We sit in the quiet for quite some time when the omegas appear to clear the tables. I realize that Robbie is looking for Stella, but I’m not sure if he wants her close or not. Robbie, do you want her to come over or stay away? I mind link to ask him.
Probably best to stay away for now. He responds, so I do what any decent sister would do.
“Nick!” I call out to a different omega and he walks over to us. He reaches me and then realizes who is at the table and stops to bow.
“Is everything ok, Molly?” he asks me.
“Yeah, it’s great.” I tell him. “Grab those plates, would you? I’ll help you take them over. I have a secret mission for you.” I say, making a silly face so he knows he’s not in trouble. I stand and take Seth’s plate. He frowns at me and I realize it’s probably because I’m helping. Whatever. It’s just who I am and my place in this pack. Nick and I get everything situated on the tray and walk off.
I look back and see Seth frowning, but he turns and is speaking with my parents now.
“What did you need, Molly? Everything ok?” Nick asks me.
“Yeah!” I tell him. “I was going to ask you to grab the cake I made for my dad but I’ll just go down and get it.” I tell him.
“Not in those shoes, you won’t”, Nick tells me with a laugh. “When do you want me to bring it up?”
“That’s a fair point.” I tell him and he’s not wrong. I’m good in heels, but I’m not sure how good I am going up stairs in them while holding a cake.
“When Robbie’s cake is up and everyone is paying attention to him, it would be best”, I tell him. “He wouldn’t want it to be a big deal. He was adamant that today would be about Alpha Robert.”
“So you made him his own cake?” He asks, confused.
“It’s who I am, Nick. It’s who I am.” I tell him with a smile and walk back to my seat.
I sit down and as soon as I do, Seth leans in to whisper “Is everything ok with this Nick?” and the way he emphasizes his name I know he’s unhappy. But I just walked off to the side of the room. I’m not even sure what he thinks he has to be upset over.
“It’s fine.” I tell him meekly, unsure about what to say. “He’s helping me with a surprise for later.” and I offer a smile, hoping it will help ease the tension.
Things ease a bit as our dads continue their conversation about stories from their youths, the details exaggerated, no doubt. Seth and Robert throw in a few stories from their time training and we all laugh along. After a while, the omegas bring up the large cake I had made for Robert.
“Who made the cake?” Robbie asks me.
“Me, of course!” I tell him. “I turned over my kitchen so I’d be here with you but you didn’t think I’d trust someone else with your cake, did you?” I ask.
Robbie stands up and walks around the table, grabbing my arm to pull me up and into one of his giant bear hugs. “Thanks, kiddo. I’m really going to miss this.”
“Don’t worry.” I say into his chest sadly, “There’s still time for him to reject me.”
“He won’t,” he says and places a kiss on the top of my head and walks over to the cake.
Everyone is looking at the new Alpha Robert and his giant cake. I glance over and see Nick in the door holding the small cake. I walk over and take it from him and when I turn around I see Seth staring at me, but I can feel his anger finally start to subside. I continue towards the table to stand behind my dad, placing the cake down in front of him and kissing him on the cheek.
He looks down and laughs one of his loud boisterous laughs that I love so much as he looks down and reads his cake.
“Happy Retirement, Old Man”
Dinner and dessert are both done and now it’s time to mingle. It’s the thing I hate most. An Alpha from a neighboring pack walks up and begins talking to Seth and I take that as my chance to exit rapidly. As I’m walking off I see the young, future Alpha that I met this morning approaching me.
“Hello. Molly, right?” he asks me, stretching out his hand to me. I take it and shake.
“Yeah, it’s Molly. Chris, yeah?” I ask.
“Yeah! You remember.”
“I try.” I say to him.
“It’s you that’s over the kitchen here, right? I’ve heard such good things,” he asks.
“Oh, yeah, that’s me. I’ve been over them for a few years now.” I tell him, surprised that anyone outside our pack knows this about me.
“Your dad was telling us at the last Alpha conference about the gardens you’d put in. He said that they’d been increasingly successful each year?”
“Oh, yeah.” I didn’t know my dad was talking about these things at all, much less at the Alpha conference. “The first few years we broke even on them, but this year we finally got some things right and we’re in the green. I’m thankful my dad didn’t pull the plug the first year and let me keep trying. We’ve been able to cut the pack grocery bill so much for the summer and we’re hoping to expand next year so that we have extra to store for the winter months.” I tell him.
“Wow, that’s really amazing.” He tells me and it’s nice to have someone interested in my work. “I’d really love it if you have time to show me around. My father is looking at handing the pack over to me soon but our finances aren’t the most stable at the moment. I’m hoping to be able to make the pack more sustainable to help cut the costs down.” He tells me.
“I’ll be honest with you,” I tell him “It’s a pretty large expense up front. Clearing the land can be costly and a lot of hard work. Maintaining things can have a high cost as well. Once you invest in the first year though, you’ll have a lot of equipment that you can carry over for years and you can harvest your own seeds as well. If your kitchen staff will do it, you can compost scraps and that will help save on fertilizer and the costs there.” I tell him. “I’d be happy to show you our setup though! When are you leaving the Falls?” I ask.
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