Chapter 36
Allie was a bundle of nerves and stress hormones as we drove over to meet my family. No matter how many times I reassured her that they would love her, it didn’t make any difference. Somehow, she remained steadfastly convinced that they would throw her out on the lawn the moment she opened her mouth. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen, and on the very off chance that it did, I would never let my family hear the end of it.
Allison Carmichael was my bondmate, more than my bride, and if my family knew what was good for them, they would love her as much as I did. I stared straight out the windshield as the thought tumbled around in my head. It was way too early to put a name to all of the feelings that clawed the inside of my chest. Love was just the easiest term to use.
She was so cute in the passenger seat, her knees tucked up to her chest, her thumbnail bitten to hell. I drew her hand away from her mouth, and laced her fingers with mine to spare her cuticles the abuse. Her wobbly smile made me want to bundle her up in blankets and hide her away, but there was no getting away from her meeting my parents and siblings. I wasn’t going to hide her. She was far too bright and vibrant for that.
We pulled into a stop in my parents’ driveway next to Nicky’s car. My parents’ faces were visible through the front window, and as soon as Mom noticed us, everyone was on their feet, moving to the front door to greet us.
“I promise they’re going to love you,” I told Allie again. “It’s physically impossible not to adore you.”
“I need them to like me.”
“And they will.”
Her eyes shone. “I’m scared to go in.”
“They’re already waiting at the door.”
She whined softly and I slipped out of the vehicle, moving around to open her door. Her eyes were enormous and plaintive, practically begging me to take her back home.
“Why are you so convinced they won’t like you?” I gently unbuckled her seatbelt and worked her body around so that her feet were out of the vehicle.
“I don’t know. There’s just a screamy voice in my head telling me they’re going to think I’m not good enough. You’re so amazing, like, so amazing, and I’m just me.”
A low growl slipped out before I could stop it. “You are everything I’ve ever wanted, and anyone who sees us together is going to know that. We don’t have to stay long, but you do have to meet them at least once.”
She pouted, and I nipped her bottom lip, indulging myself in a slow kiss before I wrapped my arms around her and scooped her straight out of the vehicle. She squawked over being airborne, but settled once her feet were on the ground.
“Half an hour,” I insisted, “and then we can go if you want to.”
“Okay.” Allie slipped her hand into mine and walked up to the door plastered to my side.
Mom pulled Allie straight out of my arms and into hers. “Welcome to our home, Allison!”
“Just Allie,” she squeaked and awkwardly embraced Mom back.
My dad, brother, and sister patiently waited their turn while Mom squeezed my omega before spinning her to meet everyone. I slipped my hand back into Allie’s.
“Allie, this is my mom, Maria Marino; my dad, Manuel; my sister, Nicky; and my brother, Luca. Everyone, this is Allie.”
She abandoned my hand to hug each of them in turn. My siblings and I bore a pretty striking resemblance, especially so with coloring. The entire Marino clan had dark hair, warm complexions, and brown eyes. Honestly, Allie fit right in in that regard.
“I hope you like pasta.” Luca beamed at her. “We made spaghetti pomodoro and Caprese salad.”
“Sounds delicious,” Allie said, edging back toward me.
“How long have you and Sidney been together?” Nicky asked. “He never brings anyone home.”
“Um…” She glanced back at me.
“Yeah, about that… It’s been like a week, but we maybe, possibly, accidentally bonded.”
My entire family fell silent.
Nicky was the first to recover. “How? We just saw you. When did you have time to be part of a heat?”
Allie’s cheeks flushed and her hand squeezed mine.
I wrapped my arm around her waist while I explained to my family the few bits of information we knew about being ideal mates and how it caused spontaneous short-term heats.
Mom seemed absolutely elated by this development. “My baby is bonded! We should plan a ceremony. I have so many phone calls to make.”
Allie burst out laughing. “You would get along so well with my mom. Is there a hive mind all the mothers share?”
“Speaking of, I should get your mother’s information now that we’re related,” Mom said.
“Do you actually want a ceremony?” Nicky asked.
“We’re holding off on that for a while,” I replied. “We didn’t get a choice in the bonding and I want to make sure we choose each other on purpose before we celebrate.”
“That’s so sweet.” Nicky’s eyes shone. “I guess that gives us some time to get to know each other. Tell us all about yourself.”
Allie blinked blank eyes. “Way to make me forget every single thing I’ve ever known about myself.”
Luca laughed.
Allie’s nerves didn’t last too much longer as Nicky skillfully drew her into a conversation. My sister was a bit of an introvert, but she’d probably taken one look at the quiet panic in Allie’s eyes and mama-bear mode had kicked in. The girls talked about travel and university, the rest of us adding our own stories whenever something applicable came up. Everyone had been to Italy at some point or another, though for the Marino clan it was to visit family, and for Allie it was to backpack.
“Il Duomo is so cool!” she gushed. “Architecturally speaking, it literally blows my mind. Like, how did they figure out all the math back then? Must’ve felt like witchcraft. And don’t even get me started on Roman concrete.”
God, she was so fucking cute. It made me want to cart her away to see every ancient building in the world just so she could get excited about the architecture.
“Do you ever get to design anything fun like that?” Nicky asked.
“Hell no. The most exciting thing I’ve worked on is a strip mall. I think I would simply pass away with excitement if I ever got to do anything big.”
“Well, you’re on the right path for it,” I reminded her. “If you want to move, we could do a custom build and you can design it however you want.”
Allie’s eyes gleamed. “Don’t tempt me with things like that. I’ve designed my own dream house a million times over and I’m pretty sure the only way I’m getting any of them is with a pretty hefty lottery win.”
I smiled softly at her, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I’ll start buying tickets.”
Her laugh was too sweet.
“How’s living with Sidney?” Nicky asked as we moved from the pasta course and on to dessert.
“We’re not actually living together quite yet. I still have my apartment, but we’re gonna be having lots of sleepovers to get used to everything. It’s good, though. I’m not under any illusion that I’ll be able to escape chores forever, but it’s sooo relaxing to not have to worry about feeding myself.”
“No omega of mine is going to survive off frozen meals.”
Mom patted my arm. “That’s because you’re a good boy.”
“Speaking of way better than frozen meals, my compliments to the chef tonight. This tiramisu is easily as good as what I had in Venice.”
“Thanks!” Luca beamed at her. “I made the ladyfingers myself.”
“You can totally taste the love. Homemade is way better than store-bought.”
“I always thought so,” Luca said.
“Nicky, being a librarian sounds so cool. You should definitely tell me more about it,” Allie said before stuffing more tiramisu into her mouth.
She employed all of her active listening skills while Nicky explained the job. I knew my family would like her, but it was nice that she was starting to feel it as well.
“Honestly, as much as I love being a librarian, I keep wishing there were an overnight version. Stocking, processing, setting up for the morning activities. That would be heaven.”
“That would be amazing! People need quiet places late at night to chill that aren’t bars.”
“See, you get it.”
“Allie, dear, what’s your favorite color?” Mom asked.
“Red.”
“And your favorite flower?”
I narrowed my eyes lovingly at Mom, sighing softly. “Mom, are you trying to covertly plan a wedding?”
“I just want to be prepared,” she defended. “Weddings take a long time to plan. Our family in Italy will need time to save money to come over.”
“I promise we’ll give you plenty of notice when we decide we’re going to get married on top of the bond,” I assured her.
The look in her eyes said that she didn’t quite believe me, but she nodded anyway.
I knew Mom was going to be stuck on this for the foreseeable future, but lucky for Allie and me, I tended to be relatively immune to Mom’s guilt powers. Nicky and Luca weren’t so lucky.
After dinner it was time for another family tradition: game night.
We played teams of two for Monopoly, with Allie on my team, Nicky and Luca paired, and my parents on the final team. Ordinarily, Nicky absolutely dominated game night, but we quickly found out that Allie was just as brilliantly vicious as my sister. Within two hours my parents were out of the game, and Nicky and Allie took turns cleaning out each other’s banks while Luca and I watched.
It was strange seeing Allie hold her own against Nicky in our family tradition. For some reason it made me think that we really and truly would be okay. I didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time with my family, but they were important to me, and I wanted Allie to feel comfortable around them. The fact that she and my sister were staring at one another across the Monopoly board, their gazes electric, the air taut with excitable tension, told me everything I needed to know about her future with us.
A series of unfortunate rolls finally had Nicky being declared victor. Luca had been on her team, but realistically he was mostly moral support.
“I feel so alive,” Nicky said with a laugh and high-five across the board. “It’s been a long time since someone gave me a run for my money.”
“Happy to give you some competition. It was nice to have someone on par. I used to crush everyone in my dorm, so this was super fun.”
Once the energy of board game night dissipated, and tea was handed out, we settled onto the couches, Allie snuggled up at my side. Mom busted out the photo albums, showing Allie a plethora of embarrassing baby photos, from bathtub time, to Halloweens, to first days of school.
“You’re all way too adorable!” Allie announced. “If you met my mom at her place instead of yours, she definitely would’ve pulled out the photo albums for you, too.”
“A treat for next time then,” I said.
I kissed her temple and she looked up at me with warm affection, wiggling closer and wedging herself under my arm. By the time we were ready to head home, she was hugging each of my family members fiercely and promising to come to the next family dinner. Mom was pleased as anything when Allie tucked back against my side. I was pretty sure it was safe to say Allie had made a good impression.
She skipped along once we were outside, swinging our joined hands. “Your family is so much fun. I’m sorry meeting my squad was more about grilling you than fun.”
“That’s okay. I’m glad you have people that are protective of you. So you liked them?”
“Absolutely, I do. They’re all such cuties. Your dad’s pretty quiet. I don’t think he made much of a peep the whole night.”
“Yeah, he’s like that. He’s been quiet my whole life.”
“I guess that’s a good balance for your mom.”
“I’m not sure how we’d all have survived if they both talked the same amount.” I laughed. “At least one of them had to have chill vibes and that was never ever going to be Mom.”
I opened her door for her and waited until she was buckled in. She snagged me by the collar of my shirt for a kiss. “As lovely as your family was, I’m eager for some alone time.”
I grinned and stole another kiss. “What my omega wants, my omega gets.”