26. Raven
Iwas nervous and that wasn’t an emotion I was used to feeling. Ever. But I was in uncharted territory here and the future happiness of myself and my coven were riding on this night.
We’d sat down and had a family meeting. It had taken all of ten minutes and I hadn’t been surprised by the outcome.
We were all on board and we were going to ask Autumn to officially join our coven. We didn’t care that we didn’t have an intimate relationship with her just yet and, if I was being honest, it would be a serious disappointment if one never developed between us, but we’d be okay with it.
That’s not what this was about. It was about it feeling right, almost as if it had been fate that had brought us to the woods that night to find her.
We all felt like she belonged with us and we wanted to make it official.
The guys had just wanted to ask her and not make a big deal out of it. I didn’t think that was the right way to go. She deserved for us to make a big deal out of it because that’s exactly what it was, to all of us.
I wished Rain and Ariel weren’t still here though but I understood why they hadn’t left yet. They wanted to see her settled as much as we did and I knew Rain felt responsible for her. And Ariel was all in when it came to her family, she’d claimed Autumn as a member of her family when she asked her to join her new Council.
I knew they were both rooting for us though and Rain had given me his clear approval. It was the only reason I hadn’t packed their shit for them and tossed it out behind the rest of Rain’s coven.
Since the greenhouse seemed to be her favorite place here thus far I decided it was the perfect place for tonight.
It had to be special.
It really had to be perfect.
I was a grown ass man and I couldn’t remember when the last time I was this nervous was.
What the fuck would we do if she said no? How would I hide my disappointment from both her and my men?
I was never doing this shit ever again.
I let the guys into my workshop beneath the garage and they’d picked out the furniture. A hand carved dining table and chairs set that actually looked great in the greenhouse and I planned on leaving out there if she said yes.
If she said no the shit was going up for auction on my website tonight and it’d be out of my fucking house by tomorrow and I’d never want to see it again.
I’d left Scout and Mason in charge of decorating the table and space. I wasn’t surprised in the slightest when I found Ariel in there helping them. She had her phone out and was Facetiming with two of her men who were directing my guys on where to put everything.
Candles and fairy lights were everywhere, turning the place into something truly magical to behold.
The table had been set with the finest china we had, which wasn’t saying much because we were guys and I don’t think any of us really cared what we ate off of just so long as the food tasted good.
The good wine and champagne had been brought out but I wasn’t so sure how I felt about that. Autumn had been excited to drink coffee, for fuck’s sake. I highly doubted she’d had alcohol before. I did not want her to get drunk before we had a chance to ask her the important questions.
I didn’t care if she wanted to get drunk afterwards. Though, I didn’t want her to end up getting sick and feel like shit. I didn’t want her to remember the night like that.
I wasn’t a control freak, by any means, and I wanted her to be able to experience everything her heart desired. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be looking out for her during every experience that I could to make sure that they weren’t soured in any way and didn’t turn out to be something bad for her, because I absolutely planned on doing that.
But I was getting ahead of myself here. If she said no I wouldn”t have the chance to look out for her through any of that. It scared the shit out of me to think about who would be watching her back if we couldn’t do it
I refused to think any more on that, unless it happened.
Fuck.
I was so obsessed with the poor girl, at this rate I’d probably abandon my entire coven so I could stalk her ass where she went.
That might be crazy but that’s how I felt. Fucking crazy about this girl. I think that’s how I knew she was the one.
“You do know that she doesn’t exactly understand how covens work, yes?” Ariel asked the room as a whole when she finally got off of the phone with her husband’s.
I knew she meant well and I was happy she had taken such a liking to Autumn, but I really wanted her to butt the fuck out of our situation.
This was part of the reason why I wished she had left with the rest of them. She and Rain could not mind their own fucking business to save their damn lives. It was becoming quite annoying. I didn’t involve myself in either of their relationships, not even when they brought their drama and garbage to my front door.
“What do you mean?” Scout asked her suspiciously.
I knew exactly what she meant and Scout damn well knew it too. He just wanted her to come right out and say it so that he could argue with her.
“I don’t think she knows that covens are always one woman with all men, where the women are expected to have an intimate relationship with all the men. That’s what I’m saying.”
“Oh, really, Ariel?” Mason replied sarcastically. “Were you expected to have a relationship with all of the men in your coven? You didn’t fall in love with each of them and that’s why you have an individual relationship with each and every single one of them?”
Liam laughed hysterically. “And it’s not just about one woman with a bunch of men either, is it? Your coven has male on male relationships, and so does your dad’s. How each coven works isn’t anyone’s business outside of the people who are in it. That’s why no one questions yours.”
“Time’s are changing, Ariel Kimber.” Gunner pointed out, not unkindly. “You’re going to be one of the people who makes sure of those changes. You’ve invited Autumn to help you with that. By now you should know us better than to even bring that shit up with us. It’s insulting.”
“She can have whatever kind of relationship with us that she wants,” Scout put in in a gentle voice. “If that’s only friendship and family then so be it. We would never force anything on her. She’s safe with us, and you know it. Don’t even go there.”
She whirled around and pointed accusingly at me. “Are you going to tell me that you’d be good with just being her friend?”
She was grasping at straws here.
Still…
“Hell no,” I told her truthfully. “She’s mine and that’s all there is to it.”
Gunner laughed as Mason and Scout both groaned in disapproval, both likely wishing I had just lied to her or kept my mouth shut. Liam just shrugged as if he’d expected my answer and saw no problem with it.
Ariel looked like she was frustrated and wanted to strangle me but I was well past the point of giving a shit.
“How about you go give the head of your coven a call and ask him for his opinion on this subject,” I suggested, knowing damn well Quinton Alexander would have no issue with my answer what so ever. The man was an alpha asshole through and through and he went after what he wanted with no apologies ever, including Ariel.
Ariel threw her hands up in the air in frustration, knowing when she’d been beat.
“Fine!” she yelled over her shoulder as she stormed off towards the door. “I’ll butt out of your business but you better not fuck this up!”
The only person who might fuck this up was her if she ran off her big fucking mouth.
“Are you nervous?” Liam asked me quietly once she was gone.
I blew out a deep breath and decided to answer him with brutal honesty. He deserved that much from me. “No. If she says no I’m just going to find some way to chain her to me permanently and I’ll deal with the consequences when they come.”
“Fuck,” he whispered, sounding slightly ill at ease.
Fuck sounded about right.