CHAPTER SEVEN - Mariska #2
Balthazar stepped forward holding out a bouquet of red and white flowers. “It’s so good to see you again, Mariska.” The deep rumble of his voice went right to my core, making my panties wet. “These are for you.”
Miss Eloise moved between us and retrieved the flowers from him. I recognized white roses and holly, but not the red flowers that looked like butterfly wings. Even as she transferred the bouquet to my arms, I couldn’t find my voice.
What was going on? My body was still trapped by the expectation of terrible news, but the way Lucian and Balthazar looked like they wanted to eat me up could mean something worse.
I glanced at Jasper who held back at the far end of the porch. He had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his black trench, and he seemed to want to be anywhere else but here. Yet that didn’t detract how hot he looked with the way the light hit his perfectly chiseled profile.
As I noticed that, their combined scents hit me with the wind swirling along the side of the house.
I swallowed my gasp at the musky richness of a winter forest mingled with peppermint cocoa and oranges.
I pressed my thighs together as a certain part of me grew hotter by the second.
If there was any fragrance that screamed Christmas, it was this pack’s.
When I didn’t say anything immediately, Miss Eloise smiled at them. “What a lovely bouquet, gentlemen. I’m sure Mariska will thank you when she finds her voice.” I made a small surprised squeak noise that she would say that. “What can we help you with this evening?”
Balthazar’s smoldering gaze never left me.
“We would like to ask you out on a date. I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since we met on Sunday.
” The intensity of his words sent a wave of near dizzying desire through me.
He glanced at Miss Eloise. “My mom is willing to chaperon if that’s okay. ”
The tissue wrapping around the flowers crinkled as I pressed them against myself. A date? The last thing I needed was to let a gorgeous Alpha distract me from everything I needed to do before I left for California.
“Yes, I trust Liz, but it would also be lovely to chat with her some more. What did you have in mind?” Miss Eloise smiled, sounding sort of amused. Amused!
No. They were planning things out and I hadn’t even said a word! “Wait.” I lightly cleared my throat as that came out kind of wobbly. “I haven’t said yes. I’m really busy this weekend. I need to get the rest of my shopping done and start packing everything up.”
Miss Eloise dipped her head and gave me a look.
“Oh, thank you for the flowers. They really are beautiful,” I quickly added. “But I am busy.”
Yet Balthazar and Lucian didn’t appear deterred. In fact, they shared a little smirk that made me straighten my back and prepare to dig in my heels even deeper.
“If you have shopping, I’d like to take you to the perfect place for it: The Old World Christmas Market at Elkhart Lake.” Balthazar raised a brow as if that offer was tempting. A crowded holiday fair with Christmas music everywhere? Oh no.
“The one at Osthoff Resort?” Miss Eloise perked up as both Lucian and Balthazar nodded. “I haven’t been there in years. How wonderful! I think I will come along and do some shopping myself.”
I scowled and turned to her, and shifted from foot to foot, unable to stand still. “I haven’t said yes.”
“You haven’t said no,” Lucian purred. I nearly gasped at the sound of his voice.
Damn it all. I ignored his statement and how he affected me. “Don’t you guys have to work? It’s the busiest season at your farm. Surely you’re needed.”
“Jasper and Lucian will be working during the day, but they’ll join us in the evening.
” Balthazar’s grin said he had a counter for every excuse I put forth.
He might be as tough as a bear, but small as I was, I was feistier.
People often underestimated me because I was short and an Omega, but I wasn’t going to be moved.
“Mariska,” Lucian breathed out my name with a warm puff of mist. “After talking to you today, I’d like to get to know you better. I’ve never met anyone as bright, compassionate, and beautiful as you.”
Part of me was melting. The last time I received any attention from an Alpha was from Jack, and all that had been tainted by how the bastard treated me. I didn’t know these guys. They could be jerks hiding behind gorgeous smiles too. “I don’t think—”
“Look.” Jasper glided forward and put a hand on each of his friends’ shoulders, but his unreadable stare bore into me.
“Let’s not play coy about this. Mariska, you’re a scent match for all of us.
It’s a rare thing for a pack. We don’t want to miss our opportunity with someone who could be our Omega.
” My heart stuttered. Their what? “To see if we’re more than physically compatible, we need to spend some time together. ”
Scent matches. All of them? I believed it for Balthazar and Lucian. They were practically groping me with their eyes. Jasper didn’t seem to give a damn though, and for some reason, that hurt.
“But… but I’m leaving Wisconsin.” It sounded flaky with how I sputtered it out, but it was solid. It didn’t matter if we were scent matches. I wouldn’t be there at the end of the month and so there would be no way this could happen.
I unzipped my coat halfway, feeling too hot again. Flutters lightly battered my stomach and my heart beat wouldn’t slow.
“Nah, you won’t.” Balthazar’s easy confidence made me even hotter while at the same time riling me up to snap back at him that I was definitely going to California.
“We would like to offer you a deal,” Jasper continued smoothly. “Spend time with us and get to know what we’re really like. If by the time you have to leave you still want to go, then we’ll be thankful for the time we’ve had with you. And if you want to stay, well, we’ll be immensely grateful.”
“Give us a chance.” Lucian’s dreamy gray eyes shone with sincerity, chipping at my defenses.
“We’re asking for twelve dates.” Jasper’s citrusy scent sharpened as if he were suddenly more anxious, even though he appeared nonchalant about it all.
“We’re your pack. You were meant to be with us.” Balthazar said it as if it were a fact. Jasper gave him a squeeze before lowering his hand.
Were they really? They smelled so good. I wanted to bury myself in their scents, their arms, feel their hard bodies around me. Every Omega nerve in my body whined for it.
“Twelve dates like the twelve nights of Christmas. How sweet!” Miss Eloise hummed her approval.
Sweet? Christmas? No, no. Everything in me skittered backward from them, from all of this. This wasn’t happening. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I have my dream job waiting for me in Califor—”
“A word, Mariska.” Miss Eloise didn’t even wait for me to say something. She looped her arm through mine and led me into the house. “We’ll be back in a moment, gentlemen.”
I set my bouquet down on the hall table and frowned at her.
What the hell was going on with her? She’d been my biggest supporter all these years.
When things started to go bad with Jack, she helped me break away from his control and consoled me for several nights while I cried myself to sleep. I trusted her more than anyone else.
Miss Eloise closed the big door and lowered her voice. Her usual smile was now flat and stern. “I want you to tell them yes.”
What the fuck? “No!”
“Mariska.”
“You know why I can’t. I’m moving to California in a few weeks. I don’t want to give them false hope or a chance to trap me.”
“They’re not Jack,” she said softly, soothing like a mother with a child.
I fought not to fall into her arms and bawl with my head on her shoulder.
Tears blurred my vision. “They’re good men, sweetie.
” She reached over and wiped at the few drops that had started to fall down my cheeks.
“Scent matched with a pack is a rare thing. And don’t you try to deny it.
I can see the effect they have on you. Something had been under your skin all week, and now I know. ”
“But… my dream.” I’d worked so hard, my whole heart in it. Helping make wind energy more eco-friendly was what I was driven to do.
“I’m not telling you to give up your dream.
Don’t do that for anyone. You were meant to do great things in this world, and I would never stop you.
” She rubbed my arms and pulled me in for a hug.
“After Jack, you closed yourself off to any relationship ever happening again. I understand, honey, I really do, but this pack could be the one for you. Don’t you think you deserve the chance to find love? ”
“Well, maybe, one day down the line.” I wiped at my eyes, blinking away the rest of the tears. “I can’t chase my dream here. My future is in California.”
Miss Eloise took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
She held my hands in hers and looked me directly in the eyes.
“Okay. If that’s how you feel, that’s how it will be.
But.” She raised her brows. “You’re going into heat, and you’re going to need an Alpha or two to help you through it.
What better help than a pack who is compatible with you? ”
I swear I heard the sound of my jaw hitting the floor. “I’m not!”
“Oh, sweetie, you are.” She nodded.
“No.” It couldn’t be. My breaths came hard and fast. This was the last thing I needed. “No, no.”
Miss Eloise gripped my hands tighter and rubbed her thumbs over mine.
“It’s all right. Sometimes it happens when you meet a highly compatible match.
You were never triggered in the past, and that’s why I knew Jack wasn’t the one for you even before the trouble with him.
Yet with these Alphas… I could see how Balthazar affected you at the farm and how you affected him too.
” Nothing got past her. She saw things not even I wanted to admit to.
“If you don’t want a permanent relationship, make it clear to the pack you don’t want to be claimed.
I have no doubt they will help you with your heat, but they’ll be driven to mark you. ”
Fuck, I was going into heat. My flushed and oversensitive skin, my blood running hot like a fever, my senses on overdrive, and the amount of time I’d spent fantasizing about those three Alphas over the past week sent me to have cold showers at least three times a day.
Pressing my thighs together, I silently noted my panties were soaked with slick.
I was due to fly south in fifteen days. It was the worst time for this to happen.
It didn’t matter that I hated it. God, she was right. I would need help to get through my heat. Sure, I could try to push through it myself, but that would cause it to last longer, and I’d be a mess when I traveled to California.
If I made my position clear to the pack, I could do this. I could keep my heart locked up and get through this heat.
Miss Eloise let my hands go and patted my cheek. “Yet I also want you to at least try to give them a chance. Open your heart a little. You might find your very own Christmas miracle.”
Christmas miracle? Oh no. Not happening.
My resolve came slamming back down. I brushed my fingers over my cheeks again and straightened, squaring my shoulders.
“All right. If I’m really in heat, I want it over with fast, so I’m going to need the pack’s help.
” It sounded too much like it was happening to someone else, and it made me hesitant again. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
She chuckled and rubbed my shoulder. “Oh honey, this isn’t the way I hoped it would happen for you, but I don’t want you to suffer through your first heat.
Alphas are designed to help us Omegas. A simple touch or their purr will help a lot.
” Her gaze became a little distant. “I remember when I first met Daniel. After one date, I was sent into heat. Families were even more strict then, but he secretly met me in my family’s barn every night to help me through.
” She came back to the present with a serious tone.
“I will chaperon you on your dates to make certain this is what you want to do and they aren’t pressuring you.
Yet in the end, it’s your decision if you want their help and how much help you want. ”
My decision. “Let’s not make them wait any longer.”
Miss Eloise opened the door for me and I stepped onto the porch to be enveloped in the pack’s heady scent. Every logical reason I had listed in my head shattered, and I had to grip the door frame to keep from running into their arms.
All three of them turned to face me. Balthazar’s wide grin said he knew what I was going to say already, and Lucian’s hands fisted, shaking slightly as he waited to hear what I decided.
Jasper ran a hand through his hair and looked at me as if he didn’t care either way, but I couldn’t see his breaths in the cold night.
I didn’t go any farther. I couldn’t trust myself.
“Okay. Twelve dates.” I swallowed hard. Another cold shower was calling me. “What time are you picking me up tomorrow?”