Chapter 11
Viol
With the way my heart pounded, I felt like a fucking teenager on the first day of school.
My reaction was so embarrassing. Poppy and I were only walking next to each other. No big deal. So, why were my palms clammy? Why was my pulse racing?
What a pathetic alpha I am, I thought irritably. Poppy doesn’t deserve an asshole like me who quakes in his goddamn boots because he’s nervous...
As we reached the main floor, the house came alive.
The kitchen sounded busy. Normally, everyone ate dinner at their own pace on different schedules, but tonight the stars had aligned and everyone came together for a big family event.
The background hum of voices and laughter was cranked so high that the castle itself felt alive.
I glanced sideways at Poppy, wondering if the chaos would be too much for him, but to my surprise, he hurried ahead with a wondrous look on his face, like he couldn’t wait to be part of the excitement.
A lick of doubt made me pause. I’d always thought of Poppy as fragile and meek, but he was stronger than I gave him credit for.
Besides, it wasn’t like I was the best at protecting him anyway.
I paused before stepping into the bustling kitchen. Was it weird for both of us to show up simultaneously? Would my brothers make annoying, obtuse comments about it?
While I got tangled up in my doubt, Poppy forged ahead. He was greeted by an uproar of friendly voices. My family, all welcoming him with open arms.
A tiny, hopeful voice in the back of my mind whispered: It could be like this all the time.
Meanwhile, I hesitated behind the kitchen doorway. I felt like I couldn’t join in right away. Like if I did, I’d shatter the peace somehow. As if Poppy’s presence was a blessing and mine was a curse.
While I battled my own moodiness, I heard Muzo ask: “Where’s Viol?”
“Huh?” Poppy said. “He was right behind me...”
I ground my teeth. I figured I’d better make an entrance before I caused a scene. Keeping my head down, I slunk into the doorway and made a beeline for Poppy’s side as if I wasn’t late. Maybe if I was quick and subtle, nobody would make a big deal out of it.
“Well, look who decided to join us,” Aurum quipped loud enough for everyone to hear.
My eye twitched. I wanted to punt that stupid golden asshole into the sea.
Deliberately ignoring him, I faced Poppy. “D’you want a drink?”
He blinked gratefully at me. “Sure. I could use some water.”
I nodded, then grabbed him a glass. When I returned, his friends had already floated over to surround him in a ring of omegas. Taylor, Muzo, and Alaric were already there, but Matteo and Mylo had joined, too. The only one missing was—
Poppy gasped. “Rorik!”
I turned to see Saffron and Rorik walking into the kitchen with their twins Andri and Jaki in tow.
I stilled, clutching the water glass harder.
Out of all the omegas, Rorik was the only one I’d had a semi-difficult relationship with. We’d worked it out when he moved in, but that was without Poppy around. With him present, it threw a wrench into things... At least, I worried it would.
When the huge polar bear shifter locked gazes with Poppy, his eyes widened. “Poppy? You’re really here?”
He crossed the room to hug Poppy, who laughed as he disappeared beneath the other man’s bulk.
“What are you doing here?” Rorik asked.
“It’s a long story,” Poppy said sheepishly. “Basically, Jade called and...”
He launched into the tale while his omega friends clung to his every word. Their tight-knit circle was like a physical barrier protecting Poppy from the world.
Hell, they were doing a better fucking job than I had.
I hung back, feeling awkward and out of place.
Like things would be easier if I wasn’t around.
But at the same time, I didn’t want to be the annoying dickhead who caused an incident by running away and drawing attention to myself.
I’d already done that this morning and it was embarrassing enough.
So, I gritted my teeth, swallowed my discomfort, and slowly joined back in.
Since Poppy was busy with his friends, I slunk over to Jade instead. I would’ve sidled up to Cobalt, but he was outside on the other side of the sliding door, manning the grill. I figured I should at least stay in the room, lest Aurum loudly and annoyingly demand to know where I went.
Jade sipped an evening tea in one hand while unfolding the full length of the dining table with the other. We didn’t often use the whole thing due to our mismatched schedules.
I grunted. “Let me help.”
Jade arched his brows, apparently pleasantly surprised. “Sure. If you could unlock that hinge there...”
I worked wordlessly. In a minute, we’d unfurled the entire table, but amid the chaos, it still felt too small for everybody.
I snorted. “There’s too many of us. We should’ve just eaten dinner in the restaurant.”
Jade shot me a knowing glance. “We could have,” he agreed. “But this feels more... intimate, don’t you think?”
The fuck did he mean by that? I narrowed my eyes and asked, “So, this is a setup?”
He chuckled lightly, pushing up his glasses. “Relax, Viol. Not everything is a ploy to upset you.”
When he put it that way, I felt like a dickhead. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment at his jab.
“Yeah,” I muttered.
“How is it going with Poppy?”
The question hit me like a sledgehammer. Jade didn’t beat around the damned bush.
“What?” I blurted. “It’s fine. Nothing’s happening.” I glared at the empty tabletop instead of meeting his expectant gaze. “We need some fucking cutlery.”
I stormed over to the drawers, grabbing as many knives and forks as possible in my fists, then marched back to dump them on the table. Jade sighed at the nearest crooked fork, then nudged it straight.
“He looks happier now than he did this morning,” Jade pointed out.
I stiffened. Poppy did look happier. Probably because he was chatting with his friends instead of being abandoned to solitary babysitting duty by yours truly.
“Good,” I mumbled.
“Did you two talk?”
“What’s it matter?”
Jade’s looming aura made it obvious that dodging his questions wasn’t an option. He pinned his intense stare on me like one of those herding dogs that corralled sheep. And I was the fucking sheep.
“Yes, we talked, okay?” I admitted. “But nothing else. We spent most of the day apart.”
“Is that right?” Jade replied as if he already knew.
“Look, what d’you want me to do?” I said under my breath. “To throw myself at Poppy like the rest of you dirty fuckers? Sorry, but I ain’t doing that. For one thing, he’s only been here for a damn day. And he’s...”
I trailed off before I could say gentle. Soft. Precious. Deserving of someone better than me.
“Not like the other omegas,” I muttered instead.
“What do you mean?” Jade asked casually as he straightened another fork.
An old memory rose to the surface. My cheeks grew hot. That happened a long time ago. Things were different between us now.
“I dunno. Poppy’s not...” It was hard to get the words out. I didn’t want to have this conversation, but Jade roped me into it. “He’s not... horny... like them.”
That earned an abrupt laugh from Jade.
“What?” I growled.
He was still laughing as he pushed up his glasses. “Sorry. I’m not laughing at you, Viol. I was simply asking how your day went, and you jumped to a very interesting conclusion.”
Mortified, my cheeks burned. “Oh, fuck off. Like you didn’t imply it!”
“I didn’t imply anything,” Jade said innocently, raising his hands. “But I’m glad to hear your chivalrous nature remains intact.”
I wanted to toss forks at his stupid smug face until he looked like a pincushion. I shoved my hands into my pockets so I wouldn’t be tempted.
“What the fuck ever,” I grumbled, turning to storm off. “I’m done helping you with the damn—”
“How do you know that about Poppy?”
The words were quiet, a snake hiss in my ear smothered by the kitchen’s rowdy noise.
“What?” I asked, blanching.
Jade shrugged and repeated, “How do you know?”
I didn’t know what to say. I stared at him, mouth agape like an idiot before heat flooded my cheeks. I rubbed my face aggressively as if it’d smear the stupid blush away.
“Fuck off,” I said halfheartedly. I was too distracted by his comment to put any bite into it. “Poppy’s not...”
But I couldn’t finish my sentence. Jade was right. How could I know? Poppy was his own person with his own wants and needs. Just because he was soft and sweet didn’t mean he wasn’t a complete being with desires.
A sudden memory popped into my head, causing my temperature to skyrocket.
I needed to get the fuck away from Jade and his bothersome probing before I strangled him to death.
“I’m going to help Cobalt,” I muttered, then stalked off before Jade could get another word in.
Dinner was, shockingly, fine.
I was terrified it’d be awkward, or that some people—Aurum, for example—would make it awkward.
But he decided to behave, so the night went off without a hitch.
The wildest thing that happened was that Poppy asked me to sit next to him.
I assumed he’d want to sit with his gaggle of friends, but he invited me instead. It felt nice to be chosen.
I managed to ward off Jade’s intrusive comment until after dinner. But like slow-acting snake venom, it returned with a vengeance.
As everybody dispersed, I milled around the kitchen uselessly.
Poppy was still chatting with his buddies and I didn’t want to ditch him, so I drank juice from the fridge and stared at the wall while pretending not to eavesdrop.
Their conversation was mostly fluff about how happy they all were to spend time with Poppy, and how they needed to make plans to hang out.
The longer I listened, the more I realized something. They spoke to him like he was here forever now. Like he’d bypassed all the Dragonfate Games bullshit and gone straight to the finish line. Like he was finally a member of the family.
My heart flipped.
Is that what they all thought? Was that what they wanted?