Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Sage
“You… what?”
Vee smiles at my confusion. “I’ve been with plenty of betas, but omegas have always intimidated me. I thought it would be me and Riley forever, and I was content with that. Then you showed up, and my terror multiplied.”
“You were… afraid of me?” I swipe the tears from my cheeks, staring up at her. My racing thoughts have ground to a halt.
Vee chuckles, a low, self-deprecating sound. “Still am, Sweetling. I’m afraid of letting you down. Hurting you. Not keeping you safe. That I won’t be a good enough alpha for you.”
“What?” I gasp, dumbfounded. “But—”
“It’s true. Every day I worry. Every day I can’t believe how fortunate I am that Brooks snuck you out of that house, and of all places, he chose to bring you here.
Right to my doorstep. I’m thrilled, elated to have you in my life.
I want to spoil you, give you everything under the sun and then reach for the moon, too.
“And yet, it’s also the scariest thing I’ve ever done—opening up my heart to you—because you could so easily break it.” Vee squeezes me in emphasis. “You hold so much power in your tiny omega hands, and you don’t even realize it.”
I blink at her, shaking my head, and my heart skips around in my chest.
“So, tell me again. What are your worries?” Vee says.
I don’t think I have any anymore. Instead of answering, I surge up and crash my lips to hers. I fling my arms around her neck, and hers wrap tighter around my body. Her purr is still rumbling in her chest and I soak it up, trying to come to terms with the reality-bending words she dropped on me.
When I pull back for air, she scent marks the top of my head, then my cheek and jaw, then leans into my neck to pull in a deep breath. It has slick pooling between my legs, and I squirm in her lap.
Vee grins at me, but I think we both know I’m not quite ready for anything more yet. Just being turned on like this is new. By some unspoken agreement, the pack seems to understand they have to take it slow, and that reinforces everything Vee said about how much she cares and wants the best for me.
“So,” she says, pulling me back to the present moment. “We absolutely don’t have to, and please know that I have zero expectations. I want you to think about what you want. Not what I want, or what you should do. Do you want to meet the other omegas?”
With panic no longer clouding my judgment, an eager sort of yearning threads through me.
“Yeah,” I say. “I think I do.”
Vee smiles, then nudges me off her lap to stand so she can lead me over to the community garden.
Sure enough, there are a group of omegas chatting and pulling weeds from a couple of the raised beds. One of them looks up as the bell on the gate tinkles, signaling our arrival when Vee pushes it open.
“Hey, Vee,” the omega says, waving.
Neveah strides over, pulling me along behind her.
“I brought someone for you all to meet,” Vee says.
Immediately, four sets of eyes dart to me. One of them has blonde hair pulled up in a messy knot, and she jumps up and claps their hands together. Another, the one who waved, straightens with a smile and pulls off the gardening gloves they were wearing, dark brown hair pulled back in a braid.
“This is Sage,” Vee says, tugging me in front of her, then wrapping her arm around me and resting her chin on my head. “My omega.”
My heart thuds at the words and I inadvertently straighten, preening.
The group immediately breaks into excited chatter.
“Oh my god!”
“You have an omega?!”
“That’s amazing!”
One of them steps forward, hand outstretched with a warm smile to greet me.
“Ignore them, they’ll remember their manners in a moment,” they say. “Hi, I’m Claire, she/her. I’m the beta of the group.”
“The honorary omega, you mean!” one of the others interjects.
Claire rolls her eyes, an indulgent smile on her face. Then she turns to introduce the others.
“That’s Wren,” she points to the omega who first waved with the cute gardening gloves, then to the omega who has a pile of blonde hair knotted on their head and is literally bouncing with excitement. “And that’s Siobhan, both use feminine pronouns.”
“Ohmygodhi! I’m so excited to meet you!” Siobhan bursts out, bright blue eyes brimming with excitement.
Vee chuckles, stepping up next to me and running a soothing hand down my back, effectively stopping the omega from tackling me or suffocating me in a hug or whatever else she had been about to do.
I don’t think I’m ready for that level of affection from someone I only just met.
I lean into Vee’s side, and she squeezes me.
“And that’s Bea, they/them,” Claire says, pointing to the last omega who seems to be the most laidback of the group.
They shoot me a friendly smile, their bare hands still buried in the dirt and a light sweat glistening above adorably nerdy glasses.
It feels like my heart is expanding, and I take a deep breath, trying to quell the feeling.
“You wanna hang out for a bit? We have to hear how you snagged Vee,” Siobhan says, mischief lighting her eyes.
“Oh,” I glance at Vee, and she gives me an encouraging nod. “Yeah, I’d like that. But, um, I don’t know anything about gardening.”
“You can help me water. That’s easy enough,” Claire says.
“I’ll be here wandering, making sure all the other plots are doing well,” Vee says. “Wave if you need me.”
With that, she drops a kiss on my head before sauntering off. Siobhan pretends to swoon, and Claire smacks her.
“Behave,” she says. “Don’t scare away the new girl before she even gets to know us.”
Claire shoots me a wink and I smile, their easy banter helping to ease my nerves. As soon as Vee is out of earshot, Siobhan pounces.
“Soooo,” she says. “Tell us everything!”
“Um, everything?” I’m not sure what that means, and I certainly don’t want to literally tell them everything.
“Jesus Siobhan, you gotta chill,” Bea finally pipes up. They throw me an apologetic glance. “She’s nosy, but it’s good natured, I promise. You don’t have to tell us anything if you don’t want to.”
Siobhan pretends to pout, sticking out her lower lip, and Claire smacks her lightly on the arm.
“I hope a bird poops on that lip one day,” she says.
“Rude,” Siobhan scoffs, then she turns back to me. “But we would loooooove to know how you and Vee met.”
Her eyes sparkle with friendly mirth, and I decide that’s an easy thing that I don’t mind sharing.
“Oh, well I scent matched with someone my brother hired to clean up our yard. He asked to court me, and the first date he took me on was here, to the lavender farm.”
“So you’re scent matched?” Wren pipes up, curiosity lining her gaze. Her hair is pulled back in a neat French braid, a few tendrils coming loose to frame her face.
I nod. “I actually met Riley first. He scent matched me and our other alpha, Brooks.”
“Ooooh, Brooks,” Siobhan says. “Sexy name. What’s he like?”
“Okay, that’s enough of you. Let’s take a break, get some water.” Claire snags her friend’s wrist and drags her away, leaving me with Bea and Wren.
“Are either of you part of a pack?”
Wren’s face turns pink and she opens her mouth, then closes it and shakes her head.
“Nah,” Bea says. “Maybe someday, but I’m waiting for the right ones, you know?”
I actually do know now. I nod, a small smile on my face. They huff a laugh.
“Yeah,” they say, pointing a dirt-covered finger at my face. “That right there. That’s exactly what I’m waiting for.”
We chat a bit more, with Siobhan and Claire joining back in. I learn that the four of them meet up here every Sunday to take care of their two garden boxes.
Wren is the newest to the group, besides me I guess, as she recently moved to town for a summer teaching position. She seems friendly and polite, not very extroverted.
Bea is fairly easy going, which makes sense when I learn they’re a librarian.
“I’d love to visit the library,” I say. “I’ve only been downtown so far.”
“Stop by anytime,” they reply. “We’ll get you a library card, no problem.”
Siobhan is by far the most outgoing, and has apparently lived here her whole life. She’s a social media content creator, apparently. I’m not entirely sure what that means, so I make a mental note to ask more about it later.
Claire strikes me as the mother hen of the group. Keeping everyone in line, holding the group together. She’s by far the easiest to talk to, as she’s both friendly but laid-back, not quite as overwhelming as Siobhan.
“How’s it going over here?” Vee asks as I’m starting to droop.
“I think your omega needs to be rehydrated,” Siobhan snorts, and I flush, embarrassed.
“I’m sorry, you’ve all been lovely, I’m just not used to being around many people.”
“Oh, no,” Siobhan looks at me with wide eyes. “No, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. You’re good! I just meant you probably need a break from our chaos, and Vee has good timing.”
I nod uncertainly, and she shoots me an apologetic smile as Vee sneaks an arm around my waist.
“See you all next week,” Vee says, waving as we turn to go.
“Bye, thank you,” I say, smiling as they all wave, then turn back to their gardens.
“So, what did you think?” Vee asks.
“They were…” I trail off, and she chuckles.
“They can be a lot, Siobhan especially. I don’t know Wren all that well, but they welcomed her with open arms when she showed up a few weeks ago.”
“They seem nice. I think I’d like to get to know them better. And Bea said they’d get me a library card.”
“I didn’t know you wanted one,” Vee says, glancing down at me as she holds open the back door of the shop. “We’ll swing by this week.”