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Lily

The curtains billowed in the wind. My wolf picked up on the slight shift of temperature. The mornings were getting a tiny bit chillier as summer waned and fall arrived, time for all my favorite things.

I didn’t express those things before. Denied them, even in my own mind.

Omegas in my last pack were meant to be neither seen nor heard. We served. We were of service. They decided that was our only use since we didn’t exhibit the traits of a female alpha.

Now I knew better.

Omegas were to be treasured. Treasured the way Rumor was by her three mates.

I pulled another jar from the water bath and shimmied my hips, lining them all up. There was something satisfying about having things in order.

The farmer’s market wouldn’t know what hit them this week.

I’d added a few new things to my inventory.

Cowboy candy and pickled onions. Hot pepper molasses jam.

I would still have the old favorites, the ones that sold out week after week.

Apple butter. Boysenberry jam. Pickled okra and vegetable medley.

In fact, I had pre-orders for the first time.

Wilder had pitched me the idea and helped me set up a system for it, but I was sure it wouldn’t work.

That was, until the first few orders came in.

Half my products were sold in advance. Such a good feeling.

As I took the last jar out of the steaming water, I heard humming. Rumor was out and about. She had never been a hummer before becoming a mom, but the sound soothed Bernadette, especially when the sweet babe lay against her chest.

Bernadette was probably the closest I would ever get to having a daughter, and I loved her as much or maybe a bit more than I did Rumor.

Not that I would tell her that.

While the jars cooled, I decided to go and pick some peaches. Rumor and her pack gave a lot of the bounty of stone fruit to neighbors and even had a basket of them at the farmer’s market for free.

“Good afternoon.” I passed Rumor collecting quail eggs while Bernie napped in her carrier.

“Good afternoon. Something smells good. What have you been up to?” she asked, tucking a few of the cream-colored eggs spotted with splotches of brown and black into the basket she carried. Her mates had recently gotten her another quail, which she named Bernadette because pack.

“I’ve been playing with some new recipes. Shaking things up. Are we still on to make the new treats for Saturday?”

Rumor and I had a journal full of ideas. The boys said we had more of them than time, but I was thrilled to be working for myself after so many years of exhausting myself for others. There was no end to my energy. Excitement would likely dwindle after a while but, for now, I was charged.

“We are so on. Need some help?”

“I’m off to pick peaches. What if one falls and hits Bernie?

” I asked. While I was genuinely concerned for the little one, I also had come to covet my time alone.

I’d never had that before. Even in the rare times I got a breather, I was listening, trying to intercept anyone’s needs before they became demands.

People didn’t realize how precious silence was.

Sweet, peaceful silence. Devoid of expectations or goals. Just being me in the stillness of life.

Healing wasn’t always about running; sometimes it was about standing still.

“I’ve got her.” Penn came around the side of the house. “You two can go to the orchard. It won’t put a dent in the harvest, I hate to tell you.”

Rumor cocked her head to the side. She and I knew each other and, though our relationship had changed from caretaker and friend to only friends, I was still getting to know myself. “I think Lily needs some private time.”

I sighed. It was still hard to admit that wasn’t a waste or unfruitful. “Sorry.”

“Don’t you dare. You’ve been serving others for years. Here. Take the basket.” I had intended to make a container from the bottom of my T-shirt but a basket would do.

I gave my friend a hug and her daughter a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ll be back later. Thanks.”

“I’ve always got your back.”

I walked away but turned before reaching the tree line.

Rumor had done it. She had her happily ever after that included a pack and a pup.

She had purpose and meaning. Mates that loved her and whom she adored.

This was everything I wished for her but not for myself.

What she had now always seemed out of reach for someone of my station.

I was truly over-the-moon happy for her.

Still, I craved love. I didn’t want that love to include control or losing my independence. Rumor had something unique in her mates. They cared for her as she was and encouraged her sovereignty.

A rare bunch.

I was lucky they’d taken me in. Built an apartment over the garage for me to have my own space. Let me run part of their business. Encouraged me. Treated me as an equal. Those things were priceless.

As I plucked peaches from the trees, I daydreamed. I didn’t do that often, since it usually left me sad and hopeless. Me with a pack who loved me. The whisper of a family. The blanket of safety and security only one tug away from covering me always.

Wanting those things made me feel ungrateful. I’d been given a second chance at life, and here I was, wishing and wanting for more.

Shaking my head, I forced my thoughts to the present. Rumor and I had discussed several things to use the peaches and other produce for, but our new venture would be the most fun.

I did make a killer peach cobbler.