AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Teaching people how to cook from scratch and grow their own food is going to be important going forward, isn’t it?” Emma asked me quietly. “We’re lucky you and Maia found these guys, or we’d be starving right now.” We both knew there were even worse things that could have happened to these omegas, but we chose not to talk about it with little ears so close.
“Yeah. I know Lexie’s been thinking about it a lot, how to teach more people what they know. Freeing the town and rescuing us was just the first step. It’s an enormous task to take on and there are so many people who need help.”
“She doesn’t have to do it all, though. It will have a ripple effect, surely, if she asks everyone she teaches to pass the knowledge on. She just needs a place to start.” Emma seemed excited by the idea, and her cheeks flushed red at talking so boldly. She’d dressed down in leggings and a t-shirt again today, and she had flour in her hair. I thought she’d never looked so beautiful.
“That’s an interesting idea. I’ll talk to Lexie about it.” Emma was really coming out of her shell and stepping up to take care of the other omegas, and I wanted to encourage her new confidence. It gave me hope that the Palace hadn’t completely broken us all.
“Talk to me about what?” Lexie asked, from right behind me, making me jump. She chuckled darkly.
“Emma just made a good point,” I said, before I explained Emma’s idea.
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that, too,” she said, as she picked up a knife and started spreading jam on the bread slices I had just cut. “I was hoping the farm would be our starting place. That we could have people come and stay in the unused guest cabins and teach them, then send them back out into the world to put it into practice. But inviting strangers into the same place where our major food supply is doesn’t make good sense from a security perspective.”
“Does it have to be the farm?” Emma asked, a little haltingly, when I nodded at her in encouragement.
“No. Why? What are you thinking?” Lexie replied, subtly prompting Emma to talk more. Emma seemed nervous around Lexie, which I understood. Lexie was feisty and fearless, everything we’d been taught not to be. She’d done the same thing with me when I’d met her, gently prompted me, and I adored her for it. Even with Lexie’s encouragement, it had taken me a few days to get up the nerve to approach her and talk freely with her. I’d surprised myself the first time I’d done it.
“Well, uh, what about here?” Emma waved her hand in the air. “This place has power, yet it’s mostly empty now. There were far more staff here than omegas, and there’s a lot of land surrounding it. I don’t know if it’s suitable for farming, but if you could help us figure it out, we could set up something on a smaller scale than what you have at the farm. They built the Palace to be secure and withstand attack. If we asked the first students to help with the manual labor to set it up while learning, everyone would get something out of it.”
Lexie tilted her head as she watched Emma closely. “It’s a brilliant spot, because we’re close enough to give you support, and the town would benefit too, from people traveling to the area. We could set up a trading post there. The biggest issue would be to figure out the water supply, because you’re not on the river here. But would you be happy to stay here? Would the other omegas? Given what you’ve endured and survived here? That’s the first thing we need to figure out.”
Cary slid in behind me, freshly showered, and wrapped his arms around my waist. The temperature in the room instantly rose by five degrees. “Omegas need to take back their power. It’s time for us to stop hiding in the shadows and step into the light. We just need a starting point, too,” he said.
“I love that,” Emma said as she beamed at him.
I tried really hard to tamp down my instant jealousy. Yet an itchy and uncomfortable feeling rose in its place. Emma must have seen the look on my face, because she quickly looked away. I felt bad because I didn’t really think anything was happening between them. The surge of irrational emotion just had me rattled, and I couldn’t figure out why it was happening.Was it because I’d met my pack but we hadn’t claimed each other yet?
I’d embraced my omega a long time ago, but I’d never felt mood swings like this. Cary nuzzled his face in my hair before he kissed my cheek lightly, an attempt to ease my surging emotions by marking me with his scent. But it had the opposite effect. It heated me up even further.
“The other issue is security,” he said smoothly. “They built this place strong, but you’d still need help to defend it. And with omegas inside, a power supply, and a food source, it will be an attractive target.”
Emma frowned as she thought it through. “I know you’re right, but nothing worth doing is ever easy, or so my mother used to say.”
A quiet voice came from the other side of Emma, so soft I barely heard it. “There’s an underground stream that runs through the conservatory pool. We could start by converting the conservatory gardens into edible foods. We had one at home, growing up. It would be more secure than starting outside.” The voice came from an omega who was only slightly younger than Emma, but was currently half hiding beside her. She’d been determined to help when I’d asked earlier, even though her hand had trembled as she’d raised it.
“There is? That sounds perfect. What’s your name, honey? I’m Lexie.”
“Rose,” she mumbled, keeping her eyes on the sandwich she was cutting, before flicking a quick, curious glance in Lexie’s direction.
“You did great speaking up, Rose,” Lexie told her encouragingly. “You both need to talk to the other omegas and see what they think. I suspect some will want to leave, maybe even try to find their families, and we may need to move the youngest omegas out, but I hope the others will want to stay. Your ideas are exactly what we need, and I’ll back you if you decide you want to move forward with it.”
It wasn’t a small offer, Lexie could get the impossible done when she put her mind to it. She was so protective of other women, especially ones who had suffered abuse in any way. Her generous spirit and her kindness always leaked out past her tough exterior. Her brothers always paid attention and got involved in every scheme she thought up. I imagined her new pack would, too. Emma shot a sweet smile at Lexie, and I could almost see Lexie plotting out the ways she could help them both, not only to implement their ideas, but to stand strong.
“What about you, Ava? Would you want to stay here permanently?” Cary asked me quietly. I could see Lexie glance at me with worried eyes.
I focused on spreading jam for a moment as I thought it over. “No. Once we get the omegas safely set up, if I could choose to live anywhere, it would be closer to the farm. I want to be near my friends.”
It was what I wanted, but I was also thinking about Wolf. I don’t think staying here would be good for him. Lexie punched me lightly on the shoulder before giving me a bruising hug. Almost muscling Cary out of the way. He just nodded to me in agreement, with a small smile, and went to see if he could help with the vegetables. Rose followed him now that the sandwiches were almost done.
“You had me scared, you witch. And you won’t be living near the farm. You’ll be living on the farm if Maia and I have any say about it,” Lexie said, sounding a little choked up. “If Hunter, Wolf, and Sam are brothers, and you’re Wolf’s mate, that makes you family. And I couldn’t be happier about that. Maia feels the same. We’ve decided we’re sisters now.”
I nodded, feeling emotional myself. I’d never had sisters before. Nicole ruined the sweet moment, though, when she sauntered into the room.
“Is lunch not ready yet?” she asked, giving Lexie and me a quick once over, before dismissing us as unimportant. Lexie raised her eyebrow at me as she pulled back, and I subtly shook my head at her. We didn’t need a scene right now. There had been a lot of quiet chatting in the room between the omegas as we worked, but everyone was silent now.
Emma just sighed, but didn’t rise to the bait. “No.”
It was actually almost ready, but Emma didn’t seem inclined to tell her that. Nicole glanced around the room, looking for a reason not to help. “That’s fine. I’ll take Angel to the library for a little while, so she won’t be in the way.”
