Chapter Sixteen

Caspian

We had to decide where to live.

And it was not going to be Alaska.

“We’ve talked about this already. Alaska is hard enough for people who were born to it, and those who choose to move there for some sort of business.” I didn’t want our omega to give up his dream of living in this place he’d dreamed of, but even though we’d already pretty well decided that San Diego was the choice, it had come up again.

“Won’t you be homesick?” he asked. “You both are from the same area, after all.”

“We can visit,” Sage replied, “but this is home. Where you are, where we all are. We were ready for a new adventure, weren’t we, Cas?”

Tipping my face up in the front yard of the home Douglas had already put so much love into fixing up, I soaked up the sun’s warmth. “One where we never need to thaw out our toes or the tips of our noses.”

“It is nice here.” Douglas waved to the yard he’d begun to landscape. “And the time to plant here is in the cool season, so I planned to get a couple of bare root citrus trees to plant in January.”

“Citrus,” I marveled. “Like oranges?”

“I was thinking a blood orange and maybe a lime. Limeade is so refreshing in the summertime.”

“And you think we’d prefer Alaska?” I pulled him into my arms and nuzzled his earlobe. “But the truth is, if you liked it better or wanted to give it a try, we’d be packing you up to take home with us tomorrow.”

“I might be okay.”

Sage wrapped his arms around us both and laughed. “Right now, in the town near both our lands, it’s about negative thirty degrees. You can’t be outside for more than a few minutes without proper gear, or you’ll lose body parts to frostbite.”

“My reindeer would be okay.”

“True,” Sage agreed, “but would you want to spend the whole winter like that? We love it here, where we found you, and the only question is where we settle here.”

“We could look at some homes,” I suggested. “You’re off today, aren’t you, omega ours?”

“Yes, and my friend from work is mated to a Realtor. Want me to call and ask them if they have anything we might like to see?”

They did. Even in a place like far far away Alaska, Realtors always had something to show a potential client. And this was not far far away from anything.

“I’m so glad you called,” enthused the female anteater when she picked us up at Douglas’ home. “I have three options to show you, each one better than the one before. But first, coffee!” She turned into the driveway of a boutique coffee shop and stopped at the speaker. “Lattes all around?”

Sage and I asked for black coffee, but Douglas got a peppermint-bark latte and took a sip with a satisfied sigh. “Thanks, Samantha.”

“You’re welcome. Now, if you’re all ready, we’ll go on to our first stop.” She paid for the coffees and steered out of the driveway. “It’s a bit up in the mountains, but it’s got great views.” As she drove, she rattled on about the great properties she was going to show us today. Had we said we were open to something this far out of town? Up a narrow road with no guardrails was not my idea of a great time. Oh, sure we’d had worse back home, but we were no longer there, and the thought of our omega driving on such a highway did not sit well. So once we got to the house, I was already not too thrilled with the idea.

The home was up a steep driveway, but once we got there, I could see why the Realtor picked it. For the price she named, it was a nice home, tucked into the side of the mountain. But even so, I kept comparing it to Douglas’ place. This one had more bedrooms, and was freshly painted, but the remodel showed none of the love that his did. We walked through politely, but I could tell from my mates’ expressions that they were no more into the place than me.

We went to two others that day, one close to the beach that was not anywhere near within our budget and a third that was one tract over from our omega mates’ and a lot like it. Which had me thinking hard.

After Samantha dropped us off at Douglas’ place, I studied the front of the house. The others had all been fixed up before putting them on the market, and this one had a ways to go before it could be. But as she’d reminded us, we’d want to sell this one before moving to whichever we selected.

“Cas,” Sage said, the light of the setting sun glowing on his cheeks, “are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That we should see if our omega is willing to share his home with us. There’s no need to move if we already have the best house at our disposal?”

“If he’ll allow us, I think that’s just what we should do.”

I turned toward Douglas, but instead of waiting to be asked, he sniffled and nodded, and soon we were all hugging. “Are you sure, guys?” he asked. “I thought you wanted a fresh start?”

“How much fresher can we get than this?” I whispered. “No, we want to make a home with you. We’ve had years together as best friends, our little wabbit and I. Now we look forward to many more with you. And starting out in this home you have put so much love into seems right. As long as you feel the same.”

“Thank you. The houses we saw were so nice. And I would be okay in any of them, but I love welcoming you both into my home and making it ours.”

So…that’s what we did. We moved into the lovely fixer-upper with our omega mate.