asked.
Ainsley nodded. “Yeah. Honestly, it’s a harsh reality to accept that we’re not really allowed to work. You know, hidden paper trail and all. We basically get paid under the table which is ironic since it’s from the government.” He glanced in my direction with a bemused smile. “Frustrating and freeing at the same time.”
“So I can’t get a job?” Colby asked not for the first time, a frown in his voice.
“There’s a number,” Ainsley said. “You can speak to the people on the other end, and they’ll tell you within what parameters you’re allowed into the public world. But don’t hold your breath for anything exciting.”
I could feel Colby’s irritation through our bond. Something rumbly. Shifting in my seat, I looked back at him. “You need to rest anyway. There’s time for that conversation later.”
The smiles of all three alphas made me flush.
“Yes, omega,” Colby said, his voice low and husky.
Before my perfume could embarrass me more, I turned forward again. The sky had shifted to a mesmerizing pink and purple. The clouds were so bumpy and beautiful that I sighed, a sappy smile on my face as I leaned back.
“Beautiful,” Ronan murmured.
I thought he was talking about the sky, but when I glanced back at him, he was watching me again, his eyes glittering. Colby was grinning, though he turned his attention to the fields as if he weren’t watching us. I gave Ronan a small smile before facing forward again, not missing the way Ainsley was watching me, too. It made my heart race.
The way they looked at me was unlike the way I’d been looked at over the last ten years of interviewing alphas in packs. Then it was primarily greed, possession, and lust. Sometimes arrogance, like they had a right to own me simply because they were alphas. This was entirely different. There was warmth in it. Yes, I could feel their want, but it wasn’t… greedy. It didn’t feel dirty. It was the same way that Colby looked at me. As if I were the center of their world.
We paused the UTV at another fence, and the second one came to a stop next to us. There, we quietly watched the sun set. It wasn’t until I shivered that Ainsley started up again. He waved to Lohtus in the driver seat of the other, and they took off back toward the house while we followed behind them.
Colby ushered me to the stairs when we got inside, and I could see the way he was dragging. The way his eyelids were heavy and the stiffness in his posture. We hadn’t shared the full extent of what we’d gone through with anyone, not even each other. He knew as much of my story as I’d told the police, as I did his. I didn’t need confirmation to know that we’d both held back details that we couldn’t bear to speak aloud.
We waved at the pack as they bid us goodnight from the landing.
Together, we went to the bathroom, washing up, brushing our teeth, and changing. When we got into bed, Colby was immediately on me. In me. Around me.
Breakfast the next morning was quiet but comfortable. Kasen sat across from Colby and me while all four of the alphas were in the kitchen, though I was skeptical of how well they fit. Ronan was big enough to be three alphas all on his own, with muscles on top of muscles, and the other three weren’t anything to look away from either. While the kitchen wasn’t small, they moved around each other as if they were in a studio apartment galley kitchen.
It was adorable and amusing.
“Where’s Emerald?” I asked.
“He went home this morning,” Kasen said.
“Oh.”
He shrugged, the corners of his lips beginning to quirk up. “He doesn’t technically live here. Until we got word that we’d have two more people under this roof, we haven’t had a conversation about adding him to our pack. Even then, the only conversation we had was in preparation for your arrival. Since we literally had like an hour’s notice, our conversation basically consisted of us agreeing that he’s part of this pack and should be here to meet you. The officialness of it just hasn’t happened yet.”
“Why hasn’t it?” I asked, then bit my lip. “Sorry. That’s probably not my business.”
Kasen’s smile grew wide. “It’s okay.” He shrugged again. “I don’t have an answer for that. We’re just not in a huge hurry, I guess? Sometimes making things official can put a lot of pressure on a relationship, and we just wanted to let it happen naturally. You know, he’s only with Ainsley and me, so I think we were kind of waiting to see if there’d be more between him and Lohtus and Blakely.”
“But there’s not,” I said, glancing in the kitchen. We weren’t talking in hushed tones, so I knew the alphas could hear us. Since they weren’t having a conversation of their own, they were likely listening to ours.
“I mean, I kind of think if it was going to happen, it already would have, but who knows,” Kasen said.
Blakely brought a plate of biscuits to the table and kissed Kasen’s head before looking at me. “There’s not. We adore Em and certainly want him in our pack, but it’s just not… physical for either of us.”
I nodded, thinking that I knew what he meant. While I hadn’t really talked to Blakely or Lohtus, I wasn’t as innately drawn to them as I was to Ainsley and Ronan. In the past, I’d always imagined that when I found a pack, I’d have all the alphas, but now I had to acknowledge that maybe that wasn’t how it was meant to be.
But then I had to remind myself that this wasn’t my pack. I didn’t choose them, and they didn’t choose me. We were here by circumstance only. Thrown together.
Maybe Blakely knew what I was thinking because his smile softened to something almost sympathetic. He touched my chin with gentle fingers, barely brushing my skin. “Pack doesn’t mean one bed. It means family, and families have all sorts of different dynamics.”
“It also doesn’t mean that the only incomplete packs in the world are found via Pack Listing,” Ainsley said, winking at me as he brought a pitcher of orange juice and one of water to the table.
I licked my lips as Blakely chuckled quietly and moved back into the kitchen. It felt like they’d just read my mind as clearly as if I’d laid it out for them. By addressing my thoughts directly enough without doing so point blank, they were giving me the chance to process without putting me on the spot.
We ate together amidst quiet conversation. Their biscuits and sausage gravy were phenomenal, and I couldn’t help but groan. Colby cooked well, but I didn’t think he’d ever been into it. He did so because he was an alpha who took care of his omega, and I was shit at making myself anything other than a bowl of cereal.
This tasted like someone enjoyed cooking. There was a difference.
When we were finished, Colby and I followed Ronan out of the house. Because these men were here for the same reasons, I was certain that meant it must be safe on the island. Our experiences were almost guaranteed to be different, but they were hidden from the world, too, so their willingness and comfort in going to town made a statement.
I reached for Colby’s hand as the thought that I could have been torn from him slammed into my chest hard. They couldn’t take an omega from their alpha, could they? I mean, they couldn’t undo a bond. I knew that for a fact, but that was what those betas were trying to do to me—break my bond to Colby.
“You okay? We don’t have to go to town,” Colby said.
His words made Ronan stop, his intense dark eyes looking into mine. I swore, it was like he could touch my soul, stirring my insides and making me shake.
I shook my head. “No. I’m okay. My thoughts were… not about town.”
Ronan studied me like he wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t speak much, the tall, enormous, gorgeous, silent type that he was, but I had a feeling that he didn’t miss much, either.
“Really. I’m fine,” I assured him.
His lips curled up slightly, and he gave me a nod before turning back. He took up stride beside me, though I had a feeling he felt like he was crawling. His legs were much longer than mine. His stride would have had me running to keep up if he hadn’t been diligent about keeping my pace.
“Where are we going?” I asked, not that I cared. I just wanted to hear his voice.
He flicked his gaze to me before nodding ahead. “There’s a shop that has a lot of nest essentials.” Ronan pressed his lips together. “Okay, that’s what I’ve heard, but I can’t say I’ve been in there to confirm. If not, we’ll find whatever you need.”
I was going to argue that the blankets Colby had gathered from around the house were fine, but Ronan’s half smile made whatever argument I was going to say disappear entirely. Like, the thoughts completely fled at that look.
Fuck, why was he so… so…
“We will make your nest perfect, Talya,” he purred, his voice low and melodic. The sound did things to my insides that had a whine slipping from my throat.
I shook my head, tearing my eyes away. My face heated as I looked up at Colby with wide eyes, but he simply chuckled and kissed my cheek. “Sorry, love. As much as it frustrates me to use someone else’s money to buy you what you need, I’m not going to argue this.”
My shoulders were stiff when we walked into the door of the shop. If there were only two omegas on the island, how did a shop that catered to nests survive? Did betas like nests, too? I squinted around the shop as I tried to imagine betas having nests. The only use for one was a heat or as a hideout when you needed some space from the world. So if betas didn’t have a heat, why would they want a nest?
Thinking back on the betas I‘d met, I realized Fenton was the only one I’d known anything about. I kind of thought he was just Fenton. Uniquely him. He didn’t chase alphas or resent omegas, and he had never shown the slightest interest in a nest.
The air conditioning in the shop was on full blast, and I instinctively wrapped my arms around my middle as we moved through the aisles. Ronan was right. There was everything I could want for a nest, but as we strolled through, nothing caught my attention.
After we’d made it through the store and I hadn’t done anything but hug myself, Ronan looked at me with concern. “What do you need?”
Sunlight. It was too cold in here.
Those words didn’t leave my mouth, but, like last night, he saw what I needed anyway.
The corners of his lips twitched as he shrugged out of his long-sleeved shirt again and wrapped it around me. A brow raised in Colby’s direction as I snuggled into it, but when I looked at my alpha, he was giving Ronan big, innocent eyes. He knew I was cold but purposefully waited until Ronan noticed! Oh, he was good. When I turned back to Ronan, he was just bringing his gaze back to me, and I swore there was something that flashed through his eyes. Challenge? Amusement?
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side. I caught my breath, trying to center myself in the experience of suddenly being enveloped in his rain-dampened grass and citrus scent. I only barely managed to hold on to the whine that tried to crawl out of me by biting my tongue hard.
“What do you need—” His words cut off, and I thought that he had forgotten what my name was supposed to be. Hell, so had I.
Looking at Colby with confusion, his brows were knit together too. Fuck, this was going to be a disaster.
But Ronan’s finger landed on my chin, drawing my attention to him. “What do you need, baby girl?” Getting rid of the need to use names entirely was a good call, but calling me that ? My knees shook as I blinked rapidly.
Fuck if I knew what I needed.
“This is too commercial for what baby girl needs,” Colby said, choosing to forgo the name as well. “Her nesting items have always been hand-knit blankets and soft crocheted pillows—things she’s been given or had been handed down from family.”
Ronan nodded, a smile ticking up his lips. “Ah. That we can work with.” He rubbed my shoulder before tipping his head toward the door. “I’ll meet you outside.”
Colby reached for my hand and pulled me along. We waited together on the street. People gave us a glance as they walked by, smiling in friendly greetings. Some even stopped to welcome us to the island.
The street was close and intimate, not wide enough for two lanes of traffic, which seemed to be fine since only the occasional car drove by. Most people were on foot, and like everywhere else I’d ever been, most of the residents were betas.
Emerald had been right in other ways, too. No one looked at me like I’d been looked at growing up nor as an adult, like it was always my fault that I was born an omega. The root of resentment in everyone around me was something entirely out of my control. You learned to live with it when that was your norm, but it got exhausting. By the time I was in my early twenties, I realized why omegas preferred to stay home. Life was far more peaceful that way.
Finally, Ronan joined us. He eyed Colby for a minute before stepping in front of me and wrapping a black pashmina scarf around my neck. With intense, dark eyes, he stared into mine and brushed his thumb along my jaw. A smile, the barest hint of one, curled the edges of his lips.
“This way,” he murmured. Releasing me from his touch and gaze, he turned to lead the way down the road.
My heart raced as I reached for Colby’s hand again. He chuckled, his thumb tracing small circles on my hand.
Wait! Ronan had just given me something. A gift. Did that mean…
I stared with wide eyes at Ronan’s gorgeous back, now well on display in only his tight tee.