Page 73 of For the First Time
“That’s just bullshit.”
My jaw dropped.How was that bullshit?I’d literally heard him say it.Maybe he was more eloquent, but the point was the same.
“Adam is just trying to protect omegas.It’s not wrong to have systems in place to ensure betas aren’t abusing their packmates.You can’t deny that betas lack the biological urge to keep their mates safe.Not the same way alphas and omegas do.That’s all he’s saying.That there needs to be a way to protect omegas.”
My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that it was actually painful.I couldn’t wrangle all my thoughts properly, or coherently, enough to argue with her.I knew she was wrong.I just didn’t know how to explain it to her.“Mom, I literally worked for the OC for over a decade.Don’t you think I’d know more about omega care and packs than an alpha who doesn’t even have a mate?”
She was silent for a moment.I foolishly thought that meant she was thinking over my words, considering agreeing with me.At least until she said, “I know you did good work at the OC, Eve.But you can’t truly understand the biological urge between alphas and omegas.The possessiveness and protectiveness and everything else that goes with being in a pack.”
“Iamin a pack,” I snapped.
Mom Elizabet gasped.“Are you really?Why didn’t you tell us?”She started calling my other moms, her loud yells echoing through the phone.“Eve just told me the most brilliant news!She’s in a pack.”
There were a bunch of congratulations and demands for the phone to be handed over, everyone talking over each other to talk to me.The dark feeling started to disappear.My family was happy for me, excited for me.I didn’t often get a lot of support or congratulations from them, but if I was honest, I didn’t really ever do anything to deserve it.I just sort of existed and sometimes I existed near them.
“All right, all right, I’ll put her on speaker,” Mom Elizabet said.“Eve, are you still there?”
“I want the name of your pack,” my dad said.
“Oh, we can invite them over for dinner,” Momma Abigail said.“Get to know them in person.”
My stomach dropped.I didn’t want my family to meet my pack.I wasn’t ashamed, at least not of my pack.I didn’t trust what my family would say to Atlas, or even Oaks and Everett.
“Wait, wait, hold on.”Mama Mary took the phone, her voice much closer as she asked, “I thought you left the OC.How did you find a pack?”
“The, uh, pack that I started working for claimed me.”Would they find that weird?That I was essentially mated to my employers?I wasn’t sure.I was starting to wonder if I even truly knew their opinions.
“Oh, Eve.”That was Mom Elizabet.“I knew you were going to grow up to be such a good beta.Can you believe it?So good at her job that the pack claimed her.That’s quite an honor.”
The front door opened, pulling my attention away from responding as I took a step back so I could peer down the foyer to Oaks.Whatever he was about to say was lost when he noticed I was on the phone.That didn’t stop him from coming into the kitchen and wrapping his arms around me, his lips coming to my free ear to whisper, “This smells amazing.”
“You can serve yourself now.I’m just talking to my family pack.”
He tensed behind me.
My attention was pulled back to the phone conversation as Mama Mary said, “I wish more betas were like you, Eve.Have you heard of the abuse that’s going down in the OC, now?I bet they’re regretting letting a good one like you go.Do you think you can get your job back?”
“She doesn’t need her job back,” Deborah-Ma said.“She’s got a pack now to care for.”
“I just assumed the pack had an omega to take care of the home.Is your pack going to be applying to the OC soon?”
Oaks moved away so he was leaning on the counter.I was pretty sure he heard my family talking through the phone.I waved my hands, silently motioning for him to start his lunch, but he simply crossed his arms and continued to stare at me.
He was extraordinarily good looking.Despite living at Pink Lady Ranch, Oaks looked like a city man.Was it possible that all his computer typing made his forearms extra sexy?
“Now isn’t a good time,” dad said, answering Mama Mary’s question.“Look at what’s happening at the OC.”
“Even more reason for a good pack to get an omega out of there,” Mama Ruth said, speaking up for the first time.
I had no idea why the whole family was home.Shouldn’t they be working?I knew they were close to the age of retiring, but I’d assumed they’d want me to throw some sort of retirement party when it became official.
“I’m surprised any packs are bonding with betas right now,” Mom Elizabet said.
That comment had Oaks standing taller, his gaze narrowing on the phone in my hands.
“I thought you were all about omegas picking their packs?”I asked.“You can’t say you think an omega has the right to choose and then be shocked when an omega chooses a beta.”
“I do support omega’s choice,” Mom Elizabet argued.“I just don’t understand why any omega would choose a beta.You know I love you, Eve, but you don’t understand an omega’s heat.Mine were so bad, I needed all of my pack to help me through it.An omega choosing a beta in place of an alpha is dangerous for their health.Heats aren’t tended as quickly which means they last longer and that increases an omega’s health risk.You know all this.”
