Her brows are still drawn into a worried scowl, but Garret’s the one who speaks. “Shit, man, sorry. Kelly made you a sandwich earlier, but you never came out of the room when she knocked. Let me go grab it out of the fridge for you, if that’s ok?” I nod numbly, unable to focus properly.
Garret leaves the couch and Kelly’s hands are back on my forehead. “Are you sure that’s all it is, Sam? I know you’ve been under a lot of stress lately. You can tell me if something’s bothering you, you know that, right? We’re supposed to take care of each other now.” I smile as best I can.
She doesn’t understand that I’m supposed to take care of my pack. It’s my job, and something I need to do so they know I’m worthy. I don’t want to contradict her, but I’m glad when Garret comes back with that sandwich and a soda, so I have a reason not to answer.
Teddy comes down the stairs, Steve holding his hand. They both look over at me and make a beeline for the kitchen. I don’t know if I look as bad as I still feel, but gimme a few minutes to get my head on straight, and I’ll be right as rain. Thankfully, the room's stops spinning by the time I finish my sandwich and soda.
Finally steady on my feet, I make my way into the kitchen. Teddy and Steve are standing side by side at the stove, each stirring a pot. Teddy steps away and goes rifling through cabinets, finally pulling out my colander and putting it in the sink before noticing me. “Go take a seat, Sam. We got this.” A small growl bubbles free at being dismissed by my omega, but I clench my teeth tight to cut it off and step into the room.
“What the hell are you two doin’? I was gonna fix dinner.” They both turn to look at me.
Steve ducks his head quickly, going back to stirring whatever he has on the stove, but Teddy steps up, his arms going around my chest. “We know, but you already take care of us...just...just let us do something for you, ok?” He squeezes me tight before stepping away to take the pot he was at earlier off the stove and pour a batch of elbow macaroni into the colander at the sink.
Steve turns towards me, a small smile making his face brighter than I’ve seen it before. “Besides, Bear’s making me use a recipe, so we don’t have a repeat of the pancakes. Plus, I don’t think we can fuck mac-and-cheese up too badly. It just said I have to melt the cheese on low heat and keep stirring, so...that’s my job. Teddy’s doing the rest, and he actually took cooking classes at the omega center.” Then he goes back to stirring with a look of intense concentration. Which I will begrudgingly admit, is kinda cute.
Kelly
They do a good job of teaching omegas how to cook at the center. I can never get my mac-and-cheese this creamy. Even when it has a good flavor, the texture's off-putting, it’s always kind of gritty. Teddy gets smug when we finish off thewhole batch they made. Steve just sits there blushing and having goo-goo eyes at both Teddy and Sam.
I’m not jealous—not like I thought I would be if someone was flirting with my boyfriend...er...boyfriends? I’m not sure if it’s because I know that packs usually have more alphas, or if I just feel secure in their affection for me. Or maybe Steve’s not a threat because he already feels like pack. My brain hurts if I think about this too hard.
Since Teddy and Steve cooked, Garret helps me rinse and load the dishwasher while they distract Sam. He’s been doing all the cooking, cleaning, and working on the nest while we played games earlier, so it’s only fair for us to trade out and let him get off his feet for a while. He grumbles a bit at us when he sees it’s done, but he also says thank you, so that’s good.
Teddy sits on the couch between Sam and Steve and Garret pulls me into his lap while he sits on the hearth of the cold fireplace. It’s freezing over here, and I wiggle against him, trying to collect his warmth. Sam notices and comes over, shooing us back to the couch to sit beside Teddy. Garret just lifts me up and carries me over, sitting me back in his lap once we’re there.
Sam heads towards the back door, returning a moment later with a metal box like Dad keeps gun cartridges in. It’s tall and skinny with a funky collapsible handle on top. He opens it up in front of the fireplace and pulls out bits of fluff and sawdust and some small sticks, building a tiny log cabin in the fireplace before setting it on fire. Once that has a nice little blaze going on, he takes his box back and brings a couple of split logs in, situating them around the tiny fire, and scattering some more kindling around to help it catch.
Soon we have a warm fire going, and Jake stretches out in front of it with a loud doggy groan. Sam comes back to the couch and looks us all over. “As soon as this damned weather clears, we’re going shopping for a few more chairs, got it...now, moveover.” He wedges Garret out of the way, pulling me across his and Teddy’s laps and purring until I go limp. Garret grumbles a little but shuffles halfway onto the arm of the couch, enough that Sam can settle in, and I’m the only one not having my butt squished right now. HA!
Pays to be a beta.
Oh yeah!
The fact that I’m half of any of their size probably helps.
Teddy rubs my feet while I burrow into Sam’s chest, and I think I fall in and out of sleep. They talk about the nest, colors Teddy might want to paint it, flooring. Sam insists on real wood or cork to keep everything easy to clean. It just feels so good to be surrounded by these guys. Even Steve doesn’t look as much like he hates me right now, so I’m gonna call that a win.
Coming fully awake, someone’s carrying me. I bury my face against a hard chest and my lungs fill with cookie scented goodness. Teddy. My sweet omega is carrying me down stairs, I don’t think we’ve moved much before I woke up, so probably to the basement. I hear a few grunts and groans and open my eyes to see Sam, Garret, and Steve moving the chairs around so we can all see the big TV.
Sam settles himself into the chair in the center, reaching out and pulling me from Teddy’s arms so that our omega can go join Steve and Garret in arguing over what movie to start up. My eyes start to slide shut. I don’t even know what time it is, but I don’t think it’s super late. The last few days have just been stressful for everybody.
I’m shocked out of my almost doze by a loudly ringing phone. The first thing through my head is surprise that someone gets reception in the basement. The second is that neither of the twins or Teddy have moved since it started. They’re all staring at Garret’s phone in his hand. It must go to voicemail because it stops ringing after five times, and they all seem to finally take abreath. None of them has a chance to break the tension though, as it starts up again.
Grunting, Sam sets me down in the chair beside him, walks over, plucks the phone from Garret’s unmoving palm, and slides the button to answer it. He doesn’t even put it on speaker, and I can hear a loud voice on the other end. Steve and Garret are now staring at the floor as the voice continues to rage, even though no one has said anything on our end. Teddy looks like he’s about to cry. Sam takes the three of them in, then hangs up the phone, cutting off the person who’s clearly on some sort of tirade.
Garret meets his eyes first. He swallows a few times before he speaks. “That’s our dad’s ringtone...the one who wouldn’t let us see Teddy. I think he might have finally realized we left.” The phone lets out the loud blaring ring again, and Sam slides his finger across the red decline button. He looks at it for a few minutes before handing it back to Garret just as it starts to ring again.
“Turn this damned thing off and sit down. It’s time we all had a talk.”
Chapter 45
We shuffle the chairs back around so we can talk without leaning over each other, and settle in. Garret and Steve exchange glances, but neither of them seems to know where to start. Finally, Sam lets out an annoyed groan, “Ok...let me try this. We’re dealing with my family drama for my starting a pack with people younger than me. Kelly’s family is scared shitless that a pack is going to take advantage of their sweet, naive daughter.” He pauses to look around at us, and Kelly starts snickering.
“Yeah. Let’s see. Teddy’s family was under the impression that I kidnapped him from a mating ceremony his cousin took him to. Between my relatives and his, somebody called the cops and tried to accuse me of kidnapping Kelly…the omega. This week was nuts before you two showed up. So, let’s make this easy. Teddy can start, then you two take over and you can try to explain why you abandoned him, and what the hell you’ve been doing since then. Sound good?”
Vee and Garret both look shell-shocked, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious, so I start us out, rushing through the partsmy pack has already heard, wanting to hear the alphas’ excuses for myself.
I’m four when I meet Steven and Garret for the first time. We’re at a work picnic for two of my dads—Murph and Noah—who work for their dads’ company. Their grandpa started the Alpha Entertainment Company. Apparently, it was long enough ago that there weren’t many TV stations and no streaming services. But Murph's in marketing and Noah works on the more technical side of things in broadcasting. They started working there early and are now high enough in the company that we have to go to stupid company functions, even though the dads don’t want to spend what little free time they get with their co-workers.
