Page 10

Wilder

“Which part?” Penn asked Rumor as she sat, wide-eyed. Her posture had shrunk back a bit as we sat around the table.

At first, when we walked down, she seemed torn and now, it was like she was turning invisible by the second. Had we done something to offend her?

“I don’t understand why you would wait for me to get a plate. Omegas eat last, and not with the family.” She jerked from the table as though it burned her. “I shouldn’t even be sitting here. I’ve forgotten my place. I’m sorry.” She stood and turned away. “I need to start cleaning up my mess.”

Not on my watch. I rose before she could take a step, and grabbed her by the waist. She gasped as I picked her up and sat her back down in the chair. “That’s not the way we work.”

“I-I don’t…”

Understand, I finished for her in my head.

I reached out for the hand closest to me, and she didn’t pull away. “Rumor, please listen to us. One day, you’ll be able to tell us what happened at your parents’ home and under their care, but for right now, we need to let you know how our home will be run now that you are here.”

A tear slipped from one of her eyes, and she was shaking. Was she scared of us? Either way, the sight of this beautiful female crying stopped any further words from escaping my mouth.

I looked to Vargas, who nodded and said, “We value omegas here, Rumor.”

Her natural perfuming grew sharp in my nose.

“Only one omega, right?” Penn said, correcting Vargas’s slip of the tongue.

“Of course. You, Rumor. You’re the only omega who has ever been here.” The only one who would ever be, as far as I was concerned, and I was sure my bond brothers felt the same. The scent of attraction and lust bloomed in the air as soon as she arrived. Vargas continued, “Where we come from, omegas eat first. They are special and revered. Good alphas make sure their omega is well taken care of, and that starts right now with breakfast.”

“You…” Her voice shook. Gods, what had they done to her? “You want me to eat with you? Only pack eats together.”

The brainwashing ran deep. Wherever Rumor had gotten her information about omegas and how packs work, well, I wanted to line them up and give them a piece of my mind and my fists.

“You are a member of this household now,” I assured her. “We are a pack and you are now a member of this pack. Not officially yet, but you have all the rights and privileges we all do.”

“You want me in this pack?” Her green eyes flicked to mine, searching for confirmation. At least she knew I would tell her the truth.

I nodded in response.

Penn took her other hand and like me, she let him. “Always, omega. We want to spend as much time as possible with you. So let’s all eat. I’m going to put a little of everything on your plate. You eat what you like and as much as you want and let us know what you don’t.”

“Don’t you like coffee, Rumor?” Vargas asked.

“I wasn’t allowed coffee,” she whispered.

There were necessities in this life. Death. Taxes. And coffee. She was clearly missing a big piece.

“I’m getting you a cup. What do you like in it?”

She faintly smiled. “Ungodly amounts of flavored creamer, please.”

“You got it.” Vargas poured her a cup, humming. He placed it in front of her. As she took her first sip, she let out a noise of approval, and I tensed. Gods, I hoped I could find a way to coax that sound out of her in the future. If by no other means than more coffee.

We began to eat but only after she took her first bite. We were gentlemen, after all.

“So, how did you sleep, Rumor?” I asked after watching her down half the plate. I saw her eyeing more toast and I took the liberty of putting some on her plate.

“Like the dead, actually. It’s…it’s been a long time since I slept that well. Did you put me in someone’s room? Is that the place I’m going to be staying?”

I swallowed. Of course it was. That was the room and the nest we put together with only the dream of her in our minds.

“It’s your room,” I said plainly. “It’s all yours.”

“Oh. It’s beautiful. Thank you. The bed is incredible. I’ve never seen a round bed before.”

“Wilder custom built it.”

If I wasn’t melted before, I was a puddle now. I would give her anything she wanted—anything that I had to give. “You did? It’s really something.”

“You don’t like cantaloupe?” Penn asked, noticing the pile of the orange fruit on the side of her plate.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I really don’t. It tastes…musky.”

Note taken.

“No more cantaloupe growing for you, Vargas,” I laughed. “Well, maybe only to sell.”

“You grow these?” she asked.

“We grew all the fruit on this table. And we gathered the honey in that jar. We make the preserves in those jars from the fruit on our trees. The eggs come from our chickens out back.”

“Right here?” She looked around.

“Right here,” Penn offered. “How about we finish up and take a tour around our farm?”

Her face brightened. “I would like that. Thank you. But…” Her gaze drifted to the kitchen. It wasn’t a bigger mess than any of us would have made.

Vargas stood. “I’ve got cleanup duty this morning. We all take turns, okay?”

She tugged at a few blonde hairs floating in front of her ear. Was it as silky and smooth as it looked? “Okay.”

Penn and I walked around with her while Vargas stayed behind to clean up. She seemed in awe of the whole place. She asked questions about what was growing and stood slightly behind Penn as we showed her the bees. The chickens flocked to her like a magnet, and so did Old Bay, our German shepherd. He mostly stayed outside, by choice, but I had a feeling he would come in more often now. Even the sunflowers seemed to turn in her direction.

“We sell a lot of our produce and honey in town, but we preserve and eat most of it. We also have a freeze dryer and a dehydrator. We have become pretty self-sufficient over time.”

Vargas walked up behind her as we stood there. “You won’t ever want for anything here.”

She jumped a mile high and clutched her shirt at her chest. Her clothes were worn and her jeans were too big for her.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay.” Her breaths were ragged. “I’m a little on edge. Everything is new.”

We walked around the place some more, Old Bay at Rumor’s side the entire time. When we got to the back door, she paused and whirled around to face us. “Is there something I can do to contribute? You all have your niches here. I would like to be a part of that if that’s possible. I don’t want to step on any toes.”

Vargas put his hand on her shoulder. “You would never be stepping on any toes, omega. I’m sure you have talents you are yet to discover.”