Page 11 of Loving My Omega (The Perfect Designation Trilogy #2)

Chapter

Eleven

R olling back up, I brushed Colton’s hair out of his face. Going to the door, I opened it and Beau was standing in the door with a few bags hanging from her arms. My eyebrow rose, but I stepped back into the kitchen to let her through.

“So first I went to that Italian place and even mentioning Colt’s name got me a boatload of extras. And then I went to this little market and talked to this wonderful eagle shifter. I told her a friend of mine was pregnant and suffering from morning sickness and she gave me all kinds of stuff. Even pointed out other things from other sellers that would help.”

Colton chuckled as he turned on the bed to face her. “I’m sorry to make you come out here.”

Beau huffed, throwing off her shoes as she shoved a few of the bags into my hands. “Do not apologize. I am happy to bring you food. I told you it was the one thing I would always do. You need to gain like eighty pounds by tomorrow.”

He chuckled again softly. “I’ll get right on that.”

She smiled and nodded. “Good. Let me help. We will stuff you full of breadsticks.”

I sighed. “Not too many. Those are just empty carbs. He needs actual nutrition.”

“Oh please. If he’s eating, he’s eating. We can worry about ten pounds of veggies a day later. He just needs to eat. Come on, what do you want first?”

She took the bags of food from Angelino’s and set them on the kitchen bar. I turned, placing the bags from the market onto the counter. Looking through it, I shook my head. There were fresh grapefruits, oranges, and tangerines as well was some jars of bone broth. Another jar looked like candied ginger and I set that off to the side.

“Did you want to eat Angelino’s or I can make you something else?” I looked over my shoulder at Colton. “You’re choice.”

He was shaking his head. “And if I said I wasn’t hungry?”

“Sucks to suck. Sit your butt on the seat and eat.” Beau walked over to him and held out her hand. “I’ll even help you.”

Sniffling, Colton put his hand in hers and Beau pulled him up. She pulled him to the seat and forced him to sit down before she pulled off his coat. He smiled as she also pulled off his jacket so he was only in his usual sweater vest.

“I’m pretty sure my closet is bigger than this entire apartment.”

I nodded, pulling out plates and silverware for us. “I can confirm. It is.”

“It’s big enough for me.”

“Oh yeah? Where is your nest? Or the water heater? Or a bath tub? Or even a couch, in case you don’t want to lay the wrong way on your mattress?” Beau raised her eyebrow at him.

Colton sighed. “If you’re just going to insult my apartment…”

“Oh, I can insult a lot of other things.” Beau challenged him.

Growling low, I narrowed my eyes at her. “Relax, Beau. Let’s eat in peace.”

Beau huffed but relented. She sat down on the other stool, tossing my vest on the bed, as I passed out the plates. The food was pulled out and Colton had no say on what Beau put on his plate. I chuckled as I made a cup of ginger tea and handed it to him.

“Thank you.”

Nodding, I waited until both Beau and Colton had their food before putting some on my own plate. I didn’t take much because I wanted Colton to have the option for seconds. He stared down at the food for a moment before grabbing a bread stick.

The moment his mouth closed over the bread, Colton froze. Tears started to pour out and my heart sunk. Beau was there though, wrapping her arms around him. He sobbed silently and I wished I could take this away. Still, this would be something that he would need to work through himself.

Beau looked over me, a sad look on her face and I nodded. She was doing good. It was weird having her like someone I brought home. Usually, Beau hated everyone I’d brought home. Despite her telling me to get out there, she was more picky about my chosen mates than I was.

She hadn’t been wrong through. All of them turned out bad or we broke it off due to not finding any chemistry. Colton was the first one she pushed me toward. The first person she gave the thumbs up to and helped pushed me. It was just another reason I wanted to have Colton by my side. I knew he would fit right in with the family.

“I’m sorry…I didn’t…”

“It’s fine. As long as you eat while crying.” Beau smiled as she wiped his face with a napkin. “We need to get some meat on your bones. You are literally all bones…and belly. That little one is going to be big.”

He chuckled but it teetered off into a long sigh. “I have never been so lucky that it was winter. Otherwise I would have had to lock myself in a few weeks ago.”

“Do you have everything you need? Clothes and stuff? Maybe…” She looked around the room. “I mean I could list off a million things, but some personality might be a good beginning.”

Colton shook his head, slowly taking another bite and chewing slowly. He didn’t burst into tears this time and I took a bite of my own food. Beau narrowed her eyes at him.

“I don’t plan on staying here. I can’t. So having more things to move is unnecessary.”

Beau eyed me for a moment before looking back at Colton. “Then why don’t you move in with Mar? He’s got the space. Plus, his place is way too quiet. It’s empty and has nearly as much personality as this place.”

“Hey! I have…artwork…and plants…”

“Yeah. No personality. It’s all just…blah.”

I reached out to grab her but she moved away. Colton smiled as he grabbed a fork and took a small bite of the pasta. We continued to eat and I made sure everyone had something to drink. My dragon was hardly satisfied, but for now, it was enough.

After a few bites, he moved his plate away. I raised my eyebrow. Not thinking that was nearly enough to eat. Colton narrowed his eyes at me and I could see a fight coming on.

“I can’t eat much right now. I’ll just get sick. I’d rather keep this down and be able to eat a little later too.”

Wrinkling my nose, I wasn’t happy about it but it made sense. “Did you want some fruit? I could make some grapefruit for you.”

He thought about it and then nodded. “I would…would it be okay if I showered real quick? I just need…to feel clean.”

“Of course! Go, Colt. We got this. We will finish eating and you shower. Then we can have some more of that gross ginger tea and talk.” Beau shooed him away.

Colton smiled and looked over at me. I nodded and watched as he slipped off the stool. He disappeared into the bathroom and I leaned back against the cabinets. My arms crossed over my chest and I felt the frown fill in.

“Mar, he needs to move in with you. I thought…I don’t know what I was imagining this place to look like, but it wasn’t this. This is an Omegas worst nightmare. I’ve been on enough jobs with Lauren to know that.” Beau looked up at me, visibly upset.

Lauren worked as contractor for shifters. A lot of her work was either building extra spaces or extravagant houses for them. However, the majority of the work she did was for Omegas. Or at least the Alphas who had Omegas. She would make extravagant nests for Omegas to help settle them. For the most part she worked all over the world for dragons but once in a while ground shifters requested her as well.

If anything, I should have Lauren come in and redo my house. As much as I hated to admit it, my house was mostly open space. I didn’t have the most colorful personality. There was also no place to put a nest.

My eyes widened. I needed to make a nursery. The office or the guest bedroom needed to go. It had been since Ellen was born that I needed to convert a room. I’d had much more space back then though. Maybe…it would be worth moving with Colton to the Riviera.

“Hey, Mar?”

I looked up at my sister.

“You’re freaking out.”

Blinking at her, I looked down and sure enough, my scales were rippling underneath my skin. Chuckling, I took a breath and ran my hand through my hair. The shower turned on and I stared at the door for a moment.

“Sorry, I just had a thought.”

“I mean, I could see that. You froze and even I could feel the stress pouring out of you.”

Sighing, I nodded, looking down at my crystals. “The things I need to do…sometimes I forget and it just hits me.”

Beau chuckled. “Well, as much you tell Colt he’s not alone, neither are you. You at least have your family to help. I mean, you have a hatchling on the way. Lauren has been waiting with bated breath for you to call her.”

“Good. Though, I don’t know if we will stay there. Colton had said something about moving. It’s starting to sound better than being this close to his old pack.”

“Mom and Dad might kill you if you moved further away. They still complain about the few years you were in the UK. You try to keep their grandchild from them and they might literally kill you.”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. They can be upset all they want. I am going with Colton. Anywhere he wants to go. He needs to feel safe, Beau. If it’s not here, then we will go somewhere he does.”

She wrinkled her nose but nodded. “I get it. Mom and Dad are going to love him though. We all fight over who is the favorite child but none of us are going to come close to Colton.”

Laughing, I completely agreed with her. I shoveled the food into my mouth quickly. We polished off most of the food except some of the chicken and breadsticks by the time Colton got out of the shower. Though, it was a short shower. He said his hot water didn’t last too long but that was ridiculous.

I grabbed our plates and started to wash them while I multitasked boiling another pot of water. The bathroom door opened and I sucked in a breath. Beau covered her mouth and I saw her fighting back tears. Colton was wearing a t-shirt that I wondered whose it was because it might have been an XXL the way it hung off his body.

The neck of it fell over one shoulder, showing far too much bone than any shifter should have, let alone a pregnant one. His collarbone was just as bad and his arms were thinner than the first time I’d caught him. I didn’t realize just how bad it had gotten but this past week had destroyed so much of the hard work he’d put into gaining weight.

“Colt…sweetheart…” Beau was trying to speak but she couldn’t without letting the tears fall.

He pulled at his shirt, looking down. “I-I know it looks bad…”

Walking around the bar, I opened my arms and Colton fled into my arms. I held him and kissed the top of his wet hair. He’s pulled it back into a tight bun but it still was wet.

“We will get you back on track. Don’t worry. I will say though, Bridgett would be appalled that it came to this.” I lifted his chin. “No more skipping meals.”

Colton nodded. “No more.”

The kettle started to whistle but Beau got up this time and grabbed it. She started to make the tea when Colton climbed on his bed. He sat cross-legged on the bed while I leaned on one of the stools.

“What were you trying to achieve? Leaving like that?” I asked, unable to hold back the question.

He sighed. “Mrs. Truman gave me a box of items. It had my name on it and it was sealed.”

Beau handed out the mugs of different types a tea before sitting on the other stool. “Did she know? I mean, unless her kids sealed it up after.”

Colton nodded. “Thinking about it now, I think she knew. There had to be a lot of prep in what she put in that box. Her kids, if they knew what was in it, wouldn’t have given it to me. So I know it wasn’t them.”

“What was it?”

“A few letters for me, some old items from her mate. She was an Omega.” He pointed to the scarf and then pulled the blanket that was folded at the head of the bed. “She already gave me a few items. This just had a few more.”

Beau smiled. “Good. You need some. A lot of them. More than just a couple.”

Colton chuckled. “She also put in a deed.”

“A deed ?” I blinked at him.

He nodded. “Mrs. Truman had purchased a piece of land for her and her mate. Just in case they needed to run after Mrs. Truman saved her. It was an option outside of accepting the deal with the local bear Alpha. However, her mate accepted it. She birthed three children, which her and Mrs. Truman raised until they were of age. Then the Alpha took them back to the pack.”

“Oh damn.” Beau chuckled. “So, they stayed in the city?”

Again, Colton nodded. “But the land was always an option. Expect her mate died and Mrs. Truman moved here and it just sat. She transferred the deed into my name. I was…I thought…if I could reach it…maybe…she would be…and this was all just some cruel joke…”

His eyes filled with tears but he took a sip, trying to distract himself. “It was stupid. I had nothing on me. It would take weeks walking. I just…it felt like the only thing I could do. The only hope I had. It didn’t make sense but I wanted it to.”

“Grief does that to us. Sometimes, it’s easier to create a different reality than to accept the one we are living in. The one where we get left behind.” Beau smiled at him softly. “We have to accept it though. Because otherwise we can’t move forward.”

“I know. I should have…”

I shook my head. “Don’t, Colt. You’ll run yourself into the ground saying what you should have done. You’re safe. You’re present with us now and you also know that you are not alone. Moving forward, you reach out to us.”

Colton took a deep breath and then let it off as a sigh. “I do. I will.” He stared into his tea for a moment. “Can I ask you two something?”

“What’s up?”

He looked up at the two of us, his brow knit together. “Why do you two smell like Miss Ebony’s pheromones?”

My eyes widened and I felt my face go red. Beau looked at me and burst out laughing. I swallowed getting ready to apologize and get on knees. However, Beau beat me to it.

“Funny story…”