36. Calliope
Calliope
The Ice Festival is in full swing. My alphas mentioned they might see me, but may have to cover at the Café due to the tourist crowd.
They'd text me if they got free. I scolded myself for feeling pouty over the absence of my alphas.
It's been three days since our conversation at their house, and we'd agreed to go nest shopping.
Tomorrow was the day, and I couldn't wait to decorate my space and spend an afternoon with them as a pack out doing things.
Since that talk, we've been sleeping in that bare room with no curtains, but I haven't wanted to sleep without the pack again once I started.
The ice sculptures are incredible. I thought I knew what to expect. I imagined the kinds seen at weddings of people wealthy enough to not know how to spend their money.I was wrong.
These ice sculptures are more like ice buildings.
Some are literally bigger than my cottage.
Some depict things the Peninsula is famous for, like cherries, honey, and wine.
Some are commissions by the town and different companies, like a car by General Motors, a competing vehicle across the street by Ford, a large open book for the Library, and an extra-large cup of hot chocolate by the Evergreen Café.
It looks suspiciously like the cup of hot chocolate that Connor and made me the first night I'd met all of them.
"You're grinning like a fool," Clara says, startling me. I turn around to see her standing behind me. She isn't wearing a long dress for the first time since I met her. Instead, she wears a faux fur-lined leather coat embroidered with flowers, bell bottoms, and shiny black boots.
I laugh, and we hug. I recall that first hug we'd shared outside the Evergreen Café when we had snuck pasties before I'd realized its owners were my mates.
It was awkward because I'd been so unused to physical affection.
That feels like a lifetime ago. I've definitely gotten better at hugs since then.
I can't hold my news in for even a second.
"The guys and I have discussed bonding," I say. It's so easy. I don't even feel myself blush. It's like saying it's cold outside, or the sun will rise in the morning. I feel no sense of unease or discomfort.
Clara's eyes widen, and she issues the highest-pitched squeak yet.
"Oh boy, Clara's blown a gasket. I wanna hear the juice." Rose walks up behind us, typing away on her cell phone as usual. How did she walk around with that thing without tripping over something or slipping on anything? It seems impossible. Maybe she has secret magic.
"Cali's going to bond the Evergreen Pack!" Clara practically shouts. I shush her but can't help giggling at her enthusiasm.
Rose turns her phone screen off for the first time and slips it into her back pocket.
"Wait, what?" she asks, looking shocked and cautious. I nod. "When?"
"We don't have a specific date yet, but my heat is coming up in a few weeks."
"As long as it's something you want and chose," Rose says, eyeing me as if looking for any signs of distress or coercion. Moments like these make me realize I don't know a lot about Roses past and she moved here six months ago so no one else does either.
"It is," I assure her.
Both women squeal with excitement. I can't help but laugh. It feels like we've all turned into teenagers again. My whole life has shifted so dramatically in just a few weeks.
"You're going to be my cousin-in-law!" Clara exclaims, jumping and hugging at the same time.
Sunny walks up, and Clara and Rose share the information with her.
I don't have to say anything. Winnie, unfortunately, has to cover her shop during the festival.
It's one of her busiest nights of the winter season.
"Do you want to do a ceremony, or bond privately?" Clara hooks her arm to my left, and Rose hooks her arm to my right. Sunny hooks her arm into Clara's,
"Definitely privately." I cringe at the idea of being in front of a ton of people for such an intimate moment. "They asked me to go shopping for the nest tomorrow, and we might discuss it more then."
They giggle again and bump my shoulders with theirs as we walk.
We encounter a burly alpha wielding a chainsaw, carving something into a giant slab of ice.
The sign indicates it will be a sandcastle.
So far, only one turret has been carved, which doesn't resemble a sandcastle yet. It's very...phallic.
"Wow," Rose says, and we all blush and walk away giggling harder than ever.
We grab some greasy festival food and eat is as we make our way around to the other sculptures.
They are an amazing array of art. There's a giant sunflower, a bee ice commissioned by Sunny's apiary, and a sculpture of a massive troll.
That one is about the Mackinac Bridge. Referring to the fact that people from the lower peninsula of Michigan are often called trolls because they live under the bridge. Nothing like local humor in ice form.
We're heading towards one of the vendor booths when I hear someone call my name.
"Cali!"
I turn and freeze. My mother and father are smiling at me… and my ex stands behind them.