He nodded. “Loud. Always loud.” Then, “Ox. Oxnard.”
“What about him?”
“Said I was still Omega.”
“Yeah. I guess you are.”
“Said I didn’t have to be. That I needed to trust him. He would be my Alpha. Joe too.”
I needed to tread carefully. “They were once. Weren’t they?”
“I don’t know.” He looked down at our hands. “Maybe.”
“He won’t hurt you. Neither will Joe. They want you here almost as much as I do.”
He looked at me. Kelly had given him a piece of leather cut from his pack. Gavin had used it to pull his hair back off his face, tying it off. It looked good on him, even if his brow was furrowed. “You’re different.”
“How?”
He shook his head. “Just… more. Different. Stronger? I think. Not like you were before.” He flashed his violet eyes at me. “You were like me. Animal. Wolf. And in the cabin, the same.”
It hit me then. “You didn’t know me as a Beta. I was always an Omega, ever since you came to Green Creek.”
He looked away. “Not like me. Not anymore.”
I squeezed his hand. “Is that bad?”
“I don’t know. Just here. By myself.”
“You’re not,” Kelly said, and Gavin jerked his head up. Kelly glanced at him before looking out at the road before us. “It doesn’t matter if you’re an Omega or a Beta. You don’t have to do this alone, Gavin. You saw what happened when you left. Carter found you. Remember that, okay? And this isn’t just about Carter. We were all looking for you.”
“Looking for my father,” Gavin bit out.
“That too,” Kelly allowed. “But if we could find him, we could find you. And not just because of what you are to my brother.”
“What am I?” he asked, and it was a challenge.
“Yeah,” Kelly said dryly. “I’m not even going to touch that. You two can figure that out on your own. I think.”
I opened my mouth to snap at him, but the words died on the tip of my tongue.
I barely noticed the blue house passing us by on the left.
Because there, standing on the porch at the house at the end of the lane, was the rest of my pack.
Robbie was bouncing on his feet, his glasses crooked on his face.
My uncle Mark was smiling a secret smile, the raven on his neck looking as if its wings were fluttering. Gordo had told me they’d thought about trying to remove Mark’s raven like they’d done to his own, but Aileen and Patrice hadn’t thought it necessary.
Bambi stood near the door, a bundle in her arms. I watched as she leaned down and pressed a kiss to a small sliver of skin.
Jessie had her arm wrapped around the waist of Dominique, her head lying on her shoulder.
And there, walking slowly down the steps, a shawl wrapped around her shoulders, was a queen.
My mother.
Elizabeth Bennett.