Chapter Twenty-Four – Raeka
I really need to do laundry. Now I have two slick-coated panties bundled up beneath my mattress. The first thing I did the next morning is take another shot—with how my body responded to Gideon’s last night, I don’t trust myself. I’d rather be safe than sorry.
The second thing I do is call Mercedes, but I wait until I’m outside, a good bit away from the back patio, before I do it. Don’t want any alphas overhearing what I’m about to talk to her about. And Colter… shit. I should tell him something, shouldn’t I? Keeping secrets just doesn’t feel right.
Mercedes answers the phone on the second ring, “Raeka. What’s up?”
I pace back and forth on the grass with my bare feet. My arm is a little sore from the shot; I did it in a hurry. At the rate I’m going, I’m going to need another set of shots soon. “I’m freaking out over here.”
“What? Why?”
I can’t forget that she doesn’t know the full truth of Gideon’s offer; she thinks I’m here for Gideon, so I have to be careful with how I frame this. “Something may have almost happened with Gideon…”
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
“Maybe, but… something almost happened with Pax, too.”
Mercedes is quiet for a few seconds, and then she says, “When you say something almost happened, what exactly do you mean? That could mean a lot of things.” She sounds like she’s about to start rattling off examples, so I decide to tell her about the incident downtown.
“I whined for him. He got all purry and growly. He…” My cheeks flush.
“…made me slick in public. It was right after we left N.O.A. We got into an argument, and then… I don’t know.
Things somehow escalated. The only reason things didn’t go further is because a female alpha cut in and reminded us where we were. ”
“Holy shit.” She actually sounds impressed, for whatever reason. “I know you’re probably annoyed and upset about it, but I didn’t think Pax had it in him. From the way his brothers talk, he’s as closed-off to a relationship as you can get—does Gideon know what happened between you two?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And…” I stop pacing and set my free hand on my hip as I gaze at the house. “And nothing. He wasn’t upset. He actually let me decide whether or not Pax stays.”
“Huh. That’s definitely weird. Alphas don’t like it when other alphas sniff around what’s theirs. Even if you aren’t bonded to him yet, you’re still technically his omega. It’s totally within his rights to fire Pax. The only time alphas are okay with sharing with other alphas is when—”
“When they’re in a pack,” I say. “I know, but Gideon and Pax aren’t in a pack together.”
She takes her time in answering, “No, they’re not, unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless a pack is forming.”
Her reply nearly knocks me off my feet. Seriously, it takes a whole lot of strength on my part to remain standing; my legs suddenly get very, very weak. My heart beats a little faster in my chest, too. Unless a pack is forming. That can’t be. Packs form in childhood, early adulthood at the latest.
My breathing comes out short. “Do you really think that could be happening?”
“I don’t know. I imagine it would take one hell of an omega to bring together alphas who didn’t grow up in an already-formed pack. You got that part checked off. It’s probably not common at all, but it has to happen every once in a while, right?”
I laugh, but that laugh is more of a nervous chuckle than anything else. “I, um, I have to go.”
“Yep, you gotta go bring those two alphas together. Got it.”
I roll my eyes when I end the call, and once I push my phone into the back pocket of my jeans, I gaze at the house. Could this be a pack-forming situation? The outlandish idea sounds less ridiculous the more I repeat it in my head.
The only problem is I don’t want a pack of alphas. That’s literally why I accepted Gideon’s offer. It got me away from my overbearing mom, out of the Whittenhall house, with no pressure where alphas are concerned. Just a beta. That’s it.
Why does my life have to be so freaking complicated?
Slumping my shoulders, I head into the house and putz around. I make myself some lunch—it’s a bit early, but it’s too late for breakfast. I take my time in eating, thankful neither Gideon nor Pax are hovering around me right now. Gives me some time to think. Being near them makes me all flustered.
After I eat, I clean up the mess I made in the kitchen and do the dishes, and then I head up to my bedroom to watch some ASL lessons.
I’m in the midst of trying not to think about either alpha in the house when I stroll into my room and come across Colter near my bed, his nose upturned, like he’s sniffing me out.
Or my hidden panties.
Crap.
“Colter,” I say his name loudly, causing him to jerk away from my bed and give me a sheepish look.
He holds onto his tablet, wearing a dark blue hoodie.
His light brown hair is a little damp, like he just recently took a shower.
All in all, the beta looks like he belongs in college or something.
A cute college beta. “What are you doing here?”
He steps away from the bed, and I try to hide the sigh of relief that threatens to escape me when he comes near. Betas don’t have as good of a sniffer as alphas; he could probably smell my scent through my hidden panties, but it’s nowhere near as overpowering to him as it is to alphas.
He turns on his tablet screen and types something out, then shows me. I thought we could paint together today. He hurriedly types in, If you want.
The smile I give him then is genuine. “Ah, you want to make fun of me today? Sure, we can do that.” Before he can type in something that would probably be reassuring, I hook my arm through his and lead him out of my room and away from the scent that had called to him.
Phew. Disaster averted.
Up the stairwell we go until we reach the third floor of the house, the area he calls home. We go to his studio, where he’s set up an extra canvas beside his, along with an extra stool and a small table to hold the paint and water cups.
I unhook my arm from his and go towards the canvas on the right. “So, what are we going to paint today?”
He types, Whatever you want.
“Challenge accepted.” I sit on the stool and grab a paintbrush, but Colter comes over and plucks that paintbrush right out of my hands with a shake of his head.
He switches it with a pencil. I assume that means I’m supposed to lightly sketch out whatever it is I want to paint before I actually get to the painting part.
“Well, you’re the teacher here, so whatever you say goes.
” When I flash him a grin, I find he’s quietly staring at me with an expression I can’t read.
His gaze does dip lower to my mouth for a split second, though.
Does he know what nearly happened last night between me and his uncle? Maybe I should tell him now, get it over with.
I set the hand with the pencil down on my lap. “Um, there’s something you should maybe know. Something almost happened between me and Gideon last night. I don’t know how or why, and I swear I’m not normally like this. I really do hate alphas, but—”
Colter lightly touches my arm, stopping me from further rambling. His comforting touch disappears when he goes to type something out. He shows me: It’s okay. You don’t have to explain. You’re an omega, and he’s an alpha, like Pax.
“Yeah, but you’re—”
Not important.
My heart hurts when I read that. It’s not the first time he’s put himself down, and I bet it won’t be the last. Colter really does think nothing of himself.
“Stop it,” I tell him, my tone a bit harsher than I intend.
“You are important. You’re important to me, and you know you’re important to your uncle, too. ”
With a sigh, he types out, You don’t have to lie.
“I’m not lying.” I can tell he’s not going to switch his views on the subject, at least not right now, so I turn away from him and give him an out by focusing on the empty canvas before me.
“Now, I know you said I can paint whatever I want, but I think there should be rules—you know, to be a little fair. So you won’t feel too bad when I wipe the floor with you.
” I pause, trying to think of something.
“How about we paint something in this room? Should we have a competition? Yeah, let’s do it. ”
I might not have the skills of an artist, was never too great at completing anything when I was forced to take art classes in school, but how hard can it really be? I just need to sketch out whatever I’m going to paint, and then paint it. Easy-peasy. No problem here.
Colter sits on his stool beside me—after moving his canvas so that he faces me in his position and I can’t glance over and see what he’s working on. He seems to get right to work after he sets his tablet down, his brows pinching together in the most adorable way.
Such concentration. Never knew it could be so cute on a guy.
The studio doesn’t have much to choose from.
There’s nothing hanging on the walls. Nothing but high ceilings and the windows on the far side of the room.
I decide to do what I see in front of me: the windows on the far wall, and the floor and ceiling that meet said wall.
It’s a lot of lines, but surely it’ll be easy enough for me.
With my pencil in hand, I get to work… and I quickly find out how wrong I was.
I was dumb for thinking this would be easy enough. Turns out, drawing out anything remotely close to a straight line is a lot more difficult than you’d think; each line I attempt is squiggly and basically the opposite of straight.
Man, I really have not a single ounce of creativity in my body, huh? I like going shopping, but pairing clothes together is the extent of my ability. Anything involving a pencil is apparently going to end in disaster.
God, Colter is going to laugh when he sees the finished product.