Page 18 of Untamed Omega (One Wild Alpha #2)

Sam

Time passed so differently at the sanctuary than it had in the labs.

There, I hadn’t known what time of day it was or day or the week or even the month.

There was no difference between day and night in my world.

Those rare glimpses at someone’s watch were not enough to help me to establish an internal clock.

Even things like meals were not regular enough to count on.

And showers? As best I could guess, they were every three or four days.

At the time, I called it neglect, but now I wondered if it hadn’t been part of the experimentation to disorient me. It was even crueler than the drugs—or at least so I believed. I might never know what they had put into my body. All I could do was watch for problems and attempt to move forward.

As a result of my confinement, since I arrived at the sanctuary, I’d been a bit obsessive about watching the clock.

Seven o’clock, breakfast. Noon, lunch. Six o’clock suppertime.

Eleven p.m. bed. Markus, bless him, did not argue when I announced that laundry would be Thursday afternoon and sheets would be changed every Wednesday.

He seemed to understand how important it was to me to be able to anticipate when things would happen.

At first, I was so rigid about my schedule and upset if anything made it change, but as my pregnancy progressed and my body changed, so did I.

“Omega,” Markus said, finding me sitting on the sofa reading a book. “It’s noon.” He’d been in a meeting at the alpha house and just returned.

“Is it?” I’d been nibbling honey-roasted nuts while reading all morning and wasn’t the least bit hungry. “Okay.”

“Sam, it’s lunchtime.” He leaned down and looked at me. “Noon.”

“Uh-huh. Are you hungry?”

“No. I left the meeting so I could be here for lunch with you.”

I set my book down and struggled to my feet. “How many times have you left meetings or changed appointments for my schedule?”

“Oh, it doesn’t matter.” But it mattered so much.

I’d fallen into a set of rules to help me regain control of my life.

But in the process, I had taken control of my mate’s life.

And if he was leaving meetings and scheduling appointments around my issues, then it affected others as well.

When I came to sanctuary, I had never intended to do anything like that.

“It does. And it’s over.” I grabbed the bag of nuts and handed them to Markus. “Is the meeting still going on?”

“Yes. There is another survivor on the way, and we were discussing the intel we have.”

He’d let my needs take precedence over this incredibly important matter. Out of love for me, but how selfish had I been? “I want to help. Can we go back to the meeting now? Can I come?”

“You should be resting.”

“Alpha, Kellan helped me when I arrived. He was so sleep-deprived from being a dad, but he didn’t let that stop him from making me feel at home. We know what it’s like where they are coming from. They are so damaged, and they need to have someone who understands.”

I’d been trying to find a place in this sleuth that was just mine, a skill that could be useful, but so far had been unsuccessful.

“Are you sure? It’s not too much for you? Too upsetting?”

“No. I think it’s time to get out of my head. We have a baby coming, if you haven’t noticed, and they’re going to have to come first. You’ve been so kind to me, putting up with my insistence on all those times for eating and stuff, but it’s time I put my attention to helping others.”

He hugged me tight then took my hand. “So we won’t be having lunch at noon anymore?”

“I wouldn’t go that far. We have to eat sometime. But I believe the baby will have their own ideas about when we eat and sleep and things. It’s time to ease up. Now, can I come to the meeting?”

“Yes.” He kissed me hard. “Since Locke isn’t the alpha, how can he stop you?”

It probably didn’t hurt that I was pregnant, either. I’d noticed that nobody wanted to upset the pregnant omegas. So when I waddled into the meeting room and took a seat, there were some surprised looks, but nobody told me to get out.

Instead, they continued with their discussion, and when they paused long enough, I asked nicely to be included and shared what I already had with my alpha.

And when we finished up, I had an official job within the organization.

My duties included ensuring that new arrivals had a place to stay after Marcus released them from the clinic and, if they wanted to return to their old groups, I would facilitate that process.

It felt good to be more than just a rapidly growing belly. Sure, there was a baby in there, but until they made an appearance, there was only so much I could do with my time. Helping others was better than marking off the hours of the day.