Page 81 of The Forgotten

“I’m not cleaning blood today out of anything,” Aisling sighs. “I swear, it’s like you’re asking for a bullet wound, Aiden.”

“Maybe I’m bored,” he teases her, kissing her cheek. “I’m going to my appointments. Don’t pick on the old man too much.”

Picking up a cute figurine on a table, I ask myself if I can throw it well enough and not hit Aisling. Hayes winces, knowing he’s running out of luck.

“Bye,” he mutters, ducking back into the house as I return the figurine to the table.

“How are you on supplies?” I ask as if Hayes had never come out here.

“I haven’t had any more issues with Omega’s Haven or the heat spa,” Aisling says happily.

We are both ignoring Hayes. Good to know. They haven’t had the smoothest of paths in their relationship, but it’s gotten much better. He treats her like the queen that she is.

“Good. And the transitional living apartments?” I ask. I haven’t had a chance to catch up with her in a hot minute, so I want to make sure she’s not having issues.

Aisling wants to do everything alone, and that’s not necessary. She has a support system, she should use it.

“Finally complete,” she says happily. “We have omegas and their families already moving in. I’m so happy things are starting to fall into place.”

“So your life is perfect except for that one thing, huh?” I ask begrudgingly. Her angelic smile isn’t fooling me at all. “Way to lay that on thick, kiddo.”

“Yup. I mean, I’m trying to figure out what I want to do for my birthday, but outside of that? Life is pretty perfect,” she shrugs.

“God, I cannot believe I’m about to fucking do this,” I grumble. “I will throw my hat into the ring if you present at the senior mafia families meeting to discuss the need that the heat spa is currently having.”

“Oh that’s dirty,” she hisses, leaning forward with a laugh. A cool breeze blows through the covered patio, and Aisling pulls a blanket down over her legs.

“Are you saying my daughter folds?” I gasp, pretending to be aghast.

Aisling isn’t a quitter.

“Most of those men are married and packed up, Dad,” she reminds me.

“I’m aware. So I’ll amend our wager to include that the meeting includes all eligible bachelors over the age of thirty,” I decide. “I bet that’ll draw out a few of the packs that exist on the outskirts of our community.”

“Like Pack Royal?” Aisling asks. “I think they just threw in the towel on dating. Nothing has gone right for them. I feel bad.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. Your fate is tied elsewhere,” I murmur. “It does seem that they’ve had shit luck when it comes to finding an omega. I’ll make sure they get a special invite to the meeting. Are you game?”

“I’m always game,” she says, pushing her blonde hair off her shoulders and pulling it up into a twist to get it off her neck. Her hair has been growing, and she is glowing with health.

There’s no hurry for things in life when you’re happy and with the people you love. On the flip side, it means you might make some very questionable decisions.

“Then if you can get forty percent of the alphas who attend the meeting to agree to, ah,staffthe heat clinic on a rolling rotation, I promise to throw my hat in the ring,” I decide.

Her surprised face tells me that she didn’t expect me to say that.

“Seriously?” she asks, eyes wide. “Forty percent, huh?”

“Yep,” I say. “I’ll schedule the meeting for a week from today so you can get your shit together.”

“Fuck,” she breathes. “I can do this. I accept!”

I don’t know whether I’m more worried she’ll fail or succeed. Oh well, what’s done is done. Relaxing into the couch, I decide to finish my whiskey before I start making calls.

Procrastination at its finest.

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