CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - Mariska #2
“Heated seats.” Jasper grinned at my expression.
He started to put the blanket on me, but I took it from him to do it myself.
He took the seat across from me and didn’t push it.
“Sleighs have come a long way since I was a kid. There’s even a music system in this thing, but it’s currently turned off. ”
I huddled under the thick blanket and had it wrapped up to my neck.
Not just to keep warm, but to keep my perfume from letting them know how much I wanted them.
This would have been very cozy if it wasn’t for the fact that I was surrounded by the three Alphas I swore never to have anything to do with again.
Lucian took the seat beside me and Balthazar, after laying the roses at my feet as if I were some sort of goddess, sat next to Jasper.
He motioned to the driver who clicked his tongue and jiggled the reins.
The sleigh jerked as the horses trotted around the hospital parking lot.
I glanced back the way I’d come to see a crowd of nurses watching us through the door and Miss Eloise sitting in her wheelchair in the front.
She had the happiest expression on her face, and for that, I was glad I’d agreed to this, even if we worked nothing out.
None of us spoke until the sleigh was away from the hospital.
The streets were plowed, but a layer of snow still painted them white.
Drifts as high as six to eight feet lined the edges.
Even with people unable to dig their cars free and get out for last minute shopping, there was still a festive air in town.
Lights shone from almost every house, and I could see many people’s trees through their front windows.
Kids had built snowmen and decorated them for Christmas.
Some had even gone bigger and built snow reindeer, and one house had a snowfort with a sign declaring it the North Pole on its lawn.
“We’re sorry.” Balthazar was the first to speak. His voice was gruff and mist puffed from his mouth with his hot breath. “None of us wanted that to happen.”
I raised my brows at him. That was an understatement. “What did you think would happen? That I’d be so happy to see them and forget years of neglect? No.” I answered myself, almost hissing out the word. “I was reminded why I only spend one afternoon every year with them.”
Balthazar at least had the decency to look properly repentant about it. “I thought maybe you were exaggerating because of past slights.”
“Do I seem to you like someone who exaggerates?” I caught my voice as it began to rise.
It would do no good just to get angry and start yelling.
I needed closure, not another fight. I squirmed under the blanket, horny and angry.
“Nothing they did to me was a slight. It was a downright slap in the face. At least it gave me the opportunity to cut my ties to them for good.”
“Family is important.” Balthazar was digging in his heels. I wasn’t doing this again with him. Fuck that.
But Jasper spoke before I could carry my frustration further. “We want to be your family. We want you to be part of our pack.”
I was literally pushed back in my seat by how startled I was by his statement.
My heart thundered louder than the clomping of the horses’ hooves.
The hiss of the sleigh along the snowy ground was distant static for the major freak-out happening inside my head.
I clutched the edge of the blanket under my chin, mentally telling myself to calm down.
Even as my reason was trying to soothe me, the shards of my heart cried out for the pack to put them back together. I wanted to be part of their pack, to be with them forever. Before, I called them silly daydreams, but fuck, I really wanted it.
It couldn’t happen though. “Not after everything that happened.”
They all started talking at once, apologizing and pleading.
Jasper held up a hand to quiet his friends. “We made a mistake. We didn’t listen to you in our attempt at trying to make you happy in every aspect of your life. We take full responsibility for it, and if you let us, we’ll spend the rest of our lives trying to make up for it.”
Yes! Knot me now!
No. I couldn’t forgive everything with just a few pretty words. I swallowed hard. “I can’t. You know all the reasons why it can’t be.”
A gust of wind swooped down on us and it allowed me to wipe a few tears away by hiding my face with the blanket. I didn’t doubt they were all sorry about what happened with my family, but their sincerity wasn’t what made this unworkable.
“The first reason is your move to California for a new job.” Jasper started, and the fact it sounded like they had a list of things snapped me out of turning into a sobbing mess. I nodded slowly.
“There’s nothing we can offer that would equal the dream job down there.
It is a fantastic opportunity.” Lucian had told me this several times before.
With his career being in the same field as mine, he would know better than any of them.
He smiled, hesitant and hopeful. “But we have two possible solutions for that. The first being a new job in the county.”
There were no new jobs in the county unless one worked for… “Nope. I’m not going back to Blue Skies.”
“We know, and screw them for not listening to your brilliant ideas.” Balthazar huffed. “The new job would be for the farm.”
“Well, not exactly for the farm.” Jasper corrected him, but it didn’t make any more sense. There was nothing at Silver Tree Farm for me.
Lucian turned in his seat to face me more, his eyes lighting up with excitement.
“It would be a position with the DNR, the Department of Natural Resources. Part of the responsibility would be monitoring and taking care of the bat colony on our land. We have a small brown bat colony that has grown immensely over the past few years, and with its large size, it needs to be monitored year round.”
“You have a bat colony on the farm and you never took me to see them?” Okay.
That was weird of me to be so enthused about the idea, but most of my work with turbines centered around bats, and I found them fascinating.
Also the bats would be hibernating for the winter.
Not a terribly romantic date marching into a cold cave with a floor thick with guano.
“I’ll take you whenever you want.” Lucian grinned.
He sure knew how to romance this girl. “The colony at the farm will be one of many you’d be monitoring.
Also,” he leaned in. “Since you’ll be working for the DNR, you get to pass on orders to local businesses to ensure the safety of the bat populations.
That means whatever you order Blue Skies to do, they’ll have to follow, or else they’ll be in violation of state and federal regulations. ”
Holy shit. This was huge. I’d been trying to get Blue Skies to up several safety measures for bats and birds over the past few years. They ignored all my proposals claiming it was too expensive, and that the loss of ‘a few’ bats and birds would happen no matter what they did.
“I don’t think they’d be able to offer you the same salary as you’ll be receiving in California,” Jasper added, but I waved that off. I wasn’t doing what I did for the money.
My job in California would give me the freedom to put into operation my methods of eco-preservation around the turbines and to affect a wider area. It would also allow me to work with other wind farms around the world and share information.
Yet this was my home state. A place that I loved, and if I could stay to help the wildlife here…
Plus sticking it to the board of Blue Skies would be greatly satisfying.
“But if you don’t want the DNR job…” Lucian reached over and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. His thumb caressed my cheek. “We’d come with you to California.”
The whole world froze. I blinked in slow motion.
Surely I didn’t hear him right. “You’d leave the farm?”
There was no way. They loved that place.
“We’d buy a house for us in California and split our time between there and here.
I can do most of my work remotely.” Jasper’s gorgeous auburn hair blew around his face, and he brushed it back with a gloved hand.
How was he saying this so casually? “At least one of us will be there with you all the time. We wouldn’t have to give up the farm, and you can have your dream job. ”
“But… but…” They would do this for me? I couldn’t quite catch my breath. “But you love the farm. It’s your life.”
Jasper scooted forward to place a hand on my leg and looked me dead in the eye. A burst of heat erupted as he did. “We love you more.”
They loved me?
Did I fall asleep in Miss Eloise’s room? This couldn’t be real. I pinched myself under the blanket, and it hurt. Okay, it was real.
“We do.” Lucian confirmed and caressed my cheek again. Chills that had nothing to do with the cold rocked me.
They loved me. And underneath all my complicated emotions, one was clawing its way to the top. I loved them too.
But…
I looked from Jasper and Lucian to Balthazar. The farm was his family’s. He grew up there, wanted a life there, and to pass it on to his children. Did he love me too or was he the one truly only interested in me being an Omega?
His jaw clenched and unclenched, over and over.
Then suddenly he was on his knees in front of me like a gladiator bowing before his empress.
“I’d give it all up for you. I fucking love you more than I ever loved anything.
” He pressed his head against my blanketed leg.
“I can’t imagine life without you, Mariska. ”
I ran a shaky hand through his thick locks. He’d give up everything for me. For me. “I would never ask you to give up the farm.”
Balthazar raised his head. His dreamy green eyes shone with emotion. “You wouldn’t have to ask. I’d just do it.”
A tear ran down my cheek. He reached up and wiped it away.
“And if you agree to be our Omega, I will never bring up babies again. If you never want children, then we won’t. All I need is you. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted and more. You complete our pack, and I cannot fucking stand the thought of losing you.”
Oh God. The scenery around me blurred as I started to cry in earnest. They loved me and wanted me so badly they were willing to change everything.
Not only did they have the willingness, but they had given it thought and planned enough to even get me a job with the DNR.
And if I stayed, I would be able to help Miss Eloise and see my friends.
I’d have to give up my dream job, but it didn’t seem so perfect anymore.
I could have a job that I enjoyed and still make a difference, and stay with the people I loved.
The one thing that scared me the most about moving to California was how alone I’d be, and if I agreed to be a part of this pack, I’d never be alone again no matter where I was.
I would be with them.
With Jasper and his salacious charms on top of luxurious tastes.
With Lucian and his eco-nerd soul paired with beastly urges.
And with Balthazar, and his immense heart fueling his fiery determination.
Lucian had moved close enough I could rest my head on his shoulder, and Jasper had slipped into the seat beside me at some point and wrapped an arm around me. “You don’t have to answer right—”
“Yes!” As soon as I said it, all my walls crumbled down and my heart was whole. This was truly what I wanted. I’d never wanted to leave. As much as I fought it, these Alphas were my dream.
I was engulfed in one gigantic hug. My teary laughter was muffled against Balthazar’s chest and Jasper’s hip bumped against me as he kissed the back of my neck.
Lucian murmured his love for me over and over.
Lust burned through me, but I didn’t want this to end.
I was safe and loved between them, and fuck, I needed them to take me somewhere to knot me.
“I love you all.” I kissed them one by one, getting more fervent each time.
“And I want to talk about all of this, but right now, you need to get us a hotel room or something, because my heat isn’t done yet.
I’m going to start ripping off clothes right here in the sleigh, and then we’ll all be in the hospital with frostbite in places we don’t want it! ”
“The seats are heated…” Balthazar chuckled as he pretended to lift my blanket and go under it.
I squealed and laughed, trying to swat their hands away and at the same time pushing myself into them. Jasper told the driver to turn around and make a dash back to the hospital lot, and the sudden turn had me sliding onto his lap. Which did not help my heat pains in the least!
Yet with Lucian on my right, Balthazar taking a seat on my left, and Jasper squeezed in the middle with me on his lap, I couldn’t stop smiling.
I was definitely on Santa’s naughty list with all the hot images flashing through my mind, but he still brought me the best gift I’d ever gotten: a happy ending with a pack who loved and respected me.