38. Nelly #3
One of his brothers whose name I don't care to learn steps up to the plate. "You haven't even considered the fact that we could win. Do you know how good that'll look to your new pack?"
"I've considered everything," Beau says, his voice soft, but unwavering, "and what I'm not going to do is compete and look like an idiot in front of the people I love."
His mother sighs. "A Beta should still strive to demonstrate value."
Heat flares in my chest. "He demonstrates that every single day."
She blinks. "I beg your pardon?"
I scoff and shake my head. "Your son is brilliant. For years I've sat down with him for breakfasts and lunches—"
"Nelly," Beau murmurs.
"No," I say as I look at him, "this needs to be said.
Let me say it." He inhales sharply, but nods, so I continue as I look back at his mother.
"I've had meal after meal after meal with him ever since we graduated high school, and the one thing I hear about the most is how his family will never accept the fact that he's a Beta.
Every meal. Every conversation. Every time I called him to crunch numbers and I heard that defeated tone in his voice, I knew he had been talking with you.
You want to talk about your family's legacy? That's your legacy right now with him."
"With all of us," Levi adds.
I scoff and keep going. "Your son helps people buy homes they'll spend their lives in.
He helps businesses in town stay afloat during the slow months.
He works harder than anyone I know and is always carrying files back to his place to work on them after hours.
He cares about people. That's his legacy in life.
" I step a little closer to him and link my arm with his.
"He doesn't have to wrestle someone in the mud to prove he's worth the air he breathes. "
His father grinds his teeth together. "No Omega will talk to us—"
"Absolutely not," Levi snarls.
Everything falls silent before Nash speaks. "Our Omega's right. Even if you're his family, you don't get to decide what his strength looks like. And no one's going to force him to participate today."
His mother rolls her eyes and lets her gaze fall back to Beau. "So, they make your decisions for you now?"
I want to scratch that woman's eyes out with my bare fucking hands.
But Beau beats me to the punch with his words. "No. But they're standing beside me while I make my own. I'll be cheering you guys on from the field. I hope you win."
Pride surges through our bond so suddenly that my eyes sting.
"You're embarrassing yourself," his father hisses.
"No," Beau says, his voice stronger now, "I'm finally not, actually."
The world moves around us as children laugh. People step in and out of the tent, signing up for competitions. Music drifts from the pavilion. The food trucks keep pumping out meals for the hungry families showing up. But inside this little circle of ours?
Everything has changed.
"You know what? I give up," his mother says as she starts walking off. "If this is how my son chooses to spend his life, then the consequences are on him and nothing we say matters. It's time we stopped wasting our breath."
"Good," Beau says with his head held high, "because you'd be right. What you say about my pack doesn't matter."
She studies him for another long moment before linking her arm with her husband. "Come along, everyone. Let's go start warming up."
We all hold our stances until they're gone, and then I whip toward Beau. "You okay?"
He stops staring after them and looks at me. Really looks at me, as if he's seeing me for the very first time. His gaze moves to Levi and he nods his head. His attention shifts to Nash and he reaches out, squeezing his upper arm softly.
And then he wraps me up in a hug that makes it hard to breathe.
"Oh," I squeak out before I hug him back. "I gotcha. You're okay."
His forehead presses against my shoulder. "I love you so much."
The words strike me like lightning, and my lower lip quivers. "I love you, too, Beau."
"Let me get in on this action," Levi says as he wraps up the both of us.
"Hey, don't leave me out, now. I like a little moment of lovin'," Nash says as he wraps up all of us.
"You came," Beau murmurs.
I kiss the side of his head. "Of course I came. We all did. We're not going to let your family bully you any longer."
"We'll always come," Nash says.
"Every time," Levi says.
"You don't stand alone anymore," I whisper as I kiss Beau's temple.
He snuggles against me as Nash and Levi tighten their holds on us. And for the first time since finding all of those marks on my body, I don't care who sees us.
This is my pack.
I want everyone to know these men are mine.
"Mine," I whisper.
Beau sniffles. "Yours."
"You all are," I say with a choked voice as I look up at Nash and Levi, "and I don't give a fuck what anyone says about it."
And as we stand there in the middle of Honeysuckle Grove's day of fun, food, and competition—surrounded by hundreds of people enjoying themselves—my pack holds together like we've already won.
Maybe we already have.
.