Page 13 of My Omega's Gift

If the right direction was lined with cookies.

Oh my Santa, those cookies were delicious. Dipping them in the frosting was everything. I needed to remember that for when my little one was born and ready to create their own Christmas traditions. I still had no idea where we would be next week, much less next year, but that didn’t stop me from musing.

As clever and speedy as I thought I was, when I opened the bathroom door, Kurt was already cooking eggs on the stove.

“You’re too fast,” I said, stretching my arms and inhaling the scent of cooking eggs and butter. “I was going to make breakfast today.”

“Nah, breakfast is my thing. You can make lunch.”

He looked at me briefly before turning back to the stove. I wasn’t sure what he saw, but it made him smile and, in turn, had me smiling right back.

We ate breakfast and then returned to our game, the one we’d been playing the past couple of days. The closet had a bunch of board games, most of which I’d never heard of,including a role-playing one where we had to save a princess from dragons in the land of fae. It was so clearly made by humans—they got almost everything wrong about both fae and dragons—but it was fun. We’d played for an hour or two every morning since we discovered it, and it was a great way to ease into the day.

I wasn’t sure how many days it would take to finish the game, but I loved that it continued each time we played. Unlike chess, where he beat me in about three moves. I’d never been great at chess, but whoa, he was amazing at it.

For lunch, I “cooked” sandwiches, and he insisted on cleaning up. I padded over to the window to see if the snow I’d scented in the air last night had arrived or not.

“What do you see?” His voice startled me as he came up behind me.

“Nothing new.” I stepped to the side so he could see as well. “I was just thinking about how much my wolf loves the snow.”

“Do you miss him?”

I turned to face him. “What do you mean?”

“Do you miss not being able to have your wolf?”

“Oh, I have my wolf. He’s here with me. He just can’t come out and play. But yeah, I do miss it. That day, when you walked me back from the main house with the cookies, he really wanted to join you.”

“Maybe after…” he started, then stopped.

He had to see there couldn’t be an “after.” He was the alpha of a pack, and, as nice as he was, they wouldn’t accept me. And if he forced them, they’d never fully accept him. That was the way of things.

Before I could muster the courage to explain all of that to him, in case he was truly living in a happy happy bubble, the kettle went off. It was teatime.

I’d been drinking a lot of tea lately. It was better for baby than coffee—or the gallons of cocoa, which were my other hot beverage options.

As we sat down for what had quickly become our afternoon routine of hot drinks and cookies, there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” I said, pushing myself up from my seat.

I could tell Kurt was itching to tell me he would handle it, but he tried not to tell me what to do after hearing my story. I appreciated it. Not that this would have been him telling me what to do—it would’ve been him trying to take care of me, but still…

When I opened the door, Elias stood there holding what I initially thought were badminton rackets.

“Hello.”

“Well, let me in—it’s cold out here!” Of course he was cold. Elias was wearing nothing more than a red hoodie with white faux fur trim and skinny jeans and boots. Fashion over comfort—that was Elias. The complete opposite of me.

“I found these when I was looking for craft supplies. Thought you might like them.”

“What are they?”

“Snowshoes,” he said, pulling a bag from his shoulder. He handed me two boots from inside. “I think these will fit you. They’re warm and comfortable.” He shivered. “No offense, I just can’t be seen in these, and I think we are about the same size.”

I wasn’t sure if he was being truthful or trying to give me the boots without making me feel bad. Either way, I accepted. My shoes weren’t holding up well and did nothing for the cold.

“Thank you.”

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