Chapter Four
Being woken to the scent of bacon and the laughter of your favorite people is the perfect way to wake up. After freshening up, I hurried downstairs to the kitchen where everyone was laughing as they made breakfast.
Lucas was closest to me and hugged me tightly before pushing me towards Tysen who stood at the stove cooking. Tysen turned, a happy smile on his face and the smile changed into the one he wore when he saw me. “Good morning, beautiful mate.”
I stood on tiptoes to kiss him and then snagged a piece of bacon off the plate before he could stop me. “Morning handsome.”
“So, are you ready for today?” Ben asked.
“Today?” What was today? Was it someone’s birthday? I was really bad about dates. It wasn’t an anniversary since we just got back together.
“Yes. Today will be the first pack outing with you as an official member of the pack,” he explained.
Oh! “Pack outing? What are we doing?” I asked.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” Tysen said and winked at me.
Winks were never good. Winks meant it was something I either hated, didn’t particularly like, or would sigh about. It was hard to tell with him which type of wink it was. Unless there was a new type of wink. Could there be a new wink?
“A hint?” I requested.
“The whole pack is going,” Tysen answered.
I groaned and sat down at the dining table to wait for them to finish cooking food. “You’re a butt.”
“So childish,” Marco teased.
“‘So childish,’” I repeated in a mocking tone.
After breakfast, we drove in two separate cars to the county fairgrounds. I had completely forgotten that it was time for the annual County Fair. I loved going to the fair, but hadn’t been in years. We climbed out of the car and I latched onto Tysen’s arm in excitement. “The fair!”
He linked our hands and beamed proudly. “I knew you would like the surprise.”
Orin draped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me away from Tysen. “I bet I’ll beat you in the goldfish bowl toss again.”
“You’re on!” I said loudly, accepting his challenge.
“Come on, kids,” Tysen said with a laugh. I thought he might act territorial with us being mated so recently, but he didn’t seem to mind Orin’s arm around me or that he had stolen me from his side. That was something I was incredibly grateful for.
After paying to enter the grounds, the men argued over how many tickets to purchase. Orin made his purchase first and linked arms with me as we headed towards the fish bowls. “Time to see who the winner is.”
“Don’t cry when you lose,” I ordered him sternly.
He tilted his head back and laughed loudly, a sound I hadn’t heard in too long. He handed enough tickets to the carny for both of us and then took aim with his ping pong balls. I picked up my first one and aimed carefully before tossing it up in an arc. The ball pinged off one of the fish bowl rims and bounced across a few more before landing inside one of the bowls.
“Whew!” I yelled happily.
“That hardly counts,” he scoffed. He tossed his and it went straight into the center of the middle fish bowl.
My jaw dropped. “What?”
Tysen used his finger to push my chin up and close my mouth. “You’ll catch flies like that, sweetheart.”
“Did you…he…how?”
“Your turn,” Orin reminded me.
I growled and tossed my next ball. It bounced all the way across the bowls and off the other side. He tossed his next one looking smug and confident, but his second ball also bounced off the table.
“Ha!” I said happily.
“Don’t act so smug yet,” he reminded me as he held up the last ball.
I picked mine up and exhaled slowly. “Be the ball,” I whispered.
Some of the pack behind us laughed at my comment, but then everyone was quiet when I threw the ball. It arced up into the air and dropped down, straight towards the bowl. This was it, I was finally going to beat Orin! A gust of wind blew through the grounds and blew my ball off course and off the table.
“No!” I exclaimed and let my shoulders sag forward.
“Oh, tough break,” Orin commented.
Tysen hugged me in consolation and kissed my cheek.
“The Gods interfered,” I muttered.
Tysen chuckled and kissed me again. “Yes, they did.”
“Alright, it’s all down to this,” Marco commented. “Orin’s toss will determine if we have a winner or a tie. Will he continue his domination or will he fail? Will this be lost to a draw with no winner?”
Orin growled at Marco and tossed his ball. It went right into the center of the bowl, but the wind blew through again and blew it out of the bowl and off the table.
“Yes!” I screamed happily and leapt up into the air. “Yes!”
“No!” Orin yelled. “That’s not fair! It was in…”
“That’s what she said,” I mumbled.
All of the men laughed, even the carny, at my stupid joke.
“Time for your next challenge,” Tysen told me. “Clown water balloons!”
Our group went to the booth which had enough seats for all of us to sit around it and play at the same time. We had to wait for the group that was currently there to finish. I took the time to look around at all of the people around us. There would be thousands of people who visited the fair this weekend. There would be people who drove hours to come and others who drove minutes. There were people of every race, including elves, werewolves, and many more groups in disguise. I always wondered how they could stand to pretend to be human, the werewolves aside, the rest were not human at all. Did it bother them that humans were the dominate race and basically controlled that they had to pretend to be human? It would bother me.
The group finally finished and we all took our seats.
“You’re going down this year!” Tysen informed me from the other side of the booth.
“No pouting when I win again!” I ordered him and then blew him a kiss and gave him a wink.
The carny for the clown water balloon game was a gangly man with dark skin and gorgeous green eyes. There was something otherworldly about his eyes, but I chose to avert mine and not ask in case he was in hiding. “Everyone ready?” the carny asked.
“Yes!” we all yelled at the same time.
A crowd had gathered upon seeing our group take the seats and taunting and teasing each other as we prepared to play the game. The crowd was smiling and laughing, but everyone quieted down due to the serious expressions now on our faces.
The bell rang and I held down my gun’s trigger, aiming for the clown’s mouth which would fill with the water and fill up the balloon. The person to get their balloon to fill first and pop would win. I had won every year for four years.
“What? Mine’s not working!” Marco yelled in dismay.
“Ha!” I yelled back, focused on the mouth as it continued to fill.
People were commenting behind us about how into the game we were and how funny we were. My balloon popped and a bell rang and lights flashed, declaring me the winner. I set my gun down and stood up with my arms raised in victory. “Yeah! Reigning champion! Woohoo! You can’t defeat me!” I started doing my victory dance and everyone laughed around us.
Tysen handed me the stuffed bear I had won. “Congratulations.”
I hugged the bear and skipped towards the next game. “Thank you.”
I stopped in front of the milk bottle toss game where they had a beautiful unicorn plush for the winner. “You want it?” Tysen asked, his breath tickled my ear as he asked.
“The unicorn,” I whispered in reply and pointed at it.
“Okay.” He rolled up his sleeves and handed the carny some tickets. “We’re going for the unicorn,” he informed him.
“You’ll need to knock down two sets of cans and that will cost you another set of tickets,” the carny explained.
Tysen handed him the tickets and then tossed the first ball in the air and caught it.
“Don’t break anything,” Marco warned him.
Tysen rolled his eyes at him and then said, “My mate wants the unicorn. I can’t disappoint her.”
“How many unicorns have you given out so far?” Orin asked the carny in charge of the game.
“None,” he said smugly. “No one has been able to knock down even one set of cans.”
“You’re about to give out your first unicorn,” Tysen informed him confidently.
“Is this your first date?” the carny asked Tysen.
“In a sense,” he replied with a smirk at me.
“Alright, give it a go,” the carny said and stepped out of his way, looking confident that Tysen would fail. A couple other guys stopped behind us.
One of the guys said, “There’s no way he is going to knock down any of them. I tried four times today and couldn’t knock down a single one.”
Tysen turned and winked at me. “This is for you, baby.”
He threw the first ball and it knocked over the first set of six cans, the ball hit the back of the tent hard, spinning in place, but didn’t go through it.
“Wha…” the carny stared in shock.
Tysen picked up the next ball and tossed it in the air and caught it again while smiling at me. “You remember the first fair we went to when I played this for you?”
I nodded my head. “You won every single stuffed animal for me.”
“What did you guys end up doing with them?” Marco asked.
“We kept two and then gave the rest to an orphanage,” Tysen said.
“Come on, babe. Just one more,” I reminded him.
He turned and threw the ball, knocking the other set down and then threw the third ball into another set and held out his hand. “One unicorn, please.”
The carny handed him the unicorn with a look of disbelief etched onto his face. The two guys who had been talking behind us walked up to the booth to try again.
The guy who had been positive Tysen couldn’t win picked up a ball and threw it at the cans. It hit the cans, but did not fall down. “What the hell?” he growled and grabbed another ball.
“It’s all in the wrist,” Tysen teased the guy.
“It also helps to have some power behind your throw,” Marco said and then winked at the guy.
I reached for the unicorn, but Tysen held it up above his head and pointed at his lips. I kissed his lips and then he handed me the unicorn, which I smothered against my chest. “Thank you.”
He draped his arms across my shoulders and we went to the next game where some of the guys were competing in a tiny car race. Orin, Ben, and Lucas were incredibly focused on their game, not even bantering as they raced.
“Tysen?” a girl asked from behind us.
We turned around and I stared at the gorgeous woman. She had long, slender legs and a face meant for photographing with eyelashes women paid to have put on. She wasn’t smiling, which was an abnormal way for a woman to greet Tysen. Generally, they greeted him with wide smiles and stuck out their chests.
“Hello, Stella,” he replied with a smile.
He knew her? How? Where did he know her from? I wasn’t generally a jealous woman, but Stella was gorgeous. He had said that he had not slept with anyone else, but I guess I had not asked if he had dated or done anything else with another woman.
She looked at me in question. “Um, I didn’t know you were in a relationship.”
“We just got back together,” he explained.
“Oh,” she said sadly. “Well, it was nice to see you.”
“You as well,” he replied and waved as she walked away.
I waited expectantly for him to explain, but after a minute with no explanation, I dug my elbow into his side.
“Ouch,” he grumbled.
“Explanation?” I requested.
“Oh, she was a client. She had asked me out a couple times and I turned her down.”
“You turned her down?” I asked in disbelief. “She’s gorgeous.”
“You’re the only one for me,” he murmured and kissed me passionately.
“Break it up,” Lucas grumbled. “We are in public.”
“She’s jealous,” Tysen informed him.
“Of Stella?” Lucas guessed.
I nodded. “She’s gorgeous and obviously likes Tysen.”
Lucas shrugged. “She’s okay. Not too much fun in bed though.”
My mouth dropped open as I stared at him.
He smirked. “What? Just because I don’t talk much doesn’t mean I’m not still a man.”
Tysen laughed, enjoying my shock and patted Lucas on the shoulder.
After getting over my shock, we continued walking through the fair. I paused by a booth where you could have a name written on a grain of rice. “I want to do this,” I informed Tysen before looking at the various necklaces you could get to put the piece of rice in. They had a keychain that you could put multiple names in. “Why don’t you guys go play a game while I do this?” I suggested to Tysen.
He nodded, kissed my cheek, and joined the guys at a game nearby.
“Hello,” an older man greeted me. “What would you like?”
“I need ten pieces of rice,” I informed him. “Can they all fit in one of the keychains?” I asked.
He nodded. “I have this larger one,” he said and indicated a large keychain I had not seen. “Can you write down the names for me?”
I took the piece of paper and pen that he offered me and wrote down each of the names of the pack members. I double checked the spelling with the seller since there were a few of them with abnormal spellings.
“This will take me a bit of time to complete,” he explained. “Would you like a bottle of water?”
“That would be wonderful!” I exclaimed and gladly took the cold bottle of water he offered me. I turned and surveyed the fair as I drank the water. There were so many different people at the fair. Children were constantly laughing and screeching while most others were smiling. There were the few who were scowling or sad, but they were the few and far between amongst the crowd. Scents of every type filtered through, but none really stuck. It was busy and yet it was also peaceful, in a strange way.
I watched the teenage couples holding hands and smiling happily as they moved around the fair and couldn’t help, but smile too. Seeing the couples made me happy, despite knowing that most of them would not stay together in the end. It was still good to see happiness and joy from the younger generations.
“Here you go,” the vendor said behind me. I turned around and gently took the glass keychain with the names on the rice, all spelled correctly, and flecks of purple within it to help separate the rice a bit. It was beautiful. I handed him the cash I owed him and then let him wrap it up and put it in a bag for me.
“Thank you so much. It’s perfect!” I exclaimed.
“All ready?” Tysen asked as he met me halfway from the vendor.
I nodded and put the bag in one of his cargo short’s pockets.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s mine!” I said and smacked his hand as he reached for his pocket. “No peeking.”
“If it is yours, how can I be peeking?” he asked.
“I just…” I didn’t really want to tell him what it was. It felt childish and at the same time, I wasn’t really embarrassed for having it.
“You’re embarrassed?” he asked.
Stupid bond.
I took it out of his pocket and the bag and held it up to him. The rest of the pack chose that moment to come over and my cheeks heated in embarrassment.
“This is cute,” Tysen said.
The others took turns looking at the keychain, my cheeks grew redder with each one of them looking at it.
Lucas turned his back on me. Had it offended him somehow? I hadn’t meant to upset them.
“I love it,” Kevin said and kissed my warm cheek. “You don’t have a reason to be embarrassed.”
“Lucas?” I asked softly and set my hand on his arm. He didn’t respond, so I walked around to face him and saw a tear on his cheek. “Lucas? What? Did I upset you? I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to…”
He crushed me to his chest and whispered, “I love you, Jess. I am so glad that you are back with us.”
I hugged him and whispered back, “I love you too. I’m sorry I was gone for so long.”
“You’re our moonlight,” he said. “It was very dark without you here.”
“Okay, you’re going to make her cry,” Tysen warned him.
Lucas let me go and returned to being stoic. I was glad that Tysen had intervened because I definitely would have started crying after another moment with Lucas. I had no idea that I caused them so many issues when I left Tysen. I was definitely glad that I was back with the pack.
“Roller coaster time!” I said loudly and handed my stuffed animals to Tysen as I hurried into line for my favorite roller coaster ride at the fair.
None of the pack liked the roller coaster rides, so they just watched me as I enjoyed them. I stood in line behind some teenagers who turned and started flirting with me. I replied to them as though oblivious to their intentions and laughed a little louder than necessary at their lame jokes. Marco had told me that as a teenage boy, it was hard for him to flirt with girls because so often they just dismissed him. I promised him that I would do my best to let any teenagers flirt with me and not dismiss them like he had been. It was harmless and boosted their self-esteem just a smidge.
We finally got onto the ride, an old metal coaster that went high and dropped fast. I pulled the bar down until it latched and tapped the bar in excitement. It wasn’t very long until I realized that something was wrong. The ride was too bumpy and there was a strange noise when we went around the first turn. Despite this ride only being here one week a year, it was really tall and I could look down on the pack and everyone else. I raised my arm to wave at Tysen, when the ride made an eerie creaking sound and the first few cars tilted over the edge with a loud crack. My car tilted over sideways, dumping me out of it but thankfully the car did not fall. I screamed in fear and wrapped my arms around the bar that had been against my waist.
“One, catch the people! Two, shift and catch the cars!” Tysen ordered the pack. He had separated them into two groups for emergencies such as this. It made it easier and faster than calling people out by name to give them orders.
People were screaming from the ground and from the other cars. I wanted to try to reassure the other passengers that everything was going to be okay, that the pack would rescue us, but I was too busy being scared myself.
My car dropped a bit, making my grip loosen. “Tysen!” I screamed in fear. My shirt was caught on something in the car, so I couldn’t just let go to be caught.
“Shifters!” People yelled in shock.
I looked down and watched as Tysen climbed up one of the ride’s support beams, swung from the rails to me and tried to unhook my shirt. It wouldn’t unhook, so he ripped it.
People were still screaming and freaking out on the ground. Police had arrived and the carny controlling the ride was waving his hands frantically while talking to one of them.
“You okay?” he asked me softly as he wrapped me up in his arms and dropped to the ground.
I gripped him tightly and buried my face in the side of his neck. “That was scary,” I mumbled. “Did anyone get hurt?”
“Look out!” someone screamed.
Tysen leapt out of the way as the cars fell. Half of the pack caught the people and rolled out of the way while the other group caught the cars and kept them from hitting anyone.
Everyone cheered and people rushed to their loved ones who had been on the ride. It seemed that no one had fallen out of the cars before the pack started helping them.
Tysen let me down and before any one of the pack could touch me, someone grabbed me into a hug.
“You okay?” the familiar voice asked.
I tilted my head up and stared at Dave in shock. He was my ex-boyfriend from high school and I hadn’t seen him in around twenty years.
“Dave?” I asked in surprise. The last time I had seen Dave, he wasn’t as muscular, but I thought he had been more handsome. Maybe I was jaded now that I was with Tysen, who was undoubtedly gorgeous. As always, there was something off in Dave’s eyes. I had always thought he was a bit strange, like he could snap at any moment. I had never been able to explain it to any of my girlfriends at the time, but there was just something crazy about Dave.
Tysen growled at him and took me from his hold. “Don’t touch my mate,” he ordered him. My ripped shirt was exposing my chest, so Tysen took his shirt off and helped me put it on. He had worn a tank top underneath his long sleeve shirt, so he still had a shirt on, much to my, and every girl around’s, dismay.
Dave smirked at him. “You must be Tysen,” he guessed. “I never expected Jess to end up with a werewolf.”
“Even though you are one?” Tysen asked.
“What?” I asked in shock. Dave was a werewolf? I had no idea.
“You didn’t know?” Tysen asked me.
I shook my head. “We dated in high school, but I had no idea he was a shifter.”
“So, you’re mated to the Alpha? Nice,” he complimented me.
“Um, thanks,” I replied since I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
“Everything alright here?” Kevin asked. He had chosen to wear a tank top to show off his muscular arms and flexed them as he came to stand behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders.
Six men walked to stand behind Dave, all smirking as they faced us. The entire pack had come to stand behind us now, two packs facing off.
“I have always wanted to meet you in person,” Dave admitted to Tysen.
“Well, here I am.”
Tysen was more aggravated than usual. What was it about Dave that made him so angry? He hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Rumor has it that you created a bond with a human by healing her. Would that be Jess that was the human in discussion?” Dave asked.
“Not that it is any of your business, but yes, it was Jess,” Tysen replied.
“So, have you considered that the only reason she has feelings for you is because you created them with the bond from healing?” Dave asked with a cocky grin. His packmates mirrored his cockiness.
“No, because she loved me before the bond was created,” Tysen said smugly.
“Or perhaps she just loved that you were Alpha,” one of Dave’s pack suggested.
“Maybe you should shut your mouth unless you know something,” Kevin ordered him.
“Why don’t you try to make me?” the man suggested.
Everyone started squaring up, a fight about to happen. I couldn’t let them fight, especially not in front of the public.
“Everyone, calm down,” I ordered my pack and focused on feeling them all through the mating bond. If I could just get them all to calm down, I could prevent them from fighting. We had just saved the people on the ride, it wouldn’t look good for them to get into a fight in public now. They needed all the positive publicity that they could get.
Everyone’s shoulders relaxed and Tysen looked at me in disbelief. “Did you just do that?”
“Um, yes.” I nodded, thought I wasn’t completely sure what I had done.
“She’s an Omega,” Lucas whispered and looked at me like I was an angel or something worth revering.
“An Omega?” Dave asked. He looked at his pack and they took a step closer.
“Let’s go,” I requested from Tysen’s side.
He nodded, linked his hand with mine, and we walked away. Thankfully, Dave’s pack did not follow and we were free to head towards one of the three buildings on the county fairgrounds. The building we went to had all of the vendors, allowing them to stay out of the sun and be in an air-conditioned environment. What was wrong with Dave’s pack? They were all slightly unhinged it seemed. Or maybe that was what happened when the Alpha was someone like Dave.
“What’s an Omega?” I asked softly.
“If you were a wolf, you would be the lowest ranking among us,” Kevin answered.
“So, a submissive?”
“No, just because you’re at the bottom doesn’t mean you are submissive. It means that you have the ability to calm us down and defuse situations like the one we were just in,” Tysen explained.
“Can I do it for other packs or just ours?” I asked curiously.
Tysen shrugged. “I’ve never met an Omega before, so I have no idea what they are capable of truly. I have also never met, or heard of, a human who was an Omega in a werewolf pack before.”
“Yet another oddity to add to our growing list,” I chuckled.
The vendors had everything you could ever want and some things you did not know that you wanted. I stood in front of one of the many jewelry stands and looked at the shiny necklaces and bracelets. Tysen picked up a silver necklace with a small silver sun and held it out to me.
“It’s so pretty,” I whispered in admiration as I took it from him and held it gently in my hand. The silver seemed to glow with a light of its own. I turned the price tag over and grimaced. Fifty dollars was a bit out of my price range for a necklace, no matter how pretty it was. I picked up one of the bracelets from the clearance basket and turned it over in my hands. It was several hearts linked together to make the chain. The price tag was much more reasonable at only ten dollars. I paid the man selling the jewelry and then Tysen helped me put the bracelet on.
“It suits you,” he commented.
“Thank you. I really like it.”
“That necklace would have been a good pick for you as well.”
I shrugged and moved to the next vendor. “Maybe, but it was too expensive.”
“I would have purchased it for you,” he reminded me.
“I have caused enough trouble for the year,” I commented.
“Speaking of you causing trouble, we should have brought a backpack for all of the things you are buying.”
I grinned happily and picked up a wooden carved wolf that would look perfect on my desk at work. “What do you think?” I asked Tysen and held up the carved animal. “I think he would make a great addition to my desk at work.”
Tysen smiled and asked, “What will you name him?”
I shrugged and said, “I’m not sure. I think he needs to visit my work first before he gets a name.”
“Why does it have to be male?” Kevin asked as he picked up a carved pig. “The wolf could be female.”
“No,” I said immediately and shook my head. “That way leads to negative thoughts and wishful thinking that I don’t want to go down again.”
“Again? What do you mean?” Tysen asked.
“There was a period of time that I really wished I could be a werewolf. I was practically convinced that you would eventually leave me for a female werewolf and the negative thoughts began to send me down in a spiral of sadness and self-loathing.”
“How did you stop them?” Kevin asked, his attention on me fully as I told them something I had never admitted to anyone before.
“Tysen picked me up one day and told me how he felt about me. I realized that he truly did love me, even though I am human, and that focusing on things that I could not control and would never ever be able to change was just putting me in a bad mood and it was completely unnecessary.”
Tysen hugged me and whispered, “All of that is very true. Werewolf or not, you are the only being alive for me. I love you more than I love anything else in the world.”
“Except steak.”
“Even steak,” he whispered into my ear.
“How much for the wolf?” I asked the vendor and held up the wolf I was going to purchase.
“Twenty dollars,” she replied. “I’ll throw in the smaller version for just ten dollars more too.”
I picked up both and smiled as I held them out to her. “Sold!”
She wrapped them in paper and put them in a bag for me while I got out the money I owed her.
“I just have to say, your boyfriend is hot,” she whispered as she got my change.
I chuckled and replied, “Yeah, I get that a lot.”
“How do you stand all of the women gawking at him?” she asked me, obviously gawking at him herself.
I leaned closer to her and whispered, “I just remind myself that I am the only one who gets to see him naked and knows what it feels like to be completely dominated by him.”
She blushed bright red and then laughed loudly. “You lucky bitch.”
I laughed with her and then took my things and went to the next aisle of vendors.
“What was that about?” Tysen asked me.
“Oh, just talking about having sex with you,” I admitted with a wide smile.
“What?” he asked in shock.
“Oh, dip!” I exclaimed and hurried over to the stand to try the various dips they had. They were the most popular booth because they sold seasonings to make dips with. Their dips were the best anywhere, even from restaurants.
It took me an hour to get through all of the vendors and by the time we were leaving the building, I had several bags full of new things.
“When you make that crab dip, you call me,” Marco ordered me.
I laughed, but nodded my head and said, “You got it.”
“By the time you get to the house, it will all be gone,” Tysen informed him with a devilish smirk.
“I’ll make an extra bowl and hide it,” I promised Marco.
“How many packets of dip did you buy?” Lucas asked.
“Not enough,” I complained, “but Tysen made me stop before I purchased all of their stock.”
“What next?” Kevin asked me.
“Animals! I want to see the baby animals!” I said and tugged on Tysen’s arm.
“Uh oh. You guys were just mated, but she is already focused on babies?” Khaim asked, his eyes bright with mischief.
I felt my eyes widen and stammered, “Nn…no! I am so not ready for babies!”
Tysen laughed and hugged me against his side. “Don’t worry, we won’t talk about that until you are ready, if you ever are.”
I doubted I would ever be ready for children. Children were great to watch, but not to have myself. The barn where the animals were kept was warm, but most of the agriculture groups had fans blowing on the animals to help keep them cool. The instant you entered the barn, you were bombarded with an assortment of scents that overpowered everything else. Hay, manure, animals, and sweat all mixed together into a strange combination that I loved. Tysen didn’t understand it, but there was something about the hay and animals that made me relax. I approached the first row and squatted down to pet the baby pygmy goats. They wiggled their tails and leaned into my scratches.
“I wish we could have a goat,” I whispered as one of the babies butted his forehead against my hand.
“They’d get too worked up every full moon. It would be too stressful for them,” Tysen reminded me.
“Doesn’t mean I can’t still wish for one,” I muttered.
A girl no older than eight years old with pigtail braids held out her hand filled with grain. “You can feed them if you want to,” she offered and indicated an older couple of goats she was sitting near.
I took the grain and smiled. “Thank you.” I squatted down and held out my hand flat, so the goat could get the grain without getting my fingers. The large goat nibbled the grain happily from my hand.
“Is this one yours?” I asked her.
She nodded, her braids swinging as she did. “Yep. I’ve had him since he was born.”
“Did you win any ribbons?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. Showing starts tomorrow.”
“I’m sure you’ll win. He’s the most handsome goat I have ever seen.”
She beamed from my praise and then smiled wider when she saw Tysen. “Alpha Wolf!” she exclaimed happily and walked up to him with her arms out. Tysen picked her up and she hugged him.
I looked at the two in disbelief. There were very few female werewolves and it was very rare to encounter a child.
Lucas walked forward hesitantly, but as soon as the girl saw him, she held out her arms for him to take her. Lucas took her from Tysen and the two stared into each other’s eyes silently.
“What’s going on?” I asked Tysen as softly as I could.
“She’s a werewolf,” Tysen said, stating the obvious.
“I know that. I meant with her and Lucas.”
“They’re talking. Lucas has an ability that lets him talk telepathically with children. He doesn’t get to use it often.”
After several minutes the girl leaned back with a wide smile. “You’re funny!”
Lucas smiled and kissed her forehead. “Be good, Tara.”
Tara leapt out of his arms and walked up to me. “Jess, take care of them.”
I laughed. “I try, Tara, but it’s a full-time job.”
She laughed and then a tall woman with bronze skin walked over to us with a scowl. “What’s going on, Tara?”
“Alpha!” the girl exclaimed and then put her hands over her mouth and her cheeks reddened. “Mama, it’s the Alpha,” she whispered.
The woman stilled and swallowed nervously.
“No need to be worried. My mate likes to see the animals and we just happened to run into Tara. We mean you no harm,” Tysen explained.
Her shoulders relaxed and then she looked at me. “A human? But…you feel like pack.”
“She’s my mate,” Tysen explained.
“And an Omega,” Tara said like I was a goddess.
“How did you know?” I asked her.
She wiggled her fingers at me. “You glow purplish.”
“She’s an empath,” Lucas explained. “She can see auras.”
“Mama, can I visit them sometime?” Tara asked.
“That’s rude,” her mother chastised her.
“Can we talk?” Tysen asked her mom.
She nodded and swallowed, her throat bobbing nervously despite her immediate agreement. Was she just agreeing because he was Alpha? Why would she be nervous? Tysen was not known for being cruel, unless something had changed the past couple of years.
Tysen took her off to the side and talked with her quietly. I tried to use our bond to figure out what was being discussed, but by the end of it the mother was smiling and returned to us. Tysen draped his arm around my shoulders and said, “Well, we have to go, but it was very nice meeting you, Tara.”
Tara jumped up and wrapped her arms around both Tysen and I. “I hope to see you soon.”
Tysen patted her back and said, “We will.”
She beamed with joy, her cheeks reddened again, and then leapt to her mother’s arms.
“Bye,” I said and waved at the pair as we went to the next aisle.
I crooned to some large pigs who were on their sides sleeping.
“What was that about?” Lucas asked Tysen behind me.
“Seems that a small pack of males has been harassing them. Tara’s dad is dead and so it leaves it to Misty to defend them. She’s worried that she won’t be able to keep them away much longer,” Tysen responded angrily.
“What are we going to do?” Marco asked.
“I told her that she could move into one of our duplexes so we could watch after her and Tara. I also told her to give me descriptions of the males so we could find them and have a talk with them.”
Lucas smiled, all of his teeth showing, and I knew exactly what he was thinking without the pack bond. He wanted to tear those males apart.
“So, another female being added to the pack?” I asked as I pet another pig who was drinking from what looked like a giant hamster water tube.
“Jealous?” Kevin asked with a smirk.
I shook my head. “Tysen’s mine, we’re mated, so I have no need to worry.”
“You didn’t have a need to worry before,” Tysen muttered.
I chose to ignore Tysen. “I’m just worried what a single female might do to the pack,” I explained. “I don’t want you guys fighting over her.”
“Dibs,” Lucas said immediately.
“Dammit!” Marco growled.
“What? Seriously? Dibs? This is a woman and her child. You can’t call dibs. She may not even like you,” I snapped at them.
“Babe, they’re teasing you,” Tysen whispered and everyone laughed.
I rolled my eyes at them. “Real mature.”
I stormed down the aisle to the next one and pet some sheep and lambs. I wasn’t really mad at them. I just didn’t like when men acted like women were a piece of meat or something they could ro-sham-bo over.
It was interesting to me that Lucas was the one to show interest. Yes, I knew he was a man and all that, but he was so quiet all the time. Maybe it was Tara? He did have a soft spot for kids and he and Tara seemed to click instantly.
“I’m hungry,” I complained as we past the birds, the one type of animal I did not care to see.
“What do you want?”
“Everything!” I shouted as we headed towards the vendors selling burgers, rice bowls, deep fried desserts, and everything in between. The smell of deep fried food filled the air. There was the sugar and spice filtering through from various vendors, but the one scent above them all that I could smell was the barbecue.
“I’m going to get a tri-tip sandwich,” Kevin said.
“Oh, that sounds good!” I exclaimed. “I want that too.”
“I’m going to get some burritos,” Tysen said. “Why don’t you go with Kevin while I get my food and we can meet in the center where they have the tables under the netting for some shade?”
I kissed his cheek really quick and then linked arms with Kevin as he, Lucas, Khaim, and I went to get some barbecue.
“Your soul is very bright today,” Lucas commented.
Kevin nodded his head. “It’s healed a lot today.”
I hugged his arm and said, “That’s thanks to you guys. It’s great to be back with everyone.”
“We need more days like this,” Kevin agreed. “Our pack has been separated and not spent much time together.”
“Is that my fault?” I asked softly. It seemed like it had happened right after I broke up with Tysen.
Kevin hugged me and shook his head. “No, not at all. We are like other people, we just got busy with our lives and weren’t making time to be with each other.”
We stood in line and Dave sauntered over. “Well, hello again.”
“Hi, Dave,” I replied with a forced smile.
“Here without your mate? Isn’t that a bit dangerous?” he asked with a smirk.
“Not at all,” I replied before the guys could. “I’m here with my pack and my mate is just a scream away.” I smiled wide at him and squeezed Kevin’s arm where Dave couldn’t see to try to calm him down.
“Well, if you were my mate, I would never let you out of my sight.”
“Which is yet another reason I’m not your mate,” I snapped. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. I didn’t want to get the guys riled up just because he was making me mad. “It was great seeing you, Dave, but I’m here with my pack and I’d like to be left alone to enjoy my day.”
“I may not be Alpha of everyone, but I’m still an Alpha. You better show some respect,” he snapped.
“She outranks you even though she is a human,” Khaim reminded him. “I suggest you show her some respect.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked Khaim.
“You’re an equal to Tysen, as his mate. Which means that boy-o here is a lower rank than you.”
“Even though I’m an Omega?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yes.”
Well, there was a twist I had not seen coming. I outranked other Alphas.
“One shot at your Alpha and he wouldn’t be leader any longer,” Dave threatened.
I was tired of his mouth. I took a deep breath and pictured a cool wind spreading out from me to Dave to calm him. I had zero idea if it would work and about ten percent belief that it would.
Dave’s shoulders relaxed and he exhaled slowly. “What?” He backed up a few steps and his eyes widened. “What did you do?”
“She’s an Omega,” Lucas reminded him. “It’s her job to calm us down.”
“She shouldn’t be able to touch me,” Dave growled. He was acting tough, but I could see his hands shaking.
“Please leave,” I ordered him.
He turned and fled towards his pack who were eating at a table in the distance.
“Holy shit,” I whispered in disbelief. “I didn’t think it would work.”
“I’m impressed,” Khaim said. “I had no idea an Omega could touch others outside of her pack.”
“That’s going to prove really useful,” Kevin said.
We got to the front of the line and after ordering, stood off to the side to wait for our food.
“So, Khaim, what have you been up to this last year?” I asked.
“Well, I passed the Bar exam,” he said with a smile.
I leapt up and hugged him. “That’s great! Are you opening your own firm?”
He hugged me back and then shook his head. “No, I’m going to work for Tysen. I might in the future, but for now I’m going to work with him and learn the ropes. Just because I passed doesn’t mean that I am ready to go out on my own. There’s so much to learn about running a business.”
“I’m proud of you! This was a dream of yours since you were a kid, right?”
He nodded. “My parents were ecstatic.”
“I bet!” I said and beamed.
“I broke the record for most hot dogs eaten in an hour,” Kevin bragged.
I smiled up at him and patted his arm. “I’m proud of you too.”
“I didn’t kill anyone this year,” Lucas mumbled.
I laughed loudly and hugged him. “That’s quite an accomplishment too. It seems I missed out on a lot of stuff.”
They didn’t reply and I realized it was a touchy subject for them all. Had I hurt them when I’d left Tysen?
Our orders came and we went to meet Tysen and the rest of the pack. I stole a garlic fry from Kevin as we walked and munched on it happily. Tysen waved at us from a table they had saved and I quickly took my seat beside him. He stole one of my fries and I stole one of his chips. That was what life was about, being with the people that I loved and being happy.
I leaned my head against Tysen’s shoulder and he turned his head to kiss the top of mine. “I love you,” I whispered.
“I love you too,” he replied.
There was a stage not too far away and several kids went on stage to participate in a talent show. We ate our food and cheered for the kids. After a second trip for food, the pack decided it was time for dessert. They got two of every type of dessert and everyone shared.
I leaned back and patted my stomach. “Ugh, no more for me. I’m stuffed.”
Tysen leaned in for a kiss right as I yawned. I covered my mouth and then smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”
“I think it’s time to go home,” Tysen said.
“I could go for a nap,” Khaim agreed.