Chapter 1

Weekly dinners with my found family used to be my favorite part of the week. No matter what was going on, we would always find time to get together, sit down, and have a shared meal. Even if that meal was just a few sandwiches slapped together hastily, it was still the best food ever.

Before Dean arrived, none of us could cook very well, nor did we have time to learn. We managed to make do with what little skill we had, and I had enjoyed our family dinners even then. We didn't care that it was instant noodles and canned chicken. It had never been about the food.

Now, we still didn't cook, at least not most of us. We relied very heavily on Dean to do that for us. He loved cooking, and we loved eating. It was a win-win for everyone. It made me love our dinners even more.

But also… part of me couldn't stand them. As fun as it was to watch the kids running around, laughing, having fun… it was also a reminder that I didn't have what my pride members did. I was alone and some days it felt painfully so. And I hated that I felt that way. It was the green-eyed monster taking over, and as much as I tried to push him away, there he was.

I was the only one sitting at the table without an alpha next to me, without a child in my lap that was mine, without all the things that my omega brothers had found. I wanted to be able to be happy for them, and I was. Truly, I was. But also, I was jealous, and that jealousy grew with time as much as I tried to squash it.

It wasn't so bad at first. Only now? Now, I was the only single one left in the group, and that fact only managed to amplify what I didn't have. I wanted a mate and a family. I'd wanted them for a very long time, and for the first time I started to wonder if fate woke up one morning and decided that my life was better spent all alone. Maybe it was time to actively embrace my future as the "cool" uncle as my life's calling. There were far worse things than being the "uncle" of the pride.

"No, baby, don't touch that," Morgan admonished his oldest, who was grabbing for his younger brother's spoon, trying to shove the utensil deep into his brother's mouth. He was "helping" his sibling. Sort of. It was adorable, but also not quite what I'd call safe.

Around me, there were so many children. We had started having the dinners outdoors because there wasn't a house that could contain all of us anymore. Our beasts enjoyed the fresh air, and it was far simpler to clean up spilled drinks when the ground soaked them all up.

Not long ago, Gideon built us a pavilion, which was where we were now. We got the idea from one of the local packs. They ate dinner like that nightly, and it sounded like a great idea. Now that it was complete, we could have these dinners rain or shine.

So many things had changed around here in the past few years. We went from no alphas and mostly temporary guests to a growing pride. We still had our guests—they were the reason for this all. But we'd become so much more than that. But even with all the growth and change, the kindness, compassion, and purpose of Asilo had stayed the same. It was our purpose.

Jasper sat down next to me. For a moment, I swore I scented something intoxicatingly sweet on him. Something I didn't recognize. I inhaled deeply and leaned toward him.

"Do I smell?" he asked.

I shot him a funny look, embarrassed by my actions. What had come over me?

"No, sorry. Just thought I smelled something out of the ordinary."

He didn't need to know it was a scent that called to me. There was no way to make that sound less than eww. And besides, I wasn't even sure the scent was there. Maybe it was my lonely mind playing tricks on me.

"I bought a new soap from one of the artisans in town. It has something fruity in it, but I can't quite place it." He smelled his own arm and smiled. If fancy new soap made him happy, he should have all the soap there was.

But also… soap? Could it be that I was acting like a weirdo all over soap? Wonderful.

"Oh, and I just met with some alphas from Steelwick. They were coming back from some mission and wanted to say hello."

Our pride had developed a really good relationship with Steelwick over the years. I considered them friends. They were the only alphas welcome here all of the time. Not that the pack was exclusively alpha, but for a long time the majority of them were. In that way, they were the opposite of us.

"Oh." I probably should've said something more meaningful, but that was all I could think of, my mind still focused on the scent. Had I imagined it? If it was soap, wouldn't I still be scenting it? Try as I could, I wasn't able to let it go.

It wasn't the first time that I had caught that scent—that sweet almost citrusy one. If he'd crossed paths with Steelwick again, my soap theory was pretty much out the window, right? The soap was new, and as I tried to pull from my memories, I realized that the other times I'd scented it, someone from Steelwick had been there or had crossed paths with one of my pride members.

Did Steelwick buy the soap too? Probably not. Grasping onto the soap was a way to make sense of it all, I was jumping to logical conclusions, looking for an easy answer. But what did that leave? Could it be that it was a member Steelwick that kept catching my attention? If so, their scent was so wonderfully unique, and could I go and find them now? What if they were…

Did I even dare hope that it would be my mate? I tried not to let myself get too carried away with that thought. I didn't want to get my hopes up, only to be disappointed. It wouldn't be the first time that I had thought I found my mate, only to have them ripped away from me.

"You all right, Thomas?" Kian asked. He bounced his second child on his lap while his older one had their arms around his neck, hanging on like a monkey.

"Fine," I said, giving them my best smile.

Jasper squeezed my knee and some of the omegas gave me soft smiles—encouraging ones. Likely they all knew the things that were going through my head. They wouldn't know what things, but we were all trained to see the signs. It helped us complete our mission better.

All of us knew that processing big emotions was difficult. And whether I wanted to admit it or not, I was processing feels. There was comfort in their glances. They'd be here if I ever needed to talk—or more accurately, when I needed to talk… I was lucky to have all of them.

Morgan stood up and clanked a fork against his cup.

"We're doing speeches now?" Dean rolled his eyes.

When he laughed, someone else interjected, "No, we just wanted to say thank you, all, for coming."

"Feels like a speech," Silas said.

"Daddy, can I have a cookie?" a child asked.

We all laughed.

"In a minute, sweetheart."

The child toddled off toward his alpha father. "Cookie!" he said.

Gideon laughed. Morgan rolled his eyes.

All of it warmed my heart. I loved seeing my friends so happy, which is why these events were also torturous. They had things I wanted. But also, I'd never want any less for them.

"In a few months, it will be our big anniversary, and I thought maybe we could plan a party. It's been ten years since I was named forerunner, and as of right now, I have no plans to step down." Which was a relief to us all.

There had been a time when he found his mate and we didn't know what the future of Asilo was going to be. Not a single one of us would've blamed him if he'd chosen to leave the pride and start a new life with his alpha. That wasn't the route he chose, and it changed the dynamic of our pride for the better.

We all cheered, playing it off as if none of us wanted the job, which we didn't. But it was more than that. Morgan was the heart of this pride. Having him as forerunner made us the best we could be. It was where he belonged.

"But I was thinking it would be nice to have a party. I thought maybe invite back some of the previous omegas that have been here. We could have events for the kids, activities for the adults…"

"That sounds amazing," Emory said, and there was agreement all around.

It really did sound like fun. I often wondered how some of our guests were now that they had moved on. Some were living in local packs and we got updates from time to time. But that wasn't the majority. Not a day went by when one of them didn't cross my mind.

"I'd like to help plan that," I said. I'd never planned a party before, but how hard could it be? Invite the people you want, have games and music for when they were here, and be sure to have enough cookies, because what was a social gathering without cookies?

"Really, Thomas? That would be wonderful. Thank you." Morgan blew me a kiss.

As great as he was at leading, party planning was not his forte. It might not have been mine, either, but I at least saw what needed to be done. Morgan forgot about the cake for the last shower he threw. Telling a pregnant omega they wouldn't be getting the cake they assumed was coming their way… yeah, that wasn't a good time.

"So you guys are on board with this idea?" Morgan looked around the group.

There was a resounding, "Yes."

"Perfect. All right, I suppose we better have cookies, then." It was always time for cookies. Always.

Before the meal was complete, I went back to my home. As much as I loved my family, I did need space from them. I used the excuse that my brain was filled with ideas and I needed to write them all down. And that was true, but not the whole truth.

Catching the scent again today had really messed with me. It was not the first time I'd caught a hint of it. Each time, my cat came roaring to the surface, ready to sniff out the source. Only, that added to the confusion I felt—was that even real? Was I just fooling myself into thinking I had a mate out there? I always assumed I'd scent my mate and there wouldn't be any doubt. If this was that, it had bathed with doubt before tickling my nose.

There was mail on my table when I walked in. Someone must have come by and left it for me. We were all pretty trusting in the pride, leaving our doors unlocked, and mail on the table was much better than mail being exposed to the elements. That was for sure.

I sifted through a flier for a store I was apparently on the mailing list for. It sold office supplies, and while I did like a good pen, I didn't need to order them by the gross, which was how this place seemed to operate. Maybe they thought I was a store?

There was another envelope in the mix and this one was addressed to me. It wasn't normal to receive mail, not this kind. Fliers? Sure. But personal mail… less than rarely. In fact, other than some Christmas cards from omegas who had moved away, I didn't ever get any at all.

I opened it up, and my blood ran cold.

"Found You" was all the note said.

That was all it needed to say. My past had caught up to me.

Fuck.