18. Esme
Eighteen
Esme
“They’re going to love you,” Sven says for the fourth time, taking the turn to his family’s compound.
“So you’ve said,” I grumble back, a ball of freaking nerves.
“It’s true.”
I turn to stare at him… “You’re nervous!” I can feel it through the bond: a low hum under his unshakable calm. “You are! Why are you nervous, Sven Greymark? They’re your family!”
He’s quiet for a second, hands tight on the wheel. Then he finally mumbles, “Never brought anyone home.”
And just like that, I’m not worried about whether they’ll like me anymore. I just want to climb into his lap and wrap myself around him. But I don’t. I just smile and squeeze his tree-trunk thigh.
* * *
The house is enormous. I knew the Greymarks had money…
Their last name being plastered all over town, shit, being the town’s damn name made that clear…
but I wasn’t ready for… this! A long, wide building made of stone and glass is sitting on top of the hill, lit up against the dark night, with way too many cars parked in the drive.
And I can hear it before we’re even parked: a whole house full of noise spilling out into the evening.
“How many people are here right now?” I ask.
He kills the engine. “All of them.”
My jaw slacks.
The front door bangs open and a kid comes barreling out, maybe seven, shrieking, “THEY’RE HERE!” Behind him the doorway fills up with bodies.
Sven exhales through his nose and comes around to lift me down from the truck and he doesn’t let go of my hand.
I do not catch everyone’s name. I want that on the record. There is no way I’m catching everyone’s name.
It comes at me all at once: warm, loud, and overwhelming; a wall of huge green people, the smell of something incredible cooking, a dog barking somewhere, and three different conversations happening over each other.
Somebody takes my coat. Someone else hands me a drink I didn’t ask for but absolutely need.
A woman I’ll later learn is Kase’s mate squeezes my arm and coos, “Oh, look at her” like I’m a treasure they found.
“Okay, back up, give her room.” That’s Bjorn; I know Bjorn. He’s shouldering through the crowd, grinning wide. “Esme. You came. He didn’t scare you off. I had money on him scaring you off.”
“He tried,” I laugh then wink, looking up at Sven. “He’s not as scary as he thinks.” The corner of his mouth twitches.
The whole entryway goes ohhhh. Sven’s hand tightens on mine, and I feel a flush of something warm and easy come down our bond.
Then Vidar leans close and fake-whispers, “He’s been impossible for decades. You saved us.” He lays a hand over his heart, making me laugh harder.
“I will end you,” Sven tells his brother mildly.
“There’s a lot of us, but don’t worry, I’m the best.”
“You mean the worst,” someone calls loudly behind him. More laughter ensues.
The kid who announced us is now hanging off Sven’s free arm like it’s a tree branch, and he just lets him, this giant, terrifying alpha has a child dangling off his bicep, and I have to look away because my ovaries cannot take it.
It’s a lot. It’s so much. Beautiful, but a lot. I come from a small family where it’s just me, Daddy, Ma and Nita, and this is… this is a warm, loud flood, and for one second I feel the size of it all and almost panic. But then a gentle hand takes my elbow.
“All right, that’s enough; you’ll drown her.” The voice and the hand belong to a female orc. And the whole entryway quiets, the same way the library goes quiet around Sven, and I immediately understand where he gets it from. “Go. All of you. Set the table. Go. Now!”
The flood drains back into the house and leaves me standing with this sharp-eyed lady who’s looking at me with an expression I can’t quite read.
“Esme,” she says staring into my eyes. Hers are the same shape and color as my mate’s.
“Mrs. Greymark.”
“Maud,” she corrects, then studies my face for a long beat, something working behind her eyes.
Finally, she nods slowly before reaching up to pat my cheek; her eyes are bright.
“You’re family now.” She pauses, then winks, adding, “you’ll be sick of us by spring.”
I let out a surprised laugh. Then I have to blink fast. Sven’s hand finds the small of my back, steadying me, and I feel it through the bond: his relief, how happy he is watching his mother claim me on the doorstep of their family home.
* * *
Dinner is the loudest damn meal of my entire freaking life and also one of the best…
I get maybe half of their names, too busy staring wide-eyed, and with a huge grin on my face, listening to the Greymarks argue about some hockey game.
Sven keeps his hand on my knee under the table the entire time and barely lets a foot of space exist between us, and when his brother Kase reaches across to refill my glass, I feel his hand tighten just slightly on my knee…
even with his own brother… I hide my smile.
“He’s growling,” Vidar says, gleeful. “Did everyone hear that? Kase refilled Esme’s glass and Sven growled.”
“Did not,” my guy absolutely growls.
“You growled a little,” I tell him, beaming up at him.
He shakes his head, a twinkle in his dark eyes.
“See, even she…”
“Eat your dinner, Vidar,” half the table says at once, and everyone laughs, even Sven…