Chapter 31
CHAPTER 31
Issa
W e had all opted to take an additional two days off from the bar. Not only were we sore, but Amir’s parents were adamant they finally meet his new pack.
Enzo had tried to convince Amir to invite them to the pack house so he could ensure our in-laws their son was safe and protected as well as living in the lap of luxury.
Athena Khalid demanded Amir either give the pack lead the phone or put her on speaker, then promptly told him to stop being ridiculous, that she couldn’t not cook for her new sons-in-law and daughter-in-law, then planned the day and time.
So, now I was on pins and needles, constantly smoothing down my dress and checking my hair as Cyrus drove us to that adorable house where we’d found Amir wearing a sun dress while working on his muscle car that I was informed was a vintage Thunderbird. And that it would be brought to the house soon so Amir could go back to restoring it .
A smile tugged at the corners of my lips as I turned my attention to Amir and wondered if he would end up in one of my sundresses while tooling away at the engine. Highly doubtful; no way could he fit in my clothes without playing the Hulk and ripping it at the seams every time he moved.
“What are you smiling about?” he asked.
His hand was wrapped around my right one while Ax had his arm draped around my shoulders from the left. I was surrounded on all sides by the greatest – and only – loves of my life. I never for a second would have believed I could love someone so much, and sure as hell never would have believed I could not only trust alphas but feel so deeply for them.
“I was thinking about that first time we went to your house, your parents’ house. You were wearing a dress while working on that car.”
“It wasn’t just a car . It was a vintage 1963–”
“Thunderbird. Yes, I remember,” I teased Ax, playfully elbowing him in the ribs.
“It was sexy as fuck,” Ax muttered.
It was. And not because he was wearing a dress, but it was so…
It was like he was so comfortable in his own skin he didn’t feel the need to don fancy clothes or behave in a certain manner. He’d just made sure he wasn’t naked and worked at rebuilding the engine to his dream vehicle. He’d been covered in grease and sweat and smelled like heaven.
After smoothing my skirt and hair for the hundredth time, Amir squeezed my hand and pulled it to his lips. “Relax. They’re going to love all of you. My parents are super chill and laid back. But I do need to warn you…my mom more than likely cooked a full ass feast and will pester the shit out of you about not eating enough. Don’t let it get to you. She’s always trying to feed people.” He shrugged and smiled. “Probably the most stereotypically Greek thing about her.”
Too soon, Cyrus pulled the SUV down the same long driveway and parked along the row of trucks and a single minivan.
Three young girls came pouring from the front door, smiles bright on their tanned faces, squeals of excitement lifting on the air even before we’d opened the doors to step out.
“Amir!” the smallest one with hair darker than Amir’s screamed, lunging into his open arms the moment she was close enough.
“My little monster,” he said so affectionately, lifting her from her feet and swinging her in a circle.
A smile stretched across my face the same time a touch of jealousy pierced my heart. Cora and I were finally building a sisterly relationship, but I had never seen such a beautiful display of love within a family.
“Mama! Babas! They’re here!” a girl who didn’t look much older than the one now clinging to Amir called out.
“This little monster is Annalise. The little hellraiser there is Amini,” he said about the second girl. “And Alysia is the oldest girl but still a brat.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, but then approached me. I moved to offer my hand, but then stiffened when she immediately wrapped her arms around my neck for a hug. She looked to be somewhere around fourteen or fifteen and wasn’t much shorter than myself.
“My baby is finally home,” a beautiful woman called from the porch before descending the three steps and hurrying to where we all stood. Even my alphas looked as though they weren’t sure how to act.
Enzo, Ax, and Cyrus might not have been raised with a stuffy as fuck family like my own, but it appeared as though they weren’t used to so much love in one place. This family truly cared about each other.
Amir set little Annalise on her feet then hugged his mom tightly, lifting her from her feet and earning a slap on the shoulder. “Put me down. You’re not too big for me to put over my knee.”
“Leave the boy alone,” a man who looked almost like Amir’s twin – minus the long hair – said as he approached. He extended a hand first to Enzo before moving on to our other two alphas. “I’m Ghazi Khalid. My omega Athena.” Another man stepped out, his hair salt and pepper in color and cut short. “This is our packmate Myer.”
“Enzo. That’s Ax and Cyrus.” Each alpha shook Amir’s fathers’ hands. Though it was more than obvious Ghazi was the biological father of Amir and his youngest sister where the other two heavily resembled their mother.
“This is our beautiful beta, Issa,” Amir said, wrapping an arm around me and beaming as though showing off the most precious diamond.
There was the briefest moment of silence where the family stared at me, then the air exploded with excitement and chatter.
“ Abnati !” Ghazi exclaimed as he pulled me into his arms, then pulled back to press a kiss to each of my cheeks.
Athena was next, practically yanking me away from her alpha and hugging me so tightly it was hard to breathe. I could totally see where Amir got his affectionate tendencies. “I am so damn excited to meet you. Come on inside. I made lunch.”
“Told you,” Amir muttered in my ear as his mom led me inside with an arm around my shoulders.
The alphas lingered back while the three girls followed me, their mother, and their brother, firing off questions and speaking at the same time until I was both overwhelmed and nearly exploding with happiness.
This was how a family should behave. This was how people reacted to those they loved. I had only just met these people, yet I felt more cherished by them than I had my entire life with my family pack.
“Do you love my brother?”
“Are you going to have a ceremony? Can I help plan it?”
“You’re so pretty. How come you’re not an omega?”
“Girls! You’re overwhelming her. And I told you, Annalise – we don’t pick our designations. And betas are just as amazing and beautiful as omegas or alphas.”
Amir’s sisters were still a little too young to present, but I loved that their parents were already setting them up for success by not making them feel as though they would be a failure if they were a beta. Something I’d never experienced.
“We’re not having a ceremony,” Amir answered as we stepped through the cozy living room and was guided straight to a fairly large dining room with enough chairs to fit the whole family plus company.
“Why not?” Annalise and Amini whined at the same time, then startled giggling.
This was how a home was supposed to sound, how it was supposed to feel. Their absolute commitment and adoration to and for each other was palpable in the air and evident in all the framed family pictures and obvious child art. There were literal child paintings of crooked houses complete with the sun in the corner framed and hanging on the walls as though they were displaying a Renoir or Picasso.
Instant peace washed over me, chasing away the earlier jealousy as I was led to the kitchen and was instantly swept away by the scents of home cooking.
Sure, we cooked for each other at home now, but growing up, it was the nannies or the housekeepers who would provide the meals and it never smelled so much like…like a homecoming.
That was the only way to describe it, as though Athena had found a way to literally infuse her food with love before serving it to her alphas and her children.
“Your home is so beautiful,” I said as I let my eyes roam the space, the children’s art, the backpack hanging over the back of one of the chairs, the laptop sitting on an end table, even the pillows and throws that weren’t perfectly folded and arranged to make the house look like a museum.
“I would say sorry about the mess, but we live in a perpetual mess,” Athena said with a chuckle. “Now,” she started, guiding me to a chair as she went back to work in the kitchen, “tell me everything.”
I looked around for Amir – or anyone – to save me from this line of questioning. I was a little worried about how my omega’s family would react to the fact I’d had a previous alpha and had walked away, or that my family had been one of the most notorious crime families in the area.
Or that my sister was bonded to a pack of criminals.
“Um… ”
“You’re so pretty,” little Annalise said, saving me for a moment.
“Are you the one who named Princess Fancy Pants?”
She giggled and tilted her head to the side like I’d embarrassed her, or maybe she was excited that I was actually talking to her.
“Yes,” she said with that same sweet giggle.
“How come you guys aren’t having a bonding ceremony?” Amini asked.
I had hoped to be saved from another line of quickfire questioning, but now, Athena was turned around watching me, a ladle in her hand.
My heart began to thump a little faster as I wondered how much to actually tell Amir’s family. I hadn’t been coached on what to say or not to say. I didn’t want his family to forbid him to be with us or to dislike us because of my past.
“She already had a ceremony and her alpha was an asshole,” Amir said as he entered the room, scooping Annalise up and tossing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
She squealed and giggled, kicking her little feet.
Amini and Athena were both looking between me and Amir and I waited for the judgment.
But Athena nodded and pursed her lips. “He hurt you,” she said before turning back to the stove.
It wasn’t a question. She’d simply stated it.
But when she turned off the stove and faced me again, there was anger in her dark eyes.
“Is he still breathing?”
“ Mama !” Amir said with a shake of his head. “Could we at least eat before you start with your Greek anger?”
“You think it’s going to be any better with your Arab father?”
My attention bounced back and forth between them, unsure of exactly what either of them meant? Did this mean his father had a temper? Would I be peppered with even more questions? Surely, they wouldn’t want to discuss things like violence and abuse in front of the young girls.
“Girls, set the table,” Athena said .
Amir set Annalise on her feet and the girls instantly got to work, pulling plates and utensils from cabinets and laying them out on the table.
“Can I help with anything?” I asked as I pushed to my feet.
“Absolutely not,” Athena said, pointing at me with a spatula as Amir looped an arm around my waist and tugged me onto his lap.
I turned wide eyes on him when he nuzzled his cheek against mine.
“Amir,” I whispered through clenched teeth.
But Athena merely smiled in our direction as she began carrying dish over overfilled dish to the table and set them on potholders and trivets.
Heavy steps echoed through the house as the alphas finally joined us in the dining room that was just off the kitchen. The entire house was mostly an open floor plan, yet still felt cozy.
“What is Antonio’s last name?” Ghazi asked as he stormed into the dining room.
And there went my damn heart, thundering like crazy behind my ribs as Amir kept me hugged tightly to his chest.
Turning wide eyes on my alphas, I raised my brows in a silent what the fuck before turning back to my new father-in-law. Myer was right behind him, his arms crossed over his broad chest, his brows pinched together causing a deep groove between them.
“Baba, maybe not right before we eat. Or…you know…ever,” Amir said as he continued to nuzzle his cheek against mine, the side of my neck, and my shoulder.
“If someone hurt abnati , they will be punished.”
That was the second time he’d referred to me in that way and I assumed it was a term of endearment the way Amir called me habibi .
“Not now, alpha. We’re all going to sit down and eat and get to know our new children,” Athena said, grabbing both of her alphas’ arms and guiding them to the table as though they were two more of her sons.
It wasn’t lost on me the way their muscles relaxed and their expressions softened under her touch .
“We will talk later, abnati . You’re family now.” His accent was slight but still obvious and his tone held no room for argument.
What had my alphas told these two alphas? More importantly, why had they told them anything about my past? I didn’t want them to hate me because of my family. I was nothing like them. In fact, even without having a relationship with my beta brothers, I knew they were nothing like my fathers, either.
Eventually, I wanted to reach out to them and build a relationship the way I was with Cora. We had all endured the same bullshit from our parents, had all been forced into packs against our will, had all had our futures planned for us.
Everyone took their seats, and I tilted my head and smiled when Athena was situated at the head of the table. Not Ghazi. Not Myer. Her alphas were putting their omega ahead of themselves.
No wonder Amir was so damn sweet; he’d been raised by loving parents.
“We’ll host a bonding ceremony for you,” Ghazi said between bites, his tone conversational yet left zero space for argument.
“She doesn’t want–”
“She didn’t want her previous alpha. This pack loves her. She deserves to be a princess. And I want to see my oldest pledge himself to his pack.” Ghazi nodded and no one made another protest. It was like that simple gesture was a signal that the subject was no longer on the table.
The table erupted into conversation, Amir’s family filling him in on what he’d missed around their little hobby farm, while everyone fired questions at me, Ax, Cyrus, and Enzo. They wanted to know about the club and even asked questions about Ax’s dancing.
“But if you’re classically trained, why strip?” Athena asked.
And a grin stretched across my face at how red Ax’s cheeks grew over her question.
“I don’t strip. I dance . And there aren’t many opportunities for a classically trained alpha. My family believed I would present as a beta or omega, hence the ballet and lyrical training.”
“I would love to see you dance someday. The ballet, not the…ot her,” Ghazi said, dropping his eyes to his plate as his own cheeks darkened a bit with a blush.
Athena met my eyes and winked with a smile. She was enjoying seeing her alphas uncomfortable as much as I was.
The evening continued on that way, just easy conversation, laughter, teasing, and so much love. When it was time to say our goodbyes, I easily promised to visit soon, and they all promised to come to our house.
Within a span of a few hours, I had gained a big, loud, affectionate family who’d easily accepted me and my alphas as their son’s pack.
And I’d learned what Ghazi kept calling me, what abnati meant – the alpha was calling me his daughter.