Page 57 of For the First Time
“I’m just dusting in the spare bedroom.Go ahead and enjoy your lunch.”
I was not hiding away—what a ridiculous accusation.The spare bedroom did need to be dusted.If you waited until there was actual dust to dust then dust would get everywhere.Better to dust before the dust gathered.Better for the filters, too—
“Whoa, okay.What’s going on darlin?”
I stared down the ladder at Oaks as he came into the spare room, hands coming to rest on the ladder’s legs for extra stability.I was currently dusting the ceiling, my notebook and pen resting on the final step of the ladder that wasn’t meant to be stood on in case I had a sudden thought or question to write down.
“You can do lunch, I’m not that hungry,” I admitted.The idea of food had my stomach rolling.I’d just skip lunch today.Maybe do a snack later.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.Pretty sure you’re not supposed to be on a ladder unsupervised.Even the little safety diagram shows you should have somebody nearby.”
I waved my hand.“That’s for heavy duty work.Not dusting.”
“Hm, let me see.Nope.It doesn’t say, ‘disregard if only dusting.’Now, why don’t you tell me what has you stressed, darlin.That way I can fix it.Can’t fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong.”
I couldn’t seem to convince myself to get off the ladder.To step down and explain the phone call.Instead, I flipped back the pages in my notebook that outlined the call with Bartholomew and handed it to Oaks.It only took him a moment to read it all.
“Ah, I see.It seems you got a choice to make.”
I said nothing.
I heard him flipping through the next few pages.
“Or, maybe you’ve already made your choice.”
My heart squeezed inside my chest.But was it the right choice?
“I don’t know what to do.”My words were soft.A confession more than anything else.
“First, you need to get off the ladder.Then we can figure out everything else.”
The moment I stepped off the ladder, Oaks was folding up the large piece of equipment and setting it against the wall.Pretty sure he was going to try and hide that from me later, which was ridiculous.
“Come here, darlin.”He opened his arms, and I ran into them, desperate for the contact.His arms wrapped around me tightly, like he knew I needed to be grounded against him.“Tell me what you’re worried about.”
“Atlas.”He was my first worry.I knew he didn’t see himself as a typical omega, and it was probably one of the reasons I loved him so much.That he was simply ...him.Undefined by society.But that wasn’t technically true.It didn’t always matter what you considered yourself.Society considered him an omega.The public would, too.
“What else?”
“Hannah.”She’d already gone through so much, and only in the last year.I knew if I spoke up, it would drag her back into the public’s attention.Maybe even Koda, too.
“And?”
“I don’t know.There’s so much.There doesn’t seem like a better path.Just two options.”
Oaks’s hands started to rub around my back, comforting me as he thought through his words before speaking.“I know what Everett would say.I also know what Atlas would say.”
I chuckled into his chest.Everett would want to protect me, would want me to do litigation as the safest option.Atlas would want me to go public, to declare all the injustices to the world.“What do you want me to do?”
“Does it matter?You’re the one that has to do it.That has to fight.”
I shook my head.“If I do this, any of this, we’ll all be in it together.Because of Atlas’s bite.”
Oaks growled, his hand fisting my hair and pulling my head back so suddenly, I gasped at the shocking movement.“What did you just say?”
I blinked my eyes, my lips parting without any words coming out.I had no idea what I’d just said.Had I spoken?I didn’t remember.
“We are pack, Eve,” he growled.“Pack.You and me.You and Everett.And you and Atlas.We are not begrudgingly bound to you.We are very fucking impatiently waiting to sink our teeth into you.To claim you as ours.”
