16. Finley
Finley
After getting ready to head out and meet at the restaurant Zander suggested with a private room for us to use, I caught my reflection and it stopped me in my tracks.
I didn’t know how long I stood there in front of the mirror, looking at myself.
There on my chin was a healed scar from Elias’s mate mark.
To me, it was beautiful. It made me feel special and I loved being able to see it there.
Then I started to look at the rest of me and how it might be viewed by other people.
My mahogany-colored hair fell in a shiny, smooth sheet from my head to the middle of my back.
It had been down to my butt before I’d had it cut for the event.
My skin was still pale as it’s always been but had more of a luster since my elf nature came out fully.
Just like my chin, you could see the faint marks on my neck where most of my other mates had bitten me.
Only one of them had chosen to pick a place that only he could get to on my breast. There were even two puncture marks from the first time Derven bit me deeply on the neck like his own claim on me.
While I looked human to everyone else wandering around the world, I was anything but.
As a trained assassin, werewolf, and elf, I might actually be one of the deadliest supers out there.
Skill, speed, strength, and magic? Who else could compete with that?
It seemed fitting that I would be the one tasked with removing evil from this world, but what if I found out I was created by evil?
My father seemed to be a man of mystery and I was terrified to find out what else he could be hiding from the world.
“Sweetheart, are you ready?” Lane asked as he stepped up behind me.
I smiled at him in the mirror and leaned into him. “That’s the million dollar question now, isn’t it?”
“No matter what Colt said, if you don’t want to do this, we can leave right now. Get on that plane and fly the hell out of here and get back home,” Lane assured me.
Tilting my head back, I looked up at him. “I love you.”
He cupped my cheek and kissed me long and slow, filled with all the love he had for me as well. “I love you too, Finley, but that doesn’t answer my question.”
“Colt’s right, I need to ask my questions, or I’m going to go crazy thinking, what if? It will be better to get this over with and never have to see the man again if I don’t want to,” I reasoned. “Just know that if things don’t go well, I’m going to need a hell of a lot of cuddles and ice cream.”
Lane laughed softly. “Can we do that even if things don’t go wrong?”
“Yeah, I think we can, but you’re going to have to convince Zander if I’m not a hot mess. He doesn’t argue when it’s to cheer me up,” I pointed out.
“Hmm,” he paused, rubbing his chin with a hand. “Could you pretend?”
“Sorry, elves can’t lie. You’re on your own,” I quipped.
“I don’t believe that at all, by the way. How can you pull off jobs like you did last night without telling a lie?” Lane argued as he turned me toward the door and pushed me forward. “You had to con that restaurant owner into getting you to serve that bastard.”
“It seems that there is some gray area when I’m playing a character, but I didn’t lie to him completely.
That bottle of cognac did cost us a pretty penny, and I knew I could see it to my target if I wanted to, but I didn’t need to.
When the restaurant owner challenged me, all he said was for him to buy the bottle from me.
I got a hundred dollars out of it,” I shared, walking him through the whole process.
Lane gave me a wary look. “Your interpretation of what is the truth kind of scares me.”
Feeling it was better to leave that subject alone, I grabbed his hand and pulled him out into the living area where the others were. “Everyone ready for dinner with the in-law?”
No one seemed to feel that was amusing so I shrugged and headed for the door.
We had a driver coming to pick us up, another perk of being here with the record label.
They didn’t like having Zander take ride-shares or public transportation, so they gave us what we needed instead.
The restaurant had been thrilled to host Zander and his pack as we were now being called.
Amazingly enough, the news that I was an elf hadn’t shown up anywhere, but the fact I was with all of my men was plastered all over the place.
There was speculation if there were more intermingled relationships as well between the men.
We all tried to pretend none of this was an issue, and things would die down once we got back to our pack lands.
Of course, I knew that wasn’t going to be the case at all, especially not after Zander had a two-hour conversation with his team that we were not doing interviews.
Maybe once things were done, I might be open to it, but the last thing we needed was people learning too much about us.
Let them speculate all they want and spread misinformation, but I wasn’t going to help it along.
Everyone piled into the SUV and we were off.
The restaurant was Italian and I was excited for some amazing alfredo.
It had been far too long since I’d gone out for dinner in New York City and having all my men with me made it even better.
The guys allowed Elias to sit next to me after he begged for my forgiveness for how he’d treated me during his rut.
While I wasn’t looking to have sex in the next couple of days, I didn’t think he did anything wrong.
Rut was a normal fact of being a werewolf. It could have happened to any of them. He was still a little clingy and didn’t love the others touching me, but he was doing his best to keep his reaction in check.
He did bring up a good point, though, with everyone else. “How do we make sure we don’t get Finley pregnant right now?”
Of course, that question immediately went to Rath as the only one among us who might have the answer. The elf cleared his throat and folded his hand in his lap, telling me he was slightly uncomfortable with this conversation.
“When it comes to female elves, they have the innate ability to decide when it’s the best time for that to happen. Now I’m not sure how the werewolf part of this comes into play, but I believe that until Finley wants it to happen, it won’t,” Rath offered.
Hearing him say it made me nod in agreement as I listened. Instinctively I knew that even though Elias had tried his best last night to get me to bear his child, it wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t want it to and wasn’t in heat, so there was no concern.
“How many times does an omega go into heat?” I asked.
“Once or twice a year, and it’s the only time they are fertile,” Colt informed me. “That’s one reason children from an omega are so rare. You only have two shots a year to make it happen, and if it doesn’t, then you have to wait six months to a year to try again.”
I looked over at Elias. “So it would be safe to say that you can carry on with your practicing unless I’m in heat. Then we’re gonna need to figure something else out until I’m ready.”
“That would be anal,” Mason volunteered. “Can’t get you preggers that way.”
“Guess we’ll just have to wait and see when the next one rolls around if you’re still feeling that way,” Lane reasoned.
Learning that had me breathing a sigh of relief because I didn’t think I could handle being pregnant during all this.
But, slowly, the guys were making the idea more appealing, especially when Elias seemed so excited about sharing that experience with me.
We would have to see how I felt after talking with my father if the idea of children is still somewhat appealing.
The restaurant was one that had accommodations for the rich and famous that didn’t want to be noticed.
We got dropped off at a side entrance that led to a set of stairs into a separate dining section for those who didn’t want to be with normal people.
Zander had requested an even more private setting in a banquet room for us all to enjoy our meal.
When we entered the room, my father was already there, seated at one end of the table.
The moment he saw us, he stood and came over to greet us. “I wasn’t sure if you were really going to reach out to me or not, but I’m really glad that you did.”
We stared at each other for a moment, then I decided to break the silence and try to start this off on the right foot.
“Let me introduce you to the guys. You already know who Zander is since apparently, you work in the same industry. Next to him are Cole and Lane. They are the founders and alphas of our pack in Tennessee. Their betas are Elias, my Sentinel. Noah, my Companion, his twin, Mason, who is my Hunter and also a Companion. Rathal, my elven mate, who is my Guide, then Derven, my Blood Bond and vampire mate.”
“I know this is an extremely unorthodox nos, but I do believe my daughter has chosen well with you men. In the spirit of full transparency, I’ve done research on all of you with the contacts I have.
Not that there would have been much I could do to prevent you from mating with my daughter, but I felt better knowing you were good men,” Eli shared, taking a moment to look at each of my men as he spoke.
“Shall we have dinner and get to know one another better?”
“What’s the point if you know everything about us already,” Mason muttered under his breath.
Eli smiled and nodded. “I suppose that’s fair, but just because I know the facts about you, it doesn’t tell me who you are as a person. I can make assumptions, but I’d like for us to one day be more invested in each other’s lives.”
No one said much to that, out loud at least.
“That’s up to you, little one. If you want him in your life, we will support you. On the other hand, if you choose that he’s not worth it, we’ll never speak of him again,” Colt assured me as we took our seats.