Chapter Twelve
Running my hands over tonight’s dress, I eye myself critically in the mirror. Neither of the omegas from the first two seasons spent nearly as much time getting ready for anything as I do. It’s not even a guess on my part to say that, since Bree likes to remind me of it every single day. She likes to call me a high maintenance omega, and that’s one hundred percent true when it comes to my appearance.
I’d like to blame it on the fact that I’m a designer, but I’ve always been like this. In fact, I can’t help wondering if it’s part of the reason I became a designer in the first place. When I’m the one designing the clothes, I can always make sure they look amazing on me.
Tonight’s dress is what I like to call a princess dress as it calls back to the dresses that princesses wore in the ancient fairy tales I read as a child. The bodice is fitted and off-shoulder in a shimmery pastel pink. At my hips, it flares out into layers and layers of material, so I look like a cupcake.
“Oh, for the love of everything I hold dear, please tell me you’re almost ready.”
I turn around to find Bree standing in the doorway to my room, hands on her hips. Her eyes run over me for a moment before she bites her lip, obviously trying to hide a smile.
“I know. I look like a cupcake. Believe it or not, this was on purpose,” I tell her with a laugh. One last glance in the mirror shows that my makeup is still perfect, and the messy updo is still in place. “Some people like looking like cupcakes.”
Bree snorts, shaking her head. “If you say so.”
“I do, and since I’m the one in fashion design, I think I would know,” I tell her haughtily as I breeze past her, shooting her a wink and grin over my shoulder. “Every day, you come in here, worried that I won’t be ready in time, but I always am. Are you ever not going to worry?”
“Absolutely not,” Bree says with a laugh as we step outside. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a bit of a control freak, and without Tessa here, I don’t have anyone to calm my obsessive tendencies.”
I throw my head back as I laugh. “A bit of a control freak? Try a lot of a control freak. And isn’t your pack here? Shouldn’t they be the ones who calm you, not your alpha bestie?”
“You’ve never seen me and Tessa together,” she says with a grin. “My pack is great at calming me with anything that isn’t business. Tessa’s the only one who can keep a handle on me when it comes to business. Plus, Emmett is the only one here. He watches Emmy while I’m working. The rest of my pack works full time. They make it down when they can.”
I hum. “That has to be hard—to be away from them for months at a time.”
She shrugs. “It’s not ideal, but they knew from the beginning that I wouldn’t be giving up my career, and I’d never ask them to. Emmett stepped back from his career without anyone asking. He says he likes being a stay-at-home dad.”
“Good for him. I could never.”
“Me neither. Which is why he’s with the baby and I’m working.”
The two of us laugh together as we approach Reginald. “And what are you two lovely ladies finding so entertaining?”
“Your face,” Bree says with a straight face, causing the beta to frown.
“That’s mean.”
She shrugs, a grin sliding across her lips. “How long until the first suitor arrives?”
“Any minute now. Evangeline, come with me. I need to get you away from Bree before she turns you into a mean girl, too.” Reginald turns his back on Bree, laying his hand on my lower back and leading me to the edge of the driveway. “Are you ready for this?”
Already I can hear the sound of the tires of the limo turning toward us. “What option do I have?”
He shrugs good-naturedly. “Good point. How are you doing? I feel like I haven’t had a moment to check on you since the show started filming again.”
“That’s because it’s been all of two days, but I’m doing fine. Your alpha is making sure I’m safe every time I leave the compound.”
Reginald smiles, eyes going hazy. “He’s the best, isn’t he?”
I laugh, nodding. “He is.”
“Also, this look? It’s making me very hungry.” He waves his hand up and down, as if I didn’t know what he was talking about.
I shoot him a mock glare as the limo comes into view. I perk up as I turn to focus on it instead. Time to meet another suitor. Tonight I’ll meet four of the remaining eight suitors, and tomorrow they’ll all have arrived. That’s when the fun will really start.
So far, my experience on the show has been interesting, to say the least. Here’s to hoping for something not quite as interesting. I hold back my giggle as the limo comes to a stop and the door swings open.
The man who steps out has black hair and a rugged beard. His mouth turns up at the corner, turning him from attractive to downright hot as sin. His black-on-black tux fits him like a glove, and I find myself wondering what he’d look like without it. I bite my lip as desire races through me, slick sliding into my panties. Let’s hope that the scent-canceling panties and soaps actually work today.
The man approaches, his dark brown eyes focusing completely on me. His cinnamon and pumpkin scent surprises me, but I find my mouth watering. I’ve never been one for pumpkin anything, but the combination in his scent sends more heat rushing through me. He’s tall and slenderly built, which isn’t a surprise given he’s a beta. We’re about the same height with my heels, putting him close to six feet tall.
“Hello, Evangeline. It’s so nice to meet you. You’re even more lovely in person.” He reaches for my hand, lifting it to his lips. “My name is Gavin Mallory.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Gavin,” I tell him with a smile. “Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”
Gavin releases my hand, and I find myself wanting to reach for his. Having gone thirty-four years mostly single, I’m surprised by the draw I feel to so many of the suitors. Surely I won’t be drawn to all of them—I can’t be, right? No one can be drawn to twenty people in the span of five days, can they? Last season’s omega, Sophia, had a huge pack, and I’m not sure I’m up for that. Why do they all have to be so attractive and smell so good?
“I’m twenty-eight, a beta, obviously, and a chiropractor. I’m half Filipino and half Polynesian. My parents are betas, and Mama always wanted a big family. Sadly, she just ended up with me and my older sister, who is also a beta. They kept trying for more kids after me, but it wasn’t in the cards for them. Instead, my parents opened our home to foster kids. They’ve been taking them in for years, and they even have some now.”
“That’s amazing,” I gush, loving that his parents were able to find a way to have the big family they wanted. “With such low birth rates, I know babies are adopted quickly, but the older kids? I’m glad that they have someone like your parents.”
“You and me both. They’ve adopted a few of the kids they fostered—the ones who wanted to be adopted—so I have a million other siblings. Okay, not a million, but so far, they’ve adopted ten over the course of the last twenty-eight years.”
My smile only grows. “You’ll definitely have to tell me more about them later. I don’t think we have time to talk about that many siblings.”
He shrugs. “Probably not. Tell me something about yourself that wasn’t likely in the packet they gave us.”
I make a face, trying to figure out what they might have left out of the packet. Bree is very thorough, from what I can tell. “Oh! I was afraid of heights as a kid, but I never did like being afraid of anything. I climbed onto the roof of our house—it was a huge two-story monstrosity and getting on top of it was not easy—and jumped off of it into the pool.”
Gavin’s eyes go wide. “No, you didn’t! How old were you?”
“I think I was eight. Old enough to know better but young enough not to care.” I shake my head. “Luckily, I wasn’t hurt, but my parents made sure to let me know just how disappointed they were in my behavior. After all, it’s not becoming for ladies to jump off of roofs.”
“Seriously? That’s all they cared about?” He shakes his head. “You’re no longer in contact with them, right?”
I nod. “Nope. They wanted nothing to do with me when they found out I was bisexual.”
Reginald catches my eye, and I wrinkle my nose as he signals to wrap it up.
“It looks like we’re out of time, Gavin. It was fun talking to you. I can’t wait to hear more about your adoptive siblings.”
Gavin takes my hand in his once more, kissing my fingers with a smirk. “I enjoyed meeting you as well, little omega. I look forward to speaking with you more.”
Then he’s gone, leaving me with desire rolling in my belly. What is it about a hot man kissing your hand? It shouldn’t do it for me, but it really, really does.
It’s easy to slip back into a smile as the next limo circles the driveway and comes to a stop before me. When the door opens, a large man steps out, and my eyes go wide. If he’s not an alpha, I’ll eat my cupcake dress. He has to be closer to seven feet than six and broad enough that he might struggle to get through door frames. His skin is a deep, dark brown with red undertones that makes me wish I could find material in that color.
He’s definitely one of those men that wears his tuxedo instead of it wearing him. It hugs his shoulders and torso, making me wonder if it hugs his ass just as well. He shoots me a quick grin before turning back to the limo, helping a woman out. She looks almost like a child next to him, given his large size and how small she is. She can’t be much over five feet and slender. Her mahogany brown hair is down in waves that fall to her mid-back. Wearing a scoop neck navy blue dress with ruching throughout the torso and hips before falling to the floor.
A half smile curves across her lips as her dark eyes meet mine. As they head toward me, something tells me the two of them are going to be trouble, but only the best kind.
“Hello, Evangeline.” The woman is the first to speak as they come to a stop in front of me. “I’m Natalie Wells, and this yummy man beside me is my alpha, Ronan.”
A hint of their scents trail to me as I give them a smile, offering them each my hand in turn. As I suspected, Ronan is an alpha with a scrumptious scent—black cherries, cinnamon, and almond. Natalie’s scent is weaker, confirming her beta status, but smells just as good—birch and maple leaves with pomegranate, juniper berry and orange blossom. Her scent is like nothing I’ve ever smelled before, and I find myself leaning in toward her.
“Like what you smell, omega?” Ronan asks with a chuckle, and I yank myself back with wide eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I say as I turn my attention to Natalie. “It’s just so unique, and I quite like what I smell.”
Natalie grins, her eyes flashing with mirth. “I promise I won’t complain about a beautiful omega wanting to smell me.”
I flush at her words, unsure why I seem to be so affected by her and her scent. My eyes scan Natalie’s neck, hopefully discreetly, looking for a mating mark. I don’t see one, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. While the neck is the most obvious place to mark a pack mate, it’s not the only place—and it’s definitely not as fun as other places that could be marked.
I lick my lips, perfuming at the thought. I shuffle slightly as my core tightens, slick spilling from me. Ronan sniffs slightly, but keeps his smile in place and says nothing. That’s a point in his favor to not point out how my scent has changed, even with the scent-canceling panties I’m wearing. There’s only so much an omega can hide their reactions.
“It’s nice to meet both of you. Why don’t you tell me a little about yourselves? Obviously, you’re a pack—are you bonded? Gods, that was a rude question. Please ignore me.”
“We absolutely will not,” Natalie says with a grin. “I might only be a beta, but even I know you don’t ever ignore an omega.”
Ronan reaches over to squeeze Natalie’s fingers, shooting her a look of warning. “We’d love to tell you about ourselves, and please forgive Natalie. She loves giving people a hard time.”
I shrug, ducking my head. “I don’t mind when pretty women give me a hard time.”
“And pretty men?” Natalie asks.
This time I laugh out loud at her words even as I flush from head to toes. “And pretty men. I don’t discriminate.”
“Neither do I,” Natalie says with a wink.
“Okay, beta, that’s enough.” Ronan laughs, a deep and melodic sound that has me turning to him. “We’re bonded and have been for coming up on four years now. It might just be the two of us, but as of now, we’re Pack Wells. I’m thirty-eight, and I work as an arson investigator. I was a firefighter for about eight years before moving into the investigative side.”
Natalie smiles up at the alpha. “Luckily, by the time I met him, he was already doing arson investigations. The idea of him running into fires on a regular basis freaks me out, but I have so much respect for those that do.”
I nod slowly. “I can only imagine. But you did that for eight years? Wow. That’s definitely a scary line of work, but necessary. What about you, Natalie? What do you do?”
“You didn’t ask, but I’m twenty-five. Yes, I met Ronan when I was only twenty-one, but when you know, you know.” She shoots the alpha another smile, and it’s easy to see the love between the two of them. “I work as an emergency nurse, and met Ronan just out of school when I was working at a hospital. He came in to interview my patient, and by the end of the night, we were together.”
I don’t bother to fight the smile on my face. “I love that—the idea of meeting someone and just knowing.”
“Hey, it could still happen. Just because you’re being inundated with twenty suitors doesn’t mean it can’t still happen for you,” Natalie says softly, reaching out to take my hand.
Her words have me thinking back to my initial meeting with Koda. Is that what that was? Hell, even this meeting with this duo feels like more than some of the other meetings.
I shake my head. “Maybe. Being here with twenty suitors does complicate things, though. Can you imagine if I just fell head over heels for my pack right from the start? I don’t think that would make very good television.”
“I think you’d be surprised by what people would love to watch on their TV screen,” Ronan offers with a smile, and I find myself melting under his gaze. This alpha is definitely one of the good ones, and I can’t wait to get to know him and Natalie better. I could see the two of them being a part of my pack.
Before I can reply, I see Reginald signaling that our time is up. Genuine disappointment sinks into me as I turn back to them. “It’s time for the last suitor to arrive. I look forward to talking with the two of you more at dinner.”
Ronan lifts my hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to the palm before shooting me a panty-melting grin. “I’m looking forward to it, omega.”
“Me too,” Natalie adds as she leans in to kiss my cheek.
As the two of them walk away, I find myself turning so my eyes can follow them. I was right about Ronan’s pants—they definitely hug his ass and thighs. It’s not until Reginald clears his throat that I spin back around, flushed and eyes wide.
“Sorry,” I mouth at him. He just laughs quietly as the last limo pulls into the driveway.
The door pops open before the vehicle has even stopped, and the man who steps out is just as large as Ronan. He looks less comfortable in the tuxedo, but it still looks damn good on him. His black hair is cut close to his head in a fade, a well-kept beard covering his jaw, and his eyes are a deep, dark brown. His umber skin looks good against the black of his tuxedo. As he saunters over to me, I discreetly check to be sure I’m not drooling.
Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?
“Hello,” I say softly as he comes to a stop before me.
“Hello, I’m Conrad.” His brows are pinched, looking as if he wants to be anywhere but here.
When he doesn’t extend his hand, I offer mine instead. “It’s nice to meet you.”
He shakes my hand, thankfully giving it a good shake as he grunts. Once he releases my hand, silence surrounds us, and I have to fight back a grimace.
“Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself, Conrad?”
He reaches up to mess with his bow tie, clearing his throat. It’s clear he isn’t comfortable, but I’m not sure if it’s because all the attention is on him or if he just doesn’t want to be here. As I wait for his response, I get a whiff of his pineapple, cilantro, and coconut scent. It’s not a combination I’ve smelled before, and while I wouldn’t have said it went together before today, it smells amazing on him.
“Right. I’m forty, an alpha, and a police lieutenant.” He clears his throat again before sighing. “I’m not much of a talker, and being the center of attention isn’t my thing. I’m fairly certain I’m going to fuck this up, so I apologize now.”
I grin. “Saying fuck probably wasn’t the best choice,” I tease him.
He scoffs, running a hand over his head as he shakes his head. “What did I tell you? I’m terrible at this kind of thing.”
“And yet, you’re still here.”
“I am.” He shakes his head. “And I’ve questioned that decision more times than I can count since signing up. Not meeting you, obviously. I’m a grumpy asshole, who is terrible at communicating. You’re probably going to end up kicking me off early because I stick my foot in my mouth. That’s why I’ve questioned it.”
I giggle. “I feel like you did a fine job communicating just then. I promise, if you’re being a grumpy asshole, I’ll let you know.”
The corner of his lips quirk up in a semblance of a smile, but I can tell just how much he’s freaking out. “Thanks.”
“Since we got that out of the way, why don’t we head over to the others and move this party inside? There’s no reason to torture you when there are three others who don’t seem to mind talking.” I offer him a smile as I slide my arm through his, and the look of relief he shoots my way just makes my smile grow.
“Thank you,” he murmurs as we start toward the others.
“You’re welcome,” I return. There really is no reason to make him more uncomfortable. Hopefully, as he’s here longer, talking to me will become easier. If not, then he’s right, I will have to send him packing. But I won’t hold this against him—especially not at our first meeting. Getting to know the suitors will come with time, and he’s already admitted to at least some of his faults. That ought to make it easier for both of us.
As we make it over to Gavin, Ronan, and Natalie, I introduce them to Conrad before we fall into step behind Bree. As she leads us inside, I refuse to release my hold on Conrad, wanting to make sure he doesn’t disappear into the background with his desire to not speak as much. Natalie ends up on my other side, keeping up the conversation with me as she flirts.
I really appreciate the fact that not a single one of them mentions the fact that we’re meeting a week later than we were meant to. I’m sure it’ll come up, but at least this initial meeting was about getting to know them and not the drama my season has already become.
Honestly, this is something I could get used to. After all, who doesn’t love a stoic alpha?