27. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“So let me get this straight,” Alexei Maxim said, his voice calm despite the sharpness behind his blue eyes as he stared at all of us from across the kitchen table.
We’d gone to their house to meet the rest of Ciara’s family and needless to say it was going… poorly.
I’d known the Peterson twins would be there, but what I hadn’t expected was everyone else who’d shown up to stare at us like we were the fish in an aquarium. The Petersons were accompanied by Colt Stone’s pack and even Nash and Dutch hovered toward the back of the crowd, shooting me encouraging grins as we faced what I was equating to a verbal firing squad.
Ciara had tried to sit next to us, but Brynn had quickly drawn her to their side of the table and she stood looking worried and a little bit sheepish as the twins interrogated us.
“You went into heat at the complex and somehow, at the end of it, you’ve bonded with my daughter?” Alexei’s voice was dangerous as he stared at Artie who shifted uncomfortably in his seat until Charm rested her head on his leg.
“Alexei—” Ciara began, jumping to the omega’s defense, but Maxim held up a hand to stop her.
“It was an accident,” Artie admitted, not seeing the way that both of the men’s jaws clenched at the word accident. “But I’ve liked Ciara since we met in Scotland and I was hoping everything would end this way eventually.”
Enzo looked as if he wanted to say something, but because of the presence of Colt Stone, he just slipped his fingers through Artie’s and slumped in his seat.
“Do you know how irresponsible that was?” Alexei sounded just like Enzo had earlier this week after Artie’s heat had faded.
Artie flinched at the sound of his voice and we all shot the man a look. Upsetting an omega fresh off their heat was no one’s idea of a good time and even if he was my coach I wasn’t going to stand by and let him yell at Artie.
I actually really liked him—not in a romantic way—that had been obvious to the both of us. But after we’d all agreed to see what a pack with the five of us looked like, I’d spent nearly every waking moment outside of hockey practice with them.
They were a bunch of cool guys and I knew my mom was going to have a field day with them once I finally brought them to family dinner. I’d sort of already told her the gist of what had happened during Artie’s heat.
Her first question had been to ask how I felt about it, and her second had been about meeting them.
Only a few of my cousins were alphas like me and I’d been getting random pointers from them about pack life all week about the do’s and don’ts of it.
“Alexei,” Ciara repeated, this time with more force, causing the man to finally look over at her.
She was standing with her arms crossed, her brown eyes tight with anger.
“What? Do you disagree with me?” the man asked, mimicking her stance. It was clear where her stubbornness came from because I watched as they continued to stare at each other until Alexei finally sighed, giving in first. “Are you really okay with this? You’ve only ever talked about not wanting to be in any relationship and now you’re very suddenly in a committed pack with a very permanent bond mark.”
“I knew it was a possibility the entire time and I was okay with it,” Ciara told him. “And I didn’t bring them here so that you could yell at them.”
Alexei snorted.
“We always yell at them. Remember the first time Brynn brought those two in?” He hiked a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of Brynn’s alphas.
“You threatened to send me to Siberia,” Nash’s wry joke came from the back of the crowd, easing the tension as everyone laughed.
“I think you’ve threatened them enough. Please just try to trust that I know what I’m doing.” Her words were in direct contrast to her anxious whispers from when we were cuddled up in her bed this morning.
Ciara was worried she was going to ruin everything. She didn’t know how, but she told me that she was terrified of messing things up.
I didn’t know how to comfort her with my words, so I’d just distracted her with my body instead until she couldn’t think about anything else but me.
“We’ll take care of her.” I’d meant to say the words in my head, but when everyone’s heads swiveled to face me I realized I’d said them out loud.
Alexei’s frown deepened. “I haven’t gotten to you yet, Park, what part of ‘don’t date my daughters’ do you idiots not seem to get?”
“I won’t apologize for pursuing my soulmate,” I told him simply, making everyone in the room gawk at me.
Ciara’s face flushed as our eyes met and I offered her a smile which she slowly reciprocated.
“He’s so honest,” I heard someone whisper in the crowd.
Alexei sputtered, clearly trying to find the words to say before Maxim finally put a hand on his shoulder. “Lexei, that’s enough. This kid is too powerful for your fatherly overprotectiveness, and I also distinctly remember a certain young hockey player telling an angry Irishman to fuck off when he forbade you from dating his daughter.”
“That was different,” Alexei grumbled, clearly displeased with his brother’s interference.
“Hey, Alexei, look at it this way,” Dutch said as he and Nash pushed to the front, offering me surreptitious thumbs up while the coaches were looking away. “You’re running out of daughters that hockey players can date.”
“Yeah,” Nash joined in, with a grin on his face. “Penelope wouldn’t touch a hockey player with a ten-foot pole, right, Pen?”
Penelope, who’d been standing in the corner with her mom just made a face at him, her eyes darting away from her brother too quickly.
Had I been the only one to notice that? Everyone else already seemed to be moving on as they discussed the logistics, Enzo explaining the plan to move everyone in together in September after the invitational.
But my eyes were still on the dark-haired female version of Nash. I’d only met her a handful of times as she seemed to be in the apartment that she shared with Ciara for most of the day. I often wondered where she was at, knowing that the legal department at the Complex couldn’t keep her that busy.
Her eyes met mine and she turned away from me completely to whisper something to her little sister.
It was odd, for sure but it was also none of my business what Penelope did in her free time.
“Are you sure you want to wait until September?” Maxim asked after Ciara finished explaining why she was waiting for us all to move in together.
“Yes,” Ciara said, finally settling into the chair next to Artie and pulling his free hand into hers.
It was a display of unity and the rest of her family seemed to understand that. Their shoulders finally sank with relief and the tension seemed to leave the room in one long whoosh of sighs of relief.
“I want to keep my own space for now while we get used to each other and then after the invitational we can figure out where to live.”
Truthfully, I’d already caught Enzo and Leith looking at houses more than once while we were all hanging out in their apartment. Houses big enough for all five of us to live comfortably in. They’d even asked if I had any preference, and I’d explained my desire to garden like my mother did.
If Ciara knew what they were doing it would definitely make her panic, so I was keeping that nugget of information to myself for now.
Alexei looked as if he still wanted to argue until Thea, their wife, stepped forward and slipped her hand into his and the alpha’s shoulders finally relaxed.
“If it’s what you want, then I’m fine,” he finally surrendered.
“Now that that’s over can we please get pizza now?” Mimi Nashtos whined, making everyone laugh as the tension was finally broken.
“How does one even plan a date?” Ciara asked as she paced the length of her bedroom.
Two days had passed since our impromptu family dinner and we’d settled into something of a routine.
In the mornings I drove with everyone else to the Complex and we went on our own to our separate jobs and practices.
Leith’s practices had been moved to later in the day, so he usually watched Artie and Ciara skate for a bit before heading to that.
In the afternoon, both of the other alphas were still busy with their own things so Ciara, Artie, and I would head back to the apartment and hang out until they made it home.
Which was why Ciara was currently pacing in front of us as we lounged on her bed.
“He’ll be happy with whatever you come up with,” Artie pointed out unhelpfully as he dozed with a golden retriever on either side of him.
Ciara didn’t seem to like that answer because she stopped at the end of the bed and gave Artie’s foot a shake. “Well what did you do when you first started dating either of them?”
Artie sat up with a grumble and gave her hands a tug until she finally climbed into the bed between us, displacing a grumpy Lucky as the dog moved to the floor with a huff.
“They’ve always just sort of handled it, so I’m afraid I won’t be of much help,” he said, tucking his nose into the place on her neck where her scent was the strongest.
“But I know Leith just wants to spend time with you,” he said, lifting his head so he could squint over Ciara’s body at me. “And what do you think, Casanova? You’re good at this kind of stuff.”
Lover boy, Casanova, Romeo, all variations of the many nicknames the guys had quickly given me when I told them the full story of how I came to fall in love with Ciara.
“I can help you plan it if you like,” I offered, threading our fingers together.
When I’d first considered joining their pack, I always just assumed our interactions would remain separate and only through Ciara. But they were an affectionate bunch and I was quickly becoming accustomed to the random cuddle piles that they seemed prone to falling into.
“No,” Ciara said, shaking her head. “I should plan it myself. It’s only right.”
I should have felt at least a little bit jealous that she was putting so much thought into her first date with someone when I had to chase her down for one, but then again, it was Leith we were talking about.
He’d been there first and if he hadn’t gone through the trenches with Ciara, I wasn’t sure that she’d have been anywhere near wanting to date someone when I met her.
And he had also never gotten a true date.
I’d gotten the Cliff’s Notes version of their three months together and even then it sounded rough. I wasn’t sure if I would have survived and been able to trust anyone after that but the alpha seemed to have a heart made of gold.
“He’s a giant foodie,” Artie finally offered, his lips pressing to the line of Ciara’s jaw. “And we haven’t had much of a chance to check out the food in Seattle yet.”
Her eyes lit up with excitement. “That’s perfect!”
She pulled his face in for a sound kiss that seemed to make the omega melt right before my eyes.
And then she was pulling away and scooting off of the bed again.
“Where’re you going?” Artie asked, his face twisted into a pout.
“To plan it all out! I need to call Aurelia!”
“Mated for less than a week and I’m already being ignored,” he joked and we exchanged a grin.
At first, I’d been worried that I wouldn’t fit into their pack. I didn’t have any special feelings for their omega and for most that would mean I wasn’t going to be accepted.
But they had and it felt a bit like I was growing a family that was just for me. I’d always been a bit of a loner—most people liked me but even in my career it was easy to fade into the background when compared to some of the flashier players. Even in my own family, everyone loved me, but there were so many of us that it was sometimes hard to keep track of who was who amongst the cacophony.
As if reading my thoughts, Artie’s smile turned a bit mischievous. “Do you wanna go and prank Enzo’s bathroom with me?”
“Won’t he be mad?”
There was a pause before his smile turned downright devious. “Isn’t that the point?”