Page 40 of Your Wild Omega (The Feral Actress #2)

Chapter thirty-four

Rickon

A strange mix of past and present mingles over the dinner table. The omega and alpha who are my future sit across the table from the family who saved me during my darkest days. And my best friend, who just got tossed out of the pack on his ass, sits uneasily at the far end.

I shake my head. Never a dull day anymore.

“Well, let’s dig in,” Aunty declares. “Ricky, sweetie, everything is gluten-free except for the bruschetta on the end.”

“Thanks,” I reply. She always takes such good care of me.

“Mind if I say the blessing?” Red asks innocently.

“Blessing?” Aunt Lexi nearly chokes on her mouthful of drink. “Sure, that would be lovely, songbird.”

Red folds her hands together, staring over at the sideboard with eager eyes. “May the food be with you. Amen.”

She pushes her chair back, and I press my fist to my mouth to smother a laugh, glancing over in time to catch Callisto’s mouth twist wryly.

“Amen,” Aunty echoes after a couple of beats, blinking rapidly down at her plate while her brain scrambles to catch up. Red has that effect.

“Which plate do I start with?” Red asks innocently, looking down at the crockery mini tower in front of her.

“Soup, salad, mains,” I say, unstacking the dishes and handing her the largest. “But just put everything on here, if you want.” I grip tight, holding on to the plate so she can’t take it. “Well, not soup.”

She pokes her tongue at me and walks over to the buffet, leaving Zack’s leash dangling.

Honestly, she’s doing so well to take all this in stride. I should’ve warned her how fancy it would be. It’s not like my aunt’s trying to rub anything in her face; it’s just that having a private chef, serving staff, and twelve bathrooms is normal around here.

“You’re so considerate of Rickon’s diet,” Red calls from the side of the room as she picks through the food options. “It’s lovely.”

Aunt Lexi smiles at me. “Well, we love him dearly. When his parents—” She blanches. “I mean, when he came to us, he was such a tiny thing, sweet as a kitten. He never asks for anything, so some dietary care is the least I can do.”

I look away. I should just talk about it.

About them . Red’s going to find out one day, but over family dinner isn’t the time.

If we’re being honest, I don’t really want her to find out, even though she’s no stranger to trauma.

Not that it’s a big deal compared to what she’s been through.

But I don’t want her to think less of me.

I pick up my soup bowl and head to the pot. A hearty pumpkin and coconut aroma rises from the dish, and I breathe deeply.

“Rissa,” I say, swiveling to find the server. “Can I get some cold cream?”

“Certainly, sir.”

I cool down the soup and set the bowl in front of Zack along with garlic bread.

He does well with soup, so long as it’s cool enough.

Callisto’s gaze hooks into me as I circle the table to get my own food.

It’s an itch I can’t scratch, wondering what’s going through his mind. Honestly, it hurts to look at him.

He must have come straight from work, because he sports his characteristic gray suit with a white shirt, gray vest and charcoal tie, with slicked-back hair.

He’s loosened off both his top button and tie knot and he seems a bit wilted as he waits for room at the buffet.

Honestly, he looks like he’s aged overnight.

I resist the urge to glide my hand along his shoulders but then feel guilty for stopping myself. Everything’s changed. But he’s still my friend, right?

“Come on, Calli,” I urge as both the omegas in the room return to the table. Zack’s happily dunking garlic bread in his soup, and Simon and Lector are both halfway down the buffet, so we have plenty of space.

Callisto pushes his chair back. “Sure,” he murmurs, resting his hand briefly on my back. “After you.”

I’m picking out a serving of potato salad when he leans in closer.

“You’re gluten-intolerant?”

A sharp pang runs through my heart. Why is now the moment he chooses to pay attention? “Yeah. Makes my belly ache something fierce. It’s not, like, celiac or anything. It’s just unpleasant.”

His grip on the tongs tightens as he puts a few pieces of lobster on his plate, making his knuckles stand out sharply. “So, then, all the times we had beer together?”

Bugger me. Yeah, I should have seen where this was headed. I flash him a smile. “Don’t worry about it, Calli. I was happy to hang out with you. I can get away with a bit here and there.”

He swears under his breath. “I’m sorry. That was dickish of me.”

I shrug and move on to the cheeseboard. Yeah, it was, but I could always forgive Calli.

His folks took me in when I had nowhere else to go, and he’d earned himself so many Get Out of Jail Free cards by protecting me in high school from the idiots swimming in testosterone and no brain cells.

A slender al-mega interested in eye shadow and high heels was their favorite target, until Callisto taught them otherwise.

My steps falter and I lean against the buffet.

Damn. Is that where I learned to like it rough?

Not sex specifically since I wasn’t active much back then, but being treated roughly meant sweet rescue was coming.

Meant Callisto would check me over for bruises and get mad, and I’d feel like the most special person in the universe. Fuck, am I screwed up in the head?

Zack’s drinking out of his soup bowl by the time I get back. I reach for his plate, but Red rests her hand on mine. “I’ll get him more. You sit and eat.”

With everyone worrying about me today, it’s like I’m a prince.

And yeah, it’s thrilling to experience. That’s the beauty of family; no matter how weird it gets, we can still take care of each other.

I’m a lucky guy. Even losing my parents was a stroke of luck, I could say.

I glance over at Callisto and find his eyes on us like he can’t help himself.

I drop into my seat, Red on my right and Callisto at the end on my left. At least I still have this pseudo-family connection to Callisto, even if we can’t be in the same pack. I haven’t lost him completely.

“Okay, I’m now legitimately dying to hear how you met,” Aunt Lexi declares after we’ve all had a few minutes to eat. “Please put me out of my misery, darlings.”

I glance at Red and smile, and she offers me her hand.

“Well, it was actually Callisto who put us in touch,” Red says. She runs a pink tongue tip over her bottom lip nervously, and I pass her the napkin. She leans in to whisper, “Can I actually get this thing dirty?”

I chuckle and wipe her mouth for her, leaving a trace of lipstick on the fabric. Nothing the staff can’t handle.

“Really?” Aunt Lexi straightens, swiveling to her son. “You never mentioned it, Calli.”

Callisto shrugs, loading food into his mouth like he’s on a mission.

Red plunges on. “He found out I wanted to be an actress and said he was friends with a great acting manager. Turns out he was right.” She beams at me and leans her elbows on the table to rest her chin on her hands.

“I walked into the cafe, our meeting point, and I knew Rickon was my alpha right away.”

“By the scent?” Simon asks, reaching for his omega’s hand.

Red hums. “Even before that, his voice in my head went all hush—” Red gasps and her body spasms, knocking against the table as her gaze darts to me and away again.

In the blink of an eye, it’s all smoothed over, her actress skills clicking into top gear.

“I mean, I just knew. And then his vanilla cream scent hit me.” My omega clears her voice and grins slyly.

“Then I fucked him right there in the booth. At MoonMugs.”

Everyone except Zack chokes.

Heat blazes in my cheeks. “Red!” I hiss under my breath as all eyes turn my way, burning with interest. “You don’t have to tell, like, everything everything.”

Red grins at me. “It was a special day. I’m not ashamed.” She turns back to Lexi. “We tried to be sneaky, but the waitress still got offended. Rickon was amazing in the way he dealt with it. That was the day I learned an omega can get away with anything.”

She plunges on, recounting how I took her home and went into rut, but her words fade into a distant murmur as I realize she went for shock-value on purpose. She doesn’t want anyone to remember her slip up.

Didn’t the psychologist at the Omega Center ask me about it once? I frown, trying to remember what the woman said. Has Red ever mentioned the voices she hears?

“Don’t scowl, sweetheart,” Aunt Lexi says, flapping her hand in my direction and grinning playfully. “It’s a darling story, so nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Red’s face falls as she turns to me, and fear flashes through her lovely blue-gray eyes. “Did I embarrass you?”

I reach out and link our fingers together. “You could never,” I declare. “I was just being shy. She’s basically my mom.”

Aunty rests her hand on her chest. “Bless you, precious. I am, forever.” Her seriousness melts away and she flashes Red a conspiratorial wink. “But I’m also an omega, so I know how these things go.”

“Quick, stop her, Simon,” Lector declares. “Before we’re the ones blushing next.”

His brother grins and leans over the table corner to kiss his omega, and Lector nods at me, silently telling me he’s got my back. It doesn’t help my blush any, though.

Well, Red’s not the only one who knows how to shift a conversation. “The story you really need to hear is how Zack joined us,” I announce.

“Oh, yes!” Aunt Lexi claps her hands. “He really is the silent type, isn’t he?” She glances at Zack, who’s using his hands to eat cuts of roast meat and slivers of cheese.

“Are Rickon and Zack the only alphas you scent matched with?” Simon asks innocently, spearing his fork into a mound of potato salad. “I imagine the Omega Center has a huge number of samples.”