We started a tattoo parlor.
It was a dream Niko and Dimitri had years ago, one that made a lot of sense considering how talented my omega is, and after he told our pack about my drawing abilities, it was game on.
We found a location, a building just a few down from Knotted Obsessions, used a small fraction of Boris’ money and made the necessary purchases, and we got to work planning our business.
The boys are handling the admin part of things, and Niko and I are tattooing while Sylvan, an omega we poached from Alexei’s most recent auction, does the piercing. Ideally, we need to hireat least one more of each, but the three of us are enough to get things rolling, and we don’t have much of a choice thanks to the online marketing Leon has been doing the last few months.
Omega Ink doesn’t technically open until noon, but I feel like there’s still so much to do, I want to get in there a few hours before then and get a jump start. Right now, I’m very behind schedule.
I head upstairs and make my way to the only functioning full bathroom—ours isn’t even close to done and the other two are only half baths—walk in, then stare at myself in the mirror until I finally realize I’m doing it. I need clothes and towels before I take a shower and staring blankly at my reflection isn’t going to make them magically appear, or help me get back on track. Especially since both of those things are still in boxes in our bedroom and I’m going to have to dig to find them.
I swear my brain has been foggy as hell lately.
Not that it’s unwarranted, I’ve had a ton on my mind ever since the warehouse, but I’m looking forward to the day I can start thinking clearly without hardcore disassociating, or having PTSD flashbacks. Thankfully, the nightmares have seemed to have stopped for the most part, but that could be more because of the fact that I’m barely sleeping and nothing else. None of it has been bad enough that I can’t function, not in a long time, and overall I'm managing okay. But I still have tougher days, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.
Walking into our room, I cringe at the disaster laid out before me, then frown because I’m pretty sure there were people in here when I went to get Tati up for school, and now…
I smirk and shake my head as I take a few steps toward the walk in closet, and pull the door open with a sigh. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I didn’t think alphas were the ones who got into the whole nesting thing.”
“Little bird,” Leon says with a beaming smile as he rolls to his side then crawls over to me, going up on his knees and grabbing my hips as soon as he’s in range. “Little bird, we’ve missed you terribly.”
I giggle as he lifts my oversized t-shirt and presses his face against my belly before tugging the cotton back down over his head. “I was gone for maybe an hour.”
“Too long,” he mumbles against my skin, breathing deeply while he rubs his face all over me. “I love this.”
“I know.” I start laughing hard as his scruff scrapes against my belly, his fingers digging into my hips so I can’t get away. “You need to shave!”
“She’s gonna pee,” Dimitri grunts from across the room but when I look up he’s grinning, and he has no intention of helping me get away from the alpha burrowing under my clothes.
I shake my head and grab Leon’s hair through my shirt, trying like hell to make him stop even though I know it’s pointless.
If he’s not careful, I am going to pee, and that’s going to suck. Not only because Niko and I finally got our nest how we want it, but also, even after six months of living with them, I have yet to pee in front of any of my mates and I don’t want the first time to be in my pants while being tickled.
“You’re gonna.” D smiles as he crosses his legs at the ankles while he leans back against the wall. “You’re laughing too hard, and you already have a lot weighing on your bladder.”
“I know!” I squeal as Leon starts on my ribs.Oh my god, I am going to pee all over the place.“I need a safe word!”
Leon quickly pulls my shirt over his head then rests his chin on my belly as he grins. “You have one.”
I blush and bite my lip as I push his hair out of his eyes.
I do, I know that, but it’s not for when I’m being tickled to death and I don’t really want to shoutcunnilingusjust so myalpha—who was, in fact, the one to decide on that safe word—stops. Not in this scenario, anyway.
I watch Leon press a kiss to my stomach, never taking his eyes off mine. “I can’t get enough of you. You are irresistible all the time, but that pregnancy glow is a turn on I didn’t know I had.”
“What doesn’t turn you on?” Dimitri snorts, his smile turning a touch evil as I look at him again. “However, he’s not wrong. That baby bump is sexy as fuck.”
My blush deepens as I perfume and rub my thighs together.
We found out I was pregnant when I finally agreed to go to the doctor after the whole ordeal at the warehouse. I was extremely early on, a few weeks at most, and according to the four hundred year old female doctor I saw, it most likely happened when I went into heat.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement but as soon as the shock wore off, I panicked.
It took such a long time for me to get pregnant with my first pack. We never used protection, before or after I got out of that hell hole, and I was starting to question whether I was even able to have kids. Then, when I lost my baby while I was at the shelter… I know I was stressed out and going through a traumatic experience so it isn’t quite the same, but it was still scary and made me nervous.
I’ve always wanted to be a mother and thinking there was something wrong with me, with my body, and I’d never be able to carry a baby, it was all I could do to keep from falling apart when we got the news.
But those feelings didn’t last.
