Page 28 of Matched By the Dragon

“You do plenty. You’re raising your boys. Do you feel a lack of purpose in your life?” Gramble asked.

“Not really. I mean… I love my life right now. But I’m not doing anything.”

“Raising children is doing something very big,” Gramble said. “If you were unhappy, I’d say we should talk about finding you a hobby or a part-time job or somewhere to volunteer, but if you’re happy with how this season of your life is, why change it?”

“I don’t want people to think I’m like my parents. They had family money and didn’t work and spent so much time making people miserable.”

“Brad, I think the only person you make miserable is yourself,” he said.

I sat with that for several long moments. Gramble was right. I tried to work on my negative self-talk because I didn’t want the boys growing up with my self-esteem issues at part of their inheritance. Maybe I wasn’t doing as good at it as I thought.

“You’re not your parents,” Gramble said, breaking the silence. “You’re raising your kids to be happy and independent. You’re finding that middle ground and you should be proud. If you’re only worried that other people will think you’re rubbing their noses in your money, I wouldn’t worry about it, if you can help it. Not right now. You have kids to raise and you’re pregnant. If you feel like you should contribute more to the world that’s another story.”

“I think I’m at a point in my healing journey – if we can call it that – that I should be helping out more. I should be giving back to the community who saved my life. I want to.”

“Ah, you are feeling a calling to a purpose then. You might not call it that, but more or less, it’s that. Community can be a purpose and a calling,” Gramble said.

“But I don’t… I don’t think I’m ready to work with people who have been hurt by their families. Not directly. I’m not that healed,” I chuckled nervously, rubbing my hands over my arms.

“You don’t have to be perfectly healed to find a way to help the community you belong to,” Gramble said. “You don’t have to help people with the same problems as yourself either. If you don’t want to volunteer at the temples because you’re afraid it would set you back, ask Clyde who needs help. That wolf is in everyone’s business and probably knows someone. Or make a list of things you care about and then cross off everything that would be too much for you.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said as our time was coming to an end.

***

That night I laid awake and watched Durin sleep. I thought about Jac and Liza. Helping people not be murdered by their manipulative in-laws was out of my wheelhouse. So was curing the disease that killed Liza. There were so many foundations and doctors raising awareness of the disease and researching it. Catching it early, often meant survival. Lots of places already promoted testing for newborn cubs. That’s why my babies were tested. That and Clyde suggested it. I could’ve donated money to the temples or even given it to Clyde and told him to put it to good use in communities that needed it, but that felt like a cop-out. Like to only do that was to say I was too deep in my generational wealth to actually care.

I rolled over to my other side and my thoughts turned to Alby. He grew up in the Sanctuary on Hemlock Mountain. They helped a lot of people too, but again, just donating money felt so shallow. I was coming up with places to donate to, but nothing that I could do to help.

“What about a hotline?” Durin asked, his voice grumbly with sleep.

“Sorry, if I thought too loudly,” I rolled back over to face him.

“’s okay,” he yawned.

“A hotline for what?”

“For people who are pregnant or think they might be and are in dangerous situations.” Durin suggested.

“I’m not exactly able to drop everything and go beat up a bunch of people. I’m not you or Raziel,” I laughed.

“I know you said you didn’t know if you could work directly with people who were hurt, but I think it’s something we could set up with either temple. Probably the temples would have to work together. I mean there are some things like that already, but think about it, mate. If you could’ve called or texted a number and knew you were going to talk to another omega who was a carrier too, would you have called them after you thought Jac left?”

“Yeah,” I said, without missing a beat. “It doesn’t have to be just for abused omegas. It can be for those situations where maybe they’re alone and need community or alone and need to be told it’s okay, let’s find resources. And if it’s a case where they are being abused, we can work with the temples and even Star to go get them. Or if somehow, they’re in another territory, we’ll figure it out. Not just us, though. I think this is something a lot of people would want to help with.”

“I like that it centers omegas,” I said, rolling onto my back. I wasn’t too big to lay on my back yet, but soon this position would be out of the question.

“That’s the whole point,” Durin yawned. “If we were both on the same street walking separately and the kids weren’t in the equation and we weren’t wearing pheromone blocker spray, more omegas would run up to you if they were in danger than me. We’d both help, but statistically speaking, you’re less likely to harm them and more likely to help them.”

“I know,” I said. “Though, with my bite on you, you have some street cred,” I teased him.

That night sort of settled it. The next day I contacted a professional who helps people set up organizations. I emailed Star and Raziel and Clyde. Then realized I was doing it wrong. So, I emailed Zeke, Rune Night Star-Moonscale, Wrynn Heart, and Medwin Moonscale. I sent out emails to omega books clubs and Happy Omega Magazine. Alby and I talked about it over lunch. I told the carriers at my baby yoga classes about it.

By the time my appointment for my anatomy scan rolled around we had scheduled the grand opening of our little place. It was a small office building near the Temple of Frost. It could hold up to twelve volunteers to answer phone calls. Other omegas would have shifts where texts would forward to their phones. We’d done training on the resources available here and who to contact in other territories for more information. There was no one name on the building and since the temple owned it no one would assume a dozen omegas were inside ready to help others however we could even if it meant undermining the alphas who wanted to hurt people.

Durin was right. While I wasn’t ready to work directly with people who had been hurt, harm prevention was where I thrived. The thought of shielding someone from going through what me and the twins had made me want to work hard. Omega Ward, named for the magical protection barrier spells, would be worth the work even if we only ever saved one person.

The phones opened up at 6AM on the day of my anatomy scan. The opening celebration would take place at the Temple of Juda as an omega only event later in the day. I’d even found a security company that consisted solely of omega dragons and hired them for the event. I didn’t want to leave out the alphas who were honorable, but I found that those who were honorable didn’t feel left out at all. Durin, Bennie, Slyvin, and Raziel planned to get together and bring all the kids for a big playdate style lunch.