by Celia Kyle
Gavin hadn’t noticed how bunched up his shoulders had been until they relaxed on Rachel’s exhale. Even Mason stood more casually, and the glassy fear in Eric’s eyes vanished as he finally stepped out into the open.
With everyone finally at ease, Mason smiled even more broadly. “The welcome and loyalty ceremony will happen after everyone has had a chance to eat and visit a little. Eric, you can go join the other pups, if you’d like.”
His big eyes grew wider as Mason pointed to the small playground off to the side of the pack house, but before he could bolt toward it, Rachel stopped him.
“Eric can’t shift so—”
“The playground is good for kids on two legs and four,” Mason cut off her objection.
“Is there a swing set?” Eric was a little shy, but no longer frightened.
“It wouldn’t be a playground without a swing set.”
Eric turned pleading, puppy dog eyes on Rachel. “Can I go, Rachel? Huh? Can I? Please!”
He drew the last word out until he lost breath, but Rachel still looked torn. Gavin entwined his fingers with hers and gave her a soft smile.
“He’ll be fine. I promise.”
Sighing heavily, she said, “Okay fine, but you have to promise to stay where I can see—”
The rambunctious pup dashed off before she could finish, leaving the rest of them to do whatever grown-ups do. Tipping his head at his brothers, Gavin pulled Rachel toward an empty picnic table. With every step, more tension eased from Rachel’s shoulders, but her eyes never wavered from Eric, who’d already found his friend Joey.
Their table was set back from the others, giving them a little more privacy while still allowing them to keep an eye on Eric. Gavin pulled her in close to him and wrapped an arm around her waist to make sure she didn’t go anywhere.
He could tell by her scent that she was as relaxed and happy as he’d ever seen her. When she took a deep breath and sighed happily, leaning her head on his shoulder, he noticed everyone in the area seemed to relax a little more. Parents nuzzled each other, kids shared toys they’d been fighting over only moments before, even the birds chirped a little more loudly.
Intellectually, he’d always known omegas had a powerful effect on the wolves of their pack, but he’d never really seen it so clearly before. As much as bringing Rachel and Eric into the pack was good for them as a family, it would be even better for the pack. As enforcer, Gavin was responsible for their physical safety. As an omega, Rachel would be responsible for their emotional well-being.
“So, how’s the cabin?” he asked. “Do you need anything?”
“Nope, we’re fine.”
“Well, I’m happy to hear that because I’m going insane,” he said with a teasing smile. “I know you’re not ready to move into my house yet, but I swear I’m losing my mind without you. I miss you so damn much. And your scent. Everything.”
He pressed his lips to her temple and took the opportunity to breathe in the scent he dreamed about every night—when he could sleep. Her nearness soothed his beast, but he knew the moment she was out of reach, the animal would cry and whine and howl for her to return. In the meantime, he rested his cheek against her head and simply enjoyed her presence.
When she snuggled into him, his pants grew tighter than was seemly at a family gathering. To keep his mind off the things his mind wanted to think about the most, he changed the subject. Sort of.
“When you are ready, I think you’ll like what I’ve done with the place. Mason and Kade’s mates, Lucy and Ally, gave me a list of items they thought would make the place homier. Candles and framed prints and… throws, I think they’re called. Tiny little blankets barely big enough to cover a pup, much less a grown man?”
Rachel snickered and nodded. “Sounds about right.”
“I bought new furniture for Eric’s room, which I think he’ll flip over, and I cleared out my den for you to use whenever someone comes over and needs help. Kade and a couple of my guys helped me add an exterior door, so they don’t have to traipse through the house. Seemed like a good idea, not only for their privacy, but also to keep that part of our lives separate, you know?”
Rachel craned up look up at him, her eyes wide. “Why would you go to so much trouble for the two of us?”
Her question stunned him into silence for a moment as he desperately tried to find the words to express his feelings. All he could come up with was the truth as he knew it.
“Rachel, we’re mates. We’re destined to be together, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make you and Eric happy. Maybe we don’t love each other just yet, but you already hold half of my heart. I’m just waiting for you to be ready to take the rest.”
Her gaze softened, and he thought she might be ready, but instead, she changed the subject.
“How did you know what to buy Eric?”
Gavin shrugged. “I was a pup once, you know.”
“And the outside door to my office? That seems very forward thinking for an enforcer.”
She poked his ribs and smiled up at him.
“I knew you were smart,” he teased. “I confess, I’m not too proud to ask another omega how to make my omega mate smile.”
A rumbling growl vibrated between them and Gavin was shocked and amused by the sudden whiff of jealousy in the air. He raised his eyebrows at her.
“Really? You’re jealous of Mathilda? You are aware she could be your grandmother’s grandmother, right?”
“I’m not jealous,” Rachel sniffed and looked away. “I will say, though, if she so much as flicks her tail in your direction…”
Gavin had to clamp his jaw tight to not laugh. Instead, he caught her chin with his fingers and tilted her head back toward him. Leaning down, he cupped her face and brushed his lips to hers, the electric spark of her touch fanning a full-blown blaze inside him. He wanted more, but then she pulled back, her eyes glazed and hazy. Behind them, the dinner bell began to ring.
“Saved by the bell,” he said, his voice gravelly with need.
Rachel snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him to her again. So, what did it matter if they ate after everyone else anyway? Just as his lips met hers, Eric’s familiar voice broke through the haze of their mutual lust.
“I’m hungry!”
Chapter Ten
“One more bite,” Rachel said, pointing to Eric’s half-finished cheeseburger.
He’d been too distracted by all the other kids playing and climbing on the blue and red jungle gym to pay attention to his food, and after he’d interrupted her kiss with Gavin, the kid was going to eat, dammit.
He sullenly picked up the burger, nibbled off a mouse-sized bite and then chewed it in an exaggerated manner before swallowing hard and opening his mouth for her to see it was gone. Of course, it was gone. A gnat could have eaten that tiny bite faster.
“Can I go now?” he whined, gazing longingly over his shoulder at his new friends.
“Okay, but—”
Before she could finish, he was off like a shot, waving his hands frantically and calling out for one of the other boys to make room for him on the slide.
“You really laid down the law there,” Gavin said as he slid Eric’s plate over so he could finish off the neglected burger.
Rachel sighed. “I do what I can.”
“And you do a damn fine job of it. Now, are you all done?”
She glanced down at her own half-finished burger. Eric wasn’t the only one who’d been distracted.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“You should follow your own advice, you know. One more bite.”
Her stomach clenched at the thought of putting any more food in it, but he was right. It wasn’t that the food wasn’t delicious—she couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed a good barbecue—but her loyalty ceremony would start any minute and she’d lost her appetite.
“Good girl,” he said as she chewed and pushed the plate away. “I’ll go toss this in the trash. Don’t go anywher
e without me.”
“Where would I go?”
As he walked away from her, Rachel couldn’t help studying the way his black t-shirt hugged every bulging muscle in his back and how perfect his ass looked in his low-slung jeans. A rumble of desire started deep in her belly and sent delicious vibrations to all the best parts of her body.
As he passed the next table, a she-wolf practically leapt from her seat and into his path, giving him a suggestive smile as she twirled her stupid auburn curls. Gavin side-stepped her, only to nearly collide with another woman, this one wearing a low-cut red top that bared her ample cleavage as well as her annoyingly firm tummy. She was a former Fields wolf, and Rachel tried to ignore the sudden stab of jealousy and betrayal as the woman reached out to touch Gavin’s bicep.
The rumble of desire that had been reverberating through her deepened into a growl. As if he heard it across the distance, Gavin spun around to give her a knowing smile. He ignored her old pack mate and dumped the trash to make a beeline back to their table.
Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing she was jealous, she turned her attention on Eric. Within a matter of seconds though, the rich, spicy scent of her mate filled her nostrils, and his presence comforted her. He sat down behind her, straddling the bench and winding his arms around her waist to pull her tightly against him. She didn’t fight him, but she didn’t say anything either. They sat in silence, watching Eric, and then he leaned in and nuzzled her ear.
“You don’t have to be jealous, you know,” he whispered so no one else could hear. “I’m all yours.”
Twisting in his arms, she opened her mouth to deny his absurd accusation, but he took advantage of her vulnerable position and swooped in for a kiss. The soft, yet intense kiss knocked the breath from her lungs and made her head swim. The warmth of him, the smell of him, the tingle of his skin against hers lit her senses on fire. Allowing her lips to part more, she invited him deeper, but he pulled away and cleared his throat.
“I’ll remind you, it’s no good to deny how you’re feeling when you’re an omega. Every single person here felt your desire and your jealousy.”
Heat flooded her cheeks and she dropped her forehead to his broad chest, wishing she could disappear. Weaving his fingers through her hair, he stroked her pale locks for a long moment as she tried to get her emotions under control.
“How the hell am I supposed to be one of the pack’s omegas when everyone around me can feel every single emotion I experience?” She pulled back and looked deep into his eyes, hoping to find the answer. “It wasn’t like this in Burrman. No one there had a secret viewing window into my soul.”
“To be fair, you didn’t spend a whole lot of time with the other wolves in your old pack after your uncle was killed. You had Eric.”
“Yes, but—” she started but Gavin shook his head, silencing her.
“Even if you had, I don’t think it would have made a difference. Powers or not, the wolves in your pack already felt the way you did when you finally came into your powers. Fearful, miserable, and hopeless.”
“That’s exactly what it felt like,” she choked out, tears pricking the backs of her eyes.
“Just try to remember that the Blackwood pack is different. We’re happy, secure and strong, due in no small part to the faith we have in our Ruling Circle.”
Rachel scanned the crowd, everyone chatting with one another, cracking jokes and cracking beers. But as far as she could tell, no one was drunk—just mellow and happy.
“That’s probably why your negative emotions affect us all. Life isn’t always perfect here, but generally speaking, no one lives in abject fear twenty-four-seven. They’re not used to what you’ve lived with every day for the last six years.”
She snorted a humorless laugh. “Lucky them.”
His fingers entwined with hers. If it hadn’t been for Gavin’s steady presence, she wasn’t sure she could have moved to Ashtown. With his help, maybe she could overcome her past. Not forget it, just figure out a way to live a happy life in spite of it.
“I just don’t know how I’ll ever fit in here if I can’t get a handle on my emotions. They change so fast I can barely keep track.”
“That’s where I come in, gorgeous. It’s my job to make sure you’re happy and secure.”
“But—”
“Part of that is helping you settle into pack life, as well as the town itself. You have to consider all your roles. You’re not just an omega, or my mate, or Eric’s adoptive mother. You’re yourself too, and you need to take care of that sixteen-year-old girl hiding inside you.”
Too bad she didn’t have the slightest idea how to do that. But obviously Gavin did.
“If you’re up for it, you could get a job. Agnes and Arthur Dickey—” he pointed to an older couple chatting with Mason near the grill “—own and operate Dickey’s Diner, a greasy spoon in the center of town. It’s not as greasy as The Hill Shack, but close. You’d feel right at home.”
“Thanks a lot,” she said, jabbing him in the ribs playfully. That led to a short tickle-fest, which could have easily led to something else entirely if they hadn’t been surrounded by people.
“Seriously,” he said when they finally settled back into each other’s arms, “you should go talk to them. They haven’t promised you the job, but they did agree to meet with you before they put a sign in the window looking for a new waitress.”
Rachel’s heart gave a little squeeze. Waitressing wasn’t a lifelong dream, but it was steady work that would keep her and Eric fed. And the familiarity of the job might help her not feel like such an outsider. Maybe even make a few friends.
“Don’t expect any favoritism just because you’re my mate or a new member of the pack. You’ll be treated like anyone else, which means your hard work will be valued above everything else.”
She gave him a cautious smile. “I think I can handle that.”
“I know you can.” He dropped a kiss on her cheek and then nodded to the elderly couple again. “Now go and talk to them. Unless, of course, you don’t want to be a waitress anymore.”
“It’s not that,” Rachel said, glancing over to where Eric sat at the end of the slide, waiting to be bumped off by the next kid. “But I should probably keep an eye on Eric…”
Gavin remained silent as she tried to work it out inside her own head. Her fears for Eric were silly and unfounded. She knew that, but so much of her life had been spent protecting him she found it impossible to simply turn it off.
Gavin nudged her gently. “I’ll look after Eric while you talk with them.”
She knew she should, but even the sight of a little girl booting a laughing Eric off the slide—the goal of the game they were playing—set her wolf on edge. Despite the fact everyone in the Blackwood pack had welcomed them with open arms, the thought of letting any of them get closer released a pack of rabid butterflies in her stomach.
“Rachel,” he said softly, hooking a finger under her chin and tipping her worried face up, “I know how devastated you’d be if anything were to happen to Eric. It’d tear you apart. You need to know I will never let that happen.”
Her gaze bounced between Eric and Gavin. Her boys. In that moment, she chose to trust Gavin. She’d already trusted him with her life, so the leap to trusting him to care for Eric wasn’t as difficult as she’d thought it would be.
Reaching up to brush a soft kiss against his lips, she smiled. “Thank you.”
Then came the real test. As she walked away from him to introduce herself to the Dickeys, she forced herself not to look back. From that point on, she vowed to only look forward.
Ashtown was her chance at a new start, a new life.
The pain of the past, and all the hang-ups she’d collected along the way, were behind her now. She was moving forward toward happiness.
And also having happiness bowl her over. Literally.
Rachel managed to make it across the open area, skirting crowded picnic tables and gossiping group
s of wolves. The Dickeys remained in sight, her destination closer with every step she took. Her heartbeat picked up its pace and her hands turned clammy and damp from nervousness. She rubbed them on her shorts, struggling against the anxiety coursing through her veins until the wolves near her grew quiet and uneasy as well.
She was totally winning this “being an omega” thing, right?
She seriously needed to get a handle on this. It’d never been a problem before but being around a healthy pack… Her swinging emotions only spelled trouble.
That realization was followed by happiness. A woman she’d never thought to see again. A woman she’d thought dead and gone. A woman she thought of at night when the memories got too touch and she needed a little bit of hope in her heart. Rachel always thought of her during those times when she needed strength and a little bit of that hope to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Two women stepped into her path, one older with pure white hair and more than a few wrinkles to mark her age. Her wide smile proved that time hadn’t done a thing to the she-wolf’s beauty. As for the other…
Flowing brown hair and familiar sparkling chocolate brown eyes. The last time she’d seen them they’d been bloodshot and tear-filled but now they shone with joy. Her body was healthy now, not the sickly thin that came with being starved. And her smile… Rachel hadn’t ever seen the woman smile before. Not even when Rachel released her from Brian’s captivity.
“Ally?” Rachel froze in place, searching this woman’s gaze, unable to believe her own eyes. “Is it really you? You…”
Survived. Rachel hadn’t thought the beaten and abused she-wolf would have made it, but she’d done all she could while she remained under Brian’s abusive thumb.
“It is.” She nodded, that smile trembling. “I did.”
Now tears filled Rachel’s eyes, moisture blurring the world around her, but she spied the blob that was Ally move closer, arms open wide, and Rachel didn’t hesitate. So many years she’d wondered and hoped and…
Rachel grasped her, wrapping her arms around the curvy woman, and held her close, the two of them talking over one another.