Silas #7
Somewhere between the office drama, the closed-door meetings, the mistakes, the arguments, and tonight, we’d become exactly what I’d been trying to build from the beginning.
We stopped behaving like four men competing to deserve our omega. We became the pack she could finally rely on.
And, for the first time since Cassidy Hargrove walked into our lives… I think we might finally be on our way to deserving her.
By the time dinner ends, the tension has softened into something manageable for us all.
I’m not forgetting any of the shit they’ve asked tonight. I’m not even ready to forgive it just yet.
But Cassidy’s talking a little more easily now, her scent no longer drawn painfully tight as she begins looking people in the eye again.
That’s enough for tonight.
Isaac and I clear the plates whilst everyone drifts back towards the living room. Nobody other than Cassidy offers to help, but I’d rather she remain surrounded by her pack than escape into the kitchen and turn herself useful again.
She’s done enough.
More than enough.
I carry the tray of petit fours through a few minutes later, the scent of fresh coffee already filling the warmer living room as I set it beside the tea.
Something’s changed in here. Not physically. The glasses are still where I arranged them. The flowers remain centred. The candles are still glowing softly against the November darkness beyond the windows.
But the careful groups from earlier have disappeared. There’s no separation between our families, no careful positioning within the room.
Darwin is sitting beside Dad, the two of them discussing something that sounds suspiciously like investments.
Julie and Elliot are talking quietly near the fireplace, while Vivienne listens to Mum recount some charity disaster involving a missing auction prize and an intoxicated viscount.
Sterling and Harlan are arguing over Evander’s habit of cheating at cards, although they both agree he does it.
“I don’t cheat,” Evander argues. “Tell them, Isaac.”
“You change the rules whenever you’re losing,” Isaac replies dryly.
“That’s strategy.”
“That’s cheating,” Sterling says.
Across the room, Emmeline laughs as she leans against Paxton near the fireplace, his arm resting loosely around her narrow waist.
A soft crackle comes from the baby monitor, followed by a small, indignant whine. Uri is on his feet before the sound has fully left the speaker.
“I’ll get him.”
Evander starts to rise, too, but Emmeline points at him. “Sit down. You’ll wake him properly, and that’s not something we need tonight.”
“I’m his favourite,” Evander protests. “Lia’s earning so many more godparent points than I am simply because she doesn’t have a job.”
“He literally ignored you for Cassidy,” Emmeline says dryly. “I think my son can smell your desperation and wants nothing to do with it.”
“He just has taste, Sis,” Evander says, wiggling his brows at Cassidy.
Her cheeks flush, but she laughs beside me, strawberry cream warming through the room until something deep in my chest finally settles.
She’s curled into the corner of the sofa, one heel discarded beneath the coffee table, her shoulder pressed against my side, and her scent mingling softly with mine. Harlan sits close enough that their legs touch, while Isaac and Evander occupy the chairs opposite us.
My pack are together.
Our parents are relaxed with each other. Our friends are happy for us.
Dellan begins crying properly in the next room, and half the people here start offering advice nobody asked for.
Emme’s far more gracious than I would’ve been because they’d all get told to get the fuck out with that attitude.
Uri returns with Dellan tucked carefully against the breadth of his chest, black pepper and honey rolling warm and reassuring around the distressed little boy. He looks entirely unbothered by the attention.
Within seconds, Dellan is passed to Emmeline for cuddles, and when she needs the bathroom, my mate ends up with him.
Cassidy relaxes completely now, curling one bare foot beneath herself as she snuggles with the baby, her eyes locked on his every breath.
The little traitor gives me another possessive growl before turning his back and burrowing deeper into Cassidy’s scent.
I bite back another huff.
Am I really being challenged by a literal baby?
Everyone laughs at my expense. I don’t mind it.
Not tonight.
Cassidy looks down at him, her smile soft and tired, and then rests her head against my shoulder as though she’s always belonged there.
I look around the room once more, past the abandoned coffee cups, loosened postures, and candlelight reflected in the dark windows, at the family gathered here for us.
For years, I’ve known how quickly a family can disappear.
Tonight, I finally understand that one can be built just as deliberately.
Cassidy reaches for my hand without looking, threading our fingers together.
I tighten my hold on her. Tonight wasn’t perfect because nothing went wrong.
It was perfect because something did, and not one of us let the others face it alone.
My pack.
My family.
Everything I’d ever wanted, and the beginning of more than I’d ever dared believe I could have.