Page 41 of Cost of Courting (When it Raines Omegaverse #6)

Chapter thirty-eight

Edric

The sun is just turning the world orange and gold when we drive home. We’re all clean in new clothes, and while I’m going to deeply miss the dress Selene was wearing, the memory of her covered in our enemies’ blood is going to keep me getting hard for a lifetime.

We park our borrowed car at the community center and climb out.

“Selene, are you sure you want to do this?”

She glances back, giving Kingston one of those looks that has him biting his tongue.

“Sorry.”

I glance at my hands again, making sure they’re clean. Satisfied, I follow Mael and Bailey into the building. I was worried about Mael, I could see him fighting, but every time I thought he lost it, he managed to pull himself back from the brink and hold it together.

I asked him last night what helped him stop from going over the edge completely, and he said Selene and Bailey, Kingston and I. Our pack kept him sane.

I’d hugged him for a long time then, ignoring the blood and dead bodies behind us. Just grateful that we were in time all those years ago and that it’s finally all over.

The interior of the community centre is lit in dim lighting. There is food and drink up one end and a photo surrounded by candles.

I inhale sharply as the face in the photo comes into view.

Dot.

No !

I reach out and tangle my fingers with Selene’s. Her pain bleeds into the air, and I find my throat closing up.

As we approach, people part, moving out of our way. All these people I knew when I was growing up and the kids who are now new. They reach out and touch, brushing fingers across our arms and back.

My throat closes over, and I stiffly keep my eyes fixed on Dot’s photo as we approach.

Selene stops in front of it with me beside her. “You were my best friend. In a world where we weren’t able to be friends, you were the best secret I ever kept. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to save you.”

Selene starts to cry, and I turn, pulling her into my arms. She holds onto me while she presses one hand to her mouth and sobs.

In seconds, we’re surrounded, and I reluctantly let go of her as Peta, Mary, Clark, Moira, and Cindy pull her aside. They let their grief out today, hugging and crying. A pack mourning a beloved member.

“What happened?”

“They came for Dot two nights ago,” Mr Match says with a visible tremble he didn’t have a few weeks ago.

Perhaps we’re all scarred by Benson’s reign of terror, but I don’t like seeing it on this gentle old man.

“Beat her to death, apparently. The police have investigated briefly, but we all know they will rule it a random break and enter and not care. The point is that it will never happen again, will it?”

I look him straight in his rheumy eyes. “No, it won’t ever happen again.”

Mr Match nods and looks away. “Come have something to eat and drink. We’re going to be holding vigil here all day for whoever wants to say goodbye. It’s our tradition.”

He hands me a white flower.

“To pave the transition as she passes with something soft, something fragrant, and something from home.”

Why this small gesture chokes me up, I have no idea, but I take the flower and walk up to the photo of Dot.

“Thank you for helping me see what I was missing. May you rest in peace.”

I lay the flower down beside the others.

Over the course of the day, I learn that Luna and Jo have left in the night, gone to heal and try to find a way to live with their wounds. I’m not sure how I feel, but I can tell it was another blow Selene was hoping to avoid, but I suspect she was expecting it.

The grief for Dot is something private, but I’m surprised to find that we are included in it, part of it .

And then the doors open, and Andy and Zaden walk in. Despair and Mirakill together again. I turn, waiting to see what they are going to do, but they simply walk between the groups of people and pay their respects.

People are wary, but they relax when they see it’s them.

Bailey waits for his dad at the door, and I edge over that way, watching as they hug.

“You kicked me out, remember?”

“I know. I was wrong.”

Bailey closes his eyes, and when he opens them, he looks straight at me.

“You want me to join the club again?”

“I do,” Andy says.

“I’ll think about it.”

Zaden stops beside me, and I can’t help but tense. The rivalry between us goes deep. It always has.

“The Family will be descending on you to make sure Bailey is safe.”

I incline my head. “They can descend after my omega is taken care of.”

Zaden’s lips quirk. “Good luck with that.”

I bare my teeth. “I can be very persuasive.”

He shrugs. “See you soon, brother-in-law.”

I scowl, hating the sound of that even more so. He just laughs and then, thankfully, leaves.

I look around us. Emotions are high, but all is well.

Selene gets free and comes to stand beside me. All the signs are there.

It’s time.

“We will be back.” I say loudly. “In a week.”

No one protests, though I expect them to. Is that because they love her or they fear us?

I cradle her to my chest, and it’s a sign of how exhausted she is that she doesn’t fight me.

I don’t wait or ask anyone else’s permission. I just turn and walk away with her.

Once we’re outside, I look down at her in my arms. She moans, turning her face into my chest.

“Where is your nest?”

She blinks up at me and smiles. “You’ll never find it.”

I let out a deep growl that has her trembling, that perfume filling the air and driving me to the brink of my control.

“Come on, our crazy girl, where is it?”

She arches in my arms, but Kingston grips her hair and yanks on it.

“Focus, where is your nest? ”

She lets out a deep purr.

“Omega!” Mael growls. “Where have you hidden your nest?”

She just throws her head back and laughs, completely unaffected by his growl.

“Let her go. We’ll just follow,” Kingston says with a grin.

I put her down hesitantly and watch as she steps back. She grins wickedly, and I have a second, just one, to realise how badly we just fucked up.

“Catch me if you can,” she says as she whirls and darts away.

“Damn it, Selene!” Kingston growls and explodes after her.

We’re all on her tail, thundering down the street after her. She slips through a fence too narrow for us, but I grab it and hoist myself up and over while Bailey goes through the gate.

She runs around a corner, and, by the time I get there, I see her jumping up onto a roof.

“Tricky!” I snarl and jump, catching the guttering and pulling myself up easily.

I race across the roof, only to see her fly onto someone else’s. She keeps going, dropping down onto someone’s patch of dirt and disappears out onto the road.

I let out a fierce growl and resist the urge to tell her to slow down or stop.

“I know where she’s going,” Mael says. “She’s gone to my house.”

My mind stumbles over it. She’s going to Mael’s place? But why?

We run as a unit, following her with less urgency. When we get to Mael’s old house, the dark and stark home with its corrugated iron fencing and overgrown yard has me with doubts, but he just leads us in.

The spare key is where it always lives. Mael opens the door and walks in.

At first, all I can see is dark. The old wood creaks as we make our way in.

Mael goes for the stairs, but I shake my head.

“Basement.”

Mael pauses, no doubt remembering all the times we spent hiding down in the basement while his mother was working. It was a place where we felt safe.

Halfway down the stairs, the light gives away that I was right. It’s a blue light that dances, and I smile as memories slam into me.

Sure enough, I step into the room. She’s bent over a pillow, hiding something.

“What are you doing, Omega?”

“Stashing weapons,” she murmurs and then jumps up, and I follow her gaze to the chandelier made of knives.

“Oh, that’s pretty.”

She throws me an approving look.

“Can we come into your nest?”

She pauses, thinks about it. I almost expect her to say no. But she gives a reluctant nod .

“Fine, but stay over there.”

Bailey chuckles and moves to where she points and leans against the wall.

“You have a beautiful nest, Omega,” Kingston purrs.

She stops. “Where’s our cat?”

Kingston blinks, and I think I see emotion in his eyes before he swallows hard. “Moria and Rain are going to look after him.”

She nods and returns to sorting her pillows. “Okay.”

“How do you know about this place?”

Selene glances over her shoulder. “Your mother and I still talk. She said I could use this place for my heat if it got close and I needed to hide.”

Mael stumbles. “You speak to my mother?”

“Of course. She practically raised the four of us. Why would I stop speaking to her?”

Selene is honestly baffled, but I think Mael is almost beyond words.

“It’s not that you shouldn’t. It’s more that she didn’t tell us you were.”

“Why should Doreen tell you? It’s got nothing to do with you.”

Selene hums and then turns back to adjust the lava lamp that’s casting green and blue light on the room.

She’s managed to drag a mattress down here and so many pillows and blankets. It’s almost claustrophobic.

I love it.

She sighs and looks around happily.

I glance back at Mael. His mother protected our omega. We owe that lady a visit.

But not now. Right now, we need to focus on this moment.

And this omega.

It’s a moment I’ve been dreaming about forever.

We’ve all waited for too long.

But now we’re here.

Finally.