It had been three weeks. Three weeks since I’d seen Killian, felt his arms around me, was enveloped by his maple scent. Three whole weeks—of course, that meant there was a storm on the day of my flight. I pulled my phone out to text Killian.

Rain delay.

I pulled up the radar map to see how long this mess was going to take. From what it looked like on my tiny screen, it was going pretty quickly, so maybe not long. My phone buzzed.

I know.

Because of course he did. To be fair, I would’ve been stalking his flight’s status if the situation were reversed. We had kept in constant contact, chatted for hours, sent texts, video called, video sexed, heck I even sent him snail mail. In some ways, I had learned more about him because of our separation. But now, now I just needed him by my side.

Stalker much?

Excited. I’m starting to believe you’ve been a figment of my imagination. I need to touch you.

I’ll text you when I am on the plane. I love you.

I crossed my fingers and toes that the delay would be short lived. As it was, the incoming flights had quite a few cancellations popping on the screen, so too long of a delay could easily mean there was no plane left once flights resumed, and that was a problem even my money couldn’t solve. My phone buzzed and I looked down to read Killian’s response.

I love you. I can’t wait to have you in my arms.

Why couldn’t teleportation be a thing?

Same.

I pulled out my laptop to work and found myself searching real estate sites again instead of being productive. It had been happening a lot lately. I enjoyed being at Killian’s, well, our house, but with our new menagerie, it was a bit cramped.

After Killian had flown to be with his mom, I walked into an empty house. Coop arrived shortly after with our babies, but for a solid half hour, it was just me, and the loneliness slammed into me hard. Which made no sense since I had seen Killian not long before, but I learned a long time ago you can’t always control your feels.

When I opened the door to the spare room that first day, remembering Killian’s promise of a surprise, I burst into tears. He had somehow managed to finish the repairs in the room without me knowing. But it was so much more than that. In between the two windows hung a sign that read “Whisper.” It was one of those popular faux distressed wooden signs, they were in all the discount stores, most of containing bible quotes or inspirational shit, ugly as could be, but the meaning behind this one transformed it to the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. He had made a home for our snake before we had mated. It was all I could do not to turn back around to the airport and get on a plane. The only thing that stopped me was my promise to take care of his fur babies, our fur babies. Whisper and Blubby could be self-sufficient for a day or two if need be.

As much as I adored this place I now called home, my apartment all but abandoned, with the addition of Whisper and Mr. Jenkins, it was crowded at best, and that was without setting up an office, which I was going to need since leaving everything on the kitchen table during crunch times wouldn’t be ideal now that I was sharing a house with a cat, let alone Killian when he returned. I also had a feeling that if, no, when Killain’s mom was discharged, she was going to need someone to stay with her, and Coop was out of the question with his kickbutt internship, even if Killian would concede the position of caretaker, which I knew he wouldn’t. A house with an in-law cottage was ideal, but Killian was still weird on the money thing, so I didn’t want to push. That didn’t stop me from looking, and far too often.

Thankfully, the airport was only closed for an hour, and it was only two hours before they got things back on track. Then I was on a plane, headed to see my alpha.

I managed to travel with only a carry-on, which for me was a miracle in and of itself, and I headed straight to the taxi loading area, hoping to make it to the hotel before midnight, when the scent of maple filled my nose. He was here. I spun around. He was only feet away. I flung myself at him, needing to be in his arms.

“I missed you so much,” I mumbled into his neck before inhaling deeply. “I told you I would snag a taxi.”

“I missed you too much to wait.” He smothered my face with kisses and a sense of home filled me. I was where I belonged, with my alpha.

My brain knew he needed to be here with his mom. My heart even knew it, but my heart also longed for him to be home, with me. Once the doctors figured out the cause of her illness and how to treat it, new decisions would be made, but for now we were in limbo.

I was under no illusion that the doctors would have continued caring for her without my money. If I hadn’t been paying, they would have shunted her off to a nursing facility. As wrong as that was on a humanitarian level, I was happy on a personal one. She mattered to me, even if I had yet to meet her.

“Let’s go,” I said halfheartedly, wishing once again that the teleportation option was available. I wanted to be alone with my alpha, preferably naked, but letting him go long enough to make that happen was a struggle. It didn’t help that I was close to my heat.

If I went into heat, anyways. The results of my blood work were less than ideal, even if they weren’t completely discouraging. The doctor told me that while I could get pregnant, it probably would take more than one try, and I might not have heats as regularly as I expected. That was no surprise; I’d never been as regular as the other omegas I worked with who could plan their heat leaves out to the day.

Killian and I had discussed it and decided what happened happened, and that worked for me. It meant no condoms ever—winning. And best case scenario, we had a baby in the next few heats. Worst case scenario—I didn’t even want to think about that, but with my alpha and furbies, which was my new nickname for our menagerie, fur or not, life would be good.

“You need to let me go first.” He chuckled, but started walking with me still wrapped around him. I guess the letting go was optional.