Page 76 of Bait Wolf
Her plate was already made. Coal always fed her first because her attention span meant that she would sit at the table for all of one minute waiting, and by the time we arrived with the food, she was upstairs coloring on the walls.
She took the plate and then set it down to run to her play slide with the corn on the cob in hand.
Coal shook his head, watching her sharply.
“Don’t go down while you’re eating!” he warned.
“I know!” she said.
“You should know that she knows everything by now,” I chastised, hiding a smile.
Coal smacked my ass playfully.
“Don’t start.”
I was going to reply but his hand lingered, giving me a little squeeze. I jumped, biting back a yelp as his fingers went a little too precisely into my crack.
“Hey, not in front of Asha,” I reminded him.
He chuckled.
“Sorry. I’m still getting used to the bubble.”
I bit my lip, trying not to smile too much.
Admittedly, the extra weight had done good things to my body. For the first time, I was feeling confident because I looked so healthy.
And happy too. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t look like I was walking on air every time I looked in a mirror now.
My eyes looked more alive; the way I walked was lighter. Even my hair was bouncy and shiny.
And yes, I’d somehow gotten a bubble. The universe just kept bestowing gifts upon me. Most notably, the man at my side and the family that I would now do anything for.
We sat down at the picnic table, under the wide umbrella to eat.
As usual, I was too distracted by Coal’s cooking to do much talking.
“This steak is divine,” I informed him around a mouthful. “Asha! You’re missing out, come have the rest of your food.”
“Okay!” She slid down the slide, yes, with a mouth full of food while Coal grumbled and watched to make sure she didn’t choke, and came to sit next to us.
As we sat there, the three of us together on such a nice, simple day where no one would have to do anything they didn’t want to do or go hungry or cold, it hit me how different life now was.
I felt sorry for the old me. The one who thought that isolation in the woods was the only way I would have freedom. I hadn’t even known how good life could be, how peaceful.
“What are you thinking?” Coal asked.
I glanced over to find him watching me and smiled softly. He’d probably noticed that I’d stopped eating. That wasn’t like me.
“I was just thinking… how lucky I am,” I said, my gaze falling to Asha.
She had taken me in as completely as Coal had.
“I have so much now,” I said.
“It’s what all omegas deserve,” Coal said firmly, and my affection for him grew another size.
He’d become laser-focused on his new goal: to remove the bait wolves from the fight league.
