Page 114 of Claiming Their Omega

“What?” I stare at him in surprise. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to.” He winks at me. “I can feel your emotions, remember?”

I swat at him playfully. “That doesn’t mean you have to call me out!”

“If I don’t call you out, who will? That’s my favorite thing to do!” Jesse dodges my next swat. “Hey! It’s too early in the morning for this!”

“You started it!”

It does lift my mood, to goof off a little. I’m laughing, and I have a smile on my face as I wave them off. I know they’ll be exhausted by the time they get back, especially if they’re going to deal with the McAllisters along the way. But if all goes well, the empty cattle trailer they’ve got hitched up behind them will have a few new bulls in it as they return, to strengthen our stock and fill out the herd.

I’m so proud of them. I know how hard ranching is nowadays, with big corporations squeezing out the smaller family-owned places. But my Alphas are holding out and staying strong, and I love them for it.

Well, that is—damn it.

I use the chores to distract myself, so I won’t worry or get too much into my own thoughts. There’s a lot to get done since I’ll be the only one on the ranch. I can’t quite handle everything, but there’s still a lot that I can do, and I want to handle as much as I can so that I can show the Alphas when they get back. I don’t want them to have to play catch-up on the work when they return.

It's meditative to do everything, and I’m surprised by how much I already know and how much I can do. I’m stronger than I was just a couple months ago as well, able to lift and shove and pull things along more than I thought I would. I was always too busy at work in New York to exercise a lot, and I hated going to the gym anyway. I feel a lot healthier out here.

As I finish up to head into the ranch house for a proper dinner and to take a nice relaxing bath, I notice the daisies in full bloom along the walk. They’re thriving, and they’re a nice little touch as you head up into the porch.

I smile helplessly. They make me smile, because they’re my favorite, but they also make me smile because it’s a sign that this place is mine too, made nice for me with the things that I like.

It makes me feel like this place is my home too.

That introduces more complicated feelings, but I ignore them for now and focus on making dinner. I warm up some leftovers that Easton made the other day, some delicious potatoes au gratin, green beans with bacon, and delicious shredded chicken that was cooked with taco seasoning.

Easton really is a fabulous cook. They all are. I appreciate that about the Alphas—that they didn’t hope for an Omega to come in and do all the housework and cooking. They know how to do all those things too and they still take turns even now that I’m here.

My phone pings with texts from the men in the group chat, letting me know that they’ve arrived safely for the auction tomorrow and are excited for it. They’ve taken some pictures too, to show me what an auction looks like, and I can’t help but smile at how hard they’re working to make me feel included even when I can’t physically be there.

ME: And how is everyone? Did you guys get in touch with Grady?

JESSE: Right away. We’ve been busy the last few hours, sorry it took us so long to text you.

HENDRIX: We had to put out a few fires.

I bite my lip. I was afraid of that.

ME: I hope that you’re all eating and taking care of yourselves. Don’t run yourselves ragged.

HENDRIX: Or what?

EASTON: Don’t worry. We have a lot of people who trust us. They’ll believe us when we explain that nothing’s true. And they’ll put in a good word for us with others. We just had to let them know that there’s even a rumor campaign in the first place. That way it’s not just the four of us working overtime.

ME: I’m glad you have such loyal friends.

I smile to myself as I type. I know that they’ve earned that loyalty.

JESSE: We’re feeling better about being able to take care of this.

That’s probably the closest he’ll ever get to admitting he was worried about all of this.

ME: Keep me posted.

I press send on the text, then I focus on eating and going over my notes to myself for my story that I’ve been working on.

It is coming to a time where I think I’ll have to actually ask someone else to take a look at this story to give me thoughts on revisions and the idea makes me incredibly nervous. I think I might be able to trust the Alphas, though. If they’re interested.

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