Chapter 31 #2
Catherine insists we stay for dinner. The meal is simple, roasted chicken, vegetables from the garden's last harvest, bread from the local bakery. We squeeze around the kitchen table, elbows bumping, passing dishes, talking over each other in the way of people who belong together.
At one point Maya asks Calder about his family, and he answers with more openness than I expected. Julian discusses his research with Thomas, who follows every word. Tyler and his mother have an entire conversation in glances and small gestures.
Catherine watches all of this with satisfaction, then catches my eye across the table.
"You fit," she mouths.
I do, I realize. We all do.
We're putting on coats in the front hallway when Catherine pulls me aside.
"Elowen." Her voice is gentle. "I know we just met. But I want you to know, you're family now. Not just because you're with Tyler, but because of who you are."
My throat tightens.
"If you need anything," she continues. "Advice, support, just someone to talk to, you call me. Day or night. I mean that."
"Thank you."
She hugs me, brief but warm, the kind of hug that says I see you and you're safe here.
Maya's next, wrapping her arms around me with less restraint. "Thank you for earlier. For being honest."
"Anytime," I promise. "I mean it. You can text me. Ask me anything."
"Even omega stuff the adults won't tell me?"
"Especially that."
Thomas shakes hands with each of us, pressing the wrapped books into my arms with gentle insistence. "Come back anytime. You're all welcome here."
Tyler's the last to say goodbye, holding his mother a beat longer than necessary. When he pulls back, his eyes are bright.
"I'm proud of you," Catherine says quietly. "Of all of this. Of who you're becoming."
The drive back to Elderwood is quiet at first, all of us processing.
"Your family is wonderful," I say finally.
Tyler twists to look at me, smiling. "They loved you. I knew they would."
"Your mother is wise," Julian adds. "The things she said about care versus control, it aligned perfectly with hospice philosophy."
"She's seen a lot," Tyler says. "People at the end of their lives. It teaches you what matters."
Calder's eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. "You okay?"
"More than okay." I lean my head against the window, watching darkness settle over the countryside. "That was... exactly what I needed without knowing I needed it."
Julian's hand finds mine again. "One family down. Two to go."
"Nervous?" I ask.
"Terrified," he admits. "But not for the reasons you think."
"Why then?"
"I know they'll love you. I'm just afraid of what they'll tell you about me."
Tyler laughs. "Too late to hide your embarrassing childhood now, Cross."
"I was a deeply serious child. There's nothing embarrassing about—"
"Pen will destroy that illusion in approximately five minutes."
"Pen will try. I have countermeasures."
I squeeze his hand. "I'm sure you were adorable."
"I was focused."
"Adorably focused," Calder adds from the front.
Even Julian laughs at that.
Wednesday evening, Lila appears at my door with takeout containers and a determined expression.
"Girl's night. You, me, too much food, and you’re telling me everything about meeting Tyler's family."
"You bought noodles?" I grin.
"Obviously. I want gossip." She pushes past me into my room, setting the food on my desk. "Come on. I went to the good Thai place. The one with the spring rolls you like."
We settle on my bed, food spread between us, and I tell her about Millbrook. About Catherine's warmth and Thomas's bookshop and Maya asking omega questions with such hope in her eyes.
"Wait," I interrupt. "How did your date with Mateo go?” She’d mentioned a coffee date with the alpha from her chemistry class, and I’d forgotten about it with everything else going on.
Lila scrunches her nose. "It was... fine? He's really nice. Like, genuinely sweet. Held the door open for me, asked questions, listened when I talked. Perfect gentleman."
"But?"
"But no spark. Zero. We talked about chemistry homework and campus, and it was pleasant but..." She shrugs. "I spent the whole time thinking about how I'd rather be studying. That's probably a bad sign, right?"
"The worst. Worse than washing your hair and waiting for it to dry."
"He texted to arrange a second date. Dinner this time." She picks at her spring roll. "I don't know. Should I give it another chance? Maybe I'm being too picky. He's nice, he's respectful, we get along—"
"Do you want to go out with him again?"
She's quiet for a moment. "No. Not really. I keep trying to talk myself into it because he checks all the boxes, but..."
"But chemistry isn't a checklist."
"Exactly!" She throws her hands up, full dramatic flair now.
"I mean, where is my fated mate? Or is that all just romance novel nonsense?
Because I am ready. Ready for some alpha to look at me and just know, you know?
But instead I get nice boys who bore me to tears over coffee. " She flops back on my bed.
I'm trying not to laugh. "Lila—"
"No, I'm serious. My mom met my dad and she knew in five seconds.
Five! It helped that he was exactly what she was looking for of course.
But here I am giving perfectly nice alphas multiple chances and feeling nothing.
" She sits back up, passion in her eyes.
"I want what you have. That certainty. That this-is-my-person feeling.
Is that too much to ask? Or am I just numb? "
"It's not too much to ask, and you’re absolutely not numb." I lean closer and pinch her thigh, and she squeals.
"Thank you." She takes a breath. "Okay. I'm done being dramatic. I'm going to let Mateo down gently. Better than dragging it out when I already know it's not going anywhere."
"That's fair."
She hugs me tight as she’s leaving. "Now go charm Julian's family. And then come back and tell me everything so I can live vicariously through your perfect pack life."
"It's not perfect—"
"It's pretty damn close." She slants her eyes at me. “Three alphas and none of them has a brother you could introduce me to. Just plain selfish if you ask me.”