Thirty minutes later, I exited my bedroom and searched out the omega and my unit, finding them outside, sitting around a table that was covered in bowls. Next to the bowls lay a platter of seasoned meat waiting to be put on the grill.
"Nice of you to join us, alpha," Bran was the first to spot me, and I was unsure if it was sarcasm or sincerity. "We left the meat for you to grill."
"He is the best at the grill," Leo told the omega, and damn it, that subtle compliment had my chest puffing up with pride.
"I can't wait to taste it," she offered as I grabbed the meat, checking to make sure the grill had been preheated before I plopped the steaks onto it.
When the sweet sound of steak sizzling hit my ears, I turned toward her again. "Omega, how do you like your steak?"
Her eyes glistened for a moment, a hint of mischief in them, and I knew her omega was speaking to her, but when she replied, she held none of that mischief. She cleared her throat, "Medium rare."
"Perfect." I turned my body back to the grill, ignoring the heat that had nothing to do with the cooktop and everything to do with what that glint in our omega's eyes meant. No, not ours. The omega.
Our omega.
I ignored my alpha, putting all my concentration into watching the meat and listening to Bran and Leo chat, talking about everything, while the sweet little omega added in her opinion. Something about the situation seemed more right than I cared to admit, but I still couldn't keep her.
After flipping the steak and finishing it off, I plated it before returning the meat, cooked to perfection, back to the table. The omega inhaled deeply, "Looks amazing, alpha. Thank you."
I sat down across from her, grabbing a bowl and pulling back the wrapper. Before I could question what was inside, she piped up, "It's potato salad. The other is fruit."
"Our omega needed something to do while Bran and I struggled for our lives bathing Persimmon," Leo's eyes sparkled as he spoke, baiting the omega.
"Persimmon was a perfect angel, don't believe a word of what he says." Her brows furrowed at Leo, then turned to Bran, "And if I recall, neither of you wanted to let her go after the bath."
"We couldn't. She had literal claws into us," Leo laughed.
"Don't soil her good name," she raised her chin defiantly. "No potato salad for you."
Leo leaned forward, grabbing the bowl before she could fully pull it away, "Come on, darling, you know I'm only playing. Your cat's an angel like you."
Given the chaotic sprints she was doing around the house when I came inside, I doubt that to be the truth, but I still enjoyed watching my unit relaxing for once. Everything was always about work, but for these few hours at the end of the day, the first in a long while, Bran and Leo actually looked like they were enjoying themselves.
"I think," Bran leaned forward on his elbows, "that it's only a matter of time before that little kitten has the alpha wrapped around her little tiny paw."
"Never," I insisted. I barely tolerated the cats on a good day. The only reason I let them exist is they got rid of the mice, which were bad for the crops and spooked the horses.
"Two weeks, tops," Leo agreed.
"You both are ridiculous," the omega took my side. Well, for all of two seconds. "He'll be petting her by the end of the week."
"Omega," I warned.
"Oh, he's getting testy because he knows it's true," Bran pointed out.
"Had I known you three would gang up on me while I was trying to relax and eat, I would have skipped coming out here and spent my evening inside."
"Don't be a baby," Bran offered me the bowl of fruit. "Until you came out, I was the victim between them."
"Don't let this omega fool you," Leo looked so proudly at her. "She is quick-witted."
"I grew up with a lot of brothers. They left me little choice," she admitted.
"I'd like to meet these brothers," Bran put more potato salad onto the omega's plate.
"Maybe someday," she shrugged, and her expression was all we needed in order for us to realize that was the end of that conversation.
We aren't keeping her, I reminded my alpha when he agreed with Bran.
