40. Ember
Ember
A fter a few days of lying around with my men, I dragged myself back to work.
I could have stayed out longer, but I wanted to get back to what was going to pass for normal.
We went on a few dates as a pack, to the beach, where Rian and I argued over the best time to sit and look at the water, and then to a nice restaurant Alejandro wanted to try.
It was nice. Some of my nerves were soothed by having everyone around, but getting back to a routine was going to be the real test.
Case in point, West worked remotely. I didn’t have to ask him if he wanted to stay home or come to work with me and find an empty room.
We moved into Rian and Ben’s house, but I was still mentally thinking of it as theirs.
And sitting around their house while no one else was home all day would have felt…
weird. Considering it took months for West to get comfortable in my cottage, I could only guess how long it would take for him to adjust to Ben and Rian’s.
They suggested looking for a house for all of us, but that seemed dumb. I liked their house; I just hadn’t lived there long enough to make it feel like mine.
I walked into the reception room with West in tow.
My entire family was waiting for me. I’d expected them to be more chill about things, but boy, was I wrong. All of my cousins and siblings took turns hugging me—and West—and giving us presents.
Raina looked like a Valkyrie. “We will figure out who broke in, I promise.”
She also promised swift vengeance. I grinned. I liked it when my older sister came over all bloodthirsty.
“We’ve installed more cameras, even around the private residences, and we’re talking about a massive gate as well,” Zephyr added, furious.
“We’re okay.” I squeezed West’s hand. He looked…surprised at the show of support. Even now he was shocked when my family treated him like part of the family.
“We have presents,” Stella said, thrusting a shiny blue gift into West’s hands. “It’s not the same, but it’s a start.”
Everyone stared at West, waiting for him to open it. I grinned at him. “Go on. Just like at Christmas.”
West sighed. “Fine. But you didn’t have to do this.”
“Speak for yourself,” Terran said. “It’s the least we can do.”
West opened up the box, and it was a velvet blue pillow and a blue axolotl Squishmallow. Amusement creased his face. “Thank you.”
We sat in the reception room and opened our presents. We had new Squishmallows (which made me tear up a little bit), blankets, pillows, the nasty peach gummy rings West loved, and some quality chocolate for me.
“Thank you.” I hugged my family. “We’re doing okay, but this was perfect.” I kept a purple unicorn Squishmallow under my arm. “West is going to find a random room to work in.”
“Not your office?” West raised an eyebrow.
“If I’m not going to annoy you,” I said sweetly. Sometimes loud music and my random comments distracted him while he worked.
“If she’s too much, you’re welcome to use any of the empty offices,” Raina said.
We all set about our workdays, and I brought our bounty into my office.
I eyed the couch. Having West in my office all day was going to be distracting. Alejandro had done a massive amount of food prep so now we all went to work with packed lunches, snacks, and even some smoothies.
West settled on the couch, and I opened up my computer, feeling like it had been ten years and not barely a week since I’d been here.
Sitting in the middle of all his new Squishmallows and pillows, West looked really comfortable.
I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. If I climbed in there with him, we’d have sex and get nothing done.
I was having a hard time seeing a downside. Nope, I had to catch up on work. So did he.
“Still okay with everything?” I shifted my mouse. “Moving in as a pack?”
He glanced over. “I wouldn’t have said yes if I wasn’t.”
“But still. Lots of people around all the time now.”
“The house is big enough that I get privacy when I want it,” he said calmly.
It was true. Even Rian seemed fine with wandering off to take a nap. It was nice being around one another without feeling like I had to give my undivided attention all the time.
“You?” He made it a question.
“Fine.” I wiggled in my seat. “Really fine with it, actually.”
“Ah, so of course, what if something terrible happens.”
I gave him the stink eye. “Stop reading my mind. I’m trying to be happy and live in the moment.”
“But someone also destroyed our nest,” he said bluntly. “Something terrible did happen. But we’re still here, and our…pack.” He paused. “Was there for us instead of making it harder.”
I opened one of my dark chocolate bars, deciding nine in the morning was late enough for a sweet snack. “That’s…true. It’s just weird being able to rely on people other than my family.”
“Now you know how I feel,” he said with a wry smirk. “What is this love and supporting help system?”
I made a face. He was joking, but it wasn’t actually funny. “You will always have me and my family.”
“I know. Just takes a little adjustment.” He shifted the blanket around himself, glaring at his laptop. “But that’s okay. The other three are adjusting around us too.”
West was right. I was happy, really happy, for the first time in a long time.
I wasn’t worried anymore that Ben or Alejandro would decide that we were too much omega for them.
Rian thawed out enough that I saw his wounded feelings, his fears that we would reject him and he’d would be stuck between Ben’s desire for us and his bonded omega.
It was a tangled-up mess of feelings, but it somehow all made sense.
“Do you think I should tell them?” West said causally. Too casual. I didn’t look at him; I kept opening up files on my computer. At random, starting with photos of baby ducks.
“About your shitty parents and then foster parents?” I thought about the can of worms that would open. “Not if you don’t want to.”
“But shouldn’t they know…” He paused.
“Nope.” I looked at my omega. “No one has to know the pain you’ve been through.
They won’t think any less of you if they find out, but they’re not going to be mad at you for withholding information.
If you want to share, do it. But don’t feel like you have to now that we’re in a serious relationship. ”
West sighed, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. “I don’t want to talk about it. You say they won’t think less of me, but they will…change how they think of me.”
I briefly debated giving West the softer version, but decided he needed bluntness. “They won’t.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Even the part where I went after my stepfather with a knife?”
“If I were there, I would have stabbed him too,” I said vehemently.
My hackles rose for teenage West, who had no one to protect him.
“They won’t think less of you, any more than we think less of Rian for struggling with music.
Or Ben for being blind. Or Alejandro for working long hours. Or me for being in a plane crash.”
He grunted. He didn’t quite believe me, but that was okay. It would take time for him to feel comfortable with the thought that he could let the pack all the way in.
I offered him some of my own feelings. “It was easier telling them about my parents because they didn’t push. Ever. Not when we were talking about how we met, or when they saw my scars.”
“That is nice,” West muttered. “None of the alphas act like there must be something wrong with me for not wanting to be knotted.”
“Which is how I know they’re not going to think less of you,” I said. “They accepted that you knew what you were okay with and moved on.”
West grunted again, and I let the subject drop. It was hard enough for me to move past my own baggage, my fears of loving them and them leaving me. I wouldn’t push West on his own, but I could offer him support.
I passed him some of our snacks and settled in for our normal workday. I could accept the love the universe was trying to give me. I could.