Page 233 of Omega's Heart

Even Veronica.

“You getting full yet?” I whispered. His eyes moved in my direction, then he went back to sucking.

Veronica had gone home for now, but she was going to move here. The day after Shep had been born, she’d sat down with Quin and formally requested to transfer. We’d had a lot of meetings in my bedroom while I recovered from the birth, but in the end we’d agreed to give her a chance. I thought Cas had put it well—sudden exposure to our family in concentrated form would be enough to jog any hidebound alpha out of their lifelong path. It wouldn’t likely be a smooth path to peace and happiness, or a short one, but I thought we’d eventually get there.

If we didn’t, Holland and I had agreed to flip a coin to see who got to throw her out the window.

Shep flailed his free arm and lifted his head to stare at me and make threatening baby noises. “All done on that side?” I cooed at him and switched him over. The smell of eggs and bacon drifted in the door and my stomach gave a small grumble.

I reached for my phone on the bedside table to snap another selfie of me and Shep, now that he had a name. I thought I’d send it to Salem, to let him know we’d finally chosen a name. My mom had been taking pictures non-stop for the past three days, so it was ridiculous that I was taking them too, but there we were. I wanted my own images of my little boy.

“You two are beautiful together,” Kaden said softly. He was leaning against the open door, watching us with an expression that somehow managed to be both fiercely protective and gentle as dandelion fluff.

“Come sit with me,” I begged. “I want a picture of the three of us.”

“All right. But breakfast is ready.” He strolled across the room to curl up against my side. “This good?” Hunter jumped up on the bed and stretched himself over Kaden’s lap.

“Uh huh.” I switched the phone to my other hand and held it out at arm’s length. “Smile, Da.”

He laughed softly and pressed his cheek to mine, his arm an echo of my own where it cradled our pup. I took the picture and showed it to him.

“That’s a nice one. We should get that framed.” He kissed my temple. “Is he almost done?”

I glanced down at our pup. “Soon.”

Kaden hugged me quickly, then slid off the bed. “I’ll bring your food in here. You might as well have breakfast in bed too if that’s what he’s having.”

“Bring yours too,” I called after him.

While he was gone, I looked at the picture again, the four of us together. So much happiness. Such a different future from the one I’d been certain I’d get. I thought back to the omega I was and could suddenly see how far I’d come. Now, here I was, with a mate and a family, a house and a pack. A job, an identity, that I could never have predicted.

Truly, Lysoonka had been watching out for me all this time and as my mate carried our meals back into the bedroom, I silently thanked her again.