Chapter 40 #2
I wiggle out of his hold and push myself back up. “Yeah, what do you need money for? From what I’ve seen, our pack is doing well. Very well.”
Saint huffs. “That’s pack money. I wanted my own.”
Graham rolls his eyes. “None of us have our own money, except for Lark. That’s what it means to be pack.”
“I want my money to be pack money, too,” I say. Silas and Graham open their mouths to argue, but I push on. “But why did you need your own money, Saint? What were you planning to do with it?”
Saint sits up, causing his knot to slip out of me. A gush of slick and cum run down my thighs. Silas wipes me clean as Saint begins to pace.
“I used all my savings on my mom’s medical bills. I was trying to replenish them.”
Graham’s eyes go wide. “But why? That’s exactly why we have a pack account.”
Saint runs his fingers through his thick, black hair. “Because she was my mom.” As if that explains it.
“So if I needed money to help Lucy out, you would be upset if I used pack funds?” Silas asks.
Saint stops pacing. “No, of course not. I just—”
Silas holds up his hand. “I know you didn’t grow up in a pack or even around a pack, but this is what packs do. They share. Everything.”
“Money,” Graham says. “The house. An omega. We pack together because we’re family.”
I crawl to the end of the bed, hands held out to Saint. “What were you planning to do with the money? Before your mom, I mean.”
He pulls me to standing. I tuck myself close to his side.
“I’ve always wanted a coffee business.”
“Like a shop?”
Saint shakes his head at Graham’s question. “No, like bagged coffee. Just something small that could be all mine.”
Silas nods. “It’s a good idea. You could work it on your off days and then have a business when it’s time to retire.”
“Exactly. Firefighters retire early, but I’ll still be so young. I’ll want something to do.”
Graham takes his glasses off and wipes them with the corner of the sheet. “I don’t get why you didn’t just tell us.”
Saint huffs a laugh, but there’s no humor in it. “I probably should have. My alpha’s been on me about it for years.”
Graham’s eyes go wide. “Wait, your alpha talks to you?”
I tilt my head. “Yours doesn’t?”
Graham shakes his head. “No, never. Silas?”
Silas shakes his head, too.
“Are you saying, your omega talks to you, little bird?”
“All the time.” I pause, putting my finger to my chin. “Well, not so much recently, but before she could get pretty mouthy.”
“My alpha has always been mouthy, though he’s mostly just been snarling at me lately.”
Graham launches from the bed and wraps both Saint and me in his long arms. Saint goes rigid for exactly half a second. Then he puts his arm around Graham.
“Alphas and omegas only talk when they are unhappy.”
“How do you know this?” I ask.
“Beautiful, I know everything, remember?”
I snicker. I know it’s not true, but it seems like it most of the time. “Seriously, how do you know?”
He shrugs. “There’s a decent amount of research about it. When your omega talks to you, it means you aren’t giving her something she needs.”
I roll my eyes. “That’s the problem. She needs everything. All the time.”
Silas pulls me from Graham’s arms. “But you never give into her requests. You never just snuggle in your nest. Aside from donuts on Wednesday, you limit your sweets. And you were severely touch starved when we met you.”
Graham nods solemnly. “It’s probably why your heats have been so intense. Denying your alpha or omega can lead to severe depression and illness.”
I swallow. I had thought I was tougher than other omegas by not giving into my omega’s demands. But really, I was causing myself harm.
“What about Saint?”
Graham pushes his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose. “That’s simple. It started because he refused to be a full member of the pack. And it continued when he rejected you.”
“I have an appointment with a counselor,” Saint says in a rush. “My alpha wanted me to tell you last night, but—"
My heart melts.
“I’m proud of you,” I whisper.
He ducks his head. I tilt his chin until he’s looking at me again with those warm, amber eyes. Saint has been through some terrible things in the past year, but what if denying his alpha made it all worse for him?
“Will you allow the pack to help you? I don’t want you to suffer anymore.” Tears cloud my vision. Fucking pre-heat hormones have no sense of timing. Saint pushes in tighter.
“Don’t cry, princess.” A purr starts low in his chest.
But I can’t stop. “I don’t want you hurting like this anymore,” I sob.
He cups my face in his large, warm hand. I press my cheek into his palm.
“I love you, Saint.”
He stills. “You love me?”
I nod. “Of course I do. Even when you’re being impossible. You’re mine and I’m crazy about you.”
He wipes a tear from my cheek, a lopsided smile gracing his perfect face. “I love you, too, princess. I was already halfway there before I even met you.” His kisses are reverent and consuming. And something about them makes my chest tighten until I can barely breathe.
Saint pulls back, palms still on my cheek and thumb wiping away more tears. “Lark, honey, why are you still crying?”
“Well, now it’s because I’m so happy.”
Graham inches closer. “We’re happy, too, beautiful.”
Silas kisses my bond mark. “You’re my entire world, little bird.” I know the truth of his words through our shared connection. I am everything to him. I push that feeling back to him tenfold.
“I want to bond with you,” I say looking between Graham and Saint. “I want to feel you in my chest the same way I feel Silas.”
Graham’s eyes light up with pleasure. “Whenever. Wherever.”
Saint kisses my forehead. “Do you want to do it alone like you did with Silas, or with us together?”
I think about that. I loved my one-on-one bonding with Silas.
It was something he needed. To be put first for once.
But Saint is different. He needs this to be pack.
I look up at my gentle giant, smiling down at me, his bright green eyes crinkled at the corners.
He never doubted this and won’t be hurt to share the moment with Saint.
“Together. The night of Graham’s event.”
Somehow Graham’s smile expands even wider. “We’ll leave immediately after I speak.”
I chuckle. I knew he would say that.
I run my fingers over a particularly pretty peony tattooed above his heart. “I can’t wait.” I press my lips to his skin.
Then I turn my face toward Saint. “And I want everyone to taste your coffee. It’s better than Nayda’s. We didn’t need to go the other day because I already knew yours was better.”
“Yeah, I knew it, too.”
Saint lifts my chin. “Let’s start a coffee business,” he says. He kisses me, then steps back so Graham can kiss me, too. Then Silas.
“But first, you have to stop this crying, little bird.” Silas wraps his thick arms around me.
Graham rubs soothing circles on my low back. “She can’t help it. Her heat is almost here,”
I swipe at a tear. “No, I still have three weeks at least.”
Graham moves closer, pressing against my back. “No, babe. You’ve got a week, two at most. I’ve been paying attention.”
I lay my forehead against Silas’ chest and cry harder. “I hate my heat. It’s so miserable.”
“It was so miserable,” Saint corrects. “You have us now.”