Page 19 of Tawny Omega
I nodded, momentarily beyond words. But when the warm tea slid down my throat, I found my voice again. “Janis, even if I wanted to be with them, why would they want me? I’m so damaged and don’t trust anyone anymore. I take it back. I trust you and other females. I trust Karissa believes the things she said to me. She said Rork and Craven and Flint are good friends with her pack and that just being her friend will make mesomeone her males will protect. This is not a world I’m used to, and even though I want it all to be true, how can I ever believe that?”
Janis sipped her tea and let me spill my guts until I was done before attempting to reply. “Finished?” she asked.
I lay slumped on the couch, completely spent and not knowing where to go from here. “Yes, I think so.”
“Good, then let me tell you about another young lady who did not have the ability to trust anyone. I left my family home at sixteen, before I could be matched. My family was a lot like yours. Different animal, same concept. If she’d stuck around, she’d have been coerced to accept whoever they chose, and ended up living a half-life.”
Active, funny, kind Janice with her gorgeous thrift shop that drew in everyone in town at one time or another. I couldn’t picture her living under the thumbs of controlling alphas.
“Did you have mates?”
She glanced down at her hands, twisting a silver ring on one finger. “I had one mate. He was older than me, with grown young who thought I was a gold digger. And we were only together about ten years before he passed, but it was worth it. He was worth it. I am afraid that your family’s mistake will cost you the happiness you deserve.”
“Oh no—”
“Don’t tell me no. It is very easy to hold back and make excuses. The harm others have done to us is on them. Those who attempted to do you ill have no right to live rent-free in your head. You escaped, so don’t live partially imprisoned.”
“It’s only been a short time. Even if I did want a pack, it’s too soon.” Heat crept through my veins, and my legs and arms felt swollen. Why did I feel so off?
“I almost turned my back on my mate. Everyone said he was too old for me and that his kids were going to be a real pain.Both things were true, but I would have missed out on the best relationship with the best man. Your timing may not be the best, but I know these males, and they are good men.”
I didn’t know what to do. “They want to help me get the cleaning and stuff done at Pages.”
“That’s good news.”
“And Karissa said they are going to organize a whole bunch of others to come. Can I say how uncomfortable that makes me? I’m a charity project when I want to be a respectable businesswoman.”
“Don’t you say that. There are plenty of good charitable causes in this town, but this is just neighbors helping neighbors. If the shop next door asked for help, would you do it?”
“Of course.”
“Then accept what this lovely town has to offer, pass it along when the opportunity arises, and just be happy? Deal?”
“Put that way, you make it hard to say no to.”
“Then don’t.”
I just wished all the stress wasn’t making me feel feverish.
Chapter Nineteen
Rork
I was up at dawn and for the best reason ever. Today, we began the not-so-official courting of our mate. Really, it started the day before, but this morning, I wanted to show off a little.
“What in the world?” Flint came out of his room at the same time Craven did. He had a big cup of lavender and chamomile tea to make sure he slept through the night, counter to his regular schedule. We needed all our energy for our mate today.
“What? Is it too much?”
The island was full of goodies. Breakfast sandwiches of all kinds. Pastries. Muffins. Baked donuts. Even breakfast burritos. With no direction about what Tawny liked or didn’t, I had to run the gamut. And I’d already packed the hot sauce, ketchup, and honey.
All I had to do was pick up coffees, and I’d sent a text to Byron at the coffee shop the night before, warning him that I had a big order.
This was my thing.
“It’s a lot, but you did well,” Craven said, stealing one of the donuts.
Flint sighed. “Just so we’re all on the same page, she’s ours, right? Scent-match. Fated mate. True mate. Soul mate. Our omega. Whatever you want to call her. I’m not the only one.”
