Page 11

Vargas

It was Rumor’s first day here, and as much as I wanted to spend every waking moment with her, she needed space and time. A lot happened to her all at once. When I discovered that she hadn’t even known about the alphas coming last night until just beforehand, my wolf tried to tear through me and go and hunt her family down.

No.

Not her family. The people she was blood related to. We were her family now, and we would protect her with our lives, especially from them. It had been all I could do to keep him in check. If I hadn’t pressed upon him that shifting in anger would scare her, I doubt I’d have been able to control him.

When Rumor asked what she should do today, it was obvious she meant chores. All three of us were in agreement, she needed to take time to adjust to her new pack, to rest, to explore the property. I had to admit that I thought that would be easier for her than it was. She hadn’t been allowed even a second’s rest in so long that taking a break had her fear responses kicking in.

I fucking hated her family.

When Penn came to us with the idea of rescuing her—because I refused to think of her as a purchase—his gut had told them her life had been bad. They rejected her as soon as she presented as omega and then treated her absolutely horribly. Far worse than I could’ve imagined, and I didn’t even know all of it. Between what little she told us and what Pendleton had witnessed, I didn’t need all the details to know it was a position I’d never wish upon my worst enemies.

Poor, sweet Rumor had been treated like trash and then sold to the highest bidder. I still felt awful—that we purchased her. It wasn’t something I’d ever feel comfortable with. But if buying her freedom was the only way for her to have it, then that’s what we had to do. We didn’t have the strength or numbers to start a war with them. And even if we did, it would put her at risk. I refused to ever do that.

It was a horrible system, but it was the one we had to work with.

My patch of carrots needed weeding and I had vegetables to harvest for dinner, so I went outside—hating that I was leaving her, but also knowing she probably needed a little space. Going from no positive attention to positive attention from three had to be overwhelming.

It had been a gorgeous morning, but I could feel that things were about to change. The sky was an odd color and the air was too still. A storm was coming, and I changed what I planned for dinner to a stew, because there was nothing better than stew on a rainy evening.

I brought the veggies I harvested into the kitchen and cleaned and chopped them, getting ready to assemble dinner. I loved cooking. Something about taking the things that I grew and turning them into nourishing meals for my pack was so satisfying.

Not just about nutrition and making them smile with delicious food—mealtime was important to us. It was when we got together, shared our day, made plans, and enjoyed each other’s company. For a long time, it had been three of us. Now it was four.

Rumor had been wandering around, peeking in the kitchen, pulling back and repeating. She was hovering, and I wasn’t sure why. I pretended not to notice for a while in an attempt to not make her feel uncomfortable. But, eventually, my wolf couldn’t handle it anymore. Her scent was teasing him, calling to him, but he also wanted to comfort her.

“Rumor, why don’t you come in? You can sit at the counter and talk to me while I’m cooking.”

“I can help—peel carrots.” She was so quick to try and help. If I thought it was simply out of desire to do so, I’d take her up on it. But until she learned and believed that we didn’t expect her to be our servant, I had to be cautious not to let her overdo it.

“I’ve got it. Just keep me company.”

“Are you sure that’s enough?”

That was everything.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

She walked over. Even if I didn’t know her and how kind she was—even if I hadn’t smelled her jasmine-vanilla perfume, she’d have taken my breath away. She was absolutely stunning, and I didn’t think she had any idea how gorgeous she was. Wilder, Penn, and I were going to need to fix that.

Even in her worn, torn, ill-fitted clothing, she had all of my attention. Not even a potato sack could hide those delicious curves.

We needed to buy her some clothes that showed her personality, didn’t have holes in them, and she didn’t have to pull up or pull down because they were either too tight or too loose. It was going to be fun taking her out and spoiling her.

“I used to do the cooking,” she said, picking at her fingernail, her leg bouncing enough that I could feel the slight tremor against the counter.

“Did you like it?”

She looked up at me like I asked her something shocking, instead of just a simple preference.

“It was what I did.” Which wasn’t a yes.

“I love cooking. It makes me happy to put food on the table that everyone enjoys.”

She gave me a small smile, and I wanted to capture it for always. We needed to make sure she had plenty of reasons to reward us with her smile.

“Tell me something you do like.” We knew so little about her beyond her circumstances.

She half shrugged.

“You said, before you were eighteen, everybody thought you were an alpha. What did you do then?”

I didn’t want to say “before they made you their slave,” which was pretty much what they’d done to her.

“I like to read.” She squished her lips to the side as if she was thinking really hard about it. “I like to paint, but not like pictures. I like to paint furniture, and I really like to paint rocks.”

“Rocks?” What a fascinating omega our mate was.

“Yeah. I like to see what they look like. Have you ever laid on the grass and watched the clouds and you saw what they were meant to be, like a rabbit or a dragon or a train?” It was evident that she hadn’t talked to a lot of people about this, the way she stammered to find the words. But she was sharing it with me…she saw me as worthy of seeing this side of her. My wolf was front and center, already so in love with our mate.

“I still do that,” I confessed and her smile grew.

“I do that with rocks—see what they’re meant to be, and then paint them so that they look like that item. Is that weird?”

“No, that’s absolutely wonderful. We have a lot of rocks we removed from the soil when we expanded the garden. Maybe I can show you after dinner.”

“I’d like that.”

I’d talk to the guys about getting her some supplies. If painting made her happy, then we were going to make sure she had access to what she needed to do so.

“And you said you like to paint furniture too. Do you mean like so it’s pretty, or to refinish it?”

She went on talking about how she liked to connect pieces in a room that didn’t necessarily go together through little details in her paint work. It was fascinating and, for the first time, I felt like I got a glimpse of Rumor, unfiltered.

My mate was full of surprises.

Our mate was full of surprises.

I popped the lid on the stew. It was at the set-it-and-forget-it time—and started working on the dishes. When she offered to dry, I let her. I didn’t want her to think we were rejecting her offers for always and forever, but also, I didn’t want her to feel like she had to do everything. This felt like a good compromise.

We had just finished up when the others came in.

“It smells so good.” Wilder stepped inside first.

“Thank you. It’s just stew.”

“Oh, the stew. Yeah, that too.” He winked. He was right, though, our mate’s perfume was mesmerizing.

“Oh, Wilder...” She snapped her mouth shut, her cheeks a rosy pink. There was no fear coming off of her. She liked that he appreciated her scent.

“I’m gonna set the table,” Penn said.

Penn grabbed the drinks while I brought the stew and rolls over. Minutes later, we were at the table eating, none of us taking a bite until our mate did.

I could see the awkward discomfort on her face as she took the first one, but the three of us alphas had talked about it and decided this was the best way. It was important for her to embrace her new role here, one that was not of someone lesser than the others. And if these first couple days of her being unsure meant a lifetime of happiness, contentment, and ease, then it was worth it.

Wilder leaned closer to Rumor and sniffed. “You smell different today. Rumor, are you maybe going into heat?”

Rumor looked like she wanted to melt into the floor and disappear. Wilder hadn’t meant it to be rude, but intentions didn’t matter…not when our mate was hurting.

“My mother made sure I stayed on my suppressants.” Her answer was cold and practiced. I hated it.

“Oh—I wasn’t trying to be… I just...you didn’t smell like you. There was no jasmine and vanilla. I like those.” He wasn’t helping.

“It’s scented suppressant,” she mumbled.

Penn gasped. “Why do you use that?”

“Because I’m supposed to. I have to.”

We were walking a very fine line here. We didn’t want to scare her or make her feel like we were invading her space, but also, she needed to know how categorically unlike her family we were.

“Rumor, if you like those sprays, use them. But don’t use them for us.” If I had my way, she’d never use them again, but it wasn’t up to me.

“You don’t need to use any suppressants, if you don’t want to. We’d gladly help you through your heat, or we could just keep you safe while you handle it on your own.” Wilder put his fork down. “But you don’t need all of that unless it’s what you want.”

“You would…my... I’m…I’m suddenly not feeling well.”

She put her napkin down and ran off.

Fuck.