Chapter 23
T he sun was just starting to set as the pair returned, drenched in mud. Juniper sported a massive grin as she told me excitedly, “I shoved Carter in the mud!” before wandering off to take a shower. I shot my pack mate a questioning look, and he just shrugged.
“I probably deserved it,” he said with a small grin before disappearing into another part of the cabin to clean up. Thankfully, we had multiple bathrooms.
I turned to look at Asher as our pack mate vanished. "What the hell happened between them?"
"I don’t know, but they seem oddly happy about it. I wouldn’t be happy if I was shoved over in the mud. Though, to be fair, Juniper would only shove him over if she had a good reason," he added thoughtfully.
I nodded. "This winter is turning out to be a very weird one," I said as I meandered my way to the kitchen. "Can we try and make dinner with a bit more protein tonight? Juniper’s been working out more, and she’s going to be exhausted.”
I’d been pushing her harder and harder in the gym. I got the impression that she wanted to be strong, for her own reasons, and I wanted that for her. I wanted her to be able to defend herself, but before I could start teaching her how to defend herself, she needed something that resembled strength. When she first got here, she had all the strength of a wet noodle.
“How about a chicken chilli?” Asher suggested.
With all the extra beans, that would be a good protein punch. “That sounds like a great idea,” I said, thankful. “I would have cooked myself, but…well…”
Asher grimaced. “Yeah, let’s never let you cook again. As much as I love you, man, your skills are making protein shakes and lifting heavy things,” he teased with a laugh. It was total bullshit, Carter was worse than me.
I frowned, feigning insult. “I’ll have you know, I can also read considerably well.” I couldn’t even keep my own face straight.
Asher had just opened the fridge when the entire cabin was engulfed in darkness. It took a second for our eyes to adjust. There was still enough twilight outside to make out the faint shape of each other.
“Power outage?” I asked.
Asher tilted his head thoughtfully, a gesture I could only make out in the semi-darkness, but before he could answer, his words were cut off by an almighty scream from Juniper. I laughed. “Oh, it’s definitely a power outage,” I said, because I knew exactly what had just happened. The hot water heater couldn’t work when we had outages, which meant the water in the shower Juniper was taking had just turned ice cold, giving her a nice shock.
Doors slammed in the cabin, and Juniper came stomping out, wearing nothing but a towel. “What the hell just happened?” she demanded, her voice dripping with irritation as suds clung to her hair. “The shower just turned to ice!”
I grinned. “Yep, it looks like we’re having a power outage.”
Carter, already dressed, followed her down the hallway. “You were still in the shower,” he said, his eyes widening as he took in her appearance.
Wearing only a towel, she had far too much skin on display, and I pointedly averted my eyes. I did not want to act like a creeper. But I was only human—there was a soggy wet, dripping-wet omega standing in front of me, something that would grab anyone’s attention.
“So, when is the shower coming back on?” Juniper asked.
I shrugged. “Whenever the main generators decide they want to kick back in. They’re very choosy. We really haven't been taking care of them. There was a storm in the summer while we were away and they got damaged.”
Asher added, “Usually, it's a few hours. We have mini generators we bought with us for the super essential things.”
“It can’t be a few hours! I’ve still got bubbles in my hair, and it’s cold. I don’t like it,” Juniper whined, stomping her foot. “I can handle damp, I can handle mucky, I can handle most things, but I don’t like being cold.”
I shot a glance at Asher, grinning. “You know what this means?”
We all muttered at the same time, “Campfire.”
Juniper looked between us, questioningly. “What do you mean, campfire?”
I gestured outside at the window. Since it wasn’t actively raining, we could set up the firepit. “We have a firepit outside. When the power cuts out and the weather gets really cold, we all sit around it, wrap ourselves in blankets, and keep warm.”
Her eyes lit up. “That sounds amazing. Okay! I need to rinse the bubbles out of my hair, which is going to be miserable, but afterwards, campfire! That sounds good, yes, I like that.” She nodded more to herself than to us.
“Make sure you put on layers after you finish showering,” Asher reminded her, frowning. “Your hair’s going to be wet, and you’ll need to dry through entirely.”
I nodded my agreement with my pack mate. Juniper had a lot of hair, and it could easily get weighed down with the water and make her sick.
Juniper glanced down at her hair. “Oh, yeah. Drying this is going to be a problem,” she murmured. “Okay, I’m going to go get as dry as I can and rinse these bubbles out. I’ll see you guys in a minute,” she said, bounding down the corridor. She acted as though she didn’t even realise she’d been half-naked in front of a bunch of alphas. Was she really that comfortable with us?
Carter laughed. “She really is something else, isn’t she?”
I nodded. “She definitely is.”
I made my way outside, quickly grabbing a pile of logs, while my pack mates went around*** the cabin, doing their various jobs. Asher was gathering what food and blankets he could, and Carter was off trying to make sure the small extra generators we used in case of emergency to fuel the freezers were up and running. Asher could still make the chicken chilli; it would just have to be over the campfire instead. Inside cooking was a luxury when we were down to limited power. Security and food storage were the two priorities. Usually, we wouldn’t even give a toss about security, but with Juniper around, it was better to be safe.
I didn’t mind the nights when the main generator was out. It was actually kind of nice to sit around a fire together. While the guys were setting things up outside, I went up to my room, intending to grab the large quilt off my bed, then I heard Juniper muttering in the bathroom. At the sound of my footsteps, she stopped and poked her head out of the bathroom.
“Hey,” she said, “could you give me a hand?”
She was fully dressed now, so I was safe from any unwilling flashing from the tiny omega. “What do you need my help with?” I asked, taking a cautious step towards the bathroom.
She opened the door more fully, and I noticed the large pair of scissors in her hand.
“What are you doing with those?” I asked, eyeing the scissors.
“Oh,” she said, looking between me and the scissors. “Well, you see, I kind of had an idea. It’s something I want to do, but I need you to be sure it’s straight in the back.”
I cocked my head, trying to understand. “You’re going to have to explain.”
Juniper nodded. “Okay, so, drying my hair in front of a campfire is not going to be a good idea, is it?”
I nodded. “Agreed, I don’t like that idea at all, but I don’t know what else we can do. Even if we towel-dry it well, that’s asking for a cold.”
“Well, I’m not too keen on my hair, honestly,” she said, glancing at herself in the mirror. “I kind of want to cut a lot of it off.” She said those words in a rush.
“What do you mean you want to cut ‘a lot’ of it off?” I asked.
“Well, you see, I didn’t want it this long,” she said, wandering into the bathroom and looking in the mirror.
I followed her, propelled by sheer curiosity at this point. “What do you mean?”
“Before, my hair was always about this long,” she said, gesturing to a spot a little below her shoulders. “I never liked my ultra-long hair.”
Her hair currently fell past her waist; it was massive and tangled easily. “So, I was thinking, as the power is out and there is no easy way to dry my hair, I could give it a trim to maybe here,” she said, pointing to just above her shoulder. “I’d love a bob. But if I start cutting my hair off, I need someone to make sure it doesn’t look completely butchered in the back.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “Most omegas love their hair…”
“Most omegas do, but I am not most omegas.” She huffed. “I was forced to have hair like this. And do you know what ? I love the idea of cutting it off. I’d planned to do it when I got back home—with a professional, who actually knew what they were doing. But it serves a purpose to cut my hair off now, it makes sense, and I don't know, it's kind of exciting.” She smirked. “It’s also a big fuck you to Alec and everything he turned me into. You know I had to have my hair perfectly curled or braided. I had to make it look all pretty for him. He loved my hair and I hated that. I want a bob, a cute bob. I think that would be adorable and it’s what I want.”
I watched her looking in the mirror, pointing to different sections of her hair, trying to ascertain how long she wanted. "This is my choice," she said, cocking her head to the side, her voice quieting somewhat. “I haven’t made a choice for myself in a while, and I definitely want to do this.” She glanced at me hopefully. “Will you help?”
If she’d asked either of my pack mates, they probably would’ve said no and tried to encourage her to keep her hair long. But I understood the idea that sometimes hair held memories. I had shaved my head the minute I had gotten back from the war. While most of it had grown back, there had been something oddly cleansing about having my hair shaved off for a while. I could understand why the omega would want a haircut that was her choice, and if anything, a rush of feeling entered my chest that I could only describe as pride. Proud that she was choosing something for herself. She didn’t give a toss what anyone else thought; she was doing it just because it was what she wanted.
“Of course, I’ll help,” I said, moving to stand behind her, looking in the mirror. “Do you want to make the first front cuts? I’ll even it out after.”
Juniper nodded excitedly, her face lighting up. “Okay! I need to decide where.” She raised the scissors to just above her shoulder. “That would be cute, won’t it?”
I nodded. “I think it’ll look lovely. But it’s not up to me, what do you want?”
She considered it for a moment. “I’d probably like to go shorter, but I feel like I want to wait until I can get a professional to cut it shorter.”
“Okay, make the first cut, daring girl,” I said with a smile.
She grabbed the scissors and, without hesitation, cut several inches off her, easily over a foot of hair falling to the ground. Pure joy lit up her face.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe I did that!” she exclaimed, the entire time her face full of a grin. Without any other prompt, she started cutting at the rest of her hair, leaving a section at the back for me. Once she was happy with it, she turned to me with a grin, handing me the scissors.
I quickly got to work evening it up. It only took us a few minutes, and in no time at all, Juniper was sporting a cute little wavy bob, and I cocked my head, admiring the look.
“It’s messy, but it really suits you,” I said.
Juniper nodded. “I know, I love it.” Jumping up and down, she turned and hugged me, wrapping her arms around my midsection and squeezing tightly. “Thank you so much for helping. I don’t think Carter would have.”
I chuckled. “He probably wouldn’t have. He’s soft like that.”
“But, you’re more understanding,” she said.
“I don’t know I would go that far, but I understand why you would want to do it. Now, it’s freezing in here, so why don’t we get outside and show the guys your fancy new hairdo?”
She looked up at me, pure adoration in her eyes. The look she gave me stunned me. It hit my chest so strong that I almost teared up. What would it be like to have someone look at me for the rest of my life like that, with nothing but pure care and appreciation? It felt like I was the tallest man on the planet for a few minutes. It was potent.
And I didn’t want to admit it, but right then…I could’ve very easily fallen in love with Juniper.