Chapter 12
Snow
“ W hat are you looking at?” Henry asks. I try to suppress a shiver as he steps up behind me, his looming presence making my belly knot. He smells good. Pine and peppermint.
I’ve come to notice the others have their own signature scents, too. I’ve only gotten close enough to Brady, Sullivan, Gabe, and Henry. But I’m sure Sterling and Dallas smell just as good.
Brady smells like chocolate chip cookies, and Sullivan smells like gingersnaps.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath in hopes of relaxing, but it only makes it worse. I’ve been feeling off lately. Not quite myself. I haven’t been worrying too much about it—I know stress plays a big part in how I’m feeling. Everything is new and these changes are going to take time.
“My room,” I finally answer.
“Is everything okay? One of us is more than happy to give up theirs.”
I look up at him over my shoulder where he stands a good few feet taller than me. “It’s really sweet of you to offer, but there’s no way any of you could fit in here.”
He looks around the room and nods. “Good point. That's why you should room with me.” He gives me a cocky grin, flashing a toothy smile that would make anyone else start shaking in fear. “You can even sleep with me.” He winks.
That idea has my mind racing, and the familiar feeling of need comes over me.
Henry's pupils dilate, his nostrils flaring. Can he smell me? Of course he can, he’s a lycan. I bet that snout of his can smell anything from a mile away.
Quickly, I look away.
“The room is fine. Better than fine, I love it. It’s just missing something. Maybe I need a few more things to make it my own, you know?”
“That makes sense. It’s pretty empty in here.”
Even with the room being a lot smaller than I’m used to, being empty makes it feel like it’s still too big for my liking. I need to fill it, but not with just anything. No, that would make it too cluttered and the idea of that overwhelms me. I want to make this room mine. Something cozy and comfy.
“Do you want to see if there’s anything around the cottage that could help? You see it, it’s yours.”
“Maybe.” I nod, following Henry out into the living room. The guys are there, sitting around the table and eating breakfast before work.
Dallas walks back into the cottage, his phone in his hand. I have no idea how he’s able to use one when the phone is so small and his hands are so big, but who am I to judge?
“Who was that?” Gabe asks.
“That was the clinic,” Dallas sighs.
“No,” Gabe grumbles. “Today is your day off.”
“I know. But one of the little girls from the orphanage is running a fever. Annie is worried.”
The mention of the orphanage makes my heart clench painfully. “Who is it?”
Dallas looks over at me. “Ah, her name is Sally.”
My eyes widen. “No,” I whisper. “Is she okay? Please tell me she’s okay?’
“She should be,” Dallas assures me. “I’m sure it’s just a fever because of a cold or flu. But we need to make sure, that’s why I’m going in.”
“I’m coming with you.” I raise my chin, leaving no room for argument. But of course, I knew I’d get some from these guys.
“No,” Gabe growls.
I shoot him a glaring look. “Is that the only word you know?” Gabe glares back as Henry chuckles.
“Most days, yeah,” Henry answers for Gabe.
Bringing my attention back to Dallas, I cross my arms over my chest. “Sally is a friend of mine. So are all the kids. I care deeply about them. If you don’t let me go, I’m just going to pace around this big cottage all alone and worry.”
Dallas' face softens as he sighs heavily. “Fine.”
“Yay.” I clap my hands excitedly.
“But...” He gives me a hard look. “You need a better disguise if you’re going to keep going into the village.”
I nod in agreement. “We can pick something up while we’re in town.”
“You’re going to stick with me? No running off?”
“Only if you call up Mrs. Bark and ask if she’s heard anything from Regina.” I chew on my lower lip.
With each passing day, I grow more and more worried. I’ve been dependent on things around the house to keep my mind off everything, but I’m starting to get a little stir-crazy.
The guys still haven’t come up with a plan yet on how to deal with my father. I don’t blame them. This isn’t going to be easy. It’s not something that can just be taken care of in the blink of an eye.
I just wish they had some kind of starting point so a plan could be made.
“That I can do.” He nods.
“Lovely.” I grin. “Let me go get dressed.”
A few minutes later, I’m back in the kitchen after changing into a deep green dress. I’m going to need to pick up a few other things to wear, too. Because there’s only so many times I can wear the same dress before I start to hate it.
“Where is everyone?” I ask, finding the place empty apart from me and Dallas.
“Work.”
“Oh.” Disappointment fills me.
“You okay, Princess?” Dallas murmurs, stepping closer to me. I bite my lip as he grips my chin, lifting my face to look up at him. He’s so handsome, so pretty with his soft grey fur. I can not be crushing on friends. No, my... roommates? I don’t even know what we really are.
“I’m fine,” I lie.
He doesn’t believe me. “Snow.”
“It’s silly.” And that’s how I feel—that it’s silly to be upset because they didn’t say goodbye.
“What is?”
“Why I’m sad.”
“Why are you sad?” The soft pad of his thumb brushes against my cheek, and I feel like whining. What is wrong with me?
“Because they left.” I cast my eyes down the best I can. “And they didn’t say goodbye.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” he murmurs, pulling me into his arms. My eyes flutter close as I let his scent blanket over me. Cinnamon and clove. Just like the others, it comforts me. Makes me feel safe and warm. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. I know they’re all going to be counting down the minutes before they can come home to see you.”
“I’m sorry.” I rub my forehead against his soft chest. “It’s silly of me to be so upset. They don’t know me very well—we only met a week ago. I shouldn’t be expecting anything from anyone.”
“Snow.” His voice is soft as he rubs his hand down the back of my head before cradling it in his massive palm. I peek up at him, cheeks heated in embarrassment. “It’s not silly. The guys and I, we love having you here. You're part of the family now. Doesn’t matter if it’s only been a few weeks, days, or hours. We care about you.”
“You do?” I whisper, a funny feeling twisting around in my belly.
“We would kill for you,” he declares so strongly that I feel the sincerity in my bones.
Lowering my head, I pull myself closer to him to hide the tears threatening to spill over.
“Come on.” His voice is husky as he gives me one last squeeze. “Sally will be waiting for us.”
The walk into town is quick. More on my part, eager to get to the clinic, anxious not to keep her waiting.
When we get there, I slip into his office through the back door. I don’t bother looking around before I head straight for his office door and crack it open.
I smile as I see him crouch down before Sally. The poor sweetheart looks ill, but her face lights up when she sees Dallas, and my heart clenches. He picks her up gently and brings her into one of the rooms.
It hurts to think so many people are afraid of the pack. Sure, at first sight, they look a little scary, but if they even took a moment, they would see nothing but kind, good monsters. They would never hurt a fly. I wish they could see them as I do. Maybe, when I take my rightful place on the throne, I can show my kingdom just how non-threatening they are.
Dallas
THANKFULLY, AT THIS time of day, the shopping center isn’t very busy. If I’m being honest, it hasn’t been busy in a while. Since Snow’s father had taken over, no one’s been able to afford much aside from rent, food, and bills. Even then, most of them can’t even afford that.
We try our best to help out financially when we can. But we also don’t want to draw too much attention to ourselves. If the king knew we were helping his people, it could mean trouble for us. Something we don’t want to risk. Not with what happened to Derek. He took one of my brothers’ lives; I won’t let him take any more.
“I don’t think I’ve been shopping in ages,” Snow says as we walk down the aisles of the store. “Dad always had things shipped to the palace, so I’ve never really gotten the chance to just enjoy it, you know? To look around and see what’s new, what's exciting.”
I know I should be watching my surroundings, making sure there aren't any threats, but it’s hard when all I want to do is look at the tiny human who’s captured all our hearts.
She’s in a deep green dress today, her long raven hair piled onto her head in a messy bun. She’s gorgeous. And I don’t know if she's even aware of that.
“If you see something you like, grab it. We want you to feel at home with us.”
She smiles up at me softly, and damn it, it makes me want her more. We’ve been doing our best to behave, to be gentlemen but I know that my brothers, including myself, want her badly. To kiss her, touch her, taste her.
It doesn’t help that every day, her scent grows stronger. Her omega traits are showing more and more.
She has no idea what she is, and it terrifies us that she may leave once she does. I’ve told them to keep their hands and dicks to themselves. That we will not risk losing our mate because she’s not ready.
But the thing is, she’s going to be going into heat soon. I can sense it. And I don’t feel right about having sex with her without her being in the right mind to consent.
“It’s okay. I only need a few things.” She waves me off.
“Snow.” Her name comes out as a low growl. I can smell her arousal when she shivers in response. At least I know she wants us, we all do. We’ve been smelling her want for us since the day she got here. Pure fucking torture. “If you want it. Get it.”
She chews on her lower lip, having no idea just how sexy she looks doing it. “Okay.”
As we continue to look around, I think she’s going to grab things like books or maybe a mirror for her to use when she gets ready for the day.
But every item she puts into the cart is some form of pillow, stuffed animal, blanket, or comfortable clothing.
When she can’t see me, I grin, knowing just what she’s going to do with those. She’s a big ball of happiness as we pay for her new items.
“I can’t wait to set everything up. That's the best part,” she sighs. “It’s going to have me sleeping like a dream. And okay, I know I went a little overboard on the pillows, but they are just perfect.”
I chuckle as she continues to talk about all the things she got as we walk home. I listen, enjoying every musical word.
My mate. My omega. It’s still unbelievable to think she’s mine. Ours. She’s exactly what we needed. I just hope she chooses to stick around when we have the talk we’ve been avoiding.
Snow rushes to her room as soon as we walk through the front door, carrying as many bags as she can.
“Someone’s excited,” Henry chuckles.
“Oh yeah. It’s all she’s been talking about since we left the store.” I grin just as she runs back over.
“I can take those,” she says, eyes wide with excitement. She doesn’t give me time to offer to bring them myself before she’s pulling them out of my hands and taking off back down the hall.
“What did she get?” Brady asks, but he’s not looking at me, his attention drawn down the hall in the direction Snow just went.
“Everything to make a nest.”
All five sets of eyes snap in my direction. “Really?” Gabe grunts.
“Yup.” I nod.
We all make our way down the hall and stand in the doorway of Snow’s room.
“Okay. So this can go here,” she murmurs to herself. “And that over there.” She grabs a pillow and places it on the bed. Then removes it, shaking her head. “No, that's not right.”
She continues to flutter around the room, moving things as she goes.
We leave her to do her thing.
“Do you think she’s going into heat?” Sterling asks, keeping his voice low as we stand around in the kitchen.
“Soon,” I tell him before looking at the rest of them. “That's why we need to talk to her.”
Gabe shoots me a glaring look. “She’s not ready to hear the truth.”
“And what makes you think that?” Henry cocks a brow. “You’ve smelled her, right? She sure as hell isn’t scared of us, that's for sure.”
“No. But being aroused by us is one thing, and finding out the gods have picked her to be our mate is another. Plus, she doesn’t even know that she’s an omega, which means she’s not fully human. On top of that, she’s a princess for fucks sake. She’s not going to want to be tied down to us for the rest of her life. And did you forget about the fact she has feelings for Regina?”
“She’s never said so.” Henry frowns.
“Be for real right now,” Gabe deadpans. “The way she worries about her isn’t how one worries about a friend, but someone they care for a lot more—like how we would worry about her if we were in her shoes.
“Doesn’t matter, Gabe. We are having that talk. Tomorrow after work.” I’m leaving no room for argument. He doesn't need to be there when I tell her.
“What's everyone talking about?” Snow asks as she steps into the kitchen.
We all hush, bringing our attention to the tiny princess.
“What we’re going to have for supper,” Henry answers, giving her a big smile.
“Oh. I already have that covered.” She gives him a beaming smile back. “How does everyone feel about spaghetti and meatballs with a side of garlic bread?”
Henry groans dramatically. “A woman who knows my heart! Or should I say my stomach?” He bends down and places a kiss to the top of her head.
Snow blushes, and we can all smell her perfume.
I shoot Gabe a look, and he huffs, no longer able to deny the truth.
We just have to hope and have faith that she’s going to continue to prove to us that she’s not like everyone else.
Not that we expect her to be with us, she has free will and can choose what she wants. But something tells me Snow isn’t going to run like Gabe says.
She wants us, maybe not as much as we want her, but there’s hope. I’m choosing to have hope.