Nested #2
"It's a phone call,” I say, both confused and touched by their intense reactions. "I'm not volunteering to go move back to their house. I'm making a call."
Mack turns to Nico, jaw tight. "You gonna say somethin', or you just gonna let her imagination run wild?"
Nico doesn't answer right away. He's still by the wall, arms crossed, and when he finally speaks his voice is incredibly calm.
"I don't like the idea of being the kind of alpha who keeps his omega from talking to her own family." He looks at me, then at Mack and Adrian. "That's a line I won't cross. My mother would skin me for it."
"This is different," Adrian says quickly. "Her family isn't—"
Nico lifts one hand, and the room goes quiet.
He lets the silence sit for a moment, then he lowers it.
"I won't stop you from calling them." His dark eyes turn to me.
"That's your decision, not mine, but I want you to think very clearly about this.
" He waits for me to nod, so he knows I’m listening.
"What makes you so sure a phone call will be enough for them?
If you tell them you're mated," he tilts his head, "what happens when they want proof? "
Shit. I didn’t think of that.
"He's right." Owen looks down at me, and there's an apology already sitting in his hazel eyes.
"I could see them asking for that. Wanting to see the bite for themselves before they believe a word of it.
" He leans down, talking so softly. "Going anywhere near your family is not a good idea. I've seen enough of them to know that."
I look down at my hands.
They're all watching me, all of them desperate to talk me out of it, and I know they're doing it because they love me. That's the part that undoes me. Nobody has ever tried to keep me from being hurt before.
"I know you don't want me near them," I say as I look up at Owen first, then around the room. "But you saved me. All of you. Then you gave me a life I didn’t know was possible."
Owen reaches over and slips his hand around mine.
"So if seeing them one last time in person will keep my pack safe, I'll do it." My voice stays steady, and I'm proud of it. "Let me protect my pack. Please."
The room goes still.
Mack plants his hands on his hips and looks at the floor. Adrian's jaw is tight, his throat working. But neither one of them says no.
Owen's thumb moves slowly over the back of my hand. "What are you going to do if they do ask to see you?" There’s so much worry behind his hazel eyes. "What if they want to see your mating bite?"
"Then I'll meet them," I say with a heavy sigh. "I’ll do whatever I have to."
"Not alone." Nico moves toward me before I've finished the word. "If you're in a room with those people, I'm in it too. That's not up for discussion."
Renata sets her coffee down next to Mack’s.
"Bad idea, hermano," she says plainly. "You're legally married to Owen.
If you walk into Aldric Van Houten's house ‘pretending’," she does little air quotes, "to be Lyra's mate, they’ll assume you’re either cheating on your man, or that you're in a pack, and the whole thing falls apart.
" She lifts a brow at him. "You're the one alpha in this room who can't be there. "
Nico's mouth presses flat, because she's right…and he clearly hates it.
"I'll go." Adrian says it quietly, then again, steadier.
"I'll take her." He looks around at the rest of them.
"We're already mates. Even if I haven’t put my mark on her yet.
" His gaze comes back to me and softens.
"If your parents want to see a mated omega with her alpha, that's what they'll see. It'll be real, because it is real."
"I still don't like it," Mack groans, rubbing his face hard.
"You don't have to like it." Adrian says. "You have to trust me with her."
Mack looks down at Adrian, then gives a short nod. "You know I trust you."
"Fine," Nico’s voice rises slightly, and I feel a twist of frustration flare in our bond.
"If they insist on a meeting, Adrian takes her in as her mate.
" He points a finger at his chest. "But I'm there too.
I can be his half-brother or cousin. But I'm not letting the two of you walk into that house without me somewhere in the building. "
"Cousin," Renata says. "You don’t have the coloring to be his brother, but you could pass as cousins." She narrows her eyes, considering him. "Maybe half-cousins."
"This is assuming that they even want to see me," I say. "But hopefully they won’t. They’ll take my word for it, and let it go." But even as I say the words, I know they aren’t true. Owen is right. They’ll definitely want to see me, and I’m annoyed I didn’t realize that sooner.
"Or," Renata says, brightening, "there’s one more option." She waits for everyone to look at her. "We kill them."
Mack smiles like that’s the best idea he’s ever heard, while everyone else shakes their heads.
"That’s not helpful," Nico scolds his sister.
Renata shrugs, her expression dead serious. "What? I’m trying to offer solutions." She bumps her shoulder into mine, then whispers, "No one will ever find their bodies."
I can’t help but smile.
"Nobody's killing anyone," Nico says firmly.
Renata winks at me. "Yet."
"Okay." Owen squeezes my hand, then he pulls in a deep breath. "When do you want to do this?"
"Now," I say before I can second-guess it.
"I want to call now, before I lose my nerve.
" I glance toward the window and the pale light coming through it.
"It's 9AM on a Saturday. My mother usually leaves for the club by ten, so if I wait too long, there’s a chance she won’t answer her phone until this afternoon.
" I press my toes into the carpet beneath me.
"I'd rather do it while I still have the guts. "
"The club." Mack rolls his eyes. "A whole gaggle of grown adults paying good money to eat tiny sandwiches in a room they ain't allowed to laugh in." He picks his coffee back up. "My mama had a club too. It was called the front porch. It was free to get in, and the beer was always cold."
Renata is the only one who laughs, but I do give Mack a quick smile.
I hate how nervous I am.
Nico crosses the room. "Adrian. Phone."
The alpha digs it out of his pocket and hands it over.
Nico turns back to the couch, then flicks two fingers at Renata. "Up."
"I just got comfortable." She heaves off the couch like the cushions are dragging her back down, groaning the whole way, then she drops into the empty loveseat Mack left. "Happy?"
Nico takes her spot beside me. Then his hands are at my waist and he lifts me into his lap, settling me against his chest. One thick arm bands low across my thighs, then he holds the phone out to me.
"Put in her number."
I key it in and hand the phone back. Nico thumbs the speaker on, then sets it face-up on his palm between us.
It rings twice.
"Lavinia Van Houten." My mother's voice comes through the little speaker, clipped and cold, already annoyed. "Who is this?"
My whole body practically shrivels. My shoulders curl and my stomach drops, and for one horrible second I'm eleven years old again, standing in her study waiting to be told how I've ruined their lives by presenting as an omega.
Then Nico floods our bond.