Page 17 of Tending Our Omega (Saved by the Alpha Pack #1)

Romi

After I mated James, we decided to try to figure out what next.

Heath called the owner of the Airbnb and got an extension, but it wasn’t for long—unfortunately, they already had bookings that they couldn’t go back on.

He considered buying it, or attempting to buy it.

We didn’t know if the owners were willing, but the place wasn’t what we needed—not if we were all going to live together.

And Gram-Gram’s place, well, I enjoyed living there, but it was far too close to its neighbors for a wolf pack.

We needed to find someplace big enough for all of us that had land, and it was tricky.

I’d been pretty forceful about wanting to stay close enough to Maddox’s doctor.

And sure, there were ENTs everywhere, but we had a connection with this one, and, if at all possible, I wanted to maintain that relationship.

The guys were understanding, and we immediately set out looking for property.

Thankfully, they had more money than I did, because on my salary—even with the savings I’d managed—we wouldn’t have been able to buy much.

The Realtor told Gram-Gram her house was “desirable.” Whatever that meant.

And we planned to put it on the market at some point, but not until we knew what was going on.

Heath kept assuring me that I didn’t need to worry about any of this, but it was hard not to—not when I’d spent so much time having to worry about everything.

In the meantime, while we were looking for a place, the guys were trying to figure out where they fit in in this society.

James was able to get a job at our local school.

One of the benefits of teaching during a time when there was a shortage was that they had an unexpected opening for the new school year when a teacher who was on maternity leave said, “I’m not coming back. Surprise.”

He was looking forward to the position and had already been planning how he wanted to set up his classroom. I’d never really loved school, but his excitement as he was choosing the themes for different units and how he would set up his reading centers had me excited too.

Maddox had a few years before he entered elementary school, but when he did, I really hoped that he would be in James’ class—and given how small the school was, the odds were in his favor.

But preschool was rapidly approaching. It was hard to believe that little baby boy I held was going to be heading off to any kind of school.

At least, it was only a few hours a day, because that would give me time to adjust.

I wasn’t worried about Maddox. He was great about blending in and figuring out new situations.

Me, not so much. If I had, maybe it wouldn’t have been such a rough start for my mates and me.

Looking back, I had made things so much more difficult than necessary.

If I had just listened to my heart and my wolf, it would have been better.

But there was no changing the past—only looking forward.

And right now, I was really looking forward to the future because Seth and Heath had to go back to their old place and figure shit out with their jobs and their land, which meant they were gone.

I’d figured they’d cross my mind through the day and I’d be happy to hear their voices when we video-called, but it went so much deeper than that.

They were constantly in my thoughts. What were they doing?

Were they okay? Was someone feeding them properly, or were they just getting takeaway junk because they were too busy?

It was a new experience for me to have someone besides Maddox and Gram-Gram to think of in that way.

I was embracing it fully, because it meant I really was part of their pack and that I had made the right decision.

Not that I was officially pack yet—we hadn’t had any ceremonies.

They said they didn’t want to rush me, and I didn’t want to be rushed.

My wolf, however, had a whole different notion.

She was ready to become official pack. And just below the surface, I was too—but also scared.

Not of the commitment. Not of them. Not of what we would become.

But of my old pack.

I hadn’t technically left them yet. Physically, absolutely—but by pack law, shifter law, they did have a right to me that would end as soon as I was officially part of my new pack.

If—and here was the big caveat—if my old pack didn’t fight them to get me back.

I didn’t think they’d care. Why would they?

Not once had they followed me, at least not to my knowledge, and I wasn’t exactly hiding.

I worked in a bar with tons of shifters in and out of it all of the time.

I needed to talk to the guys about that, and I would when everybody came back, but until then, I was just going to worry about our day-to-day life and finding new land and possibly a house.

Now that they were out of the Airbnb, James had set up an old pop-up trailer he picked up off a social-media marketplace alongside the house.

It was old—older than me—and had seen better days, but we’d cleaned it up and helped make it as comfortable as possible.

He used the bathroom and ate with us, but it felt important that until we were all together, we stayed apart.

I was nervous telling them that, but they all seemed to get it.

“Gram-Gram, I just got a call from the Realtor that they think there’s a good plot of land for us. Mind watching Maddox while I snag James?”

She looked up at me like I had five heads. “Why would I mind?”

“I was being polite.”

“Well go be polite somewhere else. I have to finish this episode of my show and then wake Maddox from his nap. I told him we would make cookies this afternoon.”

“Are you saying I’m coming home to have him all sugared up?”

“Absolutely you are coming home to him being all sugared up—and even frosting them.”

I could only imagine the amount of frosting that was going to be in that boy’s hair, but it washed out and would create a memory he could savor, unlike the one that still haunted his dreams.

I ran out to the pop-up. James wasn’t there. I called to him—nothing. Finally, I shook off my clothes and called my wolf forward and scented the air. Sure enough, he was in his wolf form. I followed his scent to where he was sleeping in the sun near the river.

My plan had been to wake him up and have him come with me to look at the property, but instead, I padded over to him and curled up beside him, resting my head on his back and falling asleep.

The property could wait. This was exactly where I needed to be.