30. Calder #2
Trusting me to come back to them.
"Go find them," Marcus says, following my gaze. "Tell them everything."
"Thank you," I manage. "For the advice. For talking to Mother. For suggesting Elderwood in the first place."
"Thank me by being happy." Marcus stands, pulling out his wallet. "I mean it, Calder. Don't waste this chance choosing what everyone expects over what you actually want. I did that. It cost me everything."
He drops bills on the table for our drinks and squeezes my shoulder once before heading for the door.
I sit alone for another minute, gathering courage.
Then I stand and walk toward the bookshop.
Fern & Quill smells like old paper and possibility. I find them exactly where I expected, Elowen in the herbalism section, Julian examining philosophy texts, Tyler making quiet commentary that has Julian's mouth twitching toward a smile.
They look up when the door chimes my entrance.
Elowen's eyes search my face. "You okay?"
"Can we talk?" My voice sounds rough. "All of us. Somewhere private."
Understanding passes between them without words. Tyler sets down his book. Julian closes the volume he was reading. Elowen crosses to me and takes my hand.
"There's a park two blocks over," she says quietly. "Benches by the fountain. Usually empty this time of day."
We walk in silence. The afternoon sun slants golden through autumn leaves, and I'm hyperaware of every step, every breath, every moment before I potentially ruin everything by telling the truth.
The park is indeed empty. We settle on a bench beneath an oak tree, fountain burbling quietly in the background.
"I need to tell you everything," I start, hands fisted on my knees. "About my family. About the money. About what being with me actually means."
"Cal—" Tyler begins, but I shake my head.
"Please. Let me finish. I should have told you when we first met.
" I take a breath. "The Ashford family isn't just wealthy.
We're old money. Real estate holdings across the UK and Europe.
Investment portfolios. The kind of generational wealth that comes with expectations and obligations and people watching every decision you make. "
I force myself to look at Elowen. Her expression is calm, attentive, giving nothing away.
"My father runs the business side. I'm expected to take over eventually.
The appropriate heir doing the appropriate things with the appropriate pack.
" My voice goes bitter on the last word.
"That's what today was about. Victoria wasn't just a nice omega my mother liked.
She was a strategic alliance. Her family's hotel empire combined with Ashford real estate and investments. The perfect merger."
"That's why your mother was so angry," Julian observes quietly. "You rejected not just a match but a business strategy."
"Yes. And she'll keep pushing. She won't give up easily, maybe not ever.
Being with me means enduring family pressure.
Social judgment. People like my mother assessing you and finding you lacking because you didn't attend Maidenhill Academy or come from the right bloodlines or have the right connections. "
I look at each of them in turn.
"I didn't tell you about my family’s finances because here I was simply me." My throat tightens. "I was afraid if you knew, you'd see the Ashford name first and the person second. Or worse, that you'd want me for what I could provide instead of who I am."
"But you should have told us," Elowen says softly. "Not because it changes anything. Because hiding it meant you didn't trust us to see past it."
The truth of that hits like a physical blow. "You're right. I'm sorry. I should have trusted you."
"We knew you had money," Tyler says. "We're not idiots."
"But you didn't know the extent—"
"Does it matter?" Tyler's voice is gentle.
"Cal, we chose you when we thought you were just a comfortably middle-class student.
Finding out you're actually disgustingly rich doesn't make you a different person.
You're still the guy who fixed our greenhouse shelves and helped Elowen plant herbs and sat through my terrible movie choices without complaining. "
"The wealth is sociologically interesting but practically irrelevant to pack formation," Julian adds. "Your mother's approval is even less relevant. We're pack. That's the only variable that matters."
I look at Elowen. She's been quiet through most of this, just watching me with those green eyes that see too much.
"What are you thinking?" I ask, voice barely above a whisper.
"I'm thinking you were afraid." She reaches up to cup my face. "I'm thinking you've been carrying this fear that we'd leave if we knew the full picture. That we wanted you for what you could give us instead of who you are."
"Yes."
"Calder," she says my name like a promise. "I chose you when you were just the alpha who stepped aside in my greenhouse without being asked. Who listened more than he talked. Who looked at me like I was worth choosing."
Her thumb strokes across my cheekbone.
"Finding out your family has money doesn't change any of that. It just means dealing with your mother will be more complicated than I thought." A small smile. "But I handled her today. I can handle her again."
"We all can," Tyler adds. "Together."
"The question," Julian says from behind me, "is whether you trust us to choose you."
That's what Marcus asked.
"I trust you," I say, and mean it. "I'm sorry I didn't show it by being honest sooner. But I trust you. All of you."
Elowen leans forward and kisses me softly. "Then no more hiding things."
Tyler's hand finds my shoulder. Julian's fingers rest against my back. Elowen's forehead presses against mine.
"Marcus is going to talk to my mother," I say after a moment. "He thinks she'll come around eventually. He suggested we might visit the estate soon. Formal invitation, let her see us on my home territory."
"Meeting the parents, the official version." Tyler whistles low. "That's going to be intense."
"Terrifying," I correct.
"If we're serious about this long-term,” Julian says, “we can't avoid your family indefinitely. Better to establish parameters now."
"Are we?" The question escapes before I can stop it. "Serious about this long-term?"
Elowen pulls back to look at me fully. "Calder. We're pack. That's not temporary. That's not until it gets difficult." Her voice is absolutely certain. "That's forever. Or as close to forever as we can manage."
Tyler nods. Julian makes a sound of agreement.
And just like that, the fear that's been coiled in my chest since my mother appeared on the quad begins to loosen.
They know. They understand. And they're staying anyway.
We sit under the oak tree as the afternoon light shifts toward evening. Right now, surrounded by my pack in a quiet corner of Elderwood Hollow, I let myself believe what Marcus said.
This is real. This is worth it. This is forever.
And I'm going to fight for it with everything I have.
“If we’re making this official,” Tyler says, “I want you to meet my family too. I promise it won’t be quite as…”
“Scary?” Elowen chuckles.
“I was going to say intimidating, but scary will do.”
“And my family,” Julian adds. “My mom anyway. And Pen. They’ll probably hug you to death and overfeed you.”
“What a way to go.” Tyler smiles. “Death by hugging.”
Lightness settles over us as light drizzle starts up, spraying our faces and saturating our clothes before we even realize we’re getting wet.