“Isn’t Marco coming?” she asked.
“Not right now,” Chrissy said. “They have other plans for you.”
“What do you mean, other plans?”
Petra rolled her eyes. “Do you need to make that sound so ominous, Chrissy?” she asked. “You’re talking like we’re about to lead her off to be tortured for information or something.”
“Where are you taking me, though?” Sophie asked. She looked down at the dress she was wearing, a simple white cotton shift that she had never seen before. “And whose dress is this?”
“The dress is yours,” Chrissy said. “Petra made it.”
“You did?” Sophie turned to her friend. “Out of what?”
“I had Cam get me the fabric,” Petra said. “I thought you’d like to have something new for this part of the ceremony.”
“For what part of the ceremony?”
“Well, because our pack is new, we discussed it and decided that we needed to come up with rituals and traditions that we liked,” Petra explained. “Because today is the last full day of your mating ceremony, we’re having a feast.”
“Really?” Sophie was stunned. She hadn’t expected anything like that. She and the alphas had been snacking on the rations they’d stored in the cave for the past couple of days, keeping their energy up, but not worrying too much about actually enjoying their food. She had been planning to eat leftover berries and dried meat for breakfast before engaging in the third part of the mating ritual with Marco.
But now, at the word feast, her mind began to run wild with the possibilities. What would they have for her? Fresh meat, no doubt, and berries straight off the vine. Her mouth watered at the thought.
And she would be able to see her whole family. That was even more appealing than food. Though it had been good to be able to focus on her own needs, and the needs of her alphas, Sophie couldn’t help missing her children. She was eager to see them, to verify with her own eyes that they were doing well in her absence.
She got to her feet. “Do we go now?” she asked Petra.
“We were told to bring you along as soon as you were awake and ready,” Petra said. “Are you ready? Or do you need some time to prepare yourself?”
“No, I’m ready now,” Sophie said eagerly. “Let’s go.”
Chrissy led the way out of the cave. Sophie followed and Petra brought up the rear. It was good to have betas as a part of her pack, she thought, especially beta women. Though she loved her alphas more than she knew how to describe, it was nice from time to time to share company with people she could feel were her peers within the pack structure.
Of course, it wasn’t exactly that way. Sophie understood that, as the omega, she was objectively more valuable than any other member of the pack. The whole group would likely fall apart in her absence. She was what had united them, and she was what held them together every day.
But that wasn’t something she had to think about when she was with Petra and Chrissy. They were her sisters, nothing more. She loved them.
Chrissy broke into a jog. Sophie hurried to keep pace with her, but it was difficult. Chrissy had always been naturally athletic and preferred to hunt and even fight alongside the men of the pack when the occasion called for it.
“Slow down, Chrissy,” Petra called, clearly exasperated. “You know we can’t keep up with you, for God’s sake.”
“Run faster,” Chrissy said, but she did slow down a bit. “I’m hungry. I want my turkey.”
Sophie turned back to Petra. “Turkey?” That definitely wasn’t one of the usual foods they found to eat around there.
Petra grinned. “You’ll see,” she said. “We’re nearly there.”
They broke through a cluster of trees into a clearing by the side of the river. It was a place Sophie had visited before, but it looked so different—so transformed—today that she stopped short with a gasp.
“Do you like it?” Petra asked, smiling.
Sophie couldn’t find words.
Five tents had been set up around the perimeter of the clearing, forming a semicircle that faced the campfire at the center. Logs and rocks had been arranged to provide seating around the fire itself, and the majority of Sophie’s family was gathered there, some with babies in their arms. They looked up as she arrived, and Marco was the first to his feet. He hurried across the grass and swept her up into his arms.
“I missed you,” he murmured in her ear.
She clung to him. “I missed you too.” It was amazing how, even though she had never been out of the company of one of her alphas, a part of her felt as if she had been alone for the past two days. It was the part that belonged to Marco, she knew. She couldn’t be complete unless she had all three of them.
She turned in his embrace and looked over at the assembled group around the fire, her mind quickly tallying all the babies she saw. “There are only five,” she said anxiously. “Where are the others?”
“Cam’s got them in their tent,” Marco said, clearly in no doubt as to what she was talking about. He pointed to one of the tents. “That one’s the baby tent during the day. That’s where they all go when they aren’t out and specifically in the care of one of the adults. And we’ve always got someone stationed in that tent, watching them.”
“I want to see them,” Sophie said.
He smiled. “I knew you would. Go ahead. But then come out and get something to eat. We’ve got quite a spread here.”
Sophie didn’t want to leave Marco’s arms, but the need to see her children was overpowering. She pulled free of his embrace and jogged across the clearing to the tent he had pointed out. Lifting the flap, she crawled inside.
Cam, Chrissy’s younger brother by birth, lay on his side, offering his finger to one of the babies. “Hey, Soph,” he said, smiling as he looked up at her. “You made it. I guess that means we’re allowed to eat our breakfast now.”
Sophie grinned at him. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” she said. “I didn’t know this was happening!”
“Yeah, we wanted it to be a surprise,” Cam said. “It was Chrissy’s idea, actually.”
“It was?” Chrissy was always so tough and difficult to connect with emotionally that it was tough for Sophie to imagine her coming up with something like this.
“Chrissy always hated the way southern packs treated omegas,” Cam said. “She’ll never tell you this, but she really cares that you’re being treated well here. It’s one of the main reasons she’s willing to stick with this pack. She likes being a part of building a pack structure that values its women instead of kicking them around.”
Sophie’s heart warmed. “I had no idea she felt that way,” she said.
“She wanted to make sure this mating ceremony felt like a holiday to you,” Cam said. “Like more than just doing your duty for the alphas. She wanted to make sure you felt celebrated.
“God,” Sophie said. “I’m going to have to thank her. That’s amazing.”
“No, don’t thank her,” Cam said. “She definitely doesn’t want you to know any of that stuff. The last thing she wants is some touchy-feely conversation about it.”