Chapter 20 #2
“Of course not. He invited himself.” I tugged at the neckline of my borrowed hoodie. “Okay. We need a plan. What do they have here that smells really strongly?” I looked around for the waiter.
“He’s coming?” Mouse asked, gesturing to the table. “Here? Right now? The Alpha?”
“Yes.”
“The werewolf Alpha?” my dad double-checked.
“Yes. And I already bumped into this asshole, so even if he leaves, Maverick is going to smell him on me and know that Timber was here. I tried to talk him out of coming, so he’s going to think I was trying to meet up with Timber on the side, and—“
“Calm down, Bloom.” Timber put his hand on my arm. At least the hoodie was covering my skin.
Whimsy ripped it away, whisper-shrieking, “Don’t touch her! Are you trying to make this worse?”
“Yes,” Timber said, at the same time my mom said, “Of course he isn’t.”
I ran a hand over the top of my hair, definitely messing up the bun I’d shoved it into. “I knew this was a bad idea.”
“You’re the one who switched it to lunch,” my dad pointed out.
“Maybe this is for the better,” Mom suggested. “We can make sure he knows you’ve been in love with Timber since you were a teenager, and maybe the wolf will back off.”
I gave her a deadpanned stare. “Have you ever met a werewolf?”
“I don’t think I’d be alive if I had, Honey.”
I filled my cheeks with air and let it out slowly. “We needed a plan.”
Whimsy spoke up. “I’ve got it. We’ll tell him that Timber is our cousin, or Mouse’s brother.” She waved him toward her. “Here, trade me places. That will make it easier to sell. I—”
My nostrils flared.
Vanilla.
Fuck.
I pulled my gigantic hood over my head and gripped my cup tighter.
I should’ve waited for him in the freaking lobby.
I let out another harsh breath as Maverick’s scent grew stronger, and tilted my head back to meet his eyes when he approached.
His gaze moved from me, to Timber, and around the rest of the table before landing back on me. Everyone else, he probably recognized from the picture.
“I didn’t know this was happening,” I said in my defense.
My mom and dad both stood up.
Dad tried to look stern.
Mom glared at the gigantic Alpha.
“First you abducted my daughter and attempted to force her to mate with you. Then, you dragged her on some depraved sexual vacation. Now you’re forcing your way into the sanctity of our weekly family dinners. Excuse my language, but what the fuck is wrong with you, Alpha?” my mom demanded.
“Dear lord,” Whimsy muttered.
“A depraved sexual vacation sounds kind of fun,” Mouse whispered. “We should go.”
“Definitely sounds better than this,” Whimsy agreed.
I resisted the urge to lower my head to the table and hide from all of them. Barely.
“Quite a bit, actually.” Maverick sounded far too upbeat. That was suspicious. Very suspicious. “I’m going to need a minute with Bloom. Excuse us.”
I put one of my hands in Maverick’s, and reluctantly let him tow me down the row of tables and into the men’s bathroom. One sniff told me we were alone, and he locked the door behind us.
When he wordlessly pulled my pink sweater over his head—yes, he was still wearing it—my forehead creased.
“Trade me,” he said.
Right.
The hoodie I was wearing smelled like Timber.
I set my coffee down next to the sink and slipped out of the hoodie, adjusting the sliding strap of my bra when I handed it over.
“I assume that’s Timber.” His voice was surprisingly neutral.
“Yeah.”
“He’s tiny.”
I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t bite back my smile as I pulled on my pink sweater, which now smelled deliciously of vanilla and blood, over my head. “He’s six feet tall.”
“Like I said, tiny.” Maverick pushed the sleeves of his hoodie up to the middle of his forearms, then took my face in his hands and kissed me lightly. “You didn’t invite him?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll handle this.”
I lifted an eyebrow.
The man had the audacity to wink at me.
“If that means you’re going to kill him, I’ll handle it.”
“I don’t need to kill him yet.”
“I don’t like the yet part of that, Mav.”
He took my hand, grabbed my coffee cup, and towed me back out of the bathroom. “Too bad.”
I shook my head at his back.
We sat down at the table, with Maverick between me and Timber. The Alpha draped an arm over my shoulders.
When I dared a sideways glance, my eyes widened. Maverick had draped an arm over Timber’s shoulders, too.
Timber was currently giving him a death glare, but not doing anything about what was basically an embrace.
“The weather is beautiful, isn’t it?” Maverick asked, his voice upbeat.
My mom blinked at him.
My dad did too.
Whimsy and Mouse looked at me, their eyebrows raised. I shrugged helplessly. Whatever Maverick was about to do, he was going to do it regardless of anything I said or did.
My mom finally recovered, lifting her chin. “Bloom is going to mate with Timber. She has been since she was eighteen.”
“She’ll be safer, happier, and better off with me,” Maverick said calmly. “I survived and ended the war between our people. I know every way there is to kill a vampire, which means I know every way to protect one.”
“She’s been in love with Timber for eight years,” My mom argued.
“Love was never involved. Bloom is my fated mate, and I’m not walking away from her.” Somehow, Maverick was still calm.
“There are too many unmated male vampires in Vast as it is. She can’t pair up with a werewolf, even if she wants to,” my dad said, as if that was the logical conclusion.
I let out a long breath.
I was going to have to put my big girl panties on and deal with this shit show.
“Enough. All of you.” My voice was so sharp, it caught me off guard too. I stood up, stepping out of the booth. “I am the only one who has any say in who I mate with, if I choose to mate with anyone at all. Until you accept that, I have shit to do.”
With that, I walked out of the restaurant.
Maverick caught up to me at the entrance, holding the door for me as I stepped out. He whistled behind me. “Damn, Sugar. That was hot.”
I needed food if I was going to work through my emotions about it. “Want to grab something to eat?”
“Always.”