Chapter 30
Chapter
Thirty
Lana
Tears streamed down my cheeks while my pack closed ranks around me. My chest ached sharply as I watched my brother drive away, his truck loaded with all of his things.
He was officially moved out.
Conrad had given me a hug, reassuring me every way he could that it was going to be alright. He was in the same town and a phone call away.
I knew that, but right now, my heart was shattered.
Conrad was my lifeline, the one who got me out of the worst situation of my life. The only one who consistently stuck by me every day of our lives together.
I just didn’t think he’d be leaving so soon. It had only been a couple days since he told us he wanted to move out. I guess the place was on the market immediately, and he snagged it before he lost it.
He was excited for the next chapter. I didn’t blame him for not wanting to be around. Nothing was worse than feeling like the odd man out around a pack.
“Come on, princess. Let’s go inside,” Kieran said gently. When I didn’t move, he scooped me up. I burrowed into his chest, the tears coming harder now, knowing he’d hold me together.
“I’m sorry,” I sobbed, the words muffled by his shirt.
He squeezed me harder in response.
“There’s no reason to be sorry,” Lennon said. “I get it. But now we get a chance to prove to you that we can be just as trustworthy and strong for you.”
“Oh, that was almost poetic, delta,” Cade teased him.
That had me letting out a watery laugh.
Our once-quiet alpha had been standing taller lately, coming out of his shell. Now that the drama around deltas had struck, he’d gone into full protector mode. He’d even had to bark down a few reporters when they tried to ambush us.
I’d tried my hand at letting the world know that the rumors were wrong. I’ve never been afraid of any delta I've been with. I loved my pack, and sometimes packs just simply didn’t work out.
But no one wanted to hear the truth. They wanted the messy story that everyone was trying to spin.
The arena had hired extra security, and I heard it was the same throughout the entire league across the nation. Westgrave was the national seat of the AHA, and I had a feeling we’d be hearing from them soon enough.
Even my parents wouldn’t tell us a thing. And every conversation with them was another invitation to come to dinner that I avoided.
Everything combined had me feeling like I was losing my mind. Conrad leaving was just the cherry on top.
My pack continued to close ranks around me, holding me together as I calmed myself down.
It wasn’t even that I was afraid of being alone with this pack. Conrad was the buffer between us, but I made sure that I was independent of this pack, and they were accepting of it.
Sometimes change, even good change, was hard.
We made it back inside now and my tears were slowing. I let out a breath and willed myself to stand stronger.
“So, I have news,” Cade said. That had us all turning to our head alpha.
He looked nervous now. “Ever since we talked about looking for houses the other day, I’ve been keeping an eye out.
I don’t pretend to know exactly what kind of packhouse you want, Lana, but I might have a lead.
If you want a distraction, we could go check it out? I have it on hold for us.”
I gave him a nervous smile. This was another way I needed them to prove they listened to me. “As long as it’s not big like my old packhouse.”
“I saw that thing. It was a monstrosity,” Mason said, wrinkling his nose.
Lennon nodded. “I couldn’t even imagine trying to keep that palace clean, even with help.”
“It was horrible,” I agreed. “Not that my pack would know. They never put a single thing away. They were a mess whenever they came home.”
“Ex-pack,” Kieran clarified on a growl.
“Okay, alpha, don’t get all intense,” Wilder said, giving me a wink before pulling me out of Kieran’s arms.
He snuggled me close. He was the one who craved touch the most out of my pack, and I loved it.
“Put me down, you caveman,” I teased, tickling his side until he let go. “I need to go get ready so I can see our potential packhouse.”
Cade was smiling so big that I knew he had something up his sleeve. I gave him a quick hug before rushing upstairs to change.
Once everyone was ready, I grabbed my things and led the way to the door. As soon as I turned the knob and pushed it open, I was met by flashing cameras and people yelling at me.
“Lana, do you need help? Do you feel safe with these deltas?”
“Lana, can you tell us what Sutton did to you? The world wants to know. We’re on your side.”
Before I could say a word, I was snatched backward. The guys pulled me safely back inside, closing the door with a sharp thud.
We all stood in stunned silence for a moment before Cade jumped into action again.
He pulled out his phone, the coach’s voice filling the silence.
“Hello?”
“They found out where the hockey house is,” Cade said instead of greeting him.
Coach cursed. “Is she okay?”
He looked down at me. “Yeah. A little shaken up, but alright.”
“Fucking vultures. What do you need?”
“We can’t even get out of our house.”
“I’ve got a buddy on the police force. Let me call him and make sure he can step in and keep our team safe. That’s private property so we can at least get them for trespassing.”
“Thanks, Coach.”
The wait was awful. It took thirty minutes before the flashing lights filtered through the curtains.
The police quickly cleared them out, and we used the distraction to climb into one of the SUVs. Thankfully, this one was tinted, keeping prying eyes off of us.
The reality of how big this was getting truly sank in. It wasn’t isolated to one game, but had escalated across the entire AHA.
“Everyone let it go,” Wilder said firmly. “This was an exciting pack day. We are going to stick to our guns, and we are going to keep focused on our omega and our pack. Fuck everything else for now.”
“Agreed,” I said, shaking it off before snatching Cade’s phone and turning on a playlist.
Soon, we were belting out some car karaoke, even Lennon joining in, making me laugh.
As we passed the arena, I could see the protesters outside. People were holding literal picket signs, the word delta written in blocky letters, crossed off with a big red slash.
They were chanting something, but Cade sped up, refusing to let us hear whatever it was.
“You would think that omegas who had dealt with this kind of bullshit before, wouldn’t be out here trying to suppress the deltas too,” I said, anger burning through me.
“Nope,” Lennon said, turning on another song full blast. “We aren’t focusing on them. I know you know the words to Barbie Girl. Belt it out, princess.”
When he sang the words for Ken, I lost it. Just like that my pack had made sure that I didn’t sink into despair, and they were working hard to make sure they didn’t as well.
The reality we were about to face was troubling, but this was the united front that they promised me as a pack. The reason they bonded early.
Cade turned down the music. “It’s a bit further away from the arena. We’d definitely have to drive into practice and work.”
“If the packhouse is worth it, I wouldn’t mind. We’re still closer than I was in the city. What’s it like?”
Cade smirked but gave nothing else away as he navigated to the outskirts of town. It was further away from the lake, but closer to the forest. I always loved being outdoors, so I kind of hoped that our backyard led into it.
He turned down a fairly empty street, a few large houses dotted the drive, ending in a winding path that led to a modern victorian.
“Oh wow, look at that one,” I said, pointing it out. There were at least two stories and an attic. The house was surrounded by a covered wraparound porch. The yard had lush grass and cute little flower beds, and the best part was it backed up against the forest.
When he turned down the lane and followed the path to the house that I’d just drooled over, my jaw dropped.
“No… Are you kidding me?” I gasped, excitement filling me.
“Do you like it?” he asked. My poor alpha was nervous but hopeful. I let out an excited squeal, nodding as I leaned up to see it better.
“Hurry up and park. I want to get out and see it.”
Cade laughed, stopping the SUV right in front. I practically flew over Lennon’s lap to get out. He kept me upright when I nearly tumbled out of the door, and then I was gaping up at the home that Cade had found us.
It was gorgeous. The living room had a bay window, and above that on the second floor was a rounded room with a tower-like roof. The opposite side had a regular window, but the roof was peaked, making each one stand out against the rest of the roof.
The house itself was painted black, and the polished warm toned wood of the trim and porch pillars stood out against it, giving it a rustic, but modern look.
I was in love already and we hadn’t even gone inside.
“Oh my God, there’s a porch swing.” I started to move, then turned back to Cade. “This place is gorgeous, Cade. You did good. Can we go inside?”
“I may have already bought it,” he admitted. “You can do what you want, princess.”
“What?” I asked, trying to process what he just said.
He sighed. “It was one of those buy now or lose out kind of things. I snagged it and figured if we didn’t like it, we’d keep looking and just rent this one out.”
They told me I could pick, and technically I still had that option. He wasn’t pushing it on me, the alpha was taking a chance. One glance back at the house and I knew this was the one.
Instead of running toward it, I ran toward my alpha, launching myself into the air. He caught me and hugged me close, burying his face in my hair.
“This is a real packhouse,” I said. “I never thought I’d have one.”
“Just for you, princess. You make our pack a real pack.”
He let me go then, and I rushed toward the house, snagging Mason’s hand on the way. He was just as excited as I was. We both sat at the same time in the porch swing, kicking it off.
The wind was rustling through the trees behind us, birds chirping from the branches. Spring was just starting to peek its head out, green leaves barely dotting the trees, but I knew in another month this place would be full of life.
“That room upstairs is the nest.” Cade pointed to the rounded tower above the bay window.
That was enough to get me scrambling off the porch swing and rushing to the door just as Cade was opening it.
“There’s also an attic, so each of our deltas will have their own den.”
At Cade’s words I turned to Lennon, giving him a hard stare.
“You’re going to give it a shot,” I said.
“You deserve to be settled and accepted. Fuck what everybody said in your past. Fuck what the media is saying right now. It’s okay to be who you are.
If you hate it, then we’ll find another use for it. ”
He looked stunned, but nodded his head. “Alright, princess. Whatever you say.”
That was good enough for me. I stepped inside, and looked around at our new home. It had more of that Gothic modern charm. Not a single white wall was to be found. The living room was painted black like the exterior, the same warm wood beams on the ceiling and archways.
The fireplace was made with dark gray brick, fake logs piled in so we could get the whole picture.
I could already see us sitting on a big plush couch, playing games and living as a pack. Happy, settled, and full of life. That was all I ever wanted out of a packhouse.
We moved on to the kitchen next. It was huge, full of stainless steel appliances and a large pack-sized dining room table.
I wanted to explore more, but the moment I saw the staircase, I was heading upstairs.
There was a long hallway at the landing, and I turned to the left where I thought the nest was.
I pushed open the door to find a large pack room. It was big enough for one of those giant pack beds that would fit us all. The idea of waking up to them every morning had me longing for that life.
“There are enough rooms that we all can have one,” Cade said. “Plus, two extras if we decide to grow our family someday.”
He’d given thought to this house before buying it. The fact he purchased it already didn’t bother me. I knew if I hated it, we’d look more. But he knew me and our pack and had made the right call.
“I can’t believe you bought it,” I said, wanting to make sure he knew I was happy about it.
“It was on the market, and it was going to go fast. I had no choice. I figured if we didn’t like it, I’d resell it.”
“I’m glad you did,” I said as I pushed open one of the doors branching off of the bedroom. There was a large walk-in closet on the other side, a huge bathroom next to it with a shower big enough for us all.
Behind the third door was the best part. My nest.
There was something whimsical about the space. It was dark and cozy. There were already lights inlaid in the ceiling that were dim. The windows were covered in a stained-glass film that cast rainbows onto the mattress that lay on the floor.
It was big enough for all of us and everything I could’ve dreamed of. It was cozy, and the best part was it was nothing like the nest that broke me.
“Okay, you saw yours. Let’s go see mine,” Mason said, dragging me upstairs now that they’d uncovered the staircase that led to the attic.
Lennon was already waiting upstairs, staring into one of the doors with an unreadable look on his face.
Everything up here was exposed wood. It was polished and new, like the rest of the house, but a lot more rustic. There were two doors, and at the end of the hallway was a large window.
“What do you think?” I asked Lennon as Mason pushed open the other door to take his room in.
His voice was rough when he answered. “I think I might try, princess.”
A grin spread across my face. I wanted his delta settled as much as my omega was. This home felt as right as this pack did.
“Good, I like that you won’t have to crash my den now. Though we better make sure these walls are soundproof,” Mason said with a smirk before walking into his future den.
I peeked in to see it was the same style, just as big and just as empty. They’d have space to work with. There weren’t any windows in here, like it was made just for this purpose.
By the time they’d talked out layouts and we wandered back downstairs to the others, everyone was waiting in the living room, talking logistics.
Cade looked at us expectantly. “Well? What did you three think?”
I smiled. “When do we move in?”