Chapter 45

CHAPTER 45

2 Months Later

June

ADIRA

I t’s my birthday today, and I decided to try something different. I’m at Omega’s Haven at their group therapy session, something Aisling asked me to come to, since she wanted to give me a gift. While they’re usually held at night, they decided to try an afternoon time.

Meghan’s hug and getting to see how big Benji has gotten is gift enough, but I won’t say that. Benji only came out to see me before going to the daycare center, so the group session could begin, which I can understand.

The session was more a conversation about how people are feeling, what may have popped up for them emotionally. I can see the draw to it, since so few people understand what trauma of this caliber is like unless it happens to them.

“It still feels like a dream,” an older woman named Olivia murmurs, looking out at us. Her daughter, Cerenity, holds her hand as she talks to us. Her fathers kidnapped her mother off the street, and Olivia is finally able to live a normal life years later.

“It’s so silly, I keep waiting for them to step out and surprise me, even though I know they’re dead,” Olivia continues. “I felt the connection break, and my daughter confirmed they’re dead.”

“I should have made it hurt more,” Cerenity growls. “I couldn’t let you feel their pain, though, Mom.”

Olivia sighs, nodding. I can’t imagine feeling the evil voices of bad alphas whispering in your mind. People who want to hurt you, torture you, are hunting you. Her daughter did the right thing, killing them the way she did.

This woman deserves some peace.

“I was scared enough when I woke up and heard and felt them die,” Olivia admits. “But then, my mind was quiet for the first time, without the drugs the hospital gave me, in years.”

“Do you think your scent match is out there?” a small voice asks. Meghan looks stricken for having spoken, but Olivia merely smiles at her.

“Maybe,” she says. “The question is if I’ll be ready when I finally meet them.”

“I don’t know if you’re ever ready,” I tell her. “As someone with a rollercoaster of a meet cute that wasn’t so cute, I definitely wasn’t. I think being open to the possibility of it is a good start though.”

I stay silent as I listen to the rest of the meeting, taking a deep breath as it ends. It’s like I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

My body didn’t know whether to stay or run, the emotions of the room flooding over me. It’s a very hard place to be for a natural empath.

Standing, I begin moving toward the exit, ready to leave.

“Adira!” Aisling calls, running after me. “Wait, I really have shit to give you. Come on!”

“Air!” I call over my shoulder, letting her follow me as I walk out of the warehouse. It’s all part of the Haven, but no one would notice it due to the sliding metallic door we use.

Wren and Aisling join me as I lean against the wall of the building, taking deep breaths.

“It was too much, huh?” Aisling asks, a bag on her arm.

“It was fine, I’m just a little overwhelmed,” I explain. “I feel things really deeply, and it’s one of the reasons I don’t know if I could do this again.”

“That’s fair,” she says with a nod. “Okay, so are you ready for the good part?”

“You chased Adira out of the warehouse,” Shaw says, his arms wrapping around Wren’s waist. He’s not wrong.

“The experiment didn’t go well,” Aisling mutters. “We’re moving onto gifts. It’s her birthday, after all.”

“Happy birthday, Adira,” Shaw says, inclining his head at me.

“Thank you,” I murmur, blushing. I’m not used to birthday wishes after being alone for so long with my father. He forgot the date last year completely.

“First gift!” Aisling says.

There’s more than one?

“You told me that you have your reading swing up in your nest, so I found a really cute pillow for it,” she says.

Some omegas don’t like things that belong outside of their alphas and themselves, but I’m actually really excited about this. We moved into the house last month, and are slowly making it into our home.

Taking the pillow from her, I grin at the saying on it: Protected by Fuck Around and Find out Surveillance. Barking out a laugh, I hug it tightly to myself.

“This is epic,” I tell her with a grin. The pillow is lilac and white, which are colors that are in my reading nook. I can’t believe she remembered that. I’ve been trying to make sure we have lunch at least once a month together, and the first one was at Cian’s house.

It’s a safe, neutral place, and Wren feels comfortable there as well. One of the guys drove me and it wasn’t a problem.

I really need to learn how to drive.

The thought isn’t something I expected anyone to pick up, but the answer comes anyway.

Name the time and place, and we’ll do it, Damon says in my mind.

God, I love these men so much.

Aisling gives me a soft blanket she knitted, a cupcake that Flynn made for my birthday, and Wren blushes as she hands me a scarf.

“This is all so sweet,” I whisper. Blinking hard, I shake my head. “I don’t think I’ve ever had gifts on my birthday before, outside of my parents.”

Wren and Aisling give me hugs, telling me happy birthday. Putting everything into the bag on her arm, she hands it to me.

“Are you making my little rabbit cry?” Kane asks, loping lazily to my side. He’s picking me up, and I’m surprised he was able to wait this long.

“Not on purpose,” Aisling grumbles. She doesn’t really know what to do with my pack, which is understandable.

“I got birthday presents,” I explain, looking up at him.

Kane gazes at me for a moment, dropping his head to kiss me hard.

“Do you like them, baby?” he asks, smiling down at me.

“Love them,” I rasp.

“We have things to show you at home,” he promises, grabbing my hand.

“I’ll see you later,” I say over my shoulder as he tugs me along.

“Bye!” Aisling and Wren say as Shaw raises his hand in goodbye.

“Can I guess the surprise?” I ask as we walk.

“Nope,” Kane says, leaving me wondering. I eat my cupcake on the drive home, pouting a little because it could be literally anything when it comes to my pack.

My alpha simply stole a piece of my cupcake and laughed.

Half an hour later, I’m still pondering what it is as I walk up the stairs of our house to my nest. It’s the first room the guys said should be our focus. When I asked, they said it should be exactly what I wanted it to be. Money was no object. A happy omega means a happy pack.

Omegas and betas balance the family dynamic in a pack, which is why when Morris was so depressed, it threw everyone off as well. Besides the obvious reasons, of course.

“My surprise is in my nest?” I ask as we walk up the stairs.

The guys asked me to set boundaries for my nest. They had me give them set reasons they could enter, and when they’d need permission. Jed asked specifically if he could enter if he was working on something he knew I wanted for my nest. I told him he could.

They must have been planning this.

“Maybe,” Kane drawls.

Walking in, the first thing I see is the stained glass windows in every window frame. The way it looks as the light is filtered through onto the floor boards is beautiful. Turning, I also see that my mattress now is in a gorgeous sunken stained wood frame, and no longer on the ground. It's giant and perfect for all of us to sleep in.

There’s also a projector, and Jed pushes on its stand in front of the bed to turn it on. The wall behind the mattress makes the perfect place for watching movies when we don’t want to go down to the theater room.

“Oh, that’s smart,” I breathe. “I love that.”

“Lazy days during the weekend, and mental breaks from homework,” Damon explains. “We both work really hard, we should make sure we take breaks, baby.”

I love how they take care of me, making sure I’m not overdoing it. I’m realizing that I throw myself head first into things. While that’s not a bad thing, a set of checks and balances is important.

“Adira got some presents for her birthday,” Kane says.

They didn’t forget, they all told me happy birthday this morning. I’m not used to people caring that I’ve taken another trip around the sun.

“Oh?” Morris asks.

Nodding, I take them out to show them, finding the spots in the room that I want to have each item in. My nest already is becoming everything I could hope for.

There’s a closet that didn’t exist when I left this morning in the corner, and I blink at it.

“That’s a combined project,” Callum says, peeking inside my nest with Duncan not far behind. They stay on the stairs, grinning as I open the door to the closet.

“It’s an audio recording booth!” I squeal. “Oh my God.”

“We talked about it,” Morris says with a chuckle. “However, I don’t know the first thing about it, and the Kelly brothers are the experts.”

“We didn’t touch a thing outside of that corner, Short Stuff,” Duncan says.

“It’s perfect,” I breathe, feeling as if I’m going to cry again. Is it possible to cry this many times in a day from happiness?

“Let’s go eat and have cake, beautiful,” Jed says as he pulls me to him for a hug. “We have so many things to celebrate.”

Biting my lip as I rub my stomach, I wonder if I should tell him what else we may have to celebrate. I took a pregnancy test before I went to the Haven, and it was positive. It’s one of the many reasons my emotions are running so high.

Hi, little baby, I can’t wait to meet you.