“I’m never coming back,” Josie announced as she walked into the lobby of her therapist’s office.
I leapt to my feet, meeting her halfway across the room and pulling her into my arms. She was trembling and I squeezed tighter, wishing my arms were enough to protect her from every bad thing that had ever happened.
“I mean it this time,” she said, her voice muffled against my chest.
“Okay, love. You don’t have to come back.”
After every therapy session, she said she would never return. And yet, every Tuesday, she asked me to drive her to her appointment.
I knew how she felt. We were all in therapy now and it was bloody horrible. At first, I’d just gone to support Josie, but I’d been forced to admit that it was actually helpful. I had a love/hate relationship with my therapist, who was helping me learn to express my feelings and ask my pack for help. Through it all, I was slowly realizing that my worth wasn’t based solely on what I could offer my pack—it was something intrinsic inside me.
It was still fucking hard work.
Josie and Cam were both doing some weird-ass trauma therapy called EMDR, and it was intense for all of us. I knew Josie tried to block her emotions from the bond during sessions, but inevitably, they seeped out. Cam had been banned from bringing her to therapy after he barged into her session, convinced that something terrible was happening because of the intensity of her emotions.
Josie’s hand automatically went to touch her most recent scar where Angie had removed the device. It was much cleaner than her other scar, a barely visible line in her skin, but when she got stressed, she would scratch it, sometimes drawing blood without realizing it. I gently pushed her hand away, running my fingers over the scar before leaning down to kiss it. Josie’s therapist had said it would take time for her body to realize the device wasn’t there anymore.
My mate entangled her hand in my hair instead. I purred softly, knowing we should head out to the car but unwilling to let her go yet. Being separated from her for the fifty-minute session put me on edge. None of us wanted to let her out of our sight. That was another thing my therapist said I needed to work on. Bloody unlikely.
“Want to get ice cream, angel?” I asked, wanting to do something to fix how she was feeling. My therapist’s voice floated in my head: feelings don’t need to be fixed.
Fuck that.
Josie was my omega, and I was always going to do everything I could to care for and protect her.
“Umm, I don’t know,” she said in a small voice.
She had gotten better about eating regularly, but food was still challenging for her.
“Or we could go home and see what Ben’s baking?”
Ben and Josie had been talking more seriously about opening their bakery. Josie was taking online graphic design and business marketing classes. Colleges in our province hadn’t opened up classes for omegas yet, but Lilah had managed to get Josie enrolled at a university in Sol. Ben and Josie were both anxious and doubted their ability to run a business, but I knew they could do it.
A smile tugged at Josie’s lips, and the knot in my chest loosened a touch.
“That sounds good,” she said.
I tucked her into my side, and we headed towards the car.
“Ben just texted,” Josie said, fiddling with her phone. “He’s wondering if we can pick up some things at the grocery store.”
I glanced over, trying to sense her emotions through the bond. What was Ben thinking, asking her to get groceries? We weren’t far from Trader Joe’s, but Josie was still nervous about being around people. I didn’t want to push her into anything, especially after therapy.
“I can drop you off at home and then come back out,” I offered.
She bit her lip. “That seems silly.”
I squeezed her thigh. “It’s not a big deal.”
She took a deep breath, placing her hand on mine. “No, we should go. It’s just a few things.”
My chest tightened, but I couldn’t sense any panic through the bond, so I took the next right turn into the Trader Joe’s parking lot. My hands felt clammy as I pulled into a spot towards the front. Shit, maybe I was the one who was nervous about this. It was hard to know when I was being too protective after everything we’d been through.
Josie was quiet, and I was about to call off the trip and head home when she broke the silence.
“Should we role play?” She was looking out the window, staring at the store entrance.
I raised my eyebrows in confusion.
“You know, I’ll walk in ahead of you. You can stare at me from the car and follow me into the store.” She turned towards me, a smile tugging on the corner of her lips. “I’ll even pretend to faint so you can be all heroic and carry me out.”
I choked on a surprised laugh. “More likely I’d be arrested.”
I shifted in my seat to discretely hide my hard-on. Fuck, now I kind of wanted to consensually stalk her.
Josie’s eyes filled with delight as she glanced down at my crotch. “Wow, I was joking, but now I’m into this idea.”
“Not here,” I said with a scowl, knowing I couldn’t let her out of my sight in public. “But maybe we can do something like it another time,” I muttered, her laughter following me as I exited the car.
Josie waited for me to open her door, which my alpha fucking loved. She was so fiercely independent and capable, and we were learning how to better support her without stifling her. But she was also getting better at leaning on us and letting us do things for her.
I reached out my hand, but she hesitated.
“Should I use de-scenter?” she whispered. “I know you don’t like it—”
“No, no, what I want doesn’t matter,” I said, cutting her off. “You should do whatever makes you most comfortable.”
I lifted her chin so she met my gaze. She gave a little nod and bit her lip as she processed what she wanted to do.
It put me on edge when she wore de-scenter, but even more than that, I hated that it still wasn’t safe for omegas to move around alone in public without it. Even though laws were changing, society would take a long time to catch up.
I caressed her face, forcing myself to be patient.
“Does it look crowded?” she asked.
I glanced up at the store. The parking lot was only half-full and there usually weren’t a lot of alphas shopping here, anyway.
“Doesn’t look it,” I said.
“Okay, let’s go.”
She hopped out of the car, leaving the bottle of de-scenter in the seat. I pulled her in for a tight hug, sending the surge of pride and love I felt through the bond.
Josie hung onto my hand tightly as we walked to the entrance, but there was a bit of a bounce in each of her steps. Maybe Ben had been onto something. We all wanted Josie to feel more confident.
“Oh!” Josie exclaimed, waving.
I followed Josie’s gaze and saw Westin walking out of the store, pushing a cart with a few paper grocery bags. She smiled when she saw Josie but looked pale, with dark circles under her eyes. I felt oddly protective of her. She was Josie’s friend, and I knew she didn’t have much support. At least she wasn’t being threatened by the device anymore.
“I’m so glad we ran into you. Are you coming tomorrow? We hadn’t heard anything,” Josie said, pulling Westin into a hug.
“Sorry about that,” Westin said, “I haven’t felt up to doing much, but I’m planning on coming.”
I held back my groan. Josie and her friends were doing a self-defense class graduation where they would do a fight simulation. I’d been dreading it all week.
“Do you need a ride home?” Josie asked.
“I called an Omega Taxi. I think that’s them,” she said, gesturing at the red Honda pulling up next to us.
I bristled. “Is that safe?”
The driver looked to be a beta woman, but you couldn’t be too cautious these days. Josie had told us about this taxi service that started about a month ago to help omegas move around more freely since the driving ban hadn’t been repealed yet.
“I’ve taken it several times,” Westin said, grabbing her groceries from her cart. She wobbled a bit, and I lunged forward to grab the bags out of her hands. She gripped the side of the cart and took a deep breath.
“Sorry, I’m fine. Just got a bit dizzy there.” She met my gaze with an unconvincing smile and went to take the grocery bags back. I scowled, turning to load the bags into the trunk for her.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Josie murmured, taking Westin’s hand. “You can come home with us if you need to.”
Westin just shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m fine. I have something I need to do tonight, anyway.”
Josie looked like she wanted to argue but thought better of it. “Text me when you get home. And maybe we can catch up more tomorrow?”
“I’d like that,” Westin said with a small smile.
Josie waved as the car pulled away. I grabbed Westin’s cart before it could roll into the parking lot and held out my hand to my omega.
“Her life just seems so lonely,” Josie said, curling into my side. “Like mine, before I met you.”
The words I wanted to say caught in my throat. You saved me from my loneliness.
I leaned down to kiss her forehead.
“I love you,” I murmured.
She met my gaze with a radiant smile, holding my hand tightly as we walked into the store.
