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“I’m pretty sure you’re doing it,” I answered, feeling those butterflies in my stomach I still got whenever one of my mates touched me.
A loud cough and light laughter had them stepping away, as Dio groaned playfully. I spied Ava and Nick standing at a nearby table. “We came to help set-up, but the others will be here in a few minutes, too.”
“Thanks, but we’re all set,” I said with a grin.
It didn’t take long for the rest of her pack, and mine, to arrive. Her guys had dropped Angel off at the daycare cabin so she could play with some of her new friends. I remembered the first night I’d met Ava. The night Leif and his mates had rescued her and Cary from the Palace. Ava had seemed shy at first, but I’d sensed she had a quiet inner strength even then. She’d proved it quickly when she’d run into the attack on the farm, chasing down Bear with me. Although, if anyone had told me that first night she could bark down an alpha, I’m not sure I would have believed them.
Ava was the talk of the town now, but she seemed genuinely perplexed by the attention. At least she wasn’t hiding in the shadows anymore. She was sporting a new confidence that was subtle, but looked good on her. She’d handled everyone wanting to talk to her last night like a champ. Once she’d gotten her mates to relax and let people get closer without growling at them.
Her pack was moving to their new home this afternoon, but they’d stayed here after the bonfire last night. I’d make sure they knew they always had a place here. Ava was a kindred spirit, for both Maia and me, just in quieter packaging.
I whistled to get everyone’s attention. “Maia and her pack won’t be joining us this morning. She’s been vomiting all night. We’re pretty sure it’s morning sickness, as she’s been feeling increasingly nauseous the last few days, but her guys are a little freaked out. Damon said he’s happy for me to make any decisions that are needed on their behalf. Does anyone have any issues with that, because we can postpone again if you’d prefer.”
“We’re good,” Ava said, as she smiled that sweet smile of hers.
I let out a subtle breath. I was used to making plans for myself and barging my way into things, but nobody had ever given me the reins on something this big before. Damon had always been our lead. But he’d sat Maia and me down yesterday and said he wanted to take more of a back seat and just look after the farm operation here. He asked us if we’d be happy to take more of a lead with figuring out how we move forward in the world and working with our allies. He’d said the world was changing, and it was important that people saw how capable omegas really were. I was more than happy to step up.
I’d talked to my pack about it and they’d immediately agreed to help me take on more responsibility. Maia had been keen, too. It was bad timing that she was so sick this morning. She’d told me to go ahead with the meeting today, then pop in later and give her an update.
It boosted my confidence that Damon trusted me to do more. Not that I really needed the boost. I was ballsy, and I knew it. But I had so much respect for Damon that his trust meant a lot to me. He didn’t hand it out lightly. The letter Sam had left for me in our mailbox this morning, telling me how proud he was of me, put a little more pep in my step, too. I cherished every letter he sent me, and I hoped he never stopped.
“Okay then. Sadie’s going to join us on the comms device. If we’re brainstorming about where we go from here, she needs to be a part of the discussion,” I said, and everyone readily agreed.
In this new world, our allies were proving our most important resource. None of our packs could have taken down Maven on our own, but we all probably would have died trying. Even now, with Maven gone, we could build homes and grow food, but it could get torn down in an instant without the support of a village and a new way of thinking. So we didn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.
“There’s a lot we need to talk about, but we don’t have time for idle hands,” Isabella said as she came through the kitchen door, closely followed by Sirena. “We’re feeding a lot of people and the pea harvest came in. So we’re shelling peas at the same time.”
Nobody complained. This was a working farm. Everyone had willingly chipped in when it was a business venture. Now the food we grew was our means of survival. I directed the guys to drag a couple of tables together so we could fit, then grab two big bins by the kitchen door. Dio put a tablecloth down and emptied one straight into the middle of the tables, then put the empty bin to the side for the husks, while Pala handed out large bowls.
“Oh, I asked Isabella and Sirena to sit in today, too. We need to talk about the kids and local refugees they’re looking after as well. Is everyone okay with that?” Everyone nodded again. I was lucky we were such an easy going bunch.
We still had the single moms and kids from town with us here since the battle with Maven. We’d also found quite a few orphaned and abandoned kids that Sirena and Isabella were looking after in a family cabin at the moment. They’d have a good understanding of what they needed. Plus, I valued and trusted Isabella’s input. She’d helped me so much with the secret refuge I’d set up here at the farm. She deeply understood the effects of trauma on people.
“I’m sorry about your dad, Sirena,” Wolf said, surprising her. “I heard him talking about you sometimes. So, I get he wasn’t nice to you, but I’m sorry, anyway.”
Sirena seemed more reflective than sad as she looked at Wolf. She shrugged nonchalantly, but there was tension around her eyes. “He was a shitty person and an even shittier father. He would have killed me if he ever got his hands on me again after I betrayed him. I’m safer with him dead. But thank you.”
“Okay, anyone who doesn’t know how to shell peas, pair up with a buddy who can show you. The husks will go back in the bins and we’re going to use some in a stock, then compost the lot,” Isabella instructed. Nothing in our world went to waste anymore.
Wolf, Dio, and Pala were the only three who didn’t know. So Ava sat next to Wolf and showed him how it was done. While I sat with Dio and Sam sat with Pala. Wolf was a little clumsy at first with his enormous hands, but he quickly got the hang of it. So did Dio and Pala. I actually enjoyed shelling peas. I found the repetition calming. Doing a monotonous task seemed to focus my brain.
“Where’s the comms device? I asked, so we could get started once we were settled.
Sam looked around, then jumped up and picked the communication device up from the breakfast buffet where it was sitting amongst the coffee cups. Someone had casually dumped it there as if it wasn’t the most valuable piece of technology we had at the moment. He set it up at the end of the table. Sadie and her guys came on the line quickly, and everyone talked over each other, saying hello. It was cute. It struck me that the Network operated more as an extended family than anything else. Or maybe only our group did. Sadie didn’t seem to mind, and it made me like her even more.
“How are the omegas?” I asked when there was a brief pause. I was dying to know. Most of them were only teenagers. They’d been vulnerable in the old world. The new world was even scarier, but I wanted that to change. Everyone here did.
“They’re holding up. Most of them seem to have bonded over the last few weeks since the Crash and are happy together in the bunkhouse for now. The Palace lies that omegas don’t get along was such hogwash. I think they were scared about what we could achieve when we worked together.”
“What about Nicole? How’s she doing?” Ava asked. We’d sent Nicole up the mountain to Sadie, knowing she had a doctor up there. Gus from the Network had taken her. He’d wanted to visit Sadie, anyway.
“Good, she’s stable. She’ll stay here with us until I decide if we can trust her with the location of the sanctuary,” Sadie said. It was a smart move. Nicole seemed contrite, but nobody was ready to move past what she’d done yet. And Damon wasn’t comfortable having her at the farm. She was going to have to earn our trust. “We’ll be moving everyone else to the sanctuary in a few days, but I have Emma here and she’s talking about going back to the Palace. We won’t stop her. Emma’s a free woman and can do what she likes, but I think we need to talk about how we’ll back her up. Emma, do you want to hop on and explain?”
“Uh.” Emma’s voice was shaky, and she sounded incredibly nervous to suddenly be in the spotlight. “Maybe you could explain what we were talking about, Lexie. You said it so much better.”
I was all for people standing up and speaking loud, but I would never force someone to do it. Pushing someone forward who wasn’t comfortable or ready could be as damaging as holding someone else back. So I quickly stepped in.
“Emma had a great idea she talked about to Ava and me. I was thinking of something similar for the farm. But Emma’s version solved the problem of letting strangers in here while Maia is pregnant,” I said, making sure I wasn’t taking the credit. Emma deserved to be acknowledged, even if she hadn’t found her voice yet. I explained our idea of replicating what we had done at the farm, then turning the Omega Palace into a teaching center where people could come and learn. With the expectation, they would then take the knowledge back to their own communities. It would get change happening faster.
