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“Sorry, GG. I should have called to tell you I was okay.” I’d asked Lexie to pass on a message to her, letting her know where I was when we’d first come to the Palace from town. But she’d probably worried when they all flew out here suddenly. Then only Maia and her guys had come back.
“Uh, huh,” she said slowly. I could feel those narrowed eyes through her words.
I immediately started to sweat. But more than that, I felt bad. I hadn’t meant to make her worry. Or make Max a partner in my crime. I could imagine the look he would have gotten when she cruised into the security office and demanded to speak with me. He loved GG, as everyone did.
I thought fast, trying to figure out how to make it up to her. GG was important to me and I didn’t want her disappointed in me.
“GG, I-”
“Oh, stop worrying so hard,” she said, even though I’d barely uttered a word. She knew me too well and knew I hated it when I felt as if I’d let people down. “You’ve given me the least trouble of any of my kids. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. They told me you were, but I needed to hear it for myself.”
“Love you, GG.” It covered everything I needed to say.
“Love you too, NicNic,” she chuckled. NicNic was what she called me when I was little and started calling her GG while following her everywhere. She still pulled it out now and again. I didn’t mind. “Now, tell me, have you met the rest of your pack and have you claimed your girl, Ava, yet?”
It was my turn to chuckle. GG knew about my dreams of joining a pack. It was why she’d told me the old stories about them. To help prepare me. Yet I hadn’t mentioned my feelings about Ava to anyone. GG knew anyway. She always knew. I’d long since given up trying to figure out how. “Yeah. Ava went into heat quickly, so I didn’t get to court her the way I hoped, but I’m so happy she chose me. Being part of a pack is more than I ever imagined.”
“Well, she’s a smart girl, and she saw your worth straight away. Like I knew she would. But making a woman feel special doesn’t end when you mate her. You know better than that, Nick.”
“I know, GG. She’s just missed out on a lot in life and I wanted to give her a courtship. It won’t stop me romancing her, though. I’m actually setting up our first date right now. We’re having a movie night. It was going to be under the stars, because Ava enjoys being outdoors. But I’ve had to shift it to the ballroom and invite all the omegas along because we need to hunker down together tonight.”
“Is everything alright?” she asked, sounding worried. “You said you were okay.”
“Yeah, it’s only a precaution. The people behind the Palace want Ava and Wolf back, but they can’t have them. We’re moving the omegas to a more secure location and heading back to the farm tomorrow.”
“Good,” GG sighed. “That’s really why I’m calling. You need to trust in your pack because things are about to get bumpy, Nick. You know I rarely interfere, but there’s a shadow following her. If your bonds aren’t all in place, it could go badly and an innocent may get hurt. Your bonds are your strength, Nick, don’t forget that.”
My heart rate sped up. Nobody who knew GG dismissed it when she got a feeling about something and voiced it. Her instincts were usually spot on. She told me once that her gift of insight, and sometimes foresight, was also a burden. That nothing came without consequences in life and there had to be balance. GG didn’t always speak up when her intuition flared because she didn’t like to mess with fate. She believed people needed to make their own choices and live with them. So, she mostly nudged people, or planted an idea and left it at that. But sometimes she felt compelled to speak up, and it was usually when shit got real.
“All our bonds are in place, except one. And that one’s complicated,” I told her.
“Life is messy, and it never gets simpler. If you wait for that, you’ll be waiting forever. Do what you can to make it happen, Nick. You’ll know when the moment’s right because you’re their center, their balance. They need you.”
“I will, GG.”
“I know you will, Nick. It’s your time. Know that no matter what happens, I’m proud of you. You always had a future bigger than this farm. Now you get to go live it. Just make sure you bring your pack back when it’s all done. I’ve been waiting a long time to meet them.”
I felt choked up and needed to hug her in the worst way, but she was too far away. “Of course. Everything I am is because of you, GG. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Oh, you’d do fine, NikNik. You got this. Now I’m going to put Max back on.” And she was gone. She was always loving, but never one for lingering with emotions. She said what she needed and got on with her day.
“Hang on a second, Nick” Max said quickly into the phone, his humor gone. I walked to the arched windows at the far end of the room, listening to the sound of rustling and a door opening and closing, before he came back. “Wow. You told us you were bugging out tomorrow, but that there was no immediate threat. Do we need a change of plans?”
I looked out the window and noticed the sun was low in the sky and disappearing rapidly towards the horizon. “No. Sam was right. It would take us too long to pull everything together, and it’s too risky to move the omegas at night unless we have no other option. We need to stay here tonight. Just be on alert.”
“Roger,” Max said, reverting to military lingo. “I’ll stay in the security office tonight. I’ll follow some loose ends I found in the Maven research. Call if you need anything at all. You be careful, you hear me? I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Thanks, Max.” I appreciated him taking GG seriously, and I knew there was a reason she’d had this conversation with me while Max was listening. She was a wily one.
I continued to stare out the window, thinking hard, until a small arm snaked around my leg and clung on. I looked down to see Angel looking up at me with a serious expression. “Can I help?” she asked.
Her seriousness had me pausing for a moment. She could just want to play with the pretty lights, or she could be asking for something much deeper. She suddenly seemed far older than her years as she continued watching me solemnly.
“You sure can,” I finally answered, deciding to take her at face value. Figuring my conversation with GG had spooked me.
“Are you making it pretty for Ava?” She asked as she looked around the room.
“I am. Do you like it so far?” I asked as I took her by the hand and walked back over to the lights I’d been stringing up.
