Evans #2
"How long have you been planning this?"
I can't breathe.
My gaze flicks towards Dad. His jaw is tight as he carefully watches the scene before him. His gaze across the journalists tells me he's already planning damage control. With a nod of his head, he signals to a member of staff and security enters.
“Benedict, babe...” She's still smiling, still waiting for me to join her on stage. “He’s a little shy.”
Every instinct screams at me to go to her. Just smile and save face. Go along with the tide, and try to survive.
Don't drag the Crawford family through scandal.
Don't embarrass my father.
Don't make a scene.
Hunter's little finger brushes against mine. It's barely even a touch, more like a whisper of a promise.
When I glance at him out of the corner of my eye, he's watching me with that same infuriatingly chilled expression he usually has. And it soothes something inside my chest.
He’ll be here, waiting for me no matter what happens. I know that fact with certainty, the same way I know the sky is blue and that pink rubber ducks are elite.
"Benny..." She laughs weakly. "What are you doing? Don’t be silly. Our friends and family want to share our good news. "
Without thinking about it any longer, I take Hunter’s hand in mine. He startles, surprised as his head snaps towards me, blue eyes wide as he stares down at our joined hands. The corner of his mouth pulls up, into a smirk. There’s my menace.
"No," I shake my head gently as I stay rooted to my spot, surrounded by my friends. I stare at her before my gaze moves across to my father. “I’m tired of being a passenger in my own life.”
I lift our joined hands just enough for everyone in the room to see.
The silence is deafening.
A champagne flute slips from somebody's hand and shatters somewhere behind me.
Someone else gasps dramatically.
A ripple of confusion runs through the crowd. Camera flashes begin again but this time they're aimed at us. The two of us.
"I'm in love with Hunter Ashbourne."
“But he…he’s an alpha.” Sadie's smile vanishes, her lip curling in disgust.
“He’s mine.” I shrug simply as I pull him into my side and wrap an arm around his waist. Staring down at him, I grin. “I’m done fighting it, because in every lifetime, every reality, every possible scenario that could ever exist, I will always choose you.”
Something inside me shifts, like a door unlocking, the final snick in the barrel opening the floodgates.
Behind my ribs, something tightens.
It’s not painful. Softer, like a gentle pressure.
A thread that's been stretched and lax for months finally pulls taut with an almost audible twang, warmth flooding through my chest before racing beneath my skin. There’s a flash of heat on the back of my neck.
My alpha nature swells, rising up as a gowl escapes my throat, not in dominance or anger, but in recognition.
Home.
Mate.
Mine.
Hunter sucks in a sharp breath at the same moment and I know he feels it too. Our bond, an invisible tether snapping into place like an elastic band.
His forehead drops against mine.
"There you are," he whispers, his voice cracking around the words. "I knew you'd find your way to me eventually."
Grabbing the back of his head, I pull him into a deep kiss. Love expands in my chest, growing, building like a storm brewing.
It takes me a few moments to realise it’s not just me, what I’m feeling. There’s a feedback loop between us as Hunter’s love for me moves through the bond. Interesting.
"I fucking knew it!" Blake yells into the stunned silence, punching the air and we pull apart.
"Blake!" Zale groans, smacking him across the back of the head hard enough that he yelps.
"What?" He grins without a shred of shame. "You owe me five grand, motherfucker."
Shiloh’s head whips towards his mate, his eyes narrowed.
“You bet him five grand that they weren’t fucking?” Shiloh slowly shakes his head, looking at his boyfriend like he was suddenly questioning his life choices. Clicking his tongue, he crosses his arms. “You’re an idiot.”
“Did you know?”
“Yeah…” Shiloh stares between us with his eyebrow raised in judgement. “They came home the other week reeking of each other.”
“What about you?”
Ivii shrugs, “Yeah, Hunter went into rut during Spring Break. He’s in our family group chat now.”
“What?” Zale looks at me, surprise on his face as he thinks about how that might have played out. Nodding, he seems impressed as he lands a punch on my shoulder. “Dude, respect. That’s hardcore. I could not handle a knot.”
“Why are you assuming he knotted me?”
Shiloh points a warning finger at Zale, “Don’t answer that, it’s a trap.”
“And you? Did you two know?”
Percy offers an apologetic shrug, “I had an…inkling.
Bell immediately throws their hands up with a wry smile. “I just provided safe sex advice, a judgement free-zone and moral support!”
“Ah, that’s where he got the plug from,” Hunter chuckles, nudging me playfully.
I snort, as everything else around us fades into the background. My father quickly gains control of the situation, apologising for the confusion, bringing out complimentary whiskey to celebrate his son’s new mating bond as Sadie and her family are quietly led away.
I should feel guilty, and a tiny morsel of me does. But she pushed me into this, like she’d been manipulating me the entire time, praying on my insecurities. But this wasn’t even about her.
It was about me.
Because for the first time in my life, I wasn’t going along with the plan. I wasn’t being passive in my own life. I wasn’t doing what I was told, to protect some family legacy.
I was choosing happiness.
I was choosing Hunter.
For the first time in my life...I was finally choosing myself.