Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
OLIVIA
“Oh, shit,” I vaguely hear Henry mutter as my mom advances on me with a wild look on her face. Turning to Henry for support, I find he has his phone in one hand while he reaches for our mom with the other. “Let’s all stay calm, okay?”
“Stay calm?” Mother shrieks. “Stay calm?”
I flinch when she tears the wrap the rest of the way off my shoulders, exposing the last of my mate marks.
Despite the way her furious expression makes me want to run and hide, I pull my shoulders back and lift my chin.
I wasn’t hiding my mate marks because I’m ashamed of them; I was hiding them to avoid this kind of reaction.
Now that it’s unavoidable, all that fear and anxiety collides inside of me, morphing into something I’ve never felt before, something I refuse to let go of.
Something they instilled in me with every gentle touch, every smile, every look of longing thrown my way. Confidence.
For the first time, despite the circumstances—or maybe because of them—I can stand tall in the knowledge that I am exactly where and who I’m supposed to be.
I’m proud of the men I call mine. They love me unconditionally.
Nothing, not even my mother’s hissy fit, will take that away.
My mother can’t hurt me, not unless I allow it, and I’m done bending to her whims. I’m done letting her make me feel small and insignificant, and I will not allow her to imply that my mates are somehow lesser because they don’t fit her small-minded, selfish, reductive view of what makes a person worthy.
“Olivia Rose! What is the meaning of this?” My mother’s loud, high-pitched voice carries through the house, so I’m not surprised when Verity and the rest of Henry’s pack come striding into the room.
“What’s going on?” Aiden rumbles, his posture alert and ready for trouble as he keeps Verity tucked behind his bulk.
Verity’s eyes widen when she takes in the necklace of marks that my pale pink dress only seems to highlight. “Oh my god,” she says, a huge smile overtaking her face. “Liv, this is wonderful!”
“Wonderful,” my mother snarls. “Hardly. Explain yourself, Olivia.”
Clearing my throat, I wince when Pack Whittier strolls into the room, followed by my dads. Great. More witnesses. There’s nothing like having an audience for one of the most stressful moments of my life.
“Can we please discuss this somewhere more private?” I ask, my fingers tracing the marks around my neck.
The bond pulses in response. I want my mates.
If only I had magic and could bring them here, none of this would matter.
It wouldn’t matter that my mother looks like she wants to murder me, or that snooty Pack Whittier is sneering at my neck in disgust, or that my dads look impotently between me and my mom, once again proving that they will always choose her over me.
“What exactly is there to discuss? The way I’ve been doing everything in my power to mate you off to a respectable, well-connected pack, or the way you’ve gone behind my back and mated some unknown pack that is no doubt beneath us?”
“Mom,” Henry growls in warning.
“Right,” one of the Whittier alphas drawls, his disdain loud and clear. “We’ll be going. This was a complete waste of time.”
They file out without another word, and some of the pressure lifts off my chest. I’m sure I’ll be the talk of the town by the time the hour’s up, but at least they’re gone.
Having fewer eyes on me makes it that much easier to breathe, even as a thick, oppressive silence fills the room.
The slam of the front door and my labored breathing are loud in the silence.
“I would have told you,” I say to my parents, sighing. “But you didn’t exactly give me a chance. Just shoved me into my room after springing another date on me. I tried to tell you I wasn’t interested, but you wouldn’t let me get a word in before storming off.”
“When did this happen?” my dad Eric asks, stepping toward me. I think this is the closest he’s looked at me in years.
“A few days ago.” The memory of my heat and the way they claimed me has a secret smile curving my lips.
“And you’re happy?” my dad Darren asks more gently than I’m used to from him.
“Yeah, I really am.”
“That’s good, sweetheart.” Quincy, my other dad, smiles, even though it’s tinged with something that looks a lot like regret. Regret that I’m mated or regret that he had no idea? It’s hard to tell with them.
My mother scoffs. “And who is this pack, hmm? There’s no way you met someone up to our standards on your own.”
“Mom.” Henry’s voice is harsh, the slightest hint of an alpha bark coming out as he steps closer to me and wraps a protective arm around my shoulder. “What is your problem?”
“Me? My problem is that I’ve spent thousands of dollars and years of work to mold Olivia into an omega worthy of a prestigious pack.
And when we’re finally making progress, she goes out and mates herself to god only knows who?
” She turns to me. “Are you so ungrateful that you’d tie yourself to some pack just to spite me? ”
Hurt and indignation swirl inside of me, amalgamating into something hot and sharp.
“I would never make such an important decision simply to spite you, and the fact that you think I would means you don’t know me at all.
” I’m so tired of all of this. Tired of caring what she thinks, tired of making myself small as she berates me for being who I am. I’m just . . . Tired.
Verity steps out from behind Aiden and crosses the room to stand beside me.
When she takes my hand in a show of support, I almost cry.
With my brother on one side and my sister-in-law on the other, and the bond tethering me to my pack, I feel more accepted than I ever have.
I have a pack that loves me, a brother who always has my back, and a sister and brothers-in-law who will stand beside me.
“Marnie.” My dad’s tone is a warning she doesn’t heed.
“No, Darren. This is unacceptable. Henry mated well. He’s done everything we’ve ever asked of him.
But our daughter? Instead of stepping into society the way we expected, she spent our money on years of schooling, then swanned off to London.
She’s almost thirty, and she’s never had a real relationship.
She has rebuffed my efforts to set her up with an acceptable pack, and now she shows up here with mate marks around her neck as if it were nothing?
She can’t possibly have tied herself to a pack we’d approve of. ”
“It doesn’t matter to me if you approve of my mates,” I say with a steadier voice than I thought I could muster.
“They’re good men. The best. And they love me for who I am, awkward quirks and all.
They’re kind and caring, responsible, and they make me incredibly happy.
” A tickling sensation ripples through the bond, as if they can hear my words and feel the same.
My mother’s lips twist cruelly. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that you didn’t say anything about their ability to provide for you.”
Rage twists inside me, hot and fierce. “I don’t need them to provide for me.
I have a job, Mother. A good one. One that lets me make a difference.
But even if I didn’t, of course they would provide for me.
Maybe it wouldn’t meet your standards, but it would more than exceed mine.
” How dare she insult my pack? She doesn’t know them.
And her idea of providing is buying the best of everything, flaunting your wealth so you can feel superior to the people around you.
She wouldn’t even consider that what a pack should provide above all is love and acceptance, because never once has she truly provided that for me.
“Well, I certainly hope your job is a good one, Olivia, because as of this moment, you are disinherited.” My mother lifts her chin, looking haughtily down her nose at me.
I wish I could say that her rejection doesn’t affect me, but it stings. How can it not? The bond pulses, and I imagine the pack is sending me reassuring thoughts. Something to bolster me.
“Mom!” Henry’s grip on my shoulder tightens. “You can’t disinherit Liv for mating a pack you didn’t choose. That’s ridiculous.”
“I can, and I did,” she says.
“Marnie, I think you’re overreacting,” my dad Eric says. His tone is placating, but his expression is harder than I’ve ever seen it.
My whole life, he’s indulged my mother’s whims, placated her with gentleness, and left me to her devices. How many times have I wished he’d stick up for me? How many times have I silently asked for him to intervene and he hasn’t?
In the end, I don’t expect this time to be any different. He’ll capitulate to her just like he always does.
“Am I?” My mother turns to me. “Who, exactly, is this pack you’ve mated, Olivia?”
As I open my mouth to answer, the front door is thrown open so forcefully it bangs into the wall, and everyone falls silent, their attention swinging to the door and the four large men filling the entrance.
My men. My heart swells, relief filling me, even as our bond pulses with worry, anger, and regret.
I try to swallow the sob that works its way up my throat and choke on it, a raspy sound breaking free.
“About time,” Henry mutters.
“Vixen, are you okay?” Hayes and the rest of my mates cross the room in a few long strides, and then I’m pulled from Henry and Verity and lifted into my alpha’s arms as the rest of my men surround us.
Inhaling their scents, I sag against them, tears pooling in my eyes. “I am now.”
“What is the meaning of this?” my mother shouts.
She glares at Sawyer and the rest of my pack.
She was never a fan of Sawyer. In her mind, he wasn’t good enough to be Henry’s best friend, but she’d indulged Henry when it became clear that, despite being best friends, Henry and Sawyer wouldn’t end up forming a pack.
Not that she had much of a choice, when he was our nanny’s son.