Chapter 37 Eli
ELI
I’m pacing the living room with my anxiety through the roof.
Keelan texted a while ago and said everyone needs to come home ASAP.
Last time he did that was when Thea broke down on the anniversary of Connor’s death.
Did she have another panic attack like at the bowling alley?
I was working in my home office. Parker is sitting on the couch, knee bouncing up and down as he picks at his nails.
He’s just as much of a mess as me right now.
Ben files in, then Jake, who I think was sleeping since he’s had odd shift hours lately.
Just Micah, Liam, and Keelan are missing.
Micah begrudgingly arrives with the same sour expression he’s had the last few weeks.
Liam takes the longest which is understandable since he was at his office, I think.
Now we’re just missing Keelan. I pull out my phone and call him, too impatient to text. He answers quickly. “Everyone home?” he asks right off the bat.
“Yes,” I bite out, “where are you?”
“On my way, one minute.” He hangs up. Everyone is looking at me expectantly. Before I can say anything we hear someone coming down the stairs. Has he been home this whole time? What the hell?
He walks in slowly, his hand behind his back in a weird position. He stops at the doorway. I seriously do not have the patience for this with how worried I am. He’s wearing sweats and it looks like he just showered. It’s the middle of the day. Kind of weird for him, but he makes his own schedule.
“I can see you’re all worried, don’t be it’s nothing bad. So relax,” he says.
“Why did we need to rush home in the middle of the day?” Micah barks out, not that it has any effect on us. I notice something shift behind Keelan, I can’t tell what, but Micah’s tone definitely seems to have pissed him off.
“Maybe ask nicer and I’ll tell you,” Keelan taunts.
“Come on Keelan, you scared most of us with that text, out with it,” Ben the peacemaker says.
“I saw Thea today.” I notice Liam stiffen a little. What’s up with that? “We talked and some developments happened,” he continues.
“For fuck’s sake, did you have us come home just so you could tell us you two fucked?” Micah growls, anger evident in every word.
The growl that escapes Keelan even has me taking a step back.
I’ve seen him angry. Hell, he even punched Micah last year after everything happened with our ex.
But this is something else. Looking around the room, I see that I’m not the only one surprised, Micah more than anyone else, which is hilarious. He’s so oblivious.
“You say something like that again and our little fight last year will look like child’s play.
” Micah actually looks contrite. Again, there’s that movement behind Keelan but the fucker is so big it’s hard to notice or tell what it is.
Could it be Duke? No with Micah here, he’d be cuddled up with him.
“As I was saying there were some developments—the long and short of it is we bonded,” he says and the silence in the room even from Micah is deafening. Someone always has something to say in this pack at any given point. How the hell did that happen? Did he bite her without permission?
I must not be the only one who thought that Jake is suddenly standing and walking towards Keelan. “Did you mark her without her okay?” Jake growls out.
“Of course I didn’t,” Keelan says, obviously offended we would think that of him, but how else did it happen?
“There’s no way she would have done something like that, she’s been so tentative about all of this. Something isn’t adding up,” Ben says.
Looking around the room, I notice Liam looking contemplative. He knows something. Before I can ask, Keelan is suddenly stepping into the room out of the doorway and to the side, revealing—Thea.
She’s only wearing one of Keelan’s t-shirts.
Even with her luscious curves it swamps her figure.
The neck is so large it hangs off one shoulder, showing off a large bite mark on her neck.
Conflicting emotions run through me—happiness she’s bonded to our pack along with jealously that I’m not the one bonded to her yet.
She gives an awkward wave to the room that has me bursting out laughing at the ridiculousness of today.
Thankfully she doesn’t seem offended at my laughing. She just smiles softly.
“How did it happen?” Liam brings us back to the topic at hand.
Keelan, now seated in the corner spot of the sectional, looks to Thea who moves with him and starts to sit next to him before he pulls her into his lap.
That action has her giggling. She’s fucking giggling.
Whatever the hell happened is a good thing because she seems lighter somehow.
I’m definitely not the only one who notices.
When the two love birds are situated, she explains briefly the mini heat wave that happened last night and then again late this morning with Keelan. I’m shocked to learn she’s the one who bit him first. She looked scared to admit that to us. Why?
“How were you after the sex and bonding?” Liam asks tactlessly.
Ben, thankfully, is the one to smack him upside the head. “Seriously who asks that?”
“I need to know if the mini heat lingered so we can better deal with them going forward,” Liam explains.
“Physically I was fine, I felt great actually.” She looks up at Keelan who’s been staring at her like a puppy. That’s probably how we all look at her if I’m honest, and I don’t even care.
“What aren’t you saying?” Parker asks, speaking up for the first time.
She looks at Keelan and he gives the slightest of nods.
Sighing, she says, “I was worried you all would be mad at me for doing that. I mean look at the way you were when you thought Keelan was the one who did it without permission. It’s not okay that I did that, regardless of what you say. ” She looks pointedly at Keelan.
“She’s right,” Micah says, eliciting a growl from Keelan, though a tamer one than earlier.
Probably because our omega is in his lap.
“She bonded herself to our pack for life now, without anyone’s okay.
We’re stuck with her now,” he says then redirects his gaze solely on Thea.
“You must be so proud to have nailed down our pack.” With that he gets up and leaves, a minute later we hear the slamming of his office door.
Thea’s face is pale. She looks horrified. Keelan is trying to get her attention but she’s too deep in her thoughts. Like at the bowling alley. I sit next to them and take her from him, of course getting a growl and dirty look in the process. Gods we are possessive bastards right after bonding.
“Hey, Sunshine, you in there?” I say, tapping lightly on her forehead getting her attention. Her eyes are swimming with emotion. “Micah doesn’t speak for all of us. I bet if you asked us right now if we wanted to bond with you when the time came we’d say yes.”
She’s shaking her head as I speak. “No you can’t feel that way, not so soon,” she says. A laugh bursts out of Ben but he tries unsuccessfully to cover it with a cough.
“Go on ask, I’ll answer first—when you feel ready to take that step I would be more than happy to bond with you,” I say and then turn her a little in my lap so she’s facing the rest of the room.
Ben goes next. “I also would be ready to bond when you are.”
Then Jake. “It would be an honor to have you as my bonded omega.” I nearly roll my eyes at how formal he is.
Parker looks at her for a moment before saying, “You already have me as your alpha no matter what. The bond would just be the cherry on top.” I look at Keelan.
We’re thinking the same thing—Parker isn’t sure she wants him the same way she would the rest of us.
I internally curse our ex and the damage she’s done to him and Micah while I’m at it, while also pushing down the lingering guilt at my own role in it.
Lastly, Liam says, “I need someone to bicker with, these guys just can’t keep up the way you do.” Must be an inside joke for them because I can see the smile that forms from the side of her face.
“There’s my sunshine.” I hug her from behind.
“Okay time’s up.” Keelan basically yanks her from my arms.
“What the fuck?” I nearly reach for her again.
“Don’t, they need to be close after the bonding.
That’s why most people who bond, at least those bonding to an omega, do it during a heat.
You’re stuck together for days anyways, so it’s the perfect time.
They need to be around each other as much as possible for a few days, especially so they can continue to tend to each other’s bond marks,” Liam explains.
It sounds vaguely familiar, probably from a health class in school.
All while Liam explained it, Keelan was nuzzling into her neck and licking at his bite.
“Ben, can you arrange for her to be out for a week at the lodge?” Liam asks.
I don’t hear what they say as they continue their conversation.
I am truly happy she’s now part of our pack, but there’s one thing we need to sort out.
I leave everyone in the living room and head towards the hallway where our offices are.
I don’t bother knocking as I enter. Micah is sitting at his desk, fuming. Not even trying to work, like I thought. Duke is laying at his feet. He looks up at me with a glare. “What do you want?”
“You need to stop with this whole Thea hate you have going on. She’s pack now whether you like it or not.”
“We’ll see.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I cross my arms.
“Means she’s only bonded to one of us. What if he’s all she wants? They’re bonded, you think they’ll stay in the pack if that’s the case?”
Shaking my head, I sigh, “Your mind really does come up with any possible scenario where you won’t end up happy doesn’t it?”
A flicker of emotion passes his eyes. There, the slightest reaction to what I said. Guess he still does have some emotions buried deep down. “Better to be prepared for the worst,” he counters, his mask firmly back in place.
“Yeah well while you’re preparing for the worst, you’re going to ruin any chance you have with your own Gods damn scent match.
We can only say ‘ignore Micah he has reasons or he has baggage’ so long because the longer you’re an ass, the less we will stick up for you.
Especially now that she’s pack, because she is.
Like you said we’re stuck with her, so do you really want to live in a house with someone you’re always guarded against?
That’s not what pack is, not what our pack is at least.”
“You mean was. We haven’t been that pack since before…her.”
I run my hand over my face in frustration.
“Look I love you like a brother. So as your brother who’s known you almost my entire life, you need to let the Amber thing go.
The damage she did over a year ago is nothing to the damage you are letting the memory of her do right now.
We have a scent match, our entire pack is matched to her.
No one is left out like last time, except you. Whose fault is that?”
He doesn’t say anything, not that I expect him to.
Leaving him to stew, I return to the living room with just Ben and Liam remaining.
I go to leave but Liam stops me. “Eli, I was thinking we could go to her place and grab some clothes for her, at least for the next week. Then after her bonding period with Keelan is through we can talk to her about what moving in looks like.”
“Good idea, I’ll grab the keys to her place and meet you at the car,” I say. For some reason after everything I said to Micah, I didn’t connect the dots that she’d be moving in now. I mean, right, people don’t live apart when they’re bonded, do they?