Page 35 of Our Haunted Omegas
“Are we okay?” Odie asked.
My wolf gave up control and allowed me to shift back into my human form so that I could hug our friend.
“Of course we are. Just don’t say you’re cursed. Other people being assholes doesn’t mean anyone’s cursed,” I whispered to him.
“I feel like I’m cursed that assholes always find me.”
“Missy isn’t here,” I whispered and everyone laughed.
“Well, I guess I lucked out this one time,” Odie shrugged.
“We have and now we can do fun things,” I told him.
“Like what?” he asked.
I frowned at him. We’d both taken up handfuls of different creative hobbies over the years. We had totes full of finished projects we always talked about doing something with but never got around to.
“I don’t think we can start a store out here,” Odie laughed and leaned back against the sofa. “Am, no one’s going to come out this far to shop our arts and crafts.”
“Internet people might, though,” I pointed out.
“Entrepreneurship is in your blood,” he teased me.
“It actually is,” I nodded. “Even if we don’t start a shop we could do that stuff again if you wanted. Or we could do nothing in the fun way and not in the exhausted and anxious way. Like we could do nothing for fun.”
“I don’t think we’re that boring yet,” Odie laughed. “We’ll figure something out but you’re right. We’ll probably end up doing something because doing nothing leaves too much time for anxiety.”
“Smells like you did plenty already.”
“You have no idea.”
“Well, because of the link I do have some idea,” I said.
It wasn’t Odie that blushed but Cobalt who did and headed into the kitchen. I glanced at Indigo who laughed and shrugged it off. Apparently, just thinking about it was enough to give Cobalt issues.
“He’s as bad as you,” I laughed and gave him a one-armed hug.
We spent the rest of the day doing nothing in a productive way. We piddled around unpacking the boxes that were left and going through some of the art totes. We found a tote full of blankets we crocheted and knitted in our early twenties at the advice of one of our many therapists.
“For the babies,” Odie announced running his hand over a soft blue one that alternated shades of blue.
“Definitely. It’s like we started making baby blankets before we ever had a mate.”
“We were going to donate them but never found a place that took them, and it became too much work and…” Odie sighed.
“The babies of London were not freezing to death,” Cobalt announced walking into the room with a cheese plate. “Maybe some part of you wanted them for your own kids.”
“Probably. Back then I believed I could have a normal life,” he sighed, folding the blanket up and gently tucking it back inside the tote before putting the lid on.
“Normal is overrated,” Cobalt said, setting the plate down on top of the tote. “You’re going to have an extraordinary life. Whatever you want, I’ll bring it.”
“He means it too. You mentioned wanting a snack and look at this,” I teased pointing at the plate of fancy cheeses I didn’t know the names of and the little seed-filled crackers.
As the sun set, we broke off into our pairs without discussing it. Cobalt and Odie headed out for a ‘walk’ and Indigo and I headed out to the back deck where the hot tub was. I’d been to a few medical rejuvenation centers that had hot tubs. I even participated in a survivors’ trip to a hot spring once but the option of living in a house that had a hot tub never occurred to me. Still, I didn’t hesitate to strip down and slide into the hot gurgling water. My muscles ached from riding in the truck so long and then unpacking. Mostly, it was stress.
Stress always rode me hard and put me away damp. It stuck to my pores and coiled around my joints. Sometimes my bones creaked like I was an ancient wolf rising out of a stone.
“What imagery,” Indigo said and kissed my cheek. “You’re only stony in one place as far as I’ve seen.”
