Chapter 24 Ben
Chapter twenty-four
Ben
While Maddox and Colt drove to the airport to pick up Laura’s colleagues and the seven omegas, Angus, David, and I waited for them at the Borders’ ranch.
I was excited, but my anxiety over Colt’s absence soon overtook anything else I was feeling.
If Angus so much as left my sight for a second, I’d have to go looking for him.
Since our mating, I’d figured out that if one of my mates was gone, it was bearable as long as the other stayed close.
I also believed that pregnancy exacerbated my clinginess to my mates, even when they were both with me.
David, Jackson, and Trey had all told me they’d felt the same way when they were expecting.
But I couldn’t help but wonder, if I felt this bad this early in my pregnancy, what was I going to be like later?
When it got close to the time that we figured Colt and Maddox would be returning, the three of us went outside to wait.
I could tell David was getting a little antsy now that a couple of hours had passed with Maddox gone, but I felt downright awful.
If I could crawl under Angus’s skin, I would—I was that freaked out.
He was good to me, though, holding my hand much of the time and only disappearing from view when he momentarily forgot what it did to me.
“You okay?” Angus asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I’d been following him so closely on our way outside, I’d bumped into him when he’d suddenly stopped on the front porch.
I nodded, and Angus gave me the look that said he didn’t believe me and to use words.
“I feel…odd…without Colt here, and it’s getting worse the longer it takes,” I told him, feeling silly.
Rather than tease me, Angus just asked, “What can I do to help?”
I thought about it. “Hold me?”
“I can do that,” Angus said, smiling as he opened his arms to me. I stepped in and he pulled me as close to him as two people could be without actually being fused together.
“This help?” he asked.
I nodded into his shoulder.
We stood there like that while David distracted himself by petting one of the new horses at the fence line.
“What if something happened to him?” I asked, my voice muffled against Angus’ chest.
“Nothing has happened to him.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Ben, you need to take a deep breath and let it out. Your heart’s beating like a rabbit’s.”
I did as he said, and it helped a little.
“They’re here!” David called, and I turned in Angus’ arms to see Laura’s new Honda Pilot SUV coming up the dusty drive. Maddox was driving it, and Colt was driving his Outback. While they parked, Angus called, “They’re here!” to Laura, Nova, and Eric inside, and we started down the steps.
A slender man wearing jeans and a graphic t-shirt climbed out of the passenger seat of Colt’s car, but I hardly looked at him as I waited for Colt.
As soon as he stood beside the car, I ran to him, almost knocking him off his feet in my rush to embrace him and get my nose in the crook of his neck.
The scent of him calmed me, as did the feeling of his arms wrapping around me and holding me close.
“Somebody missed you,” I heard Angus say.
“Aw, you romantic,” Colt teased.
Angus laughed softly, murmuring, “I missed you too, dolt,” before I heard them exchange a quick kiss.
I was missing the introductions but didn’t care. After a couple of minutes, though, I withdrew, aware I was being rude.
Everyone had gathered in front of the house. I thought that, even if the seven omegas hadn’t congregated apart from the three therapists, I would have been able to tell who they were. Something about them called to me. That was the only way I could explain it.
Grabbing my hand, David said, “Come on!” and I had just enough time to turn to Colt and point my finger at him, warning, “Don’t you go anywhere,” before David propelled me toward the newcomers.
“I thought you were the shy one,” I said to him, amused.
“That’s why I need you with me,” David whispered back.
When we approached, all seven of the omegas stopped talking and turned to stare at us.
“You’re omegas, too,” the tallest boy said. Not really boy—all of them were only a few years younger than David and I were—eighteen or so.
Nodding, I said, “I’m Ben Angel, and this is David Angel.”
“Are you brothers? You don’t look alike,” another of the young men said. I guessed him to be Japanese-American, and when the boy beside him spoke and I turned my attention to him, I realized they were identical twins.
“That sounded rude, but Riku is just curious. I’m Ren. You can probably tell we’re brothers.” He smiled crookedly. I immediately liked him.
“That’s okay,” I said. “David and I are friends who mated into the same family.” I gestured to where Angus, Colt, and Maddox stood talking with Laura, Nova, Eric, and three others I guessed were the therapists.
“The older man with the dark hair and the man beside him wearing a blue shirt are Angus and Colt, my mates. The more muscled guy in the khaki shirt is Maddox, David’s mate and Angus’s grandson. ”
“Two mates?” a fourth omega asked, looking at me with pretty doe eyes. He was almost as tall as the first one and had wavy, nearly black hair underneath a blue baseball cap and skin the color of an acorn. He wore a Yankees t-shirt, faded blue jeans, and a beat-up pair of navy Converse.
I felt myself blush. “Yeah. Alphas.”
The boy’s mouth dropped open. “Both of them?”
I nodded, and the tallest boy said, “I’m Campbell. You can call me Camp. Mr. Nosey there is Solomon. This little one is Elliott,” he gestured to the shortest boy among them, who grinned at us. He was cute, with dark blond hair that kept falling into his inquisitive green eyes.
“Elliott Rittenhouse the Third,” he said, puffing out his chest and crossing his arms over it. He held the pose only a few seconds before deflating and falling into laughter. “I know, big name for someone my size.”
I smiled back at him. “Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Zeke Ballinger.” Another young man stepped forward and shook David’s and my hand in turn. He was slightly taller than I was, athletically built with broad shoulders and a slim waist, and had hair the color of the dark bay horse David had been petting a few moments ago.
“And I’m Keane Thompson,” a studious-looking young man beside Zeke said.
Unlike the others, he wasn’t wearing blue jeans, but a pressed pair of brown pants coupled with a button-down tan shirt and shiny loafers—not exactly the proper attire for a ranch.
The wire-framed glasses he wore over his dark eyes completed his conservative look.
Maddox called us over, and we were introduced to Dallas Murphy, Gail Lindstrom, and Ace Winters, the three therapists, before we all trooped inside to sit in the newly renovated and furnished living room where refreshments had been set out.
My attention was drawn to Ace because he was bigger than Maddox, both in height and breadth. He also had an intricate tattoo on his neck that was really cool.
Later, when Eric took the three therapists to see their cabins, Angus asked, “See something about that beta you liked?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Not exactly. He had a cool tattoo.”
Angus grumbled something, and Colt leaned in and said, “Don’t forget whose initials are tattooed on each side of your cock.”
“Colt!” Shocked, but still laughing, I pushed him away. “Are you kidding me? You two are jealous!”
Standing, Laura asked the group, “Are you guys ready to see where you’ll be living?”
Elliott looked worried. “We aren’t going to be separated, are we?”
“No, no. There is a large, communal cabin where all of you can stay together,” Laura assured them.
All seven omegas appeared relieved at that.
I wanted to get to know them all, but I understood that they needed to rest. They were probably tired after their flight and overwhelmed by meeting everyone. I was kind of tired myself, although I was trying hard not to show it.
A small wail came from the back of the house, and David stood up. “Sounds like Ollie’s up from his nap.”
Elliott’s face lit up. “Oh, you have a baby? May I go with you to get him?”
“Sure,” David said, and they headed for the hall. Upstairs, we could hear Kate and Jeremiah laughing as they played.
When David and Elliott came back with Ollie, all the new omegas oohed and aahed over him. I watched them, interested in everything about them.
Ren and Riku were beautiful young men, ine-boned, and almost delicate-looking with jet-black hair and eyes. They took turns bossing each other around, which was funny.
Keane seemed reserved, holding himself back from the group, while Camp appeared to take charge of the others, gathering them together so they could follow Laura outside.
With them gone, I was able to concentrate more on the three therapists.
Dallas had been with the omegas almost as long as Laura, and when I asked if the brothers were similar in nature, he laughed.
“No. They both have good hearts and are very intelligent, but that’s where the similarities end.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to tell them apart,” David said worriedly.
“When I met them, they’d get irritated when I’d mix up, so I soon found a way to tell them apart by studying their mannerisms. Riku talks with his hands.
He has a habit of biting the corner of his bottom lip when he’s thinking and blinks rapidly when he’s lying.
He’s mischievous and trouble always finds him, much to the annoyance of his brother, who is both irritated by and very protective of his twin.
When Ren eats, he often sighs softly and takes time to chew his food.
Oh, and Ren usually wears his hair slicked back while Riku’s is messier and falls over his forehead a lot. ”
That last part was the only helpful thing he said. I couldn’t wait for them to be eating or lying to figure out which was which.
“We’d better get home, we have chores to do,” Angus said. “I’ll bet Ben wants a nap, too.”