Page 95 of Talk About… Dramay

The moment she let me claim her, I’d be hers forever, no regrets. This omega was already changing our lives by just being herself. No more moving and going on shallow dates, no morechasing for a home that didn’t exist, no more just making it through life.

With her, we had everything, and it was like we were truly living for the first time in our lives.

Now I just needed a plan to spoil her as much as she was spoiling me.

Roman

Mayor Adams was standing in the front of the crowd, beaming a smile that was full of pride.

“I never expected this turnout, but I am so pleased,” he said as yet another person sat down.

I didn’t really consider six of us a huge crowd, but if he was happy, then that was a good thing.

“Thank you everyone for volunteering your time. We’ve talked about a community center for our little town for a long time,” he started, but one of the men spoke up, interrupting him.

“But he’s not from Rockwood Valley,” he gruffed out, pointing a meaty finger at me. My eyes widened. I hadn’t expected to piss someone off by being here.

“He lives in Rockwood Valley, is mated to one of our families that have been here for generations, and is an expert in running community organizations and programs,” Mayor Adams said, his tone still light but his eyes full of fire. I’d never seen someonelook happy and menacing at the same time and it was strangely intimidating.

“Sit down and shut up, Frank,” the woman next to him said, giving me a soft smile. “Ignore him, sweetie, we trust you’ll do right by our little town.”

“We do,” Mayor Adams agreed before clearing his throat. “Now, the council has spoken and we have some numbers to discuss.”

The next hour was Mayor Adams breaking down budgets, timelines, and all the minor details that had half of the group’s eyes glazing over.

“Now, it is up to our committee here to decide which programs are important, which to keep, and what to charge for some of the participation,” he concluded.

“How about over coffee?” Frank grunted, standing up and going over to the table where the coffee was and making a cup.

“We need introductions, too,” the woman from earlier said. “You know Frank now, I’m Mary, then we’ve got Tanya, Joel, and Linda.”

“Nice to meet you all. I’m Roman,” I said, giving them each a smile. Tanya and Mary were both friendly, offering smiles. They had to be in their early sixties, gray hair peeking through Mary’s dark hair and Tanya’s red. Joel was a bit older than me, chestnut hair and a full beard. He wasn’t grumpy or angry like Frank, just quiet, offering no more than a nod. Linda looked like a kind old granny. She had knitting she was doing, yarn spilling from her purse, and her gray curly hair was pulled into a long ponytail. Her glasses were perched on her nose and a sly smile on her face as she greeted me.

“Ignore Frank. I do,” she said, earning a huff of annoyance from Mr. Grumpy himself.

“You’re just mad that I won the trophy and not you,” he said, a smug grin on his face.

“You still think about that?” Linda scoffed, waving him off with her knitting needle. “That was twenty years ago. Let it go.”

He sputtered for a second before flopping into his chair. Mayor Adams ignored the banter as he rolled out a huge dry erase board.

“Time to get to work. First, we have two possible locations,” he said. “There’s an open storefront on Grove Street, or, we could open on the fairgrounds. That old barn would be the perfect bones to create our new space. Half the time as well since we’d have a set structure.”

“Oh, that would be perfect,” Mary gushed. “We could have opening weekend the same time as the Artisan Fair.”

“Yes, and if we have rain, some events could be held in there as well,” Tanya tacked on, her voice getting more excited.

They were a blur of planning after that. I chimed in here and there to make sure they knew I was taking it seriously, but it wasn’t until they started talking about the art program that I really dove in.

I hadn’t realized just how much I missed my art until now. The kids and the nursing home programs were something I’d spent years cultivating and I missed them.

But life changed often and this was just a new chapter. And this new art program would hopefully give me the same satisfaction and sense of community I was missing.

By the time we’d honed in the details and they planned the grand opening for the Artisan Fair, I left feeling lighter than I had in a few weeks.

Our pack was amazing, but I was feeling… inadequate.

I’d been a peace maker a few times for the alphas, but now that they came together it felt like Tate, Hudson, and Lane were their own unit, Cameron and her had history, and I was on the outskirts.