Chapter 22
Silver
Meemaw hugs me tight enough that I grunt with the force of it, but I’m grinning as I return it without fuss.
“Hey, Meemaw,” I greet, inhaling her sweet, caramel scent that always reminds me of home.
“Oh, my girl, you came,” she croons in my ear before pulling back, her small hands gripping my biceps as she steps back and runs her eyes all over me. I’m pretty sure tears fill her eyes, and she breathes, “You look beautiful, sweetie.”
“Thanks, Meemaw. You’re looking pretty hot yourself,” I quip, lighting up on the inside at her laughter. It’s true, though. Meemaw, now in her early seventies, looks no older than fifty-five. The woman doesn’t age like us mere mortals, appearing youthful and as gorgeous as she was when she was younger. I have no idea how she does it, whether or not she uses the help of injections or surgical tools, and I don’t care to know. What Meemaw does with her money and cosmetics is up to her. But whatever she’s doing, may it be aging gracefully or taking advantage of being able to afford age-defying surgeries, she looks like a knockout in her gold, floor-length gown that skates the floor as she walks.
“You’re so sweet,” she chuckles, cupping my face with a warm smile. “I’ve missed you, my girl. How have you been? How is school? Are you learning things? Making good choices? How’s that girl you befriended? Juniper, was it?”
I wait patiently for her to get all her questions out before laughing. “Any more you want to get in there before I start answering?”
“Smart-ass,” she volleys, nudging my shoulder with her dainty hand.
“You know what she’s like, flower. She’s full of questions, and she hasn’t seen you in a couple of weeks. I’m pretty sure she’s collected them for today,” Paw Copper snickers, before pulling me away from his wife and hugging me in a tight embrace that smells of ginger and spice.
“Just wait until she notices the fellers behind you,” Paw Hudson quips, dragging me into his embrace, smelling like his usual clove and eucalyptus.
“The what?” Meemaw blurts, before leaning around me to check out the guys who haven’t uttered a word since my grandmother hurried over.
Chuckling to myself, I step away from my Paws and gesture to the guys, stepping around Munro’s chair to place a hand on Aero’s shoulder and lean into Munro’s shoulder. “Meemaw, this is pack Larsen. You know, the pack that I told you about.”
I ignore the looks of surprise I receive from the guys, because now isn’t the time to get into how I’ve been talking to my family about them. I mean, if I can’t talk to my family, who can I talk to, right? I’m not even going to mention that I’ve spoken more to Alek about them than I have Meemaw. There are just some things you don’t want to share with your grandmother. Some things a cousin wouldn’t judge you over.
“Well, aren’t you all tall glasses of handsome,” Meemaw drawls, and I close my eyes with a shake of my head and a bemused smile.
Thankfully, the guys aren’t uptight prudes, and Aero winks at my grandmother and holds his hand out to her, “Pleasure to meet the woman who raised my girl. I can see where Silver gets her good looks.”
Hudson and Copper laugh behind their eyes, but Meemaw positively melts as she shakes Aero’s hand with her free hand pressed to her chest. “Aren’t you a charmer.”
“I try my best, ma’am,” the omega smoothly replies, grinning like a handsome bastard. “This is my pack.”
From there, Aero takes on the task of introducing everyone, declaring their names while each member of pack Larsen shakes hands with the woman who saved me, raised me into adulthood, and loves me like the daughter she wished hers had become.
By the time introductions are done, and Meemaw has been thoroughly flattered by the men who are quickly possessing my heart, I’ve relaxed significantly. Seems like an encounter with my mother wasn’t the only thing that had me tense. I didn’t realize I was so worried about Meemaw liking the guys until she was eyeing them like they were a threat. Of course, that look didn’t last long, because I’ve discovered pack Larsen can actually be rather charming and playfully flirtatious when they want to be. Even Munro who, although didn’t smile as such, was polite, courteous, and respectful of the woman I love to the ends of the earth. It was effortless, and it’s no doubt they've already won my grandparents over with their humor, smooth lines, and promises to look out for me.
Secretly, they’ve won me over, too. But that’s a conversation for another day.
Rage and Haze excuse themselves sometime later, claiming their stomachs are going to start eating themselves if they don’t find food soon, while Munro and Aero find themselves deep in conversation with Hudson and Copper. Pace is seated on the opposite side of the table from me, intense eyes watching, lips twitching as I watch him back while Meemaw chitters in my ear. “Alek should be here shortly with the boys.”
“He said he’d be running late. Said something about a friend of Barne’s needing help, but he’ll be here,” I assure distractedly, narrowing my eyes on Pace.
Meemaw laughs, and I wonder briefly what she’s giggling about until she whispers, “I like them for you, sweetie.”
That has me losing an intense staring competition with the serious alpha who grins before I look away. When my gaze collides with Meemaw’s, her gray eyes matching to mine lit up with approval and happiness, I blurt, “What was that?”
“They’re good for you, Silver. You’re more you with them around. Remember the last function you attended? You were stiff as a board, tense the entire night, and jumpy any time someone spoke to you,” she reminds me, and I cringe, because I do remember that. It was a function my mother hosted for the anniversary of something or other. It was there that she tried to blackmail me into accepting a pack’s proposal to bond with them before Paw Copper caught her and gave her an earful. The rest of the night was a blur, because I was paranoid for the remainder of the evening.
Meemaw nods. “I know you remember. I can’t even correlate that young girl to the woman sitting with me now. You’re so relaxed with them here, sweetie. You’re at ease, and it’s a beautiful thing to witness. Love looks really good on you.”
Without meaning to, my eyes dart over to Pace, and I find him already watching me with a bone-shaking intensity that makes me wonder if he just heard my grandmother. Swallowing hard, I try to deny her words, only she gives me a look that dares me to lie to her face.
“I know you well enough, Silver Lane Gage. You’re smitten with those boys, there’s no denying it,” she softly admonishes, patting my hand in a motherly gesture that reminds me of every other time she’s proven what a better mother she is than mine. “You know, that boy with the dark hair and drawings all over him? Munro? He’s a dish, isn’t he? A bad boy, as the youth would call him, right? They’re all dishes, actually. All filled with different flavors.”
“Oh my god, Meemaw,” I choke, eyes wide as I stare at her.
“What? I have eyes that work just as well as yours,” she teases, grinning widely at me, finding far too much enjoyment in making me squirm. “They’re all very handsome guys, Silver. You’re a lucky girl.”
Pace snorts, and I snap my eyes to his. Oh, great. So, he definitely heard, then. That’s going to be an awkward conversation later. Maybe I can pretend it never happened, never bring it up, and hope he does the same. The burning in his honey eyes tells me that’s not going to happen, and I narrow my eyes on him again. It only serves to make his smile grow into a grin, and I roll my eyes at the bastard with twitching lips.
Focusing on my grandmother, I lower my voice and whisper, “I’m very lucky, Meemaw. So, you really like them?”
She nods, reaching for my hand to hold as she says, “They’re perfect for you. Just the pack I would love to see you belong to. I’m so happy for you, my girl.”
Well, shit. That means more to me than any approval I would ever get from my mother. With a sniffle and a fight against my emotional tears, I breathe, “Thank you, Meemaw.”
“Of course, sweetie,” she sweetly offers, leaning in to kiss my temple in a way she always has since I was a little omega with big dreams. “Now, how about you go sit with that boy who can’t keep his eyes off you. I’m going to mingle and wrangle some dollars out of the snobs your mother invited to this farce.”
“Farce? I thought you loved these things?” I blurt, frowning in confusion.
“As much as I love your Paws’ morning breath and afternoon toots,” she quips, brushing my hair out of my face before disappearing with only a wink left behind.
Pace is suddenly in the seat Meemaw vacated before I stop laughing, and I roll my head to the side to eye him as he watches me closely. My eyes are rolling next when he teases, “A dish, huh?”
“Shut up,” I snicker, turning to face him better in my seat, feeling wildly relaxed and ignoring why. I mean, I haven’t caught sight of my mother yet, but there’s still time.
Grinning at me, Pace leans in and rests his elbows on his knees as he peers at me closely, cataloguing every expression that crosses my face as he asks, “So, she approves?”
I bite my lip and nod slowly. “Thinks you’re all good for me. I think that’s debatable, if you want my opinion, but she’s an old woman set in her ways. I won’t bother trying to convince her otherwise.”
“You’re such a brat,” Pace sighs playfully, and I’m the one grinning next, my heart fluttering from a simple moment of banter.
A moment that is ruined when I smell her before I hear the voice that still haunts every waking and sleeping moment of my days. My smile slips suddenly, and my body tightens to almost painful, and Pace notices instantly. He’s standing and pulling me up with him in the next breath, wrapping an arm around my back just as my mother approaches with a wave of her lavender scent and cloying perfume that reminds me of decaying flowers.
“Silver,” she greets blandly, and I turn enough to look over my shoulder at the woman who birthed me. Her pale-blonde hair is pulled into a perfectly coiffed chignon, not a single wisp of hair out of place, and her artful makeup is applied in a way that provides her with a natural look that hides the bitch beneath.
A blood-red dress drags across the floor as she slowly walks toward me, arm linked with a man I’ve never seen before in my life, and my breath catches painfully in my chest. I almost stopped breathing entirely when my mother stops two feet away, eyes Pace like he’s the scum of the earth, glares at where his hand is pressed into my lower back, before she focuses her calculating gaze back on me. “Darling. I’ve been looking for you.”
‘Darling,’ my fucking ass. I pull a face that she doesn’t like, her fake smile dropping slightly before she recovers quickly, appearing to all the world what she believes a loving mother would look like. What a crock of shit.
I don’t bother answering, turning to face her and feeling Pace’s hand trail over my waist and stomach, where he keeps it as he stands tall at my side.
Releasing the guy’s arm, my mother takes a deep breath and leans in as though she’s about to hug me. No, thank you. That’s a boundary I’m not crossing, because I’m not about to play the part of an obedient, omega daughter like she had me play for sixteen years of my life. Even before my designation came in, she was treating me like an omega, ensuring I grew up as an omega despite the possibility I could be a beta or alpha. After all, three of my fathers are alpha’s.
“Don’t touch me, Cynthia,” I warn before she can wrap her bony arms around me, my words halting her movements instantly.
My mother offers me a scathing look as she tries to recover from the blunder that will embarrass her if anyone is watching, dropping her arms awkwardly as she returns to the stranger’s side. Patting his arm, she plasters on her fake smile once more and proclaims, “I wanted to introduce you to someone. Philip, this is my darling daughter, Silver. Isn’t she a beauty?”
My face pulls into an expression of disgust, and I sink deeper into Pace’s hold, feeling so painfully uncomfortable that it would be funny if this wasn’t a common occurrence. I don’t even know why she keeps trying. I want nothing to do with her or her pack, want nothing to do with her money, influence, or companies. And she fucking knows it. But, apparently, losing the control she once had over her daughter is proving difficult to let go. Her reputation matters more, of course. I’m sure there’s been whispers of my disappearance from Cynthia’s world of fabulous fancies and expensive luxuries, and Cynthia is probably flapping on how to smooth it all over. She’s been trying for four years, always finding me at functions and trying to lure me back into her clutches with wealthy packs that see me as a commodity and not a person. Not a member of a pack filled with love, care, and affection.
I’m a fucking pawn to these people, and I won’t be anything but.
Just as I open my mouth to awkwardly shoo her and the newest suitor away, pissing her off in ways only I can, Pace drags me close to his body and dips his hand lower on my stomach, his hand flattening the poofy material of the skirt to reveal his hand.
Cynthia catches the movement instantly, and I watch as a fire appears in her gray eyes only a shade darker than mine. With a bitter smile on her face that she tries to morph into one that looks more genuine, my mother clings to Philip’s arm and tilts her head like a dolt, laser focused on my alpha as she asks, “I’m sorry. My daughter hasn’t introduced us. You are?”
I peer up at Pace, eyes wide with alarm, because we didn’t discuss specifics. I have no idea what the hell I’m supposed to introduce him as. Is he my pack, my alpha? Ah, fuck me rolling down a hill.
Thankfully, my intense alpha flashes a lethal grin and answers for me. “Pace Larsen, Silver’s alpha and packmate.”
I’ll be damned ten times over if you couldn’t hear a pin drop between us, Cynthia’s eye twitching with a sudden fury as her gaze drops to my shoulders and neck, searching for something that isn’t there.
When she doesn’t find any sign of a bond mark, her shoulders relax, and the shark-like grin is back in place. “Pack mate? Silver, I wasn’t aware you found a pack to take you in.”
The bitch says it like I’m a stray dog in need of rehoming, and I roll my eyes at her snide comment.
Again, Pace comes to the rescue, chuckling before pressing a kiss to my temple. I know it’s a show, but it doesn’t stop the wild butterflies swarming my stomach at the press of his lips on my skin, his smoke-and-leather scent surrounding me just as effectively as his body does. “Oh, we didn’t take Silver in. Quite the opposite. She lured us in with her blinding smile, beauty, humor, and heart of gold. We’re a very lucky pack to have found her, and moreso when she agreed to be ours.”
I swear, it looks like my mother’s head is on the brink of explosion. Poor Philip looks deeply uncomfortable, and I have to bite the insides of my cheeks to tame the laughter that wants to break free.
“Yours?” my mother scoffs, forgetting her sweet mommy act, likely knowing it’ll do her no good here. “I see no bond marks. She can’t possibly belong to you and yours.”
The way she says it makes it sound like she’s talking to a pack that have just crawled from the slums, and it pisses me off something chronic. Anger suddenly burns through my veins and I inhale, ready to give her a piece of my mind, when I’m suddenly tugged from Pace’s arms and into a lean body that I’ve dreamed of for months. Ink-covered arms wrap around me in a loose hug as Munro draws me to his chest, his jacket missing to reveal the tattoos along his arms, neck, and the flashes between his open-collared shirt.
“Hey, princess. How about that dance you promised me?” Munro drawls, his voice turned sensual and sexy and not at all what I’m used to. It fucks my head up enough to distract me from my mother’s outraged huff.
I’m nodding before I realize it, and I feel Pace press another kiss to my head as he demands, “Save me one. I want you in my arms and as close as I can get you while I show you off as ours.”
He says it loud enough that I’m sure it’s for Cynthia’s benefit, but it sets off an indescribable yearning in my chest. I want what he’s suggesting. I want it like I want my mother to fall in a puzzle of cow piss, with a desperation that shocks me.
Just as Munro pulls me away from the alpha and my mother, I hear Pace’s voice drop into a lethal snarl as he warns, “You bring another man to my omega at any point in the future, you won’t like the outcome. I’m her alpha. We’re her pack. She doesn’t need whatever you’re trying to sell. She has enough to keep her occupied and very satisfied. Now fuck off and crawl back to the hole you clawed your sorry ass from.”
I hear my mother gasp loudly before she damn near screeches, “You can’t speak to me that way. How dare you, you insolent little—?”
I lose whatever she says next, because I’m being twirled onto the dancefloor the next moment, stunned and trying to catch up with what just happened.
“Sorry. Figured you needed rescuing,” Munro mutters as soon as we’re in the middle of the dancefloor. We’re the only two people here, and I have to bite back the uncomfortable niggle in my chest, focusing on Munro’s face and not the people likely looking at the two weirdos swaying back and forth awkwardly to the classical music playing from the harp.
Laughing somewhat hysterically, I shake my head and mutter, “I feel like I’m having a fever dream or something.”
Munro snorts as he lifts my hand and places it on his shoulder while he claims the other in his, dropping his free hand to my lower back as he pulls me in close, much closer than appropriate for a dance at one of these functions, but I can’t find it in me to care. It feels too good, too comforting, like he’s trying to mold me to his front so I feel comfortable about where I am and what just happened. “Don’t sweat it. Your mother is storming away from Pace. If looks could kill, I’m pretty sure your alpha would be dead on the floor by now.”
“My alpha,” I sigh, shaking my head at the madness of it.
“He’s absolutely yours, princess. We all are, we already told you as much,” Munro reminds me, as though I’ve forgotten the conversation we had in the car. It’s pretty hard to forget something like that, but it’s also something entirely different to hear it and live it. Yes, they told me this thing between us is real, that they’re all in, but never has anyone claimed me as theirs without an ounce of hesitation. Not once have I experienced the rush of pure happiness that came to me when Pace put my mother in her place, protecting me like an alpha should his omega.
It takes a little bit of time for that to sink in, for me to finally realize that this thing between us really is real. They do want me. It’s not a show, they’re not putting on an act to fool my mother. There was a sincerity to Pace’s declaration that I can’t ignore, and my heart starts beating rapidly when it finally slots into my brain that I’ve actually found a pack to belong to. I’ve found my pack.
“There it is. That smart brain of yours,” Munro teases, and I peer up into his dark eyes, my mind filling with a euphoria that bleeds through my body. Everything they’ve done for me tonight already swarms my brain, overshadowing everything else. All the shit Munro gave me suddenly means fuck all to me, because he’s standing here with me, badly swaying to a shitty song as he saves me from my mother. He’s grinning down at me like he’s exactly where he wants to be, has who he wants and needs in his arms, and everything else doesn’t matter.
It’s too much for me to handle, and I feel my eyes fill with emotional tears before I can stop them. When a single tear slips free and falls into my hair at my temple, Munro’s face falls and he strains, “No, don’t cry. It fucking kills me when you cry, princess.”
His face falls into a severe scowl, as though he’s pissed at my tears that I can’t help, and I shake my head as I make the decision he’s waiting for. With a huff of a laugh, I cup the back of his neck suddenly and I yank him towards me, my lips colliding with his in an explosion of need and urgency.
Munro freezes for all of two seconds before he growls against my lips and takes control of the kiss. His tatted hands are sinking into my hair and tugging my head backward as he devours me like a man starved, his tongue tangling with mine so suddenly that I’m assaulted with pine and citrus. I sigh and melt against him.
It’s completely inappropriate, I’m pretty sure I'm perfuming, and I’m all too aware of our surroundings, but I can’t find it in me to care. All I can think of is Munro. Of Pace, Aero, Haze, and Rage. Of the pack I’ve found, the men that claimed me in front of my mother without skipping a heartbeat.
I kiss Munro harder, moaning softly against his mouth as one hand tightens in my hair and the other bands around my back and he leans me backward into an elaborate dip that makes me lightheaded.
I’m so lost in the moody beta that it takes a moment for sound to filter in. When it does, I can’t help but giggle against Munro’s mouth, my smile growing until it’s impossible to keep kissing. Munro’s grin matches my own when he pulls back a fraction, shaking his head slightly with an eye roll as Alek claps loudly from somewhere nearby, hooting and hollering enough that other people start joining in. “Woo, yeah! That’s my cousin right there, getting her face mauled by the mafia!”
“I’m going to kill him,” I laugh, dropping my head back as my body shakes with amusement.
Munro snickers before pressing a kiss to my bare neck, muttering, “I’ll provide an alibi.”
I’m still laughing when he pulls me to standing, twirling me awkwardly in the direction where Alek is standing with his pack, grinning like a Cheshire cat and eyeing Munro like he’s about to give him the ‘big brother’ talk.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.