Page 129 of The Omega Exchange: Omnibus (The Exchange)
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Carver
Oliver spends most of the afternoon in his room. Around three o’clock Mel gets tired of worrying about him and stomps up to his bedroom. Dinner time comes and neither of them have emerged, so I go searching.
Melody is passed out cold on Oliver’s chest, and he’s typing on his tablet screen with the keyboard sitting next to him. I grin because I’ve seen him do that before when she’s sleeping.
It’s a slow process waking Mel, but she does come down for dinner. Miller grilled steaks and chicken breasts and Mel lights up when she sees the foil-wrapped baked potatoes.
She dives into her steak first and then shoves herself out of her chair with no notice. The four of us glance between each other, but she doesn’t aim for the closest bathroom.
She makes it back and sets down a couple of bottles. I’m not the only one frowning when she picks up the chocolate syrup.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I say, gently grabbing her wrist as she goes to pour. “I think maybe you’ve got the wrong bottle.”
I nod to the chocolate fudge sauce in her small hand.
“They say pregnancy brain really kicks in during the second trimester,” Oliver says, wiping his mouth with his napkin.
Mel looks between the bottle and her potato and then wiggles out of my hold. “Listen, it might not make a lick of sense, but this is what sounds good, so I’m going for it.”
“Far be it from me to stand in the way of a pregnant woman and her craving.” I chuckle.
“You can try to shame me all day,” Mel mumbles around a bite of potato. “It’s not going to work. This is delicious.”
Miller gives Nik and me the same look he does regularly to indicate we should shut the fuck up and be supportive.
“On that note,” Nik says, pushing himself out of his chair. “Help me clear the rest of the dishes?”
Oliver gives my shoe a not-so-subtle kick with his, and I nod my agreement.
It’s the middle of April, but it’s still kind of cool here in Virginia, especially now that the sun has gone down.
The breeze that rolls over the water probably doesn’t help, but I’m not cold at all.
In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m sweating fucking bullets. I saw live combat and wasn’t half as stressed as I am right now. My hands are shaking and my armpits reek, which might not be a bad thing because Mel always likes us best when we’re extra ripe after a workout.
Nik gives me a killer peptalk and the ring box.
I’m fucking doing this. As long as I don’t puke all over the back deck, I’m totally asking the woman I love to marry me. Then I get to bond with one of these fuckers to make it official.
Mel comes out to the deck after dinner. She’s got on a pair of stretchy leggings and one of Miller’s long-sleeve T-shirts that dwarfs her small frame.
Oliver carries one of the chunky weave blankets, and once Mel gets settled on the couch, he tucks it around her.
“You’re all being exceptionally strange,” Mel mutters, glancing between us.
Miller shrugs a giant shoulder while Nik chuckles. I bet we do look bizarre as hell. I’m not helping matters. I clear my throat and swipe my hands on my pants a couple of times.
I had a speech prepared. I’m not extremely eloquent or anything, but I thought it didn’t suck. My brain blanks completely, and everything I was going to say disappears.
“You’re looking a little like you might pass out. Do you want to sit next to me?” Mel asks, pulling her knees up to free the seat next to her.
I stagger forward, tossing myself down next to her. I turn to face her and she leans forward.
I grab her hand, but I still can’t remember any of the shit that I was supposed to say.
“Dylan?” Mel asks, brushing the fingers of her free hand over my cheek.
“I’ve lived a lot of years. I’ve been around the world; seen and done things, some I’m proud of and others I regret, but the one thing I’m sure I’ll never regret is you.
For the rest of my life if I have a choice, I’m going to choose you.
Always, every time. Wherever you are in the world, that’s where I plan to be too. Mel, will you marry me?”
“Marry us?” Nik corrects.
“Yes,” she says, scrambling over into my lap. Her hands land on my face as the blanket bunches between us. “I love you.”
“I love you too, but you’re sitting on the ring.” I laugh, shaking my head. “Shit, that was a fail.”
“I don’t care about that anyway.” She plants a naughty kiss on my lips and spins to face the guys. “Pack marriage?”
“That’s the plan,” Miller says, aiming his phone at us. “Have you made a decision on which one of us you’d like to be your link?”
Initially it seemed like an easy choice. Miller and I have the most in common, and from what I’ve heard, he’s the best at blocking his emotions from spilling over into the bond.
But then I considered Nik because I’ve got serious doubts he ever has much going on inside his head, so I figured it would be easy to tune his ass out.
It took a while, but I eventually circled around to Oliver. We all know how often he gets stuck in his own head, especially in moments like earlier today when he got overstimulated with the paparazzi.
I’ve read about the bond for betas a lot since we were in Texas.
Oliver and I are complete opposites, but that means we have different strengths and weaknesses. Having him as my link means he’ll be the person I’ll be able to feel the strongest outside of Mel, well hopefully, there was some contention on that in my reading.
“Oliver,” I say, catching his attention. “If you’re still willing?”
“Me?” he asks, pointing to his chest. “I mean, yeah.” He laughs. “I didn’t see that one coming.”
“I’ve spent my entire life knowing I’d never experience what a bond is like, and I was okay with that,” I tell Mel. “I don’t want it because I think I might fuck up without it. I want that connection with you. Feeling you on that level and being able to share thoughts . . . That’s why I want this.”
“I want all of that too,” she whispers, burying her face in my throat.
“Where do you want it?” Oliver asks, scooting his way next to us on the small couch.
“Do you have any preferences?” I ask Mel. I know she wanted me to get her teeth print tattooed somewhere, and I’m not against the idea.
“Wherever,” she says into my skin.
“You choose then,” I tell Oliver, shrugging. “Just not over one of my tattoos.”
“Gotcha.” He frowns. “So on your ass?” His deadpan delivery kills me.
Melody snorts.
“Just kidding,” Oliver says, getting close to my neck. “Maybe you can claim they’re Mel’s teeth.” He yanks the material down over my shoulder and bites into my trap with no heads up.
“Fuck,” Nik says.
“Damn, man. No warning?” I grumble.
“Are you okay?” Mel asks, sitting up to look at me.
I get pulses of Oliver’s confusion first, like he’s unsure if it worked. He pats my back and licks over the wound. An alpha’s saliva has healing properties to close the bite and make sure it doesn’t get infected.
Oliver pulls back and grins, shoving his glasses up. “It worked.”
“It did,” Mel sobs. She wraps an arm around Oliver and pulls us both in on a hug.
I’m still royally fucking unsure what I’m feeling. Or hell, even which way is up at this point.
My chest radiates with a warm full feeling that isn’t my own.
Mel and Oliver kiss, and I wrap an arm around both of them to keep myself upright.
“It’s wild,” Nik says, appearing in front of me.
“It sure is,” Miller agrees. “You’ll get used to it.”
They’re clearly picking up on the fact that I’m about to fall out.
“So now that it’s getting a little warmer,” Nik says, laughing behind his fist. “We’d like to negotiate acting out the hot tub spit roast scene.”
“Ohmigod, stop,” Mel says, laughing. “I have to pee.”
She scrambles out of my lap, leaving her blanket and Oliver leaning against my chest.
Miller chuckles, shaking his head at the night sky. “She’s distractingly cute and a hot fucking mess most of the time.”
“That she is,” I agree as Mel barely makes it inside the door without hiking Miller’s shirt up around her boobs like she’s truly preparing to pee the second the toilet comes into sight.
“I’ve still got the ring in my pocket,” I say to no one in particular.
“Doesn’t matter,” Oliver says, grinning up at me. “She agreed!”
“Thank God,” I mutter.