Chapter 17
Sebastian
Cordie cuddles into me, pressing her face against my chest to ward off the chill.
It’s cold tonight, almost too cold to be outside.
God, I want to shout at my mother and tell her to shove her stupid festival where the sun doesn’t shine, but Cordie got all excited, and her eyes did that shimmer thing and crinkled at the side, and I can’t say no to her.
The heat was something else. I will never walk away from her now.
She has me forever; she might not realise it, but I am hers.
The sex and knotting was amazing, but taking care of her, cleaning her body, making those whines go away, cuddling her, feeding her, that hit a part of me that I didn’t know I needed, and the rut I’d been sliding towards faded.
It turns out that looking after my omega was what my alpha needed to settle in myself.
Katsu explained it during one of the long nights.
He said that watching her take care of herself and her mother was probably driving me crazy, especially when she kept rejecting my help, but it was when she almost died that it all became a problem.
That’s why we’ve been butting heads and clashing.
Making sense of it all is one thing; trying to catch my balance is another. Everything has changed in so many, many ways, so quickly.
The feelings I have for Katsu and Fox are another issue I need to deal with, and soon. We are all tiptoeing around it.
Asher and Felix aren’t here, but I catch sight of Sofia bundled up in a massive jacket with a tiny dachshund head poking out.
“We should skip the date and go home,” I say for the tenth time.
Yes, I do want us all naked, back in the nest for at least the next two decades. Is that really so much to ask?
“No,” Cordie protests and pulls her head back. “I want to see what we’re doing tonight.”
I huff at her, but Katsu arrives with a tray of coffees.
“Here you go, gorgeous.”
Cordie beams at him, and by that smile alone, I know she’s happy. Really happy, not pretending, no false fronts, no humouring everyone. She means it.
“Thank you.”
“Welcome to date two of Light Knot Night! We are seeing many people falling in love, finding their happiness, and we are excited, no, thrilled, to be here doing it again,” Mum says.
“Now, remember, at the end of the dates, one match will win, and the person who can demonstrate on the evening of Light Knot Night that they know their match better than anyone else will win the grand prize.”
She’s dressed up in a pink coat, and her hair falls around her shoulders in a glossy wave.
Mum’s put in extra effort for this one, and I can see how much she cares.
When she looks out at us, her light only grows.
It’s annoying. I just know she’s going to be smug about this forever.
Every birthday, anniversary, holiday, she will trot out how she matched everyone up.
“Let’s pretend to break up,” I suggest quickly.
Katsu and Fox growl in unison.
Cordie just laughs, but I can see she knows exactly what I’m talking about. Mum is going to be unbearable. She’s already cast a few smug looks our way.
“Well, tonight you are going to picnic under the stars.”
“No, thank you.”
Mum sets her stern gaze on Clint McGowen. “It’s not optional. Picnic. Love. Cute.”
“Is that going to be your slogan, Mrs Sol?” Clint shouts back. “I want mine to be warmth, full belly, beer.”
He’s so loud and unappreciated. Clint’s a good bloke. Works hard; no doubt he’s here because he couldn’t say no to someone. He’s got sandy blond hair, too big a smile and carefree blue-grey eyes.
“Oh, come on, you get to date me!” Holly says cheerfully, flipping her wild, curly black hair over her shoulder. She’s a tiny powerhouse of a beta and isn’t one to be underestimated. They’re two years younger than Cordie, but I know them fairly well.
“Yeah, that’s, um, great. It’s just pass,” Clint says loudly. “Like I’m sure your muff is good, but I’d rather appreciate it from a distance, a big one.”
Despite their bickering, the two get along really well, they work together. I’m not sure why Mum paired them up. Holly and Clint have been friends with a capital P for platonic since the day their mothers shoved them onto the school bus.
“Oh, come on, McGowen, don’t you want to bump muffs with me?”
Clint turns a little green and gags.
“I will!” someone shouts.
Clint whirls around and glares. “Shut your face, Owens. You wouldn’t know how. My best friend is going to get muffed by a pro.”
“Seriously, Clint?” Holly snaps indignantly.
“ANYWAY!” Mum growls into the microphone. “You have a night picnic, the stars, hot drinks, courtesy of Yolanda and Grigori. All the ingredients for romance.”
“What do we have to sign away now?” Clint asks in exasperation. “Do you want my soul? Lady, I am hungry. I was promised food.”
“If you’d shut up, we could go and eat,” Holly snaps at him and elbows him hard. The two break into a scuffle.
“Talk about your future, your dreams; tonight is all about the magic of what could be.”
“My dream is to eat some food!” Clint wails. “I’m starving.”
“I’ll feed you my fist if you’d like,” Holly gripes.
Mum shakes her head. “Go to the town hall and follow the instructions. I can’t with you anymore, Clint, I really can’t.”
“You love me, Mrs S. But you know ain’t no lady going to come between me and ma belly!”
Cordie is shaking, and when I look down, I find her laughing so hard she has tears in her eyes.
“Oh, he never changes.”
“No, he doesn’t,” I agree.
Mum narrows her eyes and then stalks off, bristling. Clint sets off for the town hall, leading the charge and muttering that there had better be a decent spread, or he was going to Angler’s Beach for pizza.
Town Hall is an old building built in a year that I should remember but don’t.
All I know is that it is old and has a massive ceiling.
It kind of looks like an old church, except without the religion and pews.
Instead, the small town of Sunshine Cove uses it for everything from assemblies to meetings to weddings. And apparently now, dates.
We stand in line in the cold.
“What do you think is going to happen?” Fox says, and his eyes are gleaming.
His hair is windswept, and in his clothes, he looks both expensive and unbearably handsome.
I can see the edges of his tattoos, and for a minute, I get lost in the memory of tracing the constellations he’s got inked on his skin with my tongue.
“Knowing my mother, it will be something cute,” I mutter.
We get to the front of the line. “Names?”
“Seriously, Floyd?” Cordelia grumbles.
“No name, no entry.”
“Fox, Katsu, Cordelia, and Sebastian,” I say, growling at him.
Floyd makes a big show of looking down his clipboard until he finds our names. “Ah, our VIP guests. Lovely. Ms March will show you the way.”
Twelve-year-old Melody March smiles at us, her eyes gleaming as she tries to suppress her laughter. “This way, Alphas and Omega.”
“I hope you’re getting paid for this,” Cordie whispers to her.
“Better, I’m getting my very own dirt bike. Dad agreed to let me compete.”
Cordie and Melody bump fists. “Congrats, little speed racer. Remember me when you’re famous.”
“Will do. You’re supposed to go and sit on the cushions around that table in the middle of the room.” She points to the spot.
I scowl. The lights are on. It doesn’t look like much. Just a handful of pillows around a quarter of a barrel that is serving as our table for the evening.
We make our way over there and sit down.
After the last couple of groups are shown in, Floyd moves to the doors and stands there with a whole lot of pomp and ceremony.
“Your dinner is served.”
“Look, mate, I’m looking, but I can’t see nothing but this weird green lettuce thing. That ain’t a meal, it’s a snack.”
Floyd throws his nose in the air, spins on his heel, manages to ruin the total effect when he slips and has to grab the door frame for balance, and then finally leaves, plunging us into darkness when he slams the doors shut.
“Listen for chains. I know the back way out,” Clint says loudly.
Fox snorts a laugh.
“Shut up!” someone else snarls. “Monica is afraid of the dark.”
“Sorry, Mon. Truly,” Clint says contritely.
All at once, the room explodes into light, but not bright light, twinkling light. The entire ceiling is hung with fairy lights. There must be thousands of them. Soft pop music about kissing comes on, and I groan.
“This is why you don’t let your parents get involved in your love life,” I mutter in horror.
Katsu studies me with an amused smile. “It is a bit strange. She really wants to see you all matched.”
“She’s obsessed,” I grumble.
Cordie pokes the green lettuce thing. It shivers.
I lean back. “What the?” I shout as I scramble up and away, hauling Cordelia to Fox and stepping between the thing and them.
The green thing sizzles and hisses, and then the green dissolves. Katsu grabs Cordie and Fox, pulling them back further as Clint approaches, glaring down at it. I shift closer to the thing that is hissing and spitting red foam.
“What the actual…so they are trying to kill us? Is this like the War of the Geriatrics? I saw a movie like that. Weren’t all the old people aliens?”
I bite my lip so I don’t laugh at Clint, but I’d love to see Mum’s face when she finds out he called her a geriatric.
The thing bubbles and finally melts, revealing some cake thing covered in green and red goo and smelling like toffee apple.
“I am not eating that,” Holly says faintly.
All at once, they all start exploding with foam. Everyone gets loud, but Fox is doubled over, laughing so hard he’s crying, Cordelia with him. The two are having a grand time while everyone else panics.
Katsu has his head cocked to the side, turning to watch the room with an amused smile.
I just know Pops and Grigori were involved in this. It’s probably candy and baking soda and food dye, but it looks freaky.
“Oh, my God, it’s so ugly,” an omega exclaims harshly.
I circle the concoction warily and finally lean in and poke it again. Other than a perfectly normal cake jiggle, it does nothing.
“So, we’re supposed to eat this weird transmuting cake and hope they haven’t decided we aren’t useful anymore?” Clint mutters to me. “Tough luck, mate, you've got yourself a Cordie. You know what? Day off work. I’m game.”
“Clint, wait!” Holly shouts, but he picks it up and bites into it.
We all watch as he chews, slowly, thoughtfully, and finally sighs like he’s extremely disappointed.
“It’s a sponge. Too dry. Should have thrown her back, mate.”
He lies down on the pillows, puts his Akubra hat on his face, and goes to sleep, while Holly leans against him and scrolls through her phone.
“Who would have messed up the cakes?” I ask quietly. “Everyone who would have made them wouldn’t have made a mistake like this.”
I reach out and find a little card on the table. “Made for you, with love from the dreamers of Class 1A.”
“Awww,” Cordie says. She gets up from where she’s sitting and goes over to Clint and kicks him in the thigh.
“OW! What the devil was that for?”
She thrusts the card in his face, and his expression turns contrite.
“Ah, damn it. He rolls up his sleeves and takes the cake in his hand, glances at Holly. “I got this, Hols, you just sit there and look pretty.”
She rolls her eyes, but he eats it, forcing it down bit by dry bit. The others in the room do the same. I look at our cake and then reach out and take a bite. God, it is dry. Like it sucks the moisture out of your mouth and leaves you dehydrated.
“Good?” Cordie asks with a small smirk.
I give her a thumbs up because I cannot speak.
Ten minutes after I finish the cake, people come in with gold-painted domes and set them down. I glance at Katsu.
“You’re up.”
He reaches forward and lifts the dome while I grab Floyd. “Tell the kids the cakes were wonderful; there’s not a crumb left on any plate.”
Floyd’s eyes open wide, and he turns, scanning, and finally looks at me and dips his chin, his lower lip wobbling.
“Thank you, Seb. You are a good and decent alpha.”
“It was Cordie.”
She looks up, and I’m caught by how beautiful she is, but especially when she’s having fun and relaxed.
“Thank you, Cordelia,” Floyd says in a husky voice. “It will mean so much to them.”
She grins, and he leaves in a rush, his lower lip wobbling again.
Katsu glances at me, and I finally look at the plate and groan. It’s a dish of literal lettuce with gummy worms.
“I’ll do it,” Fox says. He takes the plate and starts eating.
“Brought to you by the first-grade students of Sunshine Primary,” Katsu says, reading the little card. “They hope we find love and make funny videos.”
We get through that course, and another is brought out. This time, Katsu is forced to eat a plate of undercooked pasta with spaghetti sauce that is too watery.
He’s a good sport about it, though, smiling and eating without complaint, and I think, watching him, that maybe I got really lucky because I could see myself walking with pride with these alphas.
The last dish comes out, and it’s the biggest yet. Cordelia eyes it nervously.
“I’ve got this. I promise, I’ve got this.”
Floyd lifts the dome. “Yolanda and Grigori wish you the very best of dates, and please enjoy the movie.”
There’s four takeaway cups with our names written on the sides and four plates of thick, heavy mud cake with whipped cream.
She hands them out and turns to the front of the hall suddenly because a projector screen suddenly comes alive.
The movie is one that I know well. It’s a movie my friend Lynn Marino told me to watch about a year ago.
I have analyzed it left and right, back to front, and finally came to the conclusion that Cordelia felt like this represented us.
My only complaint was that I wanted to see them happy. I needed more.
Cordie sighs and sips her drink as she curls up on Fox’s chest. Katsu lays down beside me, and I join him. Within minutes, the big alpha is asleep, and I’m tracing circles on his hip.
I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but the sudden dragging of Lynn Marino into our date has just brought up a situation that I know we’re going to have to deal with soon.
She has to tell them before someone else finds out and does it for her.
Cordelia is going to have to come clean to the town, too, but I’m still not sure why she is hiding, and I don’t understand why she is so worried they will leave her.
Us.
Because I’m lying to them, too.
Worst-case scenario, they hate us. They pack up and leave. I try to imagine it and feel like I can’t breathe. Katsu rouses from his sleep and blinks open his eyes, lifting a hand to cup my cheek.
“What’s wrong, love?”
I shake my head because I don’t have the words. Now I know why she isn’t telling them.
She’s afraid, and now so am I.