49. Sage
Sage
"Opaline! There you are!" Feminine squeals of excitement pull my attention as my omega leaves the space between my arm and side cold, greeting her friends. The four of us watch on with dopey smiles on our faces, seeing her so full of life and interacting with her friends.
Lottie starts tripping over her words, like she's too excited, and each syllable piles atop one another, trying to rush out of her mouth. The expressions must look similar among all of us, amused and yet mildly concerned.
"Forgive her." Charlie steps forward. "She's on her second round of cotton candy and already had ice cream. Pretty sure she's about to start seeing things and hearing voices from all the sugar."
"I have not had that much sugar!" Charlotte protests. The side glance from her partner tells me all I need to know and I smother my laugh with a cough.
"My love, you're on the verge of full body sugar shakes."
Lottie huffs dramatically, mumbling under her breath, turning away from her lover completely, earning a playful eyeroll. "Have you been to the book truck!" she continues, question intended for Opal.
"No! I was hoping we could go there next, actually?" She looks back at us, and it's like we move as a unit to make it happen.
It takes little time to meander the short row of stands and booths, arriving at the little mobile book truck.
There are cute purple lights and lavender flowers wrapped around the outward-opening doors, exposing shelves of merchandise.
Opaline has a stack of books and a pile of reading-themed goodies, making good use of Calder's real estate of muscled arms. Everette leans in from my peripheral and snaps a picture just as Calder glances over at him.
"Another great one for the collection," Ever adds.
"Huh? What collection?" Opaline gracefully springs over to us, peeking at the glowing screen.
"Aww…" Her face softens, and she leans up for a kiss, hand balanced on his bicep.
"Thank you, love." Soft bunny-kisses are exchanged as their noses nudge against one another in a display that has jealousy rising faster than it should.
"Hey!" I squawk. "I can take cute pictures and hold stuff too, ya know!
" I make a show of flexing my arms. Adrian snorts behind me, rolling his eyes as he pulls Ever in for a kiss before our quiet and gentle packmate leaves, checking his phone and walking away towards the open field beyond the booths.
Looking to Adrian, he shrugs and says something about him heading over to the venue. Curiosity piques, but as Opaline falls into my trap exactly where I want her, my attention snaps to her.
"Ohhh, I'm sorry, baby. Did I forget about you? Here, let's go make good use of those strong arms." Chin high, I happily follow like she's got me on a leash. If she wants a good boy, maybe a collar's the place to start.
Watching her pick things up and adding them to her growing pile, uninhibited, laughing and smiling with the girls…
feels fucking good. A fresh wave of adoration and pride races through me as I stand in as her shopping cart.
The woman before me, versus the woman who was so recently timid and ashamed to be spoiled and cared for, is so at odds in the most beautiful ways. I'm so proud of her.
It's little moments like these, just watching, when I'm reminded of her strength. I don't know exactly what was written on the mountain postcard she burned in the bonfire tonight. But I do know it was a short letter to her mom.
Holding her close as her eyes traced the path of the ashes into the sky was a gift I won't forget.
"Hey," I whisper, nudging her for attention. "I love you."
Her head tilts as those green eyes trace my face. Some kind of understanding lands, and she leans in, pressing her lips to mine. "I love you too, baby. Always."