Chapter Sixteen
A s much as I loved Hannah, I wasn’t really feeling up for this gathering.
Most of that was because I was still in a bad mood from Adam’s speech earlier in the week. It was like a cloud that constantly hung over my head, casting me in a shadow of bad moods.
Not even the quick phone call with Bartholomew had helped, considering he basically said there was nothing we could do about Adam’s speech, that it was actually very smart on his part to attempt to sway the court of public opinion so early, and that he would reach out to me in the next few days about what he thinks we should do.
Apparently, if we now gave a speech, it wouldn’t look as convincing.
We would look like we were copying him or simply trying to save face.
Bartholomew admitted that he thought Adam would try something like this, but only after all the paperwork had been filed and notified, the case officially in the first step.
At this point, a clerical error could make the whole thing come to a stop before it started.
Although that was unlikely. It was still possible.
Of course, there was also the fact, completely unrelated to my disastrous work life, that my pack was meeting Hannah and hers for the first time.
I was so nervous about that part of this gathering that my stomach was threatening to dispel the homemade puff pastries I’d made for breakfast. I didn’t think the raspberry filling would taste as good a second time.
I was sitting in the passenger seat, Everett drove, while Oaks and Atlas sat in the back, the latter leaning forward so his hand was rubbing my arm in a comforting gesture.
“We don’t have to stay long,” I told the car, or whoever was still listening to me ramble. “Whenever you guys want to leave, just let me know. You don’t have to fake nice or anything.”
Everett didn’t so much as glance over at me, but I saw the side of his face pull up in a smirk.
“Not that I don’t think you’d like Hannah or her pack. Or Koda and hers. They’re all very nice.” Turning in my seat, I looked between Oaks and Atlas. “Do you have enough space in the back? I can move my seat.”
A hand came down on my thigh, forcing my attention forward again. “They’re good and you need to face forward. Safer. Also, take a deep breath. This is all going to be fine, Babygirl. We can woo your friends.”
Right, exactly. My friends. Not my family who would suddenly see me as valuable because I had a pack.
My friends. The ones I’d chosen. Sure, they’d be happy for me, but they weren’t going to cast me aside because I ‘had an omega’ now.
If that was true, they wouldn’t have invited us in the first place.
My friends were not my family. My value was more than just the fact that I found a pack.
My friends enjoyed my company when I was a solo beta.
Why was I nervous then? As if I’d knock on the door to Hannah’s place and she’d suddenly act differently. Suddenly treat me like a beta instead of just Eve. Ridiculous. And disrespectful to Hannah.
Still, the fear lingered.
It didn’t help that Atlas had refused to let me put on my descenter this morning.
Hannah has never had to endure my natural scent before and I was worried she’d be bothered by it, especially considering how my anxiety was making my scent taint the air around me like bitter chocolate.
The more I tried to calm my scent, the more it seemed to grow in spite of myself.
“Just up ahead,” I told Everett. I recognized Koda’s car.
Or technically I think it was her alpha’s car since Koda once mentioned the dangers of driving and how the multi-ton vehicles didn’t get the respect they deserved on the road considering how deadly they were.
To be fair, it had been one of the times that Koda and Hannah were drinking, so that might’ve been a drunk thought.
Suddenly, I gasped, staring wide eyed at Everett. “I forgot the dessert! We have to go back.” It would make us nearly two hours late to drive back to the house, but the trifle would be worth it.
“Uh, pet? I got the trifle back here, remember?”
I whipped around, taking in Atlas with the large, glass bowl in his lap.
Right. Of course. My heart was racing so hard that I was starting to feel lightheaded.
“Hey, darlin, eyes on me, huh.” Oaks pushed his body between the seats until he was leaning so far forward, I barely had to turn my head to meet his gaze. “This is all going to be fine. You picked good friends, yeah? Just like you picked a good pack.”
A smile twitched at my lips that I tried to hide.
“Nope, I saw that.” Oaks awkwardly shuffled his body, reaching out a hand to cup my face. “You don’t get to choose your blood, but you can choose who you have in your life. If these friends aren’t true ones to you, then we’ll find you new ones.”
“Oh, just like that?”
“Just like that. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem, though. You have good instincts.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t have any instincts.”
“Pretty sure you protected Hannah before you even truly knew her. Isn’t that the reason for this whole mess with the OC?”
“And what about your need to provide?” Atlas asked. “Isn’t that why you took a job with us? You wanted to care for people?”
Even Everett added, “It was your protective instincts that had you worried about packing with us. You didn’t see us as a shield against the shit in your life. You wanted to ensure that the shit would never touch us.”
I shook my head. “You all build me up too high.”
“Impossible. We love you, Babygirl. If I could put you up in the clouds, let the sun shine on you all day, every day, I would.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Mercifully, they didn’t need any response from me. The moment lingered between us before it broke with a knock on the glass.
“Stop making out.” Hannah’s words are warped slightly through the glass. “You’ve been out here for so long that I was starting to wonder if you were just going to drive away. Come inside.”
Hannah glared at me as her hand came to the door handle pulling on it like she was going to drag me out.
I laughed, unlocking the door. As soon as I did, Hannah’s whole face transformed.
She smiled, backing up a step to let me out as she bounced on her toes.
Just a few feet behind her was Jackson, watching over her even this close to the house.
Behind him, and in the open door, was Koda, her pack, and most likely the rest of Hannah’s, too.
Jackson pulled Hannah back into his body as my pack got out of the truck. I was grateful that the truck wasn’t ridiculously tall, or it would look very out of place on this street.
“Oh, good, you brought a dessert,” Hannah squealed. I would have brought an actual dinner dish but with all the cooks in a gathering like this, it was actually easier to just order in.
“Chocolate coffee trifle,” I told her.
Atlas came to stand on one side of me, Oaks the other, while Everett came around my back, wrapping a hand around my stomach. He and Jackson shared a silent alpha dominance inflection before Everett made the quick introduction.
“Okay, enough posturing,” Hannah said. “Let’s go inside. I don’t like being out here for long. Everyone’s always trying to take a picture when they drive by.”
We followed her in, Everett’s body so close to mine that I was surprised he didn’t accidentally step on my heels. Inside, we barely made it past the front door before Hannah was reintroducing everyone.
My pack, of course, Everett, Oaks, and Atlas. Her alphas, Jackson, Sebastian, Han, and Zeke. Then Koda and hers, Jenson, Enzo, and Aidan.
Despite how big Hannah’s house was, this was a lot of people.
We all stood apart for a moment, our three packs just sort of eyeing each other.
It was in moments like this where I was grateful to be a beta with a weaker nose.
The scents of dominance and multiple packs were overwhelming to me—let alone everyone else.
Then I broke the quiet by pointing out the obvious. “You dyed your hair. It looks good.”
Hannah’s had pink hair since the accident, but now, it was a stark black, making her look like a model.
Her cheekbones were somehow more elegant, her eyes more striking.
Of course, she still had the heart shaved into the side of her head that surrounded the permanent scar where her skull cracked open.
“Thanks,” she beamed. “I figured I needed a war color.”
“War?”
“Yeah. Cause we’re going to war against that dickhead, right?”
I stared at Hannah, completely not understanding those words in a sentence despite knowing each exact word’s meaning. “I’m sorry, I think I’m confused.”
It was Koda who said, “We want to help support you while you fight against Adam. Whatever you need.”
Hannah nodded solemnly. “We all know it was you he was talking about. Did you know before then?”
Jackson spoke up before I could answer, “Why don’t you three go have a conversation? You can use one of the spare rooms for some privacy.”
I felt hesitant to leave my pack. After all, I’d brought them to a stranger’s house and abandoning them felt weird.
Atlas just kissed my cheek and then went to follow Han who suggested putting the dessert in the fridge.
Oaks kissed my other cheek before going up to Koda’s alpha, Aidan, and talking about his nightclub.
Everett leaned down to whisper, “You got good instincts, Babygirl. Trust them.” Then he, too, left to speak with Jackson and Jenson, the other two lead alphas of the other packs.
“Eve, come on.” Hannah bounced on her toes, impatiently waiting for me to follow her and Koda.
She led us into a space mixed with tables of computer screens and easels with oil paint.
Maybe a shared workspace considering the two contrasting activities?
Or maybe a storage space for whatever the alphas weren’t interested in at the moment?
There were two couches, not quite facing each other, but enough that the three of us took our seats.