Chapter Thirty-Eight – Kayla
Mercedes is busy talking, but to be honest, I’m not really listening to whatever it is she’s talking about.
Raeka and I sit with her beneath an old oak tree in the courtyard of N.O.A.
The day is winding down; we each did what we came here to do today.
Mercedes is a guidance counselor of sorts, while Raeka has a bi-weekly class on makeup and fashion that goes hand-in-hand with the donations she gives the academy for the omega ceremonies.
And me? I still don’t know if I’m qualified to do it, but I work with Mercedes and talk to the omegas here, make sure they know how they should be treated. It’s just a part-time thing, but it does pass the time while the two guys are at work and it gives me some purpose outside of the house.
Speaking of…
Today’s the day. Bradford is getting his ankle monitor permanently taken off, and then it’s official: we’re moving into the house we had built.
And by we had built, I mean Bradford paid for it, of course.
The three of us designed it, found a nice plot of land not too far from downtown so Hayden’s drive wasn’t so long, and then Bradford hired a crew to build it.
Hayden and I have been there a few times to check on the build, but we haven’t been there since the furniture got delivered and staged.
Yeah, new everything. Tomorrow, the house we’ve called home for the last year—AKA the house Bradford grew up in—will be on the road to getting demolished. His father’s house was sold immediately, as were Bradford’s shares in the company.
Using his ridiculous wealth, Bradford started his own non-profit aimed at helping victims of abuse.
That’s where I spend a lot of my time when I’m not at N.O.A.
It doesn’t matter if you’re an omega, a beta, or an alpha; everyone is different, and everyone comes from different circumstances. There’s no judgement.
“I was actually thinking,” Raeka starts only after Mercedes finishes up, “why don’t we have more mixers between N.O.A.
and N.A.A.? Get the alphas and the omegas talking before they actually, you know, are ready to form packs.
I hate how segregated everything is still.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to throw them together more often? With more supervision, obviously.”
Mercedes leans back. She’s the omega of Darius Alabaster, who is Hayden’s boss’s boss—and also his boss’s brother.
Pax and Darius? Both kind of grumpy. You can totally see the resemblance when they’re side by side, too.
She started out here, when this place was known as Solus Academy. Fate really helped her find her way.
“Yeah, I can talk to Delilah about it. I do agree that it would be good for everyone involved if alphas and omegas mingled more before they’re thrown together—the ones that don’t have any bad behavior on their records, at least.” Mercedes thinks about it.
“You know, I’ve heard there are places on the other side of the country, where everyone goes to the same school no matter what their designation is. I wonder how well those things work.”
I try to imagine a place like that, but I honestly can’t. It seems too far-fetched.
Raeka shrugs. “It must work, otherwise it wouldn’t be a thing. Our state is just run by assholes. Speaking of assholes…” That’s her way of changing the subject, and usually she reserves that particular word for Bradford.
I mean, I get it. She still holds resentment toward him over what he did.
“I hear today’s the day,” Raeka goes on, her gray eyes twinkling as she looks at me. “You three going to celebrate Bradford’s newfound freedom tonight? Pax says your new house is ready.”
With a shrug, I say, “I don’t know if we have anything special planned.
” Which, really, is sort of a lie. We’ve been a pack, officially, for a little under a year.
We’ve gone through two more heats together, and I still don’t have any bonding bites anywhere on my body.
Bradford and Hayden have been dying to sink their teeth into me and bond us together forever, but honestly… it just didn’t feel right.
It felt right with them, of course, but not where we would’ve had to do it, at that house. No, I wanted those bites somewhere we could follow them up with other nice memories.
Raeka chuckles. “Uh-huh. Sure, sure. Whatever you say.” She opens her mouth to say something else, but her eyes shift to someone approaching us. “Would you look at that? Looks like your chauffeur is here to take you away to your new castle.”
I glance over my shoulder and see Hayden strolling toward us.
The late afternoon sun shines on his brown hair, making it appear more of a dirty blonde hue.
His blue eyes twinkle in joy when he sees me, and when he reaches us I get to my feet and throw my arms around him, and he responds by dipping me low and planting a heated kiss on my lips.
“Missed you,” he mumbles against my mouth, and then he kisses me again before he releases me.
Mercedes smiles softly at the display of affection, while Raeka appears unimpressed and says, “Gross. Get a room, you two. Or better yet, a house.” She smirks at that, clearly proud of her own joke.
Hayden grins, and he keeps a hand on my lower back as he says, “What a good idea, Raeka. I always knew there had to be some brains behind Pax. Just between you and me, he never really struck me as the brainiac of the pack.”
Now it’s Raeka’s turn to chuckle. She waves us off. “Go on, get the hell out of here already, before I start gagging again.”
Mercedes turns her light brown eyes up at me and gives me a nod, saying, “See you later.”
I wave at the girls before I slip my hand into Hayden’s and we get going.
Through the courtyard, through the main hall; we eventually emerge to his truck parked in the front turnaround.
He goes for the door, opening it for me and bowing like he really is my chauffeur or something.
I have to laugh at him, but I do appreciate it all the same.
This last year has shown me what life can be. Hayden and Bradford have also shown me how omegas should be treated. Our heats aren’t something to fear or resist. They’re natural.
As Hayden gets into the driver’s seat, he tosses me a lingering look. “You ready?”
“Yeah,” I say, “are you?”
“Hell yeah.” He winks, and we get going.
The one thing that sucks about driving in the city is the traffic. Sometimes it feels like walking would get you to your destination faster, but given the fact that our new house is a good twenty-five minutes beyond the limits of downtown, it’d take way too long to walk there myself.
And besides that? I don’t really miss the days of having to take public transportation or walking the city blocks by myself while fighting with my body. It’s nice to simply exist, to surround myself with people I feel comfortable with, people who would never judge me for anything.
Friends. I know, me, having actual friends?
It’s such a weird concept that it took me months to accept the fact I’m not alone anymore.
I spent so long with Jeremy, going along with his plans, taking whatever anger he directed toward me, that I used to think that’s what life was: pain and misery.
Now I know the truth, how good life can truly be.
“How was your day?” I ask Hayden as we drive along.
“It was good, much better now that I’m with you.
” As he says it, he tosses me a dimpled smile, and it’s not the first time I’m thrown back to the morning we first met, when he pulled off to the side of the road and offered to give me a ride.
His smiles were easy that morning, too. They made me feel things, things it took me forever and a day to comprehend and understand.
Now? I couldn’t imagine my life without him. He—and Bradford—have become everything to me. My life, my heart, my very soul; nothing would be complete without them. They are my world, my future. They complete me in ways I never thought I needed.
It’s his turn to ask, “How was yours?”
“Good. I spoke to some omegas today. It still feels weird to know they look up to me. I’m just… me.”
“Yeah, you’re you, but you’re not just anything. You’re amazing, and beyond that, you’ve been through so much. A lot of those omegas probably come from similar circumstances, so seeing and talking to you—knowing how things turned out for you—probably gives them hope. It’s a good thing.”
It’s not the first time he’s said something like that, and most likely it won’t be the last, either. Even though it’s been a while now, I have a tough time wrapping my head around it. Why on earth anyone would look to me for advice or even comfort…
But those omegas do need more guidance, more role models, more examples of good endings for people like them. For the ones whose last names aren’t well-known, the ones whose bloodlines can’t be traced back generations.
Hayden deems fit to change the subject: “Excited for tonight?”
My cheeks burn, because I know exactly what he’s referring to. Tonight isn’t just the night we officially move into the new house. We all know what’ll happen tonight. Our pack, Pack Bentley, will come full circle.
They’re going to bite me and bond us together forever.
The paperwork has been submitted for months. We’ve officially been Pack Bentley for a while now, but I wanted to save the bonding for our new home. That house, the one Bradford grew up in, the one I killed my brother in… it didn’t feel right to let it have any other good memories.
I try to play it cool, “A little.”
“A little? Come on, Kayla. You have to be more excited than just a little bit. We’ve been talking about it for months—I know I’m dying to sink my teeth into you.
” He smiles at himself as he says it. “I wonder what it’s like.
I asked Pax, but all he said was, ‘You’re connected,’ like that tells me anything.
” When he mimics Pax’s response, he takes on an exaggeratingly deep tone.
“Maybe it’s something none of us will understand until we actually do it.” I tried to ask Mercedes and Raeka about it too the other day, and neither of them could find the words—surprising, for Raeka, considering how much she likes to talk and act like a know-it-all.
“Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Luckily we won’t have to wait too much longer.”
Ain’t that the truth. The closer we get to the new house, the more I feel strangely nervous, which is ridiculous.
These two guys are mine and I’m theirs; there is absolutely nothing to be nervous about anymore.
We’ve overcome so much together, we’ve all changed for the better.
We are better people than we were a year ago, to the point where some people might not recognize us.
A good thing, though. I wouldn’t change a thing about our pasts. Our pasts brought us together, and the life we’re going to have isn’t something I’d trade away for anything.
After a bit of a drive, eventually we pull into the freshly-poured concrete driveway that leads to our house, and as it slowly comes into view, I can’t help but feel like I’m home.
Two stories tall, sitting a good distance away from the road, is our new house.
It’s not as large as Bradford’s old house, but it doesn’t need to be.
We’re going to make this place ours for years to come.
I can’t fight the smile that tugs at my lips as Hayden parks his truck directly in front of the garage door on the side of the house.
Oh, I’m ready for tonight. I’m as ready as an omega could possibly be.