Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
“I wish you had felt comfortable telling us. I hate knowing that you’ve been holding onto this.”
“I was just so angry at him, Mom. And then at myself for being mad at him. He couldn’t help dying.”
I curl up in my nest, cradling the phone against my shoulder.
I told the guys I wanted to be alone so I could call my parents and tell them about Calvin’s last request and the letter before the show airs.
It took me ages to get up the nerve to press the call button, but now that I’ve told them everything, my heart feels lighter.
Calvin was my brother, but he was their son. They deserve to know how he felt at the end and why I acted the way I did.
“I’m sorry I waited so long to tell you.”
Dad coos at me like he did when I was small. “You don’t need to apologize. None of us were our best then. We should never have let you shut yourself in the way you did. Our grief isn’t an excuse for not helping you with yours.”
“We love you so much, Ari.” My Papa’s gruff voice soothes my frayed edges. He’s always had that effect on me. “I’m sorry if we ever made you feel like you couldn’t come to us.”
“It wasn’t anything you did. I felt so guilty.”
“You do not need to feel guilty. He never should have put that on you. It was an impossible thing to ask of you.” Guilt twists inside my chest as my mom comforts me. I hate that I’ve missed out on so much time with her. I struggled to be around her after Calvin died, and that wasn’t fair.
“So.” Pops’s teasing tone is a departure from the somber nature of the conversation. “Marlie called us.”
My back stiffens. I hadn’t planned to have the ‘I have a pack now’ conversation. I was going to tell them next week. Maybe two weeks.
“She did?” My voice is tight. “About what?”
“She said you were on a TV show.” Father always sounds stern, even when we’re having a casual conversation. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Uh. Well.” I feel a bit like a scolded child. “Do you have time?”
An hour later, I curl up in the nest, pulling one of the blankets that smells like Grant around me and burrowing deep.
The conversation ended well, and they’re so excited to meet the guys, but having to admit how Sax was, in fact, lying on the internet like they warned me he was as a teenager, and cautioning them against watching the show because of the things they’d see, I’m exhausted.
A pleasant weight meets my back, and Ivan’s rich scent wraps around me.
“You okay, sweetie?”
I roll over and nuzzle into his chest. When he holds me against him like this, all the tension drains out of me. “Just tired, really. My parents are excited to meet you guys.”
“You told them about us? You made sure that I’m the favorite, right?”
I laugh and scratch his beard. He leans into me like a cat. “How could I make sure of that?”
“Telling them how handsome I am. How well I take care of you. How I’m not the one who decided to lie to you. That kind of thing.”
“You’re going to throw Derrick under the bus, aren’t you?”
He hums and looks anywhere but at me. “I would never do such a thing to my packmate, but if I did, it’d be okay, because all is fair in love and war.” He pushes me onto my back and hovers above me. “Though Grant will be a tough one to beat.”
His weight above me, so close to my heat finishing, leaves me panting. How am I going to live a normal life when everything these guys do has me slick and desperate? I wrap my leg around his thigh and try to pull him against me, but he doesn’t budge.
“Why, Omega. Are you trying to take advantage of me?”
“Is it working?”
He dips and ghosts his lips across mine. “Oh yeah. But I wanted to talk to you first. It’s kind of important.”
I drop my leg and prop myself up on my elbows. Anxiety twists my gut. “What’s going on?”
“It’s nothing bad!” He can tell by the look on my face that I don’t believe him. He drops beside me and rolls onto his back, looking at the string lights decorating my nest.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing is going on. I told you, it’s nothing bad.
” My Alpha weaves our fingers together and pulls my hand to his mouth.
“My grandmother wants to meet you. On my Pa’s side.
She knows we’re bonded, but there is an exchange of rings that happens in my family.
The oldest person in the family is the one who puts them on us, and she’s eager to be the one to do it. ”
It takes a minute for his words to hit me. “Ivan. Are you proposing?”
“It’s an engagement, but we don’t have to get married. We’re bonded. That’s bigger than marriage. But Nene wants you to have her ring, and she’s so excited…” His words trail off, and if he didn’t have a beard, I’m sure his cheeks would be bright red. “It’s not a big deal.”
“I’d love to, Ivan.”
His eyes light up, and he rolls onto his side, resting his face on his fist. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
When I press my lips to his, my Alpha melts into me. Ivan is soft in all the right places. He’s comfortable and cozy, and I always feel safe in his arms. But one part of him is certainly not soft. I palm his cock, and he grinds into my hand.
“This is not why I came in here, you know?”
I wiggle my body down his and grab the waistband of his sweats. “Are you going to tell me to stop?”
“Absolutely not.”
I pull his shorts down and take him into my mouth, the weight of his head on my tongue causing arousal to pool between my legs. My Alpha weaves his fingers through my hair and holds me still. When I look at him through my lashes, he rubs the apple of my cheek with one hand.
“You look beautiful when you suck my dick, Omega.”A wicked smile stretches his face, and I clench my thighs. “But I want you to sit on my face while you do it.”
He doesn’t have to ask me twice.
I scramble to get my pants off and perch above him. He grabs my hips with one hand and slams me onto his tongue while his other pushes on my back to get me to lean down and taste him again.
Focusing on his cock is nearly impossible when he sucks my clit between his lips and slides two fingers inside me. I grip his base, squeezing his knot as I swallow around him. Every time my throat flexes around his length, he moans into my pussy.
His beard is scratchy between my thighs, contrasting the warmth of his tongue in the most delicious way. It’s not long before I shatter on his tongue. Once I do, he doesn’t hold back, grabbing my head and fucking up into my mouth.
After we’re both spent and panting, wrapped in each other’s arms, a throat clears behind us.
I look behind me to see Grant, his cock tenting his loose shorts, watching us. “Uh. Dinner is ready.”
Ivan stands and crosses, naked, to our Beta. He grabs the front of Grant’s shirt and pulls him into a passionate kiss that gets my pulse rising again. When our Alpha pulls away with a nip to Grant’s lower lip, he chuckles.
“I had dessert first.”