29. Opaline
Opaline
Sage takes the perfectly crafted bouquet of orange, purple, and green flowers I spent the last hour or so crafting.
I see Adrian take Ever's too, out of my peripheral.
I shouldn't be surprised that each of them took their floral assignments very seriously, wanting everything to be just right.
They turned out beautifully, later revealed to all be gestures for me.
The idea of fitting them all in the tiny bedroom I still technically claimed as my own at the staff lodging is hilarious. Frankly, I haven't really been staying there much and it doesn't really feel like…mine.
I'm not exactly sure where to call home. But I do know who to call home. And god, does that thought nearly send me off-kilter at the force of it. Home.
We're gathered near the huge entrance to the barn we'd spent our time playing in the mess of flowers in.
Rain has started falling thickly enough that it echoes, creating a musical pattern on the metal roof above.
They're ready to run, and I hope the outcome of our creative efforts don't get too squished or damaged in the meantime.
Each one is a perfect balance in color and placement: whites, oranges, greens, pinks, and purples blended together in harmony, pleasing to the eye and nose.
"You're lucky I don't want to mess up our princess's flowers. I'd smoke your ass in a footrace back to the car."
"Just because you played ball a million years ago doesn't mean you'd win shit," Adrian huffs at Sage's seemingly out-of-left-field, teasing comment.
But, maybe it isn't out-of-left-field for them?
I'm truthfully still getting to know them, I guess, when it comes down to it. Maybe this playfulness is normal.
"Yeah?" Sage sucks on his teeth, brow raised at Calder.
"I'm absolutely not carrying five bouquets of wildflowers back to the car by myself, in the fucking rain, so you two assholes can race each other back."
"Damn," he mumbles. "Daddy Calder puttin' his foot down. Back at the house, then. On?"
"Don't fucking call m—" Calder blushes, sneaking a shy but dominant peek at me that lights me up with his new sexy petname. Definitely daddy, alright.
"Oh, it's on, sweet cheeks." Adrian interrupts him with a grin that lights up his face, a smug tilt to his lips that makes something loosey goosey flip around in my lower stomach.
The way he turns to face me, eyes low, he knows exactly what he's doing to me.
I can't take it and look away, but I feel him pushing his suddenly heated thoughts through the bond.
Between the two giants giving me those looks, a needy whine slips free before I can lock it down, earning me a cocky chuckle from the latter, now striding away from me.
Calder steps towards me with a gentle smile, the open barn doors and rain a backdrop against his brawny, overpowering frame.
"We'll carry everything to the car, babygirl.
I'll pull closer to the entrance, and one of us will come grab you.
Pretty sure we have a couple of umbrellas tucked into a tote in the very back.
" He glances at Ever, sharing a meaningful look, who's lingering a few feet away. "Stay here with her?"
"Of course," he responds breezily, hands tucked in his pockets.
"Alright, be right back." His lips meet mine in a quick, comforting kiss before he pulls back, shaking his head. "Give me the strength to deal with these two on my own."
"HEY," Sage turns, free arm out to his side, scowling. His face and stature would be convincing if it weren't for the happiness bubbling between us. Calder strides past him, handing over his flowers with a sigh as my goofball winks at me.
"I'll run ahead and grab the car and meet you two out front by the gate."
"I feel like logistically we could have had a footrace AND kept the goods safe while getting the car but fine!
" Sage shouts after him as he shoots off ahead, gradually getting louder the further he runs.
Pretty sure, even through the rain, I make out a certain middle finger thrown over a certain big shoulder.
Sage and Adrian start bickering, making their way outside to wait for their trip to the SUV once he's closer to the gated entrance.
Watching them disappear around the corner, the weight between Everette and me comes crashing back in. But this is good. It's what we need, and I desperately want to tell him how sorry I am.
Without being able to really feel him, turning to face him is a little harder than it should be. I don't know what's going on with me. I just feel shame.
"I uh, I made you something?" There's a quizzical lilt to his words and a small, tentative smile to match, as I look up to face him. Of course, my inner omega perks right up at the idea of our mate providing a gift of any kind.
Any shame I feel simultaneously dissolves, floating away, while somehow sitting heavier on my chest. Because there's no anger, not even fear in his eyes. There's only love and a glittering light that tells me he's just happy to have my attention. It makes my internal battle both better and worse.
"You did?"
That smile transforms into a full grin as he reaches behind him to grab something off the wooden shelf. Peeking around his shoulder, I try to spot what it is he's got for me.
"A crown for our princess." My eyes go wide at the beautiful flower crown in his hands, the chatter and music playing through speakers around us fading to white noise. This isn't just a thoughtless gift. It's something he made himself specifically for me.
Fingers reaching forward, I trail them along the delicate and soft white and orange petals, over lavender, and a couple of other wildflowers I can't remember a single thing about at this moment.
Tears build, and I try my hardest not to let them fall, hoping my eyes might be dry enough to just soak the moisture back in, somehow.
"Everette…" I whisper. But, to him, his primal, it must be clear as day the way his hand grips my chin, tipping my gaze up to his.
Before he can speak, I cut him off. I have to get this off my chest. "No, Everette.
Please let me just…" I sigh and glance to make sure the others have gone.
This needs to be just for us. "I knew you were mine from the very second I saw you stepping through the field.
I still couldn't explain or articulate it if someone asked me to.
I just knew. I knew you were mine and I knew you were…
safety. I've never once had doubts about us, where I wanted our future to go, or about the way we naturally just fit. "
I close my eyes, shaking my head a bit, the absolute truth hitting me again as I say the words. "Bonding with Adrian, Sage, even Calder, first, wasn't planned. They were just moments when it felt right between us. I just didn't think about how it would affect you. I'm so sorry, Ever—"
Lips land quickly on mine, cutting off my apology I need to make sure he hears.
"Love, just please know I'm trying my best to make sure each of you are—"
"Shh, shh, hey. Come here, sweet girl." Solid, warm arms wrap around me, and something settles immediately with his touch, his affections.
"You're the biggest gift I could have begged the heavens for.
And you're better than I could have dreamt.
You're the perfect mate for us. But it's not up to you to constantly make sure we're okay.
Our individual emotional well-being and insecurities are our own to find peace with.
You just have to be you. The moment you feel pressured to be a certain way, like you're failing somehow in being our mate, is the moment we have failed you as your alphas. "
"But…"
"It's our job to make sure you are always taken care of. You're only one person, little omega."
"You're not upset with me for bonding with Adrian before you?"
"Oh, sweetheart. No. I don't need to be your first bonded and I certainly don't need to be your second-to-bond or second-to-last. I just need to be yours. I can be patient, sweet girl. We have all our lives to spend together. And I don't just mean this one."
Every ounce of pressure, of shame melts away at his words.
I believe everything he says because somehow, even without that tether between us, I feel the weight and sincerity and truth of it all.
But he's not the only lucky one. I thank the stars above for bringing me to these men, for letting me find love, find my home… finally. "I love you so much."
"I love you, too, sweetness. So, so much."
We sway, trading soft lazy kisses until every muscle is loose and happy, my heart full to bursting knowing we're okay.
After placing my crown on my head, he reaches one hand out in front of him. "Dance with me?"
Shyness and giddiness hit at once as I look around. "In…here?" I ask, laughing nervously.
With a charming grin as I place my hand in his offered one, he shakes his head, bending with his usual grace of a prince to press kisses on my knuckles. "Out there."