Chapter Fifty-One – Raeka
The guys are up to something. I’m not stupid.
I know they’ve been flittering around, trying to be sneaky, and I’ve let them.
Trust me, as a Whittenhall omega, it’s not like my parents let me have free rein to go about and do whatever I wanted.
Going to the clubs before I turned eighteen? Child’s play for a girl like me.
No, I let them have their secrets, figuring they’ll tell me eventually, whatever it is.
It’s funny. The old me would’ve hated that, but now… the easiest way to describe it is that I’m simply at peace now. I’m happy. Content. I’m right where I want to be, with a pack who I love, in a house that will be my forever home.
You’d think getting kidnapped from said house would make it feel a little colder, a place we’d all like to move from, but no. What happened that day with Bradford Bentley has pretty much fallen to the wayside, forgotten as the weeks turned into months.
As for that asshole? Supposedly he’s trying to claim that he had no idea we were in his house, that those alphas acted on their own and he was blissfully unaware.
Right.
The video footage from his house had been miraculously deleted, and there was no paper trail between Bradford and the fake SWAT team that nabbed Colter and me.
He’s on house arrest now, waiting for his trial, but Pax has told me that he’ll put someone on him, just to make sure he doesn’t try anything again.
The team that actually took us will have stiffer consequences.
Anyway, I don’t think Bradford will try something again. Gideon’s revitalized when it comes to his company. His creativity is back, and I love seeing him so full of life, so energized.
And Pax? Pax is much happier now that he’s not stuck inside this house, being my shadow. He’s definitely a busybody; he likes going to work, training his crew. He likes exerting those muscles.
Colter is… well, the beta is as happy as I am. I often catch him smiling at nothing at particular now, which is a far-cry from where he was in the beginning.
God, I love them so much. I do. I don’t know how it happened, if it really was fate having a hand in pulling us all together or what, but I can’t imagine my life without these guys in it. I never knew having a pack could be like this; I get it, now, why most omegas crave one.
The thing about mates like Pax, Gideon, and Colter? They make it better. They make everything better. Being an omega used to be the worst thing, but they swooped in and made it all so much better that I can’t even put myself in the shoes of Raeka Whittenhall anymore.
I’m Raeka freaking Chase now.
The guys work together Saturday night to make me dinner, and they make my favorite meal: meatloaf.
I never had good meatloaf until Gideon made it for us one night.
I always used to think it was disgusting, but the way he does it…
it deserves literal chef kisses—he’ll settle for my kisses, though, seeing as how I’m still no chef.
Meatloaf, buttery mashed potatoes, and seasoned beans that practically melt in your mouth.
They don’t let me sit at the dining room table until everything is already laid out. Gideon even pulls out my chair for me.
“This looks amazing, guys,” I tell them, and though they’d never admit it, the alphas preen under my praise.
Colter looks pleased, too. I reach for my fork, but then I notice two small boxes near the utensils.
One is square, while the other is more rectangular.
Definitely out of place, since the guys don’t have anything like them near their plates. “What’s this?”
Gideon and Pax share a look, and then Pax picks up the smaller box. He goes to sit beside me, in Colter’s seat, while the other alpha and beta wait.
“I know you’re a fan of the finer things in life,” Pax says, taking my right hand in his while his other fiddles with the box. “But this is a family heirloom, so be gentle.” He lets go of my hand so he can pop open the box and present its contents to me.
A ring.
A gorgeous ring with a sparkly diamond in the middle of a simple silver band.
“Wow,” I say, breathless, watching as Pax pulls the ring from the box, reaches over to my left side, and takes my other hand.
“Just so you know, this ring is definitely one of those finer things—” He slides it onto my ring finger, and it fits me perfectly, like magic, and my breath catches. “When did you get this?”
“My mom’s been saving it. When she first saw us together, she knew I found my forever.” Pax smirks at me, and just like it did in the beginning, that smirk melts me. “I can honestly say there isn’t anyone in the world I’d rather let aggravate me for eternity.”
I laugh, unable to take my stare away from the ring. “Whatever you say, Mr. Alpha.” And then I lean over to him and throw my arms around his strong neck, giving him a soft kiss on the lips before I whisper, “Thank you. I love it.”
The sound that comes from the alpha makes me think he’s wrestling with himself: step away and let us eat dinner, or take things upstairs?
The former wins out, because he begrudgingly pulls himself away from me—though Gideon takes his place in the same chair immediately after. I watch as he reaches for the other box, the more elongated one.
“Not to be outdone,” Gideon is slow to say, drawing his fingers down the box before he takes the hand with the new ring on it, “I have something for you, too. It’s something I’ve been working on for a long time—something you inspired, actually.”
Something I inspired? These guys better be careful; my ego’s not going to fit in the room soon enough.
He opens the box, and whatever I anticipated on seeing, it still makes me gasp. A beautiful necklace, an omega symbol, but inlaid with multiple different stones—birthstones, I’m slow to realize. Mine, a ruby, at its top, then an emerald, an amethyst, and a garnet. Our birthstones.
“The first prototype of Chase Jewels’ new line,” Gideon goes on.
“A line that celebrates not only the omega, but their pack as well. New jewels can be added, if… there are additions to the pack.” Kids, he means.
“Always, though, the omega is the biggest,” he references the sheer size difference of my birthstone compared to the others, “because she—or he—is the most important.”
“Wow,” I whisper. “That’s… amazing.” I meet his blue eyes. Behind his glasses, the alpha is expectant, a small line of worry near the corner of his mouth; he’s worried I won’t like it. “I love it,” I say, and then I kiss him.
And I do. It’s so different from his older designs. None will be the same. Every single piece will be different—which means they’ll be pricier, but for those who want it, they’ll pay, just as they paid in the past to have the Chase Jewels name on their jewelry.
“What are you waiting for?” I ask once I pull away. “Put it on.”
Gideon practically leaps to his feet, and I hoist my hair up so he can get to my neck unfettered. He drapes the necklace around my neck and clasps it, and only when he steps away do I let my hair down.
I run my fingertip over the pendant, still smiling. A shiny ring and a necklace. A girl could get used to this.
As Gideon and Pax move to sit on the other side of the table, Colter takes his place beside me. It’s now his turn to grab my hand, and I smile at him and say, “What’d you get me, hmm? Not going to lie, it’s going to be hard to follow that up—”
“I love you.”
Whatever silly thing I was saying, it doesn’t matter.
The moment I hear those words from him, those spoken, stutter-free words, the breath is knocked clean out of me, and all I can do is say, “What?” He’s said small things here and there.
He’s tried on multiple occasions to declare that statement fully, without stuttering, but the way he said it just now…
it’s like he’s always had his voice under control.
Colter opens his mouth and whispers, “I said I love you.” The confidence behind those words fills me with a warmth I can’t explain.
I lean into him and give him a warm, slow kiss. “I love you, too.”
And, by God, I really do. Whatever I thought I knew about love before, I was wrong. I didn’t know the half of it. Colter, Pax, and Gideon; they’ve truly shown me what it’s like to be loved, to be accepted.
I thought I wasn’t their girl. I believed I wasn’t—couldn’t—be anyone’s girl, but resisting was fruitless, pointless, useless as useless could be. I was wrong.
As we dig into the meal the guys so graciously cooked, I can honestly say I’ve never been happier to have been mistaken. The stoic lone wolf, the socially awkward introvert, and the creative painter with a shattered past. My guys. My pack.
I’m their girl, and they’re mine.