One of Preston’s old work buddies? What were the fucking chances?
“Dude, thanks—though, maybe next time, comebeforethe concussion. They want me to take it easy for at least a week,” I whined.
“He had a concussion not long ago, courtesy of our omega,” Preston explained.
Hudson nodded. “She seemed like a spitfire, swinging that bat around.”
I snorted. “That bat also happens to be how I got the first concussion!”
His brows rose. “Well, that’s kind of impressive.”
“Are you staying in town long?” Preston asked. “Thank you. Seriously. Thank you so much.”
“A few days, but then I need to leave. I got offered a job up in Seattle. Actually, my whole pack got offered a job. There’s a firehouse that was decommissioned a few years back that they want to bring back to life. I’ll have the captain role, and the rest of my pack will be sergeants.”
“That’s a sweet gig.” Preston whistled. “And a hard one.”
“It’ll be worth it to work together. You probably know better than anyone how working away from each other can get hard.”
Nolan and I gave each other a long look. We knew, we certainly knew.
“I thought I may as well make myself useful here for a while. I’ll work with the LAFD to see if we can salvage anything from your place.”
“Really? You would do that for us?” Merrick asked.
Hudson shrugged. “I’ve got nothing better to do, and I owe Preston. He saved my ass more times than I can count when I was a smoke jumper.”
“It’s mutual.” Preston chuckled.
The doctors insisted on keeping Hailey in for another two nights, but we didn’t complain. We were all happy she was being closely watched by the professionals.
I stuck to her side like glue, because I wanted to, but also because I was fairly sure the rest of our pack wanted me somewhere there were medical professionals nearby as I recovered from my head injury.
Preston and Merrick had gone back to the house to salvage what they could with Hudson, and Nolan was off doing a bunch of paperwork and trying to procure us another house as soon as possible. Hailey needed a home; she was going to have a baby in a matter of weeks. I felt like a failure of an alpha, with my omega so close to giving birth and no nest.
She was so small in the hospital bed, and while I knew it was the safest place for her, that didn’t make me hate the sight of it any less. There were monitors on her belly and an oxygen tube that went to her nose.
I was dozing off in the armchair next to the sleeping Hailey as my phone buzzed.
Nolan
I found a place. Lots of land, bigger house than Merrick’s. They want a quick sale, and if you guys like it, I’ll make it happen.
Several photos came though a moment later, and I let out a low whistle. It was stunning.
Wilder
Fuck yeah. Look at that nest, all that natural light!
Preston
Also, so much garage space. The basement would make an awesome gym.
Merrick
Do it.
Nolan