Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Sighing, I watched as Sabrina grabbed Mike’s ear to drag him out of the shade. Beau looped arms with Laila before they walked after Sabrina. Peter held out his hand to me at the stairs.
“Need some help?”
I nodded, taking his hand and letting him help me down the porch steps. “Thanks.”
“Not a big deal. I’m happy to help.”
He walked with me, and considering how slow I was, was nice of him. His eyes were watching his mate the whole time. The four of them were already setting up the blanket in the middle of the grassy field when I finally made it to the grass.
“She’s so different.”
I stopped as I pulled off my shoes before the grass. “Who? Lai?”
Peter nodded, turned to me, and grabbed my arm to steady me as I grabbed my second shoe.
“You’ve breathed something into her. I thought I would end up fighting her for the rest of my life, even when she came back.
Not once has she complained about the rules.
Instead, she’s actually added a few. She was genuinely worried about sliding back into bad habits. ”
“She realized she was alone at the bottom and there was no one to pull her out.”
“You did.”
Shrugging, I walked with him across the field.
“It wasn’t on purpose. Mike was the one who ended up employing her to help me get away.
It just turned out that she was receptive to our talks.
I didn’t pull her out; I only showed her it wasn’t the end.
She could do more and be better. No matter how far she had fallen. ”
“I know I thanked you before, but I will do it every time I see you.” Peter looked down at me. “Thank you, Colt. For bringing my mate back to me.”
“It’s fine, Peter. Really.” I patted him on the back. “You’re stuck with her now.”
We made it to the blanket, and he helped me sit down on it. “So are you. She’s your protector now.”
“Who?” Sabrina scooted over, injecting herself into the conversation.
“Lai. She’s added to the horde of mother hens that have collected around me.” I let out a low growl. “I didn’t need another one.”
Sabrina laughed and looked over at Mike, Beau, and Laila, who had decided that they were going to see how fast they could shift certain body parts. Surprisingly, Mike was outpacing both of them. Especially considering how little he shifted.
I looked up, closing my eyes as the sun warmed my face. “It will be nice to shift again. We were due to run before I got pregnant. It’s been too long.”
“It has. Though I don’t mind not getting my ass kicked. You and Mike are too fast.”
“Colt’s faster than I am. He slows down for me.” Mike sat down on the blanket. “I wouldn’t stand a chance if Colt went all out. Especially at night.”
Beau jumped and flopped down in the center. “Why at night? You can’t see him?”
Mike narrowed his eyes. “It’s hard to explain. It’s like he disappears into the shadows and then reappears. I’ve called it shadow jumping, but Colt doesn’t believe me.”
“Because it sounds insane! Shadow jumping? I just run! You don’t need to make up something silly to make it seem like I’m cheating.”
“I don’t know. You could be using the shadows.” Beau rolled over onto her stomach. “There are dragons that could use shadows.”
I raised my eyebrow. “I’m not a dragon, Beau. I’m a wolf. A fluffy wolf who can’t even keep my tail under control!”
Growling, I tried to shift my tail and ears back, but neither of them budged. Falling to one side, my head fell onto Sabrina’s lap. Immediately, her fingers combed through my hair. She pulled out my hair tie and moved my hair behind me.
“Your hair is so long.”
“I think it’s the pregnancy. I remember cutting my hair a lot after I shifted for the first time, but this is crazy.”
It was past my shoulders already. Worse, the blonde color seemed to only get lighter into a very platinum-looking color. The stark comparison to my wolf’s color was even more noticeable with how long it was.
“I need a trim, if you could do it before you leave.” I looked up at Sabrina.
“I would be happy to. I’m not cutting it though. It’s beautiful.”
Frowning, I turned my head to the side. “It makes me look more like an Omega.”
“That isn’t a bad thing, Colt.” Laila was sitting in Peter’s lap, his arms holding her to him. “You’re safe here. No one is going to say anything.”
“I know. It’s just hard when you have kept it down for so long. Letting it out would make it harder to shove it back in.”
Beau cocked her head to the side, her hands supporting her head. “Why shove it back? Why not just let your freak flag fly?”
I snorted. “Gross way to put it.” Looking past her, at the way the wind blew through the grass, I shook my head. “I want to follow my dreams. I want to learn and then turn around to teach. If I come out as an Omega, I can’t do any of that. It’s not allowed.”
“The laws need to change.” Beau huffed.
“Maybe. It’s not going to happen anytime soon. Just one Omega will not make a difference; not with how Omegas are treated.” I reached down and shook the bottle of juice. “I honestly think that Omegas need to die off before anything changes.”
Everyone looked at me, their eyes wide. “You’re joking.”
Shaking my head, I sat up and unscrewed the cap to sniff the juice. It smelled a lot like pineapple and spinach. Not really a combo that I wanted to drink. Taking a sip, I wrinkled my nose. It was like going through waves of sweet fruit and then bitter vegetables and then sweet fruit again.
“I’m not saying Omegas as the problem. They aren’t. I just don’t think that having more is the answer. I think once Omegas are finally gone, that Alphas are going to realize they are done too. They can’t act the same way they used to and things are going to change.”
“What if you have an Omega?” Laila asked innocently.
Beau shook her head. “Only leadership Omegas can have more Omegas. Colt wouldn’t be able to have any Omegas.”
Laila frowned. “Are you sure he’s not leadership? I mean, he can hold his own against pretty high levels.”
I threw back the rest of the juice and shivered; the flavors intense all at once. “If I did have an Omega, I would hide their designation like I did.”
Everyone looked at me as I answered her question.
“It was my worry, and I think the first question I asked Dr. Cardiff when she was helping me. What was the likelihood of my pup being an Omega? I’d been thinking about it and what I would do if they were.”
“You didn’t know only leadership Omegas produced more Omegas?” Peter asked, his chin on Laila’s shoulder.
Shaking my head, I chuckled. “I really didn’t get any education on what it meant to be an Omega. I was muddling through everything until Mike popped up in my life.” I smiled at him. “Suddenly, he was throwing information at me left and right that I had no idea about.”
“Not that it was useful. Colt isn’t your normal Omega. Not even the fact that he is male. He just doesn’t fall in line with any Omega tendencies.”
“I can attest to that.” Beau flipped over again, her arms spread out. “Lauren was completely bewildered. I don’t think she’s over it either.”
Pushing up, she held out her hand to Laila.
The two of them walked further into the clearing before Beau shifted, and so did Laila.
Mike whistled, shaking his head. Sabrina made grabby hands at me, and I lay back down on her lap.
Normally, I’d lie on my back, but there was no way I was letting my little girl weigh on my spine like that.
The girls did a couple of rounds before Peter jumped in against his sister. Laila shifted back down and grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. She was significantly smaller than both Beau and Peter.
“It’s not fair.”
I laughed. “It really is fine. You’re just a baby, Lai. Ty says there is a good chance you’ll double in size.”
“So will he!” Laila motioned to Peter, who let off a roar as Beau froze the tip of his tail. “Beau isn’t even full-grown!”
“At least you can fly.” Sabrina called out. “The rest of us have to run on the ground.”
My eyes shut as I listened to the sounds of their fight. Laila and Sabrina ended up talking about clothes, which was easy to tune out. Mike moved to allow Sabrina to lean against him as she scraped her nails against my scalp. It felt so good that I fell asleep without meaning to.
“Well, isn’t this a nice little party.”
I peeled my eyes open and looked at Eva, smirking with Tyson and Candice next to her holding picnic baskets. Rolling my eyes, I closed my eyes and flopped back over. Mike had replaced Sabrina at some point.
“If it isn’t mother hen number one.” I grumbled out.
Eva barked out a laugh. “Careful about that sass, Colton. I’ll make you get on the scale again.”
My nose wrinkled, but Mike chuckled. “He has been getting on the scale. He just hasn’t told anyone.”
Sitting up, I whined. “I hate you! When have you been spying on me?”
“That’s a stupid question.” Sabrina got up and helped bring some baskets down. “He secured me. You’re the only one in the wind right now.”
Groaning, I grabbed my water bottle and took an angry swig. “No fair.”
“Do I want to know?” Eva sat down to my right.
Mike shook his head and everyone rolled their eyes. Candice and Tyson sat down and called everyone over. It looked like Beau and Peter were helping Laila be able to do something with her earth powers, but it didn’t look very successful from the frustrated look on her face.
“It is a nice day for a picnic.” Tyson handed out sandwiches to everyone.
Everyone jumped into what the plans were for next month, and I listened as I munched on my sandwich.
At one point, into my second sandwich, I smiled to myself.
Right now, there were eight people on this blanket, eating and talking.
All of them knew my designation. I considered all of them family as well.
“Colt?”
I looked up, all eyes on me. Sabrina reached forward and brushed my cheeks. She swiped away some tears, and I reached up, surprised to feel the wet trails. Smiling, I shook my head.
“I’m fine.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You sure?”
I nodded. “I am. I just never thought this would happen.” Reaching out, I laced my fingers between Sabrina’s.
“I had you and Mike, but I always thought eventually I would have to run. I wouldn’t ever get to have a family like this.
Never in all my years did I think I could have.
” Chuckling, I swiped the traitorous tear.
“I just zoomed out for a second and it hit me.”
“Oh, my sweet.” Eva leaned over and hugged me. “You are so special and so strong. This isn’t even all of them. You are still missing a few people who care for you.”
She was right. My free hand covered the bracelet I had on my wrist. It was still too big, but I refused to take it off. Marcus was missing. A black hole everywhere I went. It haunted me, but I did my best to continue stepping forward. Smiling, I shook the dark thoughts away.
“If I’m so special, why do I have to make two laps around the house? It takes so long!”
Everyone burst out laughing, and I smiled. Sabrina squeezed my hand, giving me a knowing look. Mike knew too, rubbing my back. Still, it was the only way I could keep pushing forward. The topic moved on, and I kept up this time, not wanting to zoom out again.
After all the food was gone, we picked everything up and headed in. Though I still needed to do my laps. Eva helped me up, but it was a trap. She raised my sweatshirt and pressed against my belly.
“This is…significant. I’ll need to check you today, I think.”
Groaning, I pulled down my sweatshirt. “Does everyone have to be pulling up my shirt? I swear! I’m thirty-seven weeks! I get it! Fuck!”