And maybe I missed them a little bit.
Walking out of the kitchen, I came to a stop when the front door opened and there they were. Damn, looking at my two mates made my heart beat like I was being chased by a wild bear.
“Ben, you look tired,” I said a little gruffly. Lucy always said I needed to work on my tone. A little more gently, I added, “Come here,” and opened my arms wide, folding him inside them when he came to me.
“I can’t be tired. I just woke up from a nap.”
I looked at Colt. “You okay?”
“Sure, why wouldn’t I be okay?” he asked, shrugging out of his jacket.
“You’ve had a long day.”
“Hi, I’m here, too, and I’m tired but okay as well,” Laura said, passing me and going into the kitchen.
“Same,” Nova said, following her.
I lifted my eyebrow at Colt.
“She has an omega nephew about to be turned over to the government,” he said.
I nodded. “Ah.”
Colt gave me a hug and a kiss, and then we each kissed Ben.
The doorbell rang and Colt went to open it. Bertram and Trey stood on the porch, baby Bertieasleep in Bertram’s arms.
“Come in,” I said. “Don’t worry—we’ve cleaned the house from top to bottom today. No one here is sick.”
David came in from the living room. “Hi, you guys. Come put little Bert down in the portable crib. It’s all clean and ready for him.”
Trey took the baby from Bertram and followed David.
I texted Maddox that they were there and, a few seconds later, he came down the hall with Carter and Jackson.
Jackson set his laptop on the coffee table and began tapping away at the keys. “I’ll have Mom and Dad on here in a jiff,” he said.
“Kids are all in bed,” David said, returning with Trey. They sat together in the oversized chair.
Looking at Bertram, I said, “Colt, Ben, and I are mates.”
Eyes widening, Bertram turned to look at me. “You sly dog! You acted like you had no intention of mating an omega, and here you’ve done it and taken on Colt to boot.” He frowned. “Wait a dang minute. Colt’s not a beta, he’s an alpha! How the heck does that work?”
“That’s a subject for another day,” I said, settling in a chair. “Colt, would you grab a couple of the kitchen chairs and bring them in here?”
Colt started in there, then immediately backed out.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you getting the chairs?” I asked.
“Uh, yeah. I didn’t want to interrupt, though.”
“Interrupt what?”
Laura and Nova walked out of the kitchen, Laura’s face as pink as the peonies Lucy used to grow in the garden and Nova looking far away in her thoughts. I didn’t think either one of them noticed me and Colt standing there. Sharing a look, we hurried into the kitchen to get the chairs.
“I’m a little confused on what this’s about,” Bertram said when we were all seated in the living room and Elise and Vaughn Michaels had greeted everyone from the computer screen where Jackson had called them using Skype.
“You’re familiar with the Omega Reintroduction Program, obviously. And you probably know from the news that there are parents of registered omegas who are up in arms because the government won’t give them contact information.”