Chapter Seven – Dulcie
Casey comes to visit the day I’m moving out.
She helps me with what I have, but it isn’t much.
Delilah and Alabaster Security are setting us up with a temporary unit downtown, that we’ll share together until we get on our feet as a pack and find a more permanent place to stay.
It’s bigger than the apartment the guys shared before.
My worries over what I’m doing and what this means for me flit back and forth in my head as I pack up the few things I have. I truly don’t have much. And Casey? She doesn’t so much help as she does oversee me skittering to and fro.
And my friend is the same girl she used to be, only her scent is now mixed with three alpha scents. I don’t smell the omega on her yet, which I take to mean she hasn’t yet sealed the deal with the other omega in the pack.
A week and a half had passed since I agreed to be Redd’s, Monroe’s, and Lev’s omega.
They visited when they could, but they each had jobs during the day, so our dates were short and always done under the supervision of Delilah and someone from Alabaster Security.
So, all that is to say… we haven’t really done anything.
Held hands, yes. Sat close, sure. No kissing though, and definitely nothing else.
Honestly, kissing and other things have been on my mind ever since I agreed to be theirs. Stuff like that was never anything I really thought about before. It never interested me. I’ve never even slicked.
“I’m so excited for you,” Casey says for the one hundredth time as she watches me pack my bags. My old, ratty, donated bags that have honestly seen better days. “What time are you leaving?”
“Four,” I say.
“Four,” she repeats. “And then your life is going to change.” She’s quiet for a few moments. “I know you hate change, but it doesn’t have to be bad. This is going to sound lame, but I’m so proud of you for meeting with them and following your heart. You won’t regret it.”
How on earth she can say that with such authority, I’ll never know.
The crazier thing is, I believe her. As much as the night at the mixer hurt, it’s like all that pain has already faded away into the far recesses of my mind.
I barely remember that night even though it wasn’t that long ago.
Things have been a whirlwind since then, and don’t get me wrong, I’m beyond nervous, but at the same time I cannot wait.
It’s strange. The thought of being with them is actually exciting. Thrilling, even.
What’s happening to me? It’s like those three flipped a switch in my brain, made me think about things differently. For the first time ever, I actually have a little hope when it comes to my future. I can’t really picture it clearly yet, but I assume that’ll come in time.
“Are you nervous to move in with them?” Casey asks me, pulling me out of my mind.
“It’s okay if you are. I was a little nervous the day I left here.
I didn’t know what was going to happen, how it was all going to go—but it’s been amazing.
The moment you get a phone, you better reach out to me, girl. ”
Oh, yes. A phone. Something most normal people had nowadays, something us omegas here did not. A phone that went with me everywhere would be only one huge change.
I set down the bag I’m currently packing and sit beside her. “How is it, living with multiple alphas and another omega?” It’s been all talk of me, strangely, and not so much talk about her and her current situation.
“It’s… good. Different, but good.” She rubs the back of her neck, a nervous gesture that’s very much unlike her. “Okay, it’s a little weird.”
“How is it weird? Is the other omega making it weird?” I can imagine he might not like her addition; maybe he’s jealous or thinks she’ll steal the alphas away from him. Or maybe I’m totally misreading the dynamic. Wouldn’t surprise me, since I don’t know her alphas or her other omega.
For once, Casey doesn’t outright blab all about it. She actually thinks about her answer, which tells me one thing: she’s concerned about the privacy of the other omega. That has to be a good sign—the old Casey would have blabbered immediately.
Finally, she says, “It’s just different. Once things calm down, I’ll tell you all about it. It doesn’t feel right talking about it now, when things are still so new and we’re all trying to navigate it together.” That might just be the most thought-out answer she’s ever given me.
Who is this girl and what did she do with my best friend?
I don’t press her in telling me more. She’ll spill the beans, once she feels it’s right to. Besides, truth be told, I’m too lost in my thoughts, in the anticipation of what today will bring with it, to be fully in the present.
I’m excited. Nervous and a little terrified, but mostly excited—and that is so strange to me. I never thought I’d be so excited to move in with a pack, to have my own alphas. My own beta. Three guys who say I’m all they want.
It’s the most peculiar thing, standing on the edge of eternity, gazing out at the rest of your life.
I can’t say it’s something I’m prepared for, but at the same time, it’s what I was born for.
I never really understood how things can change so quickly for omegas when they find their packs, but I get it now.
Oh, I get it.
I get up and finish packing. It doesn’t take me long. Casey hangs around until it’s time for me to go, and before she gets picked up by one of her alphas, she throws her arms around me for one last hug as we stand in the front hall of N.O.A.
“Good luck,” she whispers to me. “I don’t know who’s going to need it more: you or those guys. I have the feeling you’ll drive them crazy in no time.” When she pulls away from me, I can see her face is plastered with a warm smile, and I can’t help but return said smile.
I don’t really smile too often, truthfully. Never really had much to smile about before. The act of smiling feels weird, foreign to me, and yet it’s the only thing I can do as I tell my best friend goodbye and wave as she leaves through N.O.A.’s front door.
Delilah passes Casey on her way out, meeting me where I stand.
She’s driving me to the apartment. Together, we’ll meet the guys there.
She’s paying a bit more attention to my case, I think because of what happened at the mixer.
As far as I know, she didn’t drive any other omega to their new apartment.
The woman bends over to pick up some of my bags.
I don’t have many. Just a few. She leaves me two of them as she slings the rest over her shoulders.
“Ready to go?” she asks. Today, the older woman wears baggy jeans and a plain blouse, so unlike her usual outfits.
It is the weekend, so it’s technically our free time.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” And ain’t that the truth?
I don’t think I could be more ready if I tried to—and I certainly wasn’t going to try.
The mishmash of emotions at war inside of me would soon settle; once I was at the new apartment, with my new pack, I’d come to an equilibrium that would become my new normal.
A new normal, something I never thought I’d have. Even now, it’s a surreal thing, to be chosen and to choose in return. I was not expecting any of this.
Delilah leads me out of the academy, to her idling vehicle out front.
We load my bags in the trunk of her car, and then we get going.
As she drives, she goes over everything again: “Remember, just because you’re no longer a student at N.O.A.
doesn’t mean you can’t call if you need something or if any of your mates step out of line. ”
My mates. Hearing her say that causes a chill to sweep up my spine and make me shiver. I do my best to hide my body’s reaction to those two words, but I don’t know whether I succeed or not. It’s safe to say I never, ever thought I’d call anyone my mate, let alone have three of them.
Three mates. Three guys… and all the body parts that accompany said three guys.
I know what to expect, of course. We were taught since practically the day we presented that, when we find our mates, things will happen fast. Bodies will react naturally, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.
The slick. The knots. The dominance and submission.
And then there’s my heat, which thankfully isn’t for a while now. We’ll have a good half a year together before we have to worry about dealing with that. Hopefully by then we’re in a routine together, and we’re totally used to each other.
Delilah is still talking, even though I tuned her out for a while, “My only other advice is to follow your heart. Or your gut. Whichever one. This is, barring any unforeseen circumstances, your forever pack. There’s no point in holding back.”
“I know.”
She glances at me. “You’ve always been a quiet one. You’re good at flying under the radar, much better at it than other omegas.”
I don’t say anything to that, mostly because I’m shocked she noticed.
“That skill might’ve served you before the changes at N.O.A.
, but from here on out, it won’t. Your mates will see you, and once you bond, they’ll feel you.
You’ll be connected in a way that’s almost magical.
You spent so long being invisible, but now you have to do the opposite and learn to be comfortable in your own skin. ”
It’s funny. As she says all this, I imagine it’s advice a mother might give her daughter before sending her off to live with her forever pack.
Delilah is definitely not my mother, but ever since she helped take over N.O.A.
, she’s become the mother hen of the academy, and though she’s not an omega herself, she speaks with such authority you have no room to argue with her.
How could you? Everything she says is completely true.