Building a Pack is Ruff, Part 1 (The Pack Pets Omegaverse #2)

2. Kelly

Chapter 2

I t takes less than ten minutes for me to get to Pack Asher’s house, and even though it’s super early, and he’s getting married today, Xan is outside working on the new room addition. He’s been rushing through it, so it can be ready in the next three months for when the twins are born. I’ve never seen him this excited, but I’m so happy for all of them. Heck, Jacks has already picked out three different variations of wallpaper, and their office is stuffed full of baby blankets, clothes, and furniture—just waiting to be assembled.

Candice said it’s almost as bad as when he went nest shopping for her, but she smiles every time she talks about it; I don’t think she really minds. I wave to Xan as I get out of the car and walk towards the front door, but it opens before I can knock. Jacks is standing there, curling iron in one hand and dress in the other. “Oh, Thank fuck you’re here. Sorry, Candice didn’t want to get out of bed, and I know she needs her sleep because she’s pregnant, but I need to get started if I’m gonna get everybody ready!” He continues talking without taking a breath, and I want to ask if he’s ok.

He shakes himself a bit and takes a harder look at me. “Shit, I thought you were Stephanie. That’s ok! I can start with you just as easy. Lemme go grab the other dress.” He turns around and walks away, leaving the door open for me to enter. With nothing else to occupy me, I follow him inside and up the stairs to Candice’s room.

“She’s been sleeping in the nest a lot lately,” Jacks answers my unspoken question. “The obstetrician says that wherever’s most comfortable, we should just let her do it.” He sighs loudly, pulling a second dress out of the closet. It looks identical to the first one he had, but maybe he knows something I don’t. “Twins don’t really run in any of our families, but she can’t exactly ask her side. Still, we’re worried about how much she sleeps right now.”

I reach out and pat his arm gently, offering reassurance where I can. Jacks used to be very wary around non-pack members. I didn’t talk to him much, because he never left the house, but he's doing so much better since he met Candice. Heck, all the guys are. I love Gabe and Xan like family, but they have been so much more chill for the last couple of years. It’s been awesome at work.

Jacks hands me the dress and I step into the bathroom to put it on. It fits perfectly, and I had completely forgotten that they were tailored for each of us. Thank goodness he knows what’s going on; I’m super scatterbrained right now. I step out so he can zip up the back for me, and afterwards he sets me in front of a mirror and starts curling my hair. I don’t really go to the salon; Mom has always just trimmed it for me at home. This is kind of a fun new experience.

Once he finishes curling and twisting part of it up with a bunch of bobby pins, he moves on to my makeup. Everything’s in a deep purple and gray color, and I was worried it could look strange on my skin tone, but he really seems to know what he’s doing. By the time Xan leads Stephanie up the stairs, Jacks is finishing up a smokey cat eye with pale shimmery lids.

Stephanie steps into the bathroom to put on her own dress, and when she comes out, Jacks hands me a small cardboard canister and sends me back to the bathroom to put it on. I open the box to find a fake rabbit makeup puff. Not knowing what to expect, I smack it against my hand to see what comes out—glitter. So much silver body glitter. I try to wipe my hands off on my own arms and shoulders, before dragging the puff over them to smooth everything out…I feel so sparkly right now. Leaving the bathroom, I’m super self-conscious of how shimmery my skin is.

When the door opens Candice is sitting on her bed, and she bursts into tears when she sees me. Worrying about what I did to upset her, I start to stammer, “Sorry, Candice, I can go wash it off if you want. I…What’s wrong?

“You just look so pretty!” Candice sobs, as Xan takes my hand and leads me towards the door and down the stairs.

“Sorry about that. Pregnancy hormones have made her a little emotional lately. She cries every time we watch a movie.”

“Well, then why are y’all making her watch sad movies?” I huff, genuinely surprised at him. I never thought any of the guys would do anything to upset their omega.

“Well, they’re her choices. She’s been hogging the remote every night for the last two months. I know so much more about anime than I ever wanted to.” He laughs, but there’s still a lot of strain in his eyes. The whole pack's worried about her, but Xan’s the one who usually fixes problems, so I think the fact that he can’t help is really throwing him for a loop.

“You ok? You know I’m here, even if you just feel like venting.” We don’t hug—it would just be freaky—so I just pat him on the shoulder. That at least earns me a halfhearted smile.

“Thanks kiddo, I appreciate it…I would totally ruffle your hair right now, but I think Jacks would kill me.” At least his smile's more genuine this time. Unsure how to change the subject or what to do to fix the awkwardness, I’m saved by the doorbell. Xan lets out a relieved sigh and practically runs to answer it.

Sal’s here too, and she beelines straight for me to give me a hug. “You look beautiful, Kelly.” But her smile doesn’t really reach her eyes. She is a wonderful and amazing woman. That’s why she’s the best man…er…woman…person? We dated for a couple of months, but it just didn’t work out, and it wasn’t either of our faults. She is so sweet and loving, and hot—holy crud is she hot—but we just don’t have anything in common except our love of cars and dogs. Sadly, that does not a relationship make.

Ok, so totally my fault. But I may have also freaked out when she brought me lunch at school a couple of times, people started calling me an alpha chaser and being butt-heads, and I shouldn’t have listened. Because I know they’re full of crap, but confidence has never been my strong suit. And when people make fun of you for something, it can sometimes be too easy to let that something go. But she really is a wonderful person, and I wish our feelings lined up better. I hope she finds someone soon; she deserves to be happy.

“Thanks, you’re not so bad yourself.” And I mean it, she looks amazing in a tux. I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t look good in a tux really, but she's totally rocking it. Luckily, I’m saved from embarrassing myself when Stephanie comes down the stairs, holding onto Candice’s hand, and I watch as all of Sal’s attention is suddenly on Steph. I’m adult enough to admit that there's a little stab of jealousy there, but I’m also super happy for Sal.

“Stephanie…wow, you look...amazing.” Sal has to swallow a few times to keep talking, and Stephanie’s cheeks turn an even darker pink under Jack’s skillfully applied makeup. Candice looks back and forth between the two of them as they reach the bottom of the steps, and her smile turns into a wide grin as she hurries over to Xan and me.

“Oh, I’m so glad you two are here, I need some help in the nest getting my dress on.” She’s yanking hard on Xan’s arm while stealing glances back at our friends.

“If I gotta go, kiddo, so do you,” he says, grabbing my hand before he’s dragged towards the nest.

P ack Asher rented out the community center for the ceremony and reception. I’m not sure who they got to decorate it, but it looks amazing. There are flowers and garlands everywhere, and a beautiful archway covered in gauzy netting with fairy lights. I don’t see myself ever getting married, but if I do, I want to recreate some of this. It’s gonna be even more beautiful during the reception just as the sun’s starting to go down.

Sighing wistfully, I wonder again about the lack of romance in my life. It’s not that I don’t want to be swept up off my feet. I just…I haven’t met anybody yet that really calls to me. Someone that I can see myself getting old with. It’s not that I’m against dating or anything, but with school and work, I don’t really have time. Also no one’s really asked me. I mean, Sal and I went out a few times, but that’s really been it since my high school boyfriend broke up with me just before graduation.

I don’t even know if what I want is romance, so much as just…someone to talk to, companionship, camaraderie maybe?

Stephanie and I arrived at the community center early. She’s Candice’s Maid of Honor and needs to make sure all the decorations are set up properly and the food's running on schedule. I just came along to help because otherwise I’d be sitting at the pack’s house like a lump on a frog watching everybody else run around in a tizzy. At least here I can be an extra set of hands if Stephanie needs it.

I think Sal wanted to offer, but Jacks took one look at her hair and dragged her upstairs to “make you look fabulous!” At first, I thought he was embracing his metrosexual side, but Candice says he just really likes doing hair, and regularly styles hers. If it makes him happy, who am I to judge? Also, he did an wonderful job on mine.

Stephanie runs around in a whirlwind of activity, cell phone in hand, confirming catering, adjusting flowers, fluffing curtains and netting. She’s like a one-woman organizing army. Eventually she gets tired of me following her around and hands me a broom. “I’m super sorry, Kelly. Can you just go check the front entryway? It was really windy last night, and I just want to make sure there aren’t any sticks or leaves before I put down the rug.” It seems an odd request, but I want to be useful, and I know she’s stressed since guests should start arriving in the next thirty minutes.

Something must be stuck, because when I try to push open the front door it just jiggles and makes a clacking noise. I check for locks around the base and up the center, but can’t see anything. I can’t quite reach the top, but I don’t see anything up there that looks like a lock. Leaning heavily against the bar I heave as hard as I can while wearing heels, and the door suddenly springs open halfway. There’s a loud thump and a groan, and I tumble out onto the sidewalk, hitting the concrete hard, pain flaring up both my knees. Looking down, I hope I haven’t messed up my dress.

Well, shoot!

My knees are bleeding.

“Are you ok?” I don’t recognize that voice; it’s deep and makes me shiver in a not unpleasant way. Looking up I see Brice and Joseph from Pack McKinley, as well as a guy I don’t know standing behind Brice. He has dark hair and eyes, and he’s taller than Brice, but I can’t tell much more than that from my spot on the ground.

I’ve got to get up before I ruin my dress!

Standing up from the ground in heels is super hard, and I fall over two more times before a pair of big hands wrap around my waist and lift me to my feet. They stay around me as I regain my footing and stop wobbling like a baby horse. Even after they let go, they don’t pull away. “Come on, Honey, let's get you cleaned up, ok?” That unfamiliar voice is a deep rumble that sends more shivers down my spine.

Who the heck's callin’ me honey?

“Sorry about that. Thank you.” I raise my head from my wobbly and scraped knees up into the face of the dark-haired stranger. He’s younger than I thought, a few inches taller than Xan, but shorter than the rest of the guys or Joseph. His long black hair's pulled into a ponytail, and oh, he has tiny silver hoops though the sides of his bottom lip, and gauges in his ears. He’s also big, has broad shoulders, and looks like he belongs in a heavy metal band. I can almost picture him with a guitar.

His black jeans and sneakers are faded, but it’s paired with a nice black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and what look like black leather cuffs around both wrists. His outstretched arms each have a rectangular tattoo, almost like a colorful card down the inside that disappear under the cuffs, and I want to get a closer look.

I take a deep breath, wincing again at the sting in my knees and get hit with the strong scent of vanilla and cinnamon. He smells like a snickerdoodle. And the sudden thought of this big intimidating alpha smelling like my favorite cookies sends me into a fit of giggles. He jerks away from me like he’s been burned.

Joseph and Brice exchange a look before Brice reaches towards me. “Kelly Girl, are you ok? Did you hit your head?” He starts feeling along the back of my neck and up my scalp before I can answer, and a low rumbling growl erupts from the stranger, surprising us both. Brice looks from me to the stranger and back again before pulling his hand away.

“Oh, sorry, Kelly, this is my baby cousin, Teddy. He was here in town visiting, and Candice said he could come to the ceremony. Teddy, this is Kelly, she works over at Gabe’s Garage and goes to the community college outside town.”

The stranger, Teddy, ducks his head and rumbles out a quiet, “Ma’am.”

“Oh, you can just call me Kelly, it feels weird being called ma’am. It’s nice to meet you.” Stretching my hand out I wait for his in return to shake, but he just stares down at it until I pull back, not sure what sort of faux pas I made.

“Sorry,” he rumbles as he stretches his own hand out just as I start pulling back, and we both just kind of hang there in limbo, not quite touching, but not sure how to proceed until another voice breaks the tension.

“Nice to see y’all too…now if somebody could help me up, I’d appreciate it.” I spin around to see who’s behind me, and Joseph’s brother, Sam, is sitting on the ground, holding his nose with blood dripping down his chin and onto his white dress shirt.

Crud.

“Yeah, it seems someone pushed on the door, right as I pulled…and well…I seem to be bleeding here. So, if somebody can help me up, I need to go treat this shirt before it stains.” I would laugh at the absurdity if I didn’t feel so bad about this. Reaching out to help him, I hear that low rumbling growl again, and pull up short, my head snapping around to see Joseph standing next to me. He was probably coming to help Sam too.

Unfortunately, the rapid movement just makes me dizzy and, well, at least I know gravity’s still working. I start to go down when those big hands wrap around me again, and I’m lifted completely off the ground, and cradled against a hard cookie scented chest. Joseph walks over and pulls Sam off the ground and away from the point of impact, as Brice holds the door open for all of us.

We’re barely inside the building when Stephanie comes down the hall, and I realize I lost my broom. Oh, there it is, leaning against the wall. Stephanie stops short at the sight of me in the arms of the big dark alpha, her mouth opens and closes a few times, and then Brice walks around us and her gaze snaps to him. “Stephanie, oh my god girl, you look so pretty. Did Jacks do your makeup?” Stephanie blushes again, and I don’t think she gets nearly enough compliments.

Then she catches sight of my legs. “Oh, Kelly, your knees. Let’s get you to the bathroom and get cleaned up. I can go get my first aid kit out of the car if we need to, ok?”

I tilt my head up to Teddy. “Thank you for your help, but I can walk.” He rumbles at me again, but gently lowers my feet to the floor, his hands staying on me until he’s sure I’m stable, for real this time. Stephanie takes my hand and we head back towards the main office and the women’s restroom, but when I turn my head and look back, he’s still watching me.