We walk Sarah and Greg back across campus, but leave them at the dorm. They should be safe here, but between what happened earlier tonight and what she mentioned about her friend Lily, we’re being super careful. I just found her and can’t risk losing her now. Plus, Paul growls every time he sees her split lip. It doesn’t seem to bother her that much, but it’s made the three of us tense as fuck, even if Al’s trying not to show it.
We had reserved a hotel room, but Al’s mom insists that we stay with them while we’re in town. I don’t want to, just because they live farther away from the omega center, but it would be rude to say no. Still, all our stuff is there, so we agreed to stay the night at the hotel since it’s paid for, and then go back tomorrow. I want Al to be able to visit his family, even if I would rather camp out at the omega center for the entire time and be close to Sarah. Paul makes a good point, though—she can’t pack if she’s entertaining us, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little excited to talk to Carson and Robert more. Not that I’ve ever played rugby, but I can imagine some of his fitness routine would be great to add to my own weekly regimen. The guy has thighs like a tree trunk; it’s awesome!
It’s also nice that the hotel has a pull-out couch, so I don’t have to scrunch up on one again. Al and Paul both offered to share one of the queen-sized beds so I could have the other one, but my feet are gonna hang over the end, regardless. Plus, even though we were all naked in the nest together and fell asleep repeatedly, I don’t think any of us are super comfortable cuddling without Sarah in the middle.
Paul’s too damned bony, and I’m worried I’ll roll over and crush Al in my sleep. But I crashed on the couch at the apartment for two years; one that folds out into a bed is basically a luxury at this point. While I miss my king-size at home, we’re here getting our girl, any lack of comfort is worth it just to be close to her again.
We check-out of the hotel super early—it’s not early for us, ’cause we all normally have to get up for work by five, even with time zone stuff…but the guy behind the counter is pretty bleary-eyed and waves a hand in the general direction of a lady setting out steaming hot muffins and a big tray of scrambled eggs. He mumbles something about breakfast and then kind of slumps back in his chair, looking like he’s ready to pass out. I’m torn between the idea of free food and getting back to see Sarah, but Paul said that they most likely aren’t even up yet and it would be rude to wake her up just for us. I don’t like it, but heisright.
There’s a really good cranberry orange muffin that almost makes me moan, and Paul chuckles before asking the nice lady about them. She preens under his attention, and I think it has something to do with his accent because she keeps fanning herself and asking him to say words like “y’all” and “darlin’.” I would laugh, but he seems to be enjoying the attention. Not as much as he enjoys it when Sarah talks to him, but my bro doesn’t get a lot of notice from girls. He’s attractive, sure, but until recently he’s also been pretty unapproachable and morose-looking. It’s just another thing I appreciate Sarah for. She brought back more of the old him, before he met his scent match and she left. I’ve missed the happier Paul. Not that I could tell him that without risking hurting him more.
After breakfast and checkout, we drive over to Al’s parents’ house. It’s a bit of a trip, so I’m glad we got food beforehand, even though Janice tries to feed us again when we arrive. She looks a bit irritated when Al tells her that we had breakfast at the hotel, so we all go ahead and eat again. I don’t mind; I can always eat, but Al looks like he might be ill if he has another sausage. I hear him muttering something about a thin mint, but I don’t see any on the table, so maybe his mouth feels scuzzy since he didn’t get to brush his teeth before we left the hotel.
His brothers don’t seem to want to talk about their jobs much, and I can understand that. When I played in college, it got kind of repetitive to be asked the same questions over and over. Theyareall comfortable talking about their workout routines, though, and even though that’s my day job, I’m always happy to learn more from people who have been doing it for longer. We swap various fitness tips, and Ben suggested I try to fit pilates into my weekly routine to help with staying limber. He says he took dance lessons for a few years when he was in high school, and he loved it, but it’s not nearly as fun as hitting people for a living—also, he gets paid better.
Eventually, we form a chain line to move all of Al’s boxes from his room to the garage. This house is pretty big, but I guess with eight men plus a guest room, they need the space. Still, my knees are glad I don’t have to walk up and down the stairs that many times. While I’m helping his family with that, Paul and Al go rent a moving truck. I didn’t realize how many books he still had, especially considering his bedroom at the apartment was already filled with them, but it’s a good thing we had the space to make a library, ’cause he’s gonna need it all.
His mom doesn’t help with the moving, cause duh, you have this many big guys to do the heavy lifting, why not. Also, I don’t think her mates want her to do anything like that; they all rumble and hover around her a lot and I don’t know if that’s how they always are, or just because we’re there. Maybe it’s normal or just how their relationship looks, but it’s really fascinating to see considering my experience with my own family of betas and Paul’s alpha dad and beta mom.
It’s almost dinner time when we finally get the truck loaded up and sit down to rest. We’re all pretty sweaty, but at least I don’t have to worry as much about skipping my gym days after today. My back is gonna be sore as shit tomorrow, though.
Instead of cooking, they order several pizzas for dinner and spend the rest of the evening visiting with Al since it’s been so long since they’ve seen each other. Paul talks a bit to his dads about life in Oak Flats, and I video call Sarah and Greg since we didn’t get to see them today. I wanted to, but they needed to pack, and so did we. Even though it makes sense, I don’t have to like it. I missed her, and I worry about how she’s feeling after all the chaos of yesterday.
She needles me until I tell her about the stars I put on the ceiling of the nest. I thought a long time about it, and it felt weird to put up ones from home, since there’s no ocean…but she didn’t have the memory of the gulf that I did. It seemed equally wrongto put up stars of where we are now—at least for when we are now.
Instead, I messaged Greg to find out her birthday and looked up a star map for this area on that day. It was probably wishful thinking, and I’m sure I didn’t get them looking exactly right, but feels like an important day for all of us. So it seems most appropriate…since she changed all our lives. She just sniffled at me for a few seconds and then excused herself to the bathroom while I talked to Greg for a little while. He brought Shaggy over to glare at me through the screen.
After a few hours, she says she has to go, but hopefully she’ll be ready for us to pick her up after breakfast in the morning. I wonder briefly if she means our breakfast or hers or a second breakfast like this morning. I’m not sure if even all the workout I did today can make up for eating that much for more than a couple of days in a row. She just smiles and tells me that they’ll see us when we get there.
I take a deep breath. My mind is whirling with the fact that we’ll all be headed home tomorrow for good with our girl and her mate, and my heart feels ready to burst. “Goodnight, Sarah. Love you, and we’ll see you in the morning.” I bite my tongue in panic, realizing what I’ve just said, worried she’ll freak out at my declaration, but it’s the truth. I’ve been in love with her since she broke my nose. Still, I’m so used to ending calls to my family that way that it just slipped out.
Her smile is sweet, though she winces a little when it pulls at her busted lip and I have to bite back a growl. “I love you too, Moose. I’m gonna crash now; boxing up the last decade of my life has taken more out of me than I expected. Get some rest, and I’ll see you in the morning.” Greg smiles from behind her, wrapping her in a hug before reaching out to press the button to end the call.
I can’t believe I told her how I feel already.
I can’t believe she said it back!
When we get back to the house, I’m carrying her up to the nest and giving my girl so many cuddles.
Chapter 96
My mouth feels like I licked a kitchen sponge, and not a fresh one either.
Ick.
The taste and my rolling stomach mean I barely make it to the bathroom before everything I ate last night makes a quick reverse trip. I’ve been feeling ill for the last couple of days, but I thought it was just stress and then nerves or excitement at joining a pack. Not that I’m nervous about them; they’re great. But it’s a new phase in life, one I never thought I would be going through. I was fully prepared to stay here taking classes until they either kicked me out, or I got old enough that no pack would want my cantankerous old ass.
Greg is standing in the bathroom door, concern written across his face. I’m lucky my hair’s so short so I don’t have to worry about barfing in it. More ick. He fills a glass of water for me torinse my mouth out and then brings over a cool, damp cloth for my sweaty forehead. I feel like I might hurl again, but I don’t have time for this shit. I’ve got places to be, things to see, alphas to do. Life is life-ing, and I got a lotta shit going on.
My knees are wobbly when I try to shift my weight, so he helps me up and leads me out to the couch. It’s not my couch; it came with the room, but I’ll kind of miss it anyway. I’ve gotten attached to the ugly ass thing after all these years, and I sort of feel like crying when I stretch out and my fluffy pillows are all packed up so I don’t have anything to hug. Greg looks worried as he hands me Shaggy. “I’m gonna go grab us some breakfast from the union. Do you want anything specific?” The idea of any sort of food is gross, so I shake my head.
He presses his lips together, but doesn’t say anything before leaning down to kiss my forehead and walking out, closing the door quietly behind him. It’s less than five minutes later when a soft knock sounds against it. My legs try to unhinge, surprising both me and my bun when I attempt to stand. I finally give up, and my voice is hoarse when I call out, “Come in!” much to Shaggy’s irritation. He kicks lightly against my arm until I lean over enough to set him on the ground. Then he scurries back to his run, hopping inside so he can munch on some hay and give me the stink eye. I can practically hear him asking to speak to my manager.
I look up and see Adam and Lily standing in front of my door. She’s twisting her fingers, looking around the room at my life in boxes while Adam marches straight over and cups my face before moving his wrist to my forehead. “What happened? You look like hell.”
After I wave him off, he goes to stand by Lily again, but she’s headed straight for the fluffy diva chowing down on dry grass. Adam stands beside her, his hand stroking absently over her hair as she sits on the ground just outside my bun’s run. “Sorry, Idon’t want to risk either of us getting sick, but seriously, what happened? Was it those alphas of yours?” He practically bites the words out, and I know it’s because he has a lot of trust issues, so I don’t take it personally. Spence wouldn’t.
“I threw up…and no, not them. Probably stress. I’ve been nauseous for a few days now, and it all seemed to come to a head this morning. Probably just overexertion yesterday and…everything with ‘he who shall not be named.’” He looks at me skeptically, and I can’t blame him. He saw me yesterday after my run-in with John and had several choice words about alphas in general.
