Chapter 18
Cordelia
“Wake up! There’s someone in the backyard!” Fox hisses in my ear. He pulls on a shirt but doesn’t bother with anything else. His movements are frantic and alarmed.
I groan but force myself up.
“Stay here; lock the house,” Fox says protectively. It’s adorable, but I’m not staying inside while he’s outside.
I shake my head, grab a broom and my phone, and walk outside before he can stop me. I hear the sounds, and it’s puzzling. Like someone crunching on the gravel but dropping something, too. What is that? As we get closer, I get more and more concerned that I can’t figure out what the noise is.
Fox prowls into the backyard with his fists clenched, ready to swing. His shirt flaps in the cool breeze, but he’s intent on the hunt. I turn slowly, trying to figure out where the sound is coming from. It’s, like, right here, but how can that be?
Fox screams so loudly I lose a couple of decades off my life.
“Fox?” I shout, rushing forward.
“No! Don’t move. Stay where you are!” he howls.
Sebastian launches over the rails and drops to the ground from the balcony, fully naked. I blink as Katsu appears beside me as quiet as a wraith. There’s so much happening that I don’t even know what to look at first.
What is making that noise?
Fox spins around, twirling and back-pedaling as fast as he can.
“What is wrong with you?” Sebastian hisses.
“There’s an intruder?” Fox shrieks. “Oh, my god, what is it?”
I pull out my phone, calmly turn the torch on, and shine it down at his feet. The creature looks like a half a ball of spikes with cute little legs and a long pointed nose.
“Ahhhh!” Fox screams again and bounces backwards.
I get the giggles.
“This is not funny! Why is it chasing me?” he shouts. He gingerly runs in a circle, but the little creature follows him. Unerringly cutting off his escape.
He stumbles back and trips over. But he springs up and scurries away, hiding behind Sebastian, who is blinking like he can’t make sense of it. That makes four of us.
“What is going on here?” Katsu murmurs. “Isn’t that an echidna?”
“What the hell is an echidna?” Fox shrieks and climbs Sebastian like he’s a tree.
I end up leaning on the house, laughing so hard I’m perilously close to peeing myself.
“You’re doomed now. It was nice while it lasted,” I call out. “Oh, god, I’m going to pee. Help.”
“Help me!” Fox shouts at the same time.
The creature lifts its front body up and tries to climb Sebastian’s legs. Seb shrieks and stumbles backwards, losing his footing in one of the holes the intruder dug, and they both go down hard.
I collapse to my knees, hissing so hard that I have no ability to talk through my hysterics. Probably going to pee myself, but it’s worth it.
“Katsu, save me!” Fox screams again, completely and absolutely panicked.
Lights turn on, and there’s Fox sitting on Sebastian’s face, adorned only in a shirt, in the backyard in the middle of winter.
While Sebastian has an echidna trying to use his leg to pull itself up to get closer to Fox, I’m on the ground howling with laughter, and Katsu is standing there, his expression one of pure shock.
And then they appear. Mum and Randall; her boyfriend, Milton, Franco, Lorelei, Imogen armed with a bat, and Elijah, who holds up a phone and records the whole thing.
“What is going on here?” Franco barks.
“Get it away, get it away!” Fox cries.
“Darling daughter, aren’t you going to rescue your alphas?” Mum says pointedly. “I think they woke up all of Sunshine Cove.”
I wave a hand through my tears. “They are goners. I’ll leave pretty flowers on their graves. They’ll be missed. Death by echidna said no one ever.”
Mum’s lips twitch. “Evil child.” She walks over and calmly takes off her jumper, throws it over the little beast, and picks her up. “Come on, little lovely, there are better mates out there. These are a bit flighty.”
“Sebastian, why are you naked outside, and why is Fox sitting on your face?” Lorelei snaps as Fox crawls off Sebastian.
“I was hungry.”
My eyes bulge; I throw my head back and howl, my legs give out, and I hit the gravel hard, tears running down my face.
“I didn’t mean it like that!” Sebastian snaps.
“I have it on camera!” Elijah shouts in pure triumph. “And sent to Sofia, Mack, Devon, and Felix.”
“I hate you!” Sebastian growls.
“You ridiculous children,” Lorelei grumbles. “It’s dawn. Go to bed.”
Katsu shakes his head and walks silently back to the house like it’s all just too much for him. Sebastian gets free of an embarrassed Fox, stomps over to me, throws me over his naked shoulder, and slaps my ass hard.
“Naughty omega.”
“Not my fault you can’t handle one teeny-tiny echidna. What would you do if it had been breeding season and there were five or six?”
“Cordelia,” my mum says and cups my face. “Come over for breakfast.”
I lift my head. “Breakfast?” That word, that invitation will always get my attention.
“Yes, we’re all up now,” Lorelei grumbles. “Franco, you have eggs, bacon, and all that. Milton, I need coffee, stat, chocolate, and juice,” she grumbles. “Someone go see if Grandma and Grandpa are up.”
“I’ve got pancakes,” Mum says.
“I’ll call Sofia, and the twins,” I throw out, happily dreaming about all the food I’m going to eat.
“Good girl. Oh, and Cordie?”
“Mm?”
“Get your alphas dressed, it’s too early to be seeing all these flapping penises’”
I snort out a laugh, get another slap, and am thus carried into the house, where I am spanked a few more times. That fun turns into running late and me apologising to our parents while they make jokes about our pack being hungry.
I don’t think Fox’s face stops flaming through that whole awkward conversation.
Two hours later, we’re all sitting at the table in the Sol’s backyard, fairy lights above us.
Everyone is dressed; Fox is embarrassed, but the good-natured ribbing from the family has him relaxing.
They’ve got the outdoor heaters on, which is keeping the chill at bay, and the table is packed with food and drinks.
“Hey, Sebastian, you’ll let us know if you get hungry in the future so we can give you the room, yeah?” Sofia says playfully and bats her eyes.
“Eat-”
“Uh, uh. Behave. You’re the one who said it.”
“I was hungry and raiding the kitchen,” he says stiffly. “He shouted, and I just leapt into action. I was a hero!”
Sofia and I look at each other, then burst into giggles.
“That’s not what we called it when I was growing up,” Milton whispers to Randall.
The pair of them laugh hysterically, while Grandpa shakes his head.
Grandma studies my alphas intently. “Sebastian, when am I going to meet your pack?” she says in a cutting voice.
I bite my lower lip and watch him squirm. Sebastian might be ready to go toe to toe with his parents, but his grandma is his weakness. He adores her.
Sebastian opens and closes his mouth. “Didn’t know you wanted to.”
Grandma snorts and narrows her eyes. “You used to be my smart grandchild. Has getting laid killed your brain cells?”
I cover my mouth, hiding my smile and the urge to agree with her.
“No, I just haven’t had a spare second. But I will bring them to meet you officially. Even though we are all here, and you could just say hello to them now.”
Grandma studies him intently. “Okay, I will forgive you, but you'd best do it soon,” she says, ignoring his whining. “And official invitations are important. Don’t skip protocol.”
“All right, I can’t take it anymore. We are basically half the town.” Imogen suddenly exclaims. Daphne and Ivy stop arguing and look at their older sister.
“Massive exaggeration, Imogen,” Lorelei says.
“We should be able to figure out who this author-in-hiding is!”
The bacon I was eating sticks to the roof of my mouth as I try not to panic.
“Oh, yes, I heard about the author. So what? Let there be a mystery. Don’t you know that’s what’s helping sales.
Why unmask her?” Grandma asks, buttering some toast. She looks up, and for three long, long seconds, she stares at me, and I realise that she somehow knows it’s me. Guess I’m going to see Grandma soon.
“Because she is amazing!” Imogen shouts. “Those books are incredible, and I love them.”
Lorelei turns to her daughter sharply. “How did you get hold of those books? I was sure I said you couldn’t read them.”
Imogen shrugs and starts eating with single-minded intensity.
“She is right, of course. We should be able to unearth one little author,” Sofia says, waving a forkful of pancake around.
“Maybe she doesn’t want to be found. Why can’t we respect that?” My mum says. I want to cheer.
“Well, I mean, we could, of course. But where’s the fun in that? She’s a celebrity. We’ll keep her secret. Besides, poor Fox and Katsu have a right to confront her. It wasn’t nice to write about them without permission.”
I play with my eggs, feeling the guilt of that. ‘I didn’t know’, I want to shout. They lived in my head, they weren’t real.
“So, who do you think, Sofia?”
Sofia hums and looks around the table conspiratorially. “I think it’s that beta. You know the quiet one no one knows well. She moved here not long ago.”
Felix slaps his fork down hard on his plate, glaring at Sofia. “It’s not her.”
The whole table turns towards him, staring intently.
“How do you know?” Sofia asks carefully.
Felix curls his lip, his scent getting strong and overwhelming, then he stands up and just walks off.
“What is his problem?”
Asher shakes her head. “I’m not sure. He’s been strange, though, for a couple of weeks. I should go check on him.”
“I’ll go,” Sebastian says. He picks up a roll, shoves bacon and eggs on it, cuts it in half, drops a kiss on my head, gives Katsu and Fox a deep look before he disappears.
“Fine,” Sofia sulks. “It’s not her.”
“Well, who could it be?” Lorelei asks. “It’s someone with time because writing a book takes a long time, obviously.
So, who do we know who has that? I can’t think of a single person.
Speculating about them feels a bit wrong,” Lorelei says.
“We should focus instead on supporting all the visitors and tourists here for Light Knot Night.”
“You are obsessed,” Sofia drawls. “Which is more important, the matches or the marketing?”
Lorelei gives Sofia an arch look. “Both are equally important.”
There’s a beat of silence, and then she looks down.
“But it’s gotten really big, and people are coming from a long way away just to witness what we’re doing.”
Grandma stares at her. “Be careful, Lorelei, you are playing with fire. Those fingers might get burned.”
Lorelei flushes.
Conversation continues about Light Knot Night and the date last night. I’m relieved I am no longer the subject of intense scrutiny.
“Just jumping back to that author, though,” Imogen says. “It says here that she travelled and met Fox and Katsu, and that’s how she came to write about them. It’s some big, clandestine elaborate scheme.”
“Do you know what clandestine means?” Milton asks with an amused smile.
Imogen flushes. “Yes, Dad!”
“So, people think we knew her? I can assure you, we didn’t. This isn’t a ploy or a plan, it's actually very invasive,” Fox says in a hurt voice.
“Don’t take it to heart, people will say just about anything these days,” Franco says gently.
“It also says that they think she is a middle-aged beta with kids and a complex about her miserable life.”
I wince.
“Again, someone’s opinion should not be hailed as truth until it’s been verified.”Milton says through a mouthful of eggs.
“But we can’t verify anything while she’s hiding,” Fox points out.
“Perhaps she has a good reason?” Grandma says. “Regardless, baseless rumours won’t help this idle town.”
“Ooh, this one is good.”
“What is it?” Fox asks.
“She came to Sunshine Cove because she’s secretly an heiress who was engaged to a horrible alpha who wanted to keep her locked up in a room and stifle her creativity. So, she ran away, became an author, and writes about her long-lost loves, hoping they will come find her.”
I burst out laughing. The entire table turns to look at me. I wipe tears from my eyes.
“Sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just…that would make a better story than the romance between Cat and Wolf.”
Sofia chuckles. “She’s right. It’s a great plot. Perhaps someone should write an anonymous note to Lynn Marino and let her know about this storyline. I’m sure she can have heaps of fun with it.”
I settle down and relax. No one has any idea. They don’t have a clue.
I glance at Grandma, and my unease returns. Except her, and if one person can figure it out, won’t more be able to?
That question stays with me.
“I’m going to go get Gale up,” I say. “I’ll come back and clean up after I’m done.”
“Don’t worry about that, darling,” Lorelei says. “We’ll take care of it.”
I stand up and walk away but turn back. Mum is talking with Katsu, and I can tell she likes him. Fox is embroiled in an animated conversation with Elijah and Devon. They fit here. They could fit here forever.
There’s only one tiny, little thing I need to confess.