Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Lana
Ididn’t have to open my eyes to know that I was surrounded by my pack. I could feel the weight of their bodies pressing into mine, their warmth seeping into my bones. My chest felt light, as if the night had taken everything heavy with it and only left this.
Our pack.
Memories of our night together flooded my mind, and I blinked my eyes open with a smile already playing across my lips. This was everything I had ever wanted.
Mason had told me yesterday that I couldn’t spend our life together comparing them, and I truly never wanted that in the first place. They were so vastly different that it would’ve been impossible.
Even the small ways they took care of me while claiming me said enough.
“Isn’t it a little early?” Lennon grumbled next to me, his strong arms winding around me and pulling me closer to his chest. I was hit with his pepper and fresh linen scent, breathing it in as I snuggled into him.
I barely remembered how we got back to my bed. After Kieran fucked me, there was nothing. I’d apparently passed out, and the others had joined us, which I was grateful for.
Leave it to my delta to bully his way next to me, though.
The smell of something cooking had my stomach rumbling. I glanced behind me at Lennon, but he was passed out again, snoring softly.
I kept my movements light as I slipped out of his arms, leaving a pillow in my place. He obviously knew the difference, letting out a grunt, but didn’t complain as he gave into sleep again.
My steps were light as I slipped into the bathroom long enough to take a quick shower before going to face whoever was cooking.
When I stepped out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around my body, I realized that the deltas were the only ones still in bed.
They were so cute, laying back to back, just inches apart, sleeping soundly. I glanced around for my phone, but it was nowhere in sight.
They were lucky they got out of a picture this time.
I likely dropped my things in the kitchen in our frenzy last night, if I even brought it inside at all. It was my next destination anyway. My stomach was already leading the way.
“There she is,” Kieran said when I walked in, giving me a grin. Even he looked lighter today, his smile a bit wider, eyes bright and no longer holding onto the shadows they once were. I loved that I had even a small part in that.
Cade was nursing a cup of coffee at the table, a tablet in front of him. He chose hot coffee this morning instead of iced, but I noticed it depended on the day and switched often. He gave me his signature smile before standing up and moving to the coffee maker. “Hot or iced today, princess?”
Fuck, I was a sucker for them calling me that the way they did. Like I was precious.
I thought it over for a second before answering. “Definitely iced.”
They hadn’t offered to make me coffee before, but I was usually the first one in here. My omega loved when they did these little things so willingly for me.
He pointed over at my purse resting by the entryway. “That thing has been going off since we got down here. Buzzing like crazy. You might wanna check it. We wanted to respect your privacy, and we knew if it was an emergency, they’d call us.”
“Oh,” I said, a bit surprised. “It’s probably Mom. She loves to call me multiple times when I don’t answer and then guilt me about it for five minutes before telling me what she actually called me for.”
He chuckled as he went about pouring my coffee, then gathering the supplies to make a cold foam. I’d seen him make his own, and they always looked good. I just never wanted to ask for one myself.
I dug around my purse from last night, grabbing my phone out. My jaw dropped at the sheer number of missed calls and messages waiting. I brought it over to the table, unlocking it and starting with the messages.
The group chat with my exes that had been dead for quite a while was suddenly blowing up. What did they all of a sudden need from me?
Did they finally go home?
At first, I was amused reading over the messages, then angry.
Milo
Hey baby, I tried calling.
Sutton
Is something wrong?
Dean
Talk to us. We know we’ve been absent for a while, but at least tell us what’s going on.
They shifted then, going from fishing for information to accusatory.
Milo
That’s ten calls you’ve missed. If you’re mad, we get it, just answer, omega.
More of the same filtered in, each of them taking turns telling me I needed to answer, demanding I give them an explanation.
The picture that came in next had me gasping, then it quickly morphed into unhinged laughter as I went to the voicemails, ready to put them on speaker as my curious pack gathered around.
Cade reached me first, sliding my iced coffee over. “What’s going on? Is it them?”
I took a sip and let out a happy hum at how good it tasted. “You are an amazing barista,” I teased.
“You’re killing me,” Wilder said as he popped down next to me. “Was it your mom?”
“No,” I said, answering the question they really already knew the answer to. “It was my exes. I guess they finally found out that I left them. Though, they’ve painted quite a different picture than reality.”
“It’s almost March,” Cade said. “There’s no excuse for that. But what did they say to you?”
“Who?” A sleepy Mason asked as he stumbled in, Lennon right behind him. Though, the second delta looked wide awake, a smile on his lips as he walked over and kissed the top of my head.
“Who replaced Lennon with a clone that actually has emotions?” Kieran teased, earning him a middle finger before the delta walked around the table and dropped into a seat of his own.
“What’s going on?”
Cade caught them up before gesturing for me to take over.
I read off the text messages one by one, growls rumbling out of the alphas as I went down the line, picking out the best ones for them to hear.
“They lost their minds,” Wilder said, shaking his head. “This isn’t your fault.”
“Fuck that. They already admitted guilt,” Kieran said. “Plain as fucking day.”
“I’m not sure what they’re thinking,” I said, before pulling the photo up and sliding it over. “But they did send me this picture.”
It was a picture of me wrapped around Lennon last night. They had snapped the picture as I was looking at him. When I spotted the women with their phones last night, I’d quickly buried my face so this was the best they got.
I remembered that moment vividly, thinking that they were just some puck bunnies. How the hell my exes got their hands on it, I had no clue. Unless someone was trying to stir up trouble.
My old pack was loved by nearly everyone in North Crossing. I wouldn’t put it past any of them. I’d likely be painted as a villain all across the hockey gossip sites.
“There’s no mistaking that’s me,” I said with a sigh. “Even from the side view. I’m sure this is why they suddenly thought they should try to talk to me. Every single one of those text messages were from midnight or later. I doubt they got any sleep. They were too busy blowing up my fucking phone.”
Lennon let out a small laugh, a smirk playing across his lips. “There’s something really satisfying about being the one you were caught with.”
“Of course that’s what you think about,” Mason said as he bent down, pressing his lips to mine in a quick kiss before stealing my coffee and taking a sip.
He hummed happily before sliding it back.
The move was so casual and chaotic, but I loved that we were all settling into this new level of confidence.
“Cade’s never willing to make me coffee,” Mason pouted.
Cade huffed. “You never asked me to, you asshole.”
Mason innocently blinked at his pack leader. “Will you make me an iced coffee too, alpha?”
The simpering voice had me losing it, chasing away the heaviness that was threatening to take over the moment.
“After this,” he said, looking back at me.
“I do still have a plethora of voicemails if we want to listen.” I’d read through the texts and was ready to move on.
“Please,” Cade begged. “I want to hear it all.”
“Why?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“We want to make sure we have the full story before we fuck them up,” Lennon said easily. “There will be pain.”
I knew it was coming. They’d all shown me a taste of revenge and promised more was coming. I guessed it was time for my exes to pay up.
I pulled up the voicemails. “This first one is from Dean.”
“He’s a beta, right?” Wilder asked.
“Yes. Sutton is the delta,” I answered, but Mason scoffed.
“Hardly a delta,” Mason commented. “Since he wouldn’t even give you his fucking knot.”
I shrugged before hitting play, not wanting to revisit that portion of my past.
Dean’s voice filtered into the room but it didn’t stir anything in me.
“Hey sweetheart, I know it’s been a minute.
I’m so sorry we haven’t called more. You know how it is.
Hockey’s always been a part of us. We thought you’d understand, not do something like this.
Milo is losing his mind over here. Just let us know what’s going on,” he pleaded. “Call me back.”
It cut off there and I clicked on the next one from Sutton.
“This little tantrum needs to stop. You need to come home right now, Lana. We aren’t the type to play games.” Sharp and to the point, like I was an annoyance.
“The fucking irony,” Kieran gasped with a startled laugh. “All they’ve done is play games with you.”
The next was another from the delta. Sutton’s voice ranted on for several minutes, explaining how I was being disrespectful.
Then it was on to the alpha. I knew his was going to piss me off, but I played it anyway. I wanted to hear whatever bullshit he was trying to spew.
“Lana. You know how I feel about cheating. How fucking dare you.”
That was where the voicemail ended, nothing else. No accountability or confusion, just pure venom. It had my blood boiling.
The front door slammed open, my brother’s voice ringing out. “You assholes better be decent in here. I’m coming in.”
“Come join the party,” Kieran called. “They finally know.”
Conrad’s pounding footsteps hurried in as he ran the entire way back to us. “Are you fucking kidding me? They know?” he asked, his smile blinding like it was finally Christmas morning. Then he turned to me and winced. “Sorry. I guess this might be a touchy subject for you.”
I snorted. “I mean, I’m finally fucking angry. I don’t know about touchy.”
“What have they said?” he asked.
I gave him the recap, the guys chiming in on bits I forgot or glossed over.
My brother’s face was downright livid by the time I finished speaking. Cade reached over, playing the last voicemail again.
Conrad listened, barely moving. As it ended, he turned around, ready to storm out of the house, but Mason caught him by the arm.
“Oh no, I need you to wait,” Mason argued. “I wanna know what bullshit these assholes have to say for themselves before you go. We all know it’s only going to get worse. If we’re going to beat their asses, let’s make it count.”
He wasn’t wrong. It absolutely did get worse from there. I swallowed down my annoyance as Dean’s voice echoed through the phone again, another round of begging me to hear them out.
But it was the final voicemail, with all three voices coming in, that was truly the icing on the cake.
“We just got home. Where the hell is your stuff, Lana? You don’t get to leave us without a single word. You couldn’t even do the courtesy of telling us that you were done?” Milo demanded on a growl.
Dean chimed in, pissed off now as well. “After everything we’ve all been through together, this is what we mean to you?”
Milo cut him off, continuing his rant. “I knew that you were always the petty, vapid princess that they painted you out to be. I overlooked it because I thought, surely, there was more to this girl. I liked the way that you submitted so beautifully for us. But this? There’s no coming back from this.
Maybe I should’ve used my bark on you more. ”
Conrad reached over, snatching my phone and slamming it against the wall so quickly not one of us could stop him. The phone exploded into a ton of pieces, the loud crack startling me.
His chest was heaving, and I don’t think he realized what he had done until we were all frozen, staring at the mess it made on the kitchen tile. His voice was strange and hollow when he finally spoke.
“I’m sorry, sis. I’ll get you another one.”
There was only so much my brother could take, and apparently he’d hit his limit. I felt terrible that he’d even had to endure any of this. I brought him into my drama.
Conrad turned to me, eyes narrowing as if he knew exactly where my thoughts were going.
“None of this is on you,” he said firmly, his voice still sounding strange as he turned to go out the door.
“Someone should go after him,” I said. “I don’t want him to go alone. He might get hurt.”
“This sounds like a job for the deltas,” Lennon said with a grin. “It’ll be our pleasure, princess.”
I was more than aware of my brother’s intentions. In fact, I had agreed with them, but now the idea of him walking in there alone terrified me. Lennon and Mason didn’t hesitate to say a hasty goodbye and rush out the door. If they took their time to get ready, my brother would’ve been long gone.
An engine roared to life moments after the door closed, then they were gone.
Suddenly, the coffee was sitting poorly on my stomach, the panic rising so fast that I could barely swallow it down.
This was not how I saw the morning going. I was so happy when I woke up, and of course they had to ruin it. The assholes had to prove that, once again, they would never give me what I needed.
Every single message and voicemail was all about them. How I did this to them. There was no accountability, no remorse. They genuinely didn’t seem to understand what they had done.
“Why don’t we go watch a movie or something?” Kieran suggested.
Cade nodded, standing quickly. “I’ll grab some of the things from your nest. Wilder, sit close, maybe your scent will help.”
“Come on, princess,” Wilder said gently, holding his hand out for me.
No amount of beta pheromones or snuggles were going to fix this now.
I was going to be a wreck until my brother’s truck pulled back into the driveway, and hopefully he didn’t end up in the back of a police cruiser.