Epilogue
Barnes
Seven Months Later
Tapping away at the steering wheel while I wait for Zira to finish her visit with Mother Favero, as we all now call her, I check the time and worry my lip, hoping the guys have all managed to get everything set up in time.
For two months now we’ve been planning this surprise for Zira, and I know it would mean the world to her, but it’s been beyond nerve wracking keeping such a big secret from her for as long as I have. It’s no wonder I’ve grown antsy over the past few days, because keeping things from Zira makes me sick to my stomach. I’ve had to repeat that it’s all for a good reason, and that my deceit will be worth it when we finally reveal what we’ve been hiding over the past four weeks. What’s worse is that I have no idea how we’ve managed to keep it a secret, because the surprise has been attached to our house. The house Zira lives in. She knows something is going on, of course, what with the tarp and building sheets, but she hasn’t pried more than a curious question every now and then before shrugging it off. It makes me wonder if she already knows what the surprises could be or simply trusts us enough to know this secret won’t hurt her. Having the added bonus of our bonds probably helps ease that worry, though she shouldn’t worry at all. The guys and I would carve our hearts out and offer them to her on a platter before we ever considered hurting her in any way.
Which is why I end up fishing my cell out of my pocket and dialing Laz, pressing the cellphone to my ear as I wait for him to answer. He does after the third ring and in lieu of answering with a greeting, the English bastard drawls, “What the bloody hell do you want now, love? This is your third call within half an hour. I love you, I do, but even Zira doesn’t call this much and I love her infinitely more, I’m afraid.”
“Gee, thanks. You’re so charming,” I snort, rolling my eyes at the man I consider a brother.
“Of course, I am. How do you think I managed to snag an omega like ours?” he jokes, and I snort down the line before rubbing at my stubbled jaw. Laz chuckles, as though he can see me stressing, and says, “Go on, love. Ask me what you want to ask me and be done with your worries.”
I blow out a breath before finally blurting, “Are you guys ready? Zira should be done with Mom shortly, and I can’t shake the feeling that something is going to go wrong.”
“There is nothing to worry about, Barnes,” Laz calmly assures, his patience still unwavering even months later after claiming Zira in the most impatient way possible. “Your anxiety is getting the better of you, but I promise you we are ready and everything will go as smoothly as a hot knife slicing through butter.”
“Okay,” I breathe, nerves bubbling through my veins despite the several reassurances I’ve had off Ford, Mac, and Alek too. “It’s going to be fine. It’ll be great.”
“It’ll be great, love, yes,” Laz chuckles, agreeing with me. “Now, if your mind has been eased, I have a cup of tea to drink before it gets cold. I’ll be damned if I put it in the microwave again like you bloody shits convinced me to do last week. You Americans don’t half know how to butcher a perfectly good cuppa.”
He hangs up on me before I can mock him, but I roll my eyes with a smile as I realize the man distracted me enough that I forgot to be nervous for a second there.
Five minutes later, Zira comes strolling toward the car with a bright smile and a sway to her hips that damn near hypnotizes me, her sage-green summer dress swishing around her as she hurries toward me with a pep in her wedge-sandaled step.
Climbing out of the car, I round the front to the passenger side and open the door for my omega, leaning in for a long, drugging kiss the moment she’s near enough to drag her body close to mine.
Humming against my mouth, Zira melts into me as she always does, and I tuck my hands beneath her strands of fiery waves before tilting her head for me to kiss her better.
By the time I’m done, my nerves have settled exponentially, and Zira appears dazed with her dopey grin and glassy, mint-colored eyes. I chuckle at the blissed expression on her face before nuzzling her nose and dragging a finger along our bond mark that is visible in her pretty dress.
“Hey, Freckles. Good visit with Mother Favero?” I ask, tucking her hair behind her ear with the hand that isn’t tracing the mark and smiling at the emotions I feel coming from her; happiness, contentment, and an overpouring of love she always seems to manage for her alphas.
“Really good, but not as good as that welcome. Feel free to do that more often,” she quips, winking at me with a blush, and I laugh loudly.
“I always welcome you like that,” I snicker, gesturing for her to climb into the car.
“I know. Keep up the good work,” she teases, and I shut the door on her laughter as I grin widely before climbing behind the wheel once more, my nerves now a thing of the past. As soon as I pull away from the sidewalk, Zira turns in her seat to face me and steals the hand I usually keep on her thigh. “So, how was your day? Get much done?”
I nod, opting to tell her the truth without revealing much. “Finished what we needed to finish, so a good day all around. Ready to get you home now, though. I missed you today.”
I miss her every day, especially if I don’t see her for hours, but after she left this morning to spend time with her mom, I’ve been dying to get my hands back on her. Something that hasn’t lessened since I first made her mine. It’s a struggle we all deal with daily, but my omega takes it in her stride, because she’s perfect. Perfect for us, anyway. The perfect omega that completed our pack so beautifully that I will always be grateful for whatever deity brought her to us.
“I missed you, too, even though it’s only been four hours since you woke me early on Sunday going down on me,” she teases, biting her lip and blushing as soon as the words are out of her mouth.
Flashing her a cheeky grin, amazed how she still manages to blush after all we’ve done with her over the months before and since bonding with her, I show her what I’m feeling about that reminder through the bond and love the way she shivers and her eyes darken as she watches me with those beautiful, pale-green eyes.
“Unless you want to break the law, I suggest you turn that off. I’m not above going down on you while you’re driving, Mr. Champion, but I’m not sure how your reputation will withhold if we end up arrested and charged with indecent exposure or public indecency,” she quips, and I whip my head around to stare at her for a split second before focusing back on the road with a harsh swallow as my cock that had only been semi-hard turns full mast at her words.
“Fuck me, Freckles,” I growl, shaking my head to try and knock loose some of the desire that now travels through my body and leads straight to my dick.
“I will. When we’re home,” she reiterates, and I choke on my laugh at the omega of my dreams.
“That will have to wait,” I tell her, still chuckling as I pull her hand into my lap but keeping sure to leave it in a safe place. If I have her hand too close to my cock, I know I’ll risk it all to feel her wrapped around me in any way I can. “I need to show you something once we’re home.”
“Oh yeah?” she wonders, curiosity bleeding into her voice.
I nod, rubbing my thumb over Lazarus’s bond mark on her wrist. “Mhm. But you’re not allowed to ask any questions.”
“Fine. Keep your secrets,” she huffs, lips twitching as she playfully pouts, and I roll my eyes at my dramatic woman.
She does stick to her word, though, never once probing as we drive home with music playing and the occasional small talk. By the time we reach the house that now feels like a home with Zira living under the same roof, she’s bouncing in her seat with enough energy to power all of North Five University.
Laughing at her excitement, I lead her out of the car and up the steps, opening the front door and inhaling the sweet smell of my omega mingled with her alphas. I gesture for Zira to go before me, and she does with a suspicious little narrowing of her eyes.
I wink back, patting her ass as she passes, and I relish in the small plume of her perfume as she goes.
“Honey, I’m home,” Zira calls as she always does when she’s home, the words like a siren call to us for some reason. We hear her call for us and we come running like the loved up saps that we are.
Sure enough, Laz comes strolling out of his office with his glasses perched low on his nose, a book in his hand, and a smile only for Zira. “There’s my darling. How was your visit?”
“Really good, thank you,” she smiles sweetly, offering her lips to him for a kiss that he wastes no time giving. “How was your day?”
“Oh, you know, same old,” he shrugs, evading the question with his usual response that makes her roll her eyes. Then he switches it up when he asks, “Has Barnes mentioned a surprise?”
Her whole face lights up and I bite my lower lip as I lean against the kitchen counter, content to watch her. She nods and crosses her arms over her chest before she says, “He mentioned it, but banned me from asking questions. Will you tell me what it is?”
Laz shakes his head with a teasing smile. “Nope. Suppose you’ll just have to wait and find out what it is.”
“And when will that be?” she queries, narrowing her eyes on him now instead of me.
“As soon as the twins and Alek stop dicking around in the gym with the new bow he bought,” Laz snorts, shaking his head with amusement.
No sooner than the words leave his mouth, Ford, Mac, and Alek come waltzing into the house through the back patio door and make a beeline for our omega. She greets them with hugs and kisses and an ass grab or two, before clapping her hands and blurting, “Okay, I can’t take it anymore. You guys have been shady for the past two months and I’ve been dying to know what you’ve been hiding. Barnes and Laz tell me there’s a surprise, and I will gladly get on my knees for whoever starts talking first.”
Fucking hell.
Ford and Mac share a look, and Alek looks like he genuinely considers it before I stand to my full height and point at them with a warning. “No. Don’t you dare. We’re about to show her now that we’re all here.”
Alek grumbles before taking Zira’s hand, and the twins snicker at the exact same time in the very same way before Mac says, “You’ll love it, starlight. Barnes came up with the idea, and we all jumped into it with guns blazing.”
Zira sends me a questioning look but I only smile with a shrug, tucking my hands into the pockets of my dark jeans before gesturing to the stairs. “Shall we?”
With a rapid nod, Zira tugs Alek along with her as she follows behind me while I lead us all up the stairs. I’m quiet as we travel along the hallway, guiding us directly to the guest room that has been off limits for two months while we worked.
“Oh, the sheets and tape are gone,” Zira points out, and I laugh before producing a key from my back pocket and handing it to her.
“This is yours. Test it out,” I instruct, placing the small, gold key attached to a chain she can wear around her neck in her palm and biting my lip as she eyes it closely before giving me another funny look that I enjoy far too much.
Slowly, almost like she’s worried about what she might find, she releases Alek and slips the key into the lock before swinging the door open, only to gasp loudly as she steps into her new home library decked with walls of shelves that span the entire room, all painted in a rich, sage green that she always seems to favor. They even wrap around the window, offering space for literally thousands of books for her to buy and fill every shelf. A social media viral comfy chair is tucked away in one corner while a darkwood desk has been placed in the middle of the office with a black-leather office chair, a stack of white envelopes placed neatly on top of the desk.
“Oh my god,” she breathes, slapping her hand over her mouth as she looks around, eyes bugging out of her head. “This is beautiful. You guys did this?”
I can’t seem to stay away from her any longer, so I don’t fight the urge, walking toward her and wrapping my arms around her waist, then I drop my chin to her shoulder as I say, “We did. And it’s all yours, Freckles.”
“Mine,” she murmurs, shaking her head in disbelief. “You guys were building me a library?”
Chuckling, Laz steps inside, the others following after as he says, “Well, technically, Barnes and Alek built the library. The twins painted, and I found the furniture, so it was a team effort. But Mac is right. The idea was spawned by the professor.”
She looks over at me with hearts in her eyes, and I realize then that I really had no reason to be nervous. I knew she would love it, and based on the way the bond thrums with emotion, there’s no doubt that she’s a very happy omega right now.
So, while she’s feeling this happy, I lead her to the desk and point at the envelopes I know she will recognize. Sure enough, she gasps when she spots them, sliding the envelopes of money she has tried giving me over the months off the desk and swats me with them. “What the hell is this?”
Feeling a little bashful now that she’s focused on me, I ignore Ford as he whistles and teases, “Ooh, Champ is in trouble now.”
Instead, I drag Zira close by tugging on her summer dress, the envelopes ending up squished between us as I explain, “That, Freckles, would be your book-spending money. Since I know you wouldn't accept our money to pay for your reading habit, even though what’s ours is rightfully yours now, I found the best solution for the money you keep giving me that I don’t want. I’ve been keeping it all in Laz’s office drawer, trying to figure out how to give it back without you possibly biting my head off. This was the answer.”
Disbelief paints her features prettily and she stutters before she says, “So, this is everything I’ve been giving you? For nine months?”
I nod. “I told you I wasn’t going to accept your money, Zira, and I meant it. And now that you finally agreed to stop being so fussy with money, you’re going to accept this as me returning what is rightfully yours. I know you pay your share in whatever miniscule bills we have, and money is never an issue, so I want you to spend this on filling this room with all of the books you love or want to read. I want you to have your safe space.”
Tears instantly fill her eyes, and I know I’ve hit the mark with that last sentence, and I lean in to kiss her until she’s no longer on the brink of tears. When I pull away, I blurt, “I hope those are happy tears.”
She nods rapidly before laughing loudly, looking around again like she can’t believe what she’s seeing. It’s as though she’s stunned that I took what she told me and provided a solution that she couldn’t refuse, and I love that she loves it so much already, especially after the conversation we had before.
We were lying in bed one morning, lazing on a Sunday as we often do now, and I learned that, as much as she loves working at the library at North Five, she doesn’t find the same peace in it anymore after Hunter ruined it for her. I hate that he took something that important from her, and I hate more that she had to learn it a week into going back to work, but now she has somewhere untainted that she can grow and build up to be what she wants it to be.
If that just so happens to be the library from the animated movie with the beastly alpha and the beauty omega, then I’m all for it, so long as Zira is happy, content, and full of the love we try to show her every single day.
Which isn’t hard, because Zira Favero is the easiest person to love, and I’ll do it until I’m long gone from this world and even after.
The end.