Page 2 of His Omega Bear

Turning, I faced the mountains that didn’t seem that far away from my new home, and thought about the miles and miles of green I’d driven past on my way in. Yeah, I’d definitely left Chicago very far behind. The town I’d just driven through looked like something out of a postcard. Actually, scratch that, it looked like something out of a fairytale. I half expected Geppetto to pop out any second.

I groaned and pushed my hand through my hair; it was yet another thing to get used to after having it buzzed short for the better part of twelve years since basic training. But that seemed to be the norm for me these days. My life had turned into one adjustment after another. I snorted. If there was one thing the Marines taught me, it was how to adapt and survive.

So why did the thought of being the sole caregiver for my four-month-old niece, Emilia, or Mia, as I called her, feel more life-threatening than getting shot at by snipers with nowhere to take cover?

Almost like she sensed my panic, Emilia mewled, and I peeked in the car to find her stirring. I waited a second to see if she would settle back to sleep. She wasn’t fully awake yet or there would be tears, which was the exact last thing I needed right now. I walked over to the back door on the passenger side to unstrap her from the car seat.

You have all the time in the world to call yourself crazy anyway. Like when you spend your first night in a strange house in a strange town where you know exactly zero people.

It’s not like I had family in Chicago, not anymore—do not focus on that thought right now—but I had friends from the military and the old neighborhood who’d been there the last couple of months helping with my Emilia. Who would help us now?

Maybe you should have thought of that before now.

I snorted at myself because really no amount of thinking would have made a difference. Moving here was what they wanted. If Lee and Jayson were here, they would want their baby girl to be raised in Asheville. Jayson had always said he’d go home one day with my sister when we were done with the service, and they were ready to have kids. It sucked that they’d never gotten the chance, especially right when their lives were about to start. Fuck you, Jay, for dying on your last tour. Fuck you for making me have to tell Lee. And fuck both of you for leaving me.

They’d just been about to get their forever, and then in the blink of an eye they were both gone leaving little bit and I alone. So how could I do any less than honor their wishes?

After putting it off as long as you could.

Emilia whimpered again, this one louder, and I knew we were a second away from a full-on shriek fest. God, yet another thing I’d had to learn. Tiny people had huge lungs on them. Or at least my tiny person did. But who could blame her after losing both parents before she even took a full breath in the world? If anyone had something to be mad about, she did.

She has you though… Yeah, but would I ever be enough?

I shook my head because that was yet another thing I’d have time to think about tonight in this house that now belonged to me, even though this was my first-time setting eyes on it.

Hurriedly, I got her out of the car seat. I could even do it one-handed now, and used my free hand to grab the baby carrier that I attached to my chest. It had quickly become one of the main necessities in my new life. It wasn’t one of those wrap ones; I wasn’t too proud to admit that I was terrified of using one of those. I could take apart a rifle and clean it in less than five minutes, but eighteen feet of soft, stretchable cotton had me stumped. What if I tied it wrong and she slipped right out of the bottom?

I shuddered at the thought.

Absolutely everything in my life now required research and planning, where I’d just been able to get up and go before. I looked down at the beautiful face of my niece, who’d thankfully gone back to sleep once I strapped her into the carrier against my chest. She was perfect. A mix of the two people who’d meant everything to me in this world.

The wave of grief that washed over me had me sucking in a breath. Fuck! I couldn’t regret my choice for a moment. There’d never been a choice to make. Emilia had been mine the second her mother, my sister, hadn’t made it out of the delivery room while bringing her into this world.

I still felt out of my depth most days and questioned my sanity for moving, but one thing the military taught me was how to power through even the roughest of situations.

And this certainly counted. Boy, did this count.

Thankfully, before I could fall down the rabbit hole of grief and uncertainty, for what would probably be the hundredth time, the sound of an engine had me turning to find the moving truck pulling up behind me. They’d been waiting for me to arrive, and the journey had taken longer for me because I hadn’t been able to drive straight through the way I would have if I were by myself.

Before now, I’d have just made the twenty-hour drive in one go. Stopping for a quick piss here and grabbing a bite there, but life with a four-month-old was nothing like that of an untethered soldier. There were times I couldn’t imagine my life before and others…well, there was no use thinking about that.

It didn’t make sense though. I’d only had my niece for four months, and there were days I had trouble remembering the guy whose only major life decision was if he should re-enlist or not. I missed him sometimes, but with each second that passed, he became a distant memory.

“Jax,” Shepherd grinned at me as he walked up and came in for a hug, but stopped short when his eyes landed on the precious cargo strapped to my chest. “My bad man, how’s the little princess doing.” He leaned in for a peek.

“Good. Good,” I replied, because really that was what people wanted to hear when they asked that question. Not tales of exploding diapers or how sometimes she cried all night. The latter was not always the baby.

“That’s good,” Shepherd replied, serious gray eyes holding mine. I knew he had something to get off his chest, so I waited for him to speak.

“You sure this is the right move?”

My heart began to pound in my chest because I’d just asked myself that question and hearing it out loud… well.

“I know you promised,” Shepherd swallowed before saying their names, “Jay and Lee, but they’d understand—” He looked around the neighborhood, before settling his gaze back on me. “This ain’t Chi town, brother.”

I did my best not to roll my eyes. Like I needed him to state the obvious. Heck, the tallest building I’d seen was like four stories. I could bet there was nothing open 24 hours out here.

“I know,” I replied. Honestly, I didn’t want to address the rest of it before I told him to turn the moving truck around and head back home.

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