Chapter Thirty-Eight
Fiona
“You are a vision. I love you in that shade of purple,” Carlos said as he gave me a big kiss.
“Come on, let's meet your friends.” I squeezed his hand and grabbed my phone and purse.
The five of us set off for the subway. It was very surprising that Carlos and Dusty just took public transportation everywhere. While I understood that parking in New York could be a lot, I wasn’t lying when I told my dad that getting the car was solving a safety issue.
I texted my friends as we took the subway.
Me
Off to start a war with Russia.
It was a joke in our friend group. Mostly because Timmy liked to flirt with the wrong people.
Timotheé
Do tell. I’m still mad at you for getting mated and not telling us for days.
Ninon
Who even is this alpha and when can we meet him?
Me
I was in heat and snowed in and then my dad kidnapped us. Don’t worry you’ll be at the mating party.
Dom
We better, when is it?
Me
Probably not until hockey off-season. I need time to plan something special.
Timotheé
Excuses excuses.
Why are you causing wars? Though war is fun.
Me
I’m going to meet Carlos’ friends, which includes the Belikov.
This was a topic of conversation between us and Saoirse at Ninon’s wedding in August. Apparently, the Belikov family were super secret super spies for the Russian government.
It had rattled Saoirse so much that we might all be in danger due to him pulling an op at the wedding, that she actually contacted her home office at the Company to check him out.
This one was just a hockey player, and not even undercover or anything. But Saoirse didn’t believe that.
Timotheé
I’m definitely going to have to come out and meet some of these hot, single hockey players.
Me
What is everyone doing tomorrow night? Dimitri Belikov is having a party and apparently his parties aren’t something to miss.
Dom
True.
Timotheé
How the fuck do you know that, you don’t even live in New York?
Dom
Wouldn't you like to know?
Arya
You’re moving to New York, Fifi?
Me
Yes, our place will be so cute.
I dropped a couple of pictures in the group chat.
Ninon
I’m so excited for you. It’s amazing that you ended up mating with somebody that you met at the animal park.
Cress
Trying to get caught up. Things are busy here as usual. Super happy for you. If they don’t treat you right, let me know.
Arya
Same.
Yes, that’s exactly what you needed–the poisoner and the explosive expert in your group chat willing to fuck shit up for you. Now that was friendship.
Carlos put his head on my shoulder. “Who are you texting?”
“Timmy and the girls.”
While there were other omega guys in the Order of the Black Dahlia, Timmy was the only one in our friendship group.
Timotheé
I can’t believe you have a rockstar in the pack.
Dom
Or that Saoirse mated an alpha? I saw that hysterical video from the rave.
Me
It was something. Dusty is really nice. I think she needs that. Also…
Not common knowledge but you know all those jobs of hers that got messed up? They were all him. Every single one. Because he is chaotic.
Ninon
All him? And she’s with him… I’m going to need details.
They’d all heard about her jobs getting messed up by various antics.
Arya
BroKen is hot. Let me know if the slutty little glasses guy is single, if you remember which one he is.
I probably would recognize people from August, because we have been watching the hockey players.
A lot. They were very nice looking and not mafia guys.
That’s how everything with Carlos and I started.
I wanted some recreation for the weekend.
Carlos was not in the mafia, kind, attentive, super flirty.
He even bought me French fries and didn’t try to take any–now that’s a keeper.
We also fucked outside a few times. There was something pretty thrilling about fucking outdoors at a wild animal park.
Electra
Do I even wanna know why the Internet is calling you Pack Himbo?
Dom
Do you know who BroKen is? That sums it up right there?
Electra
I don’t live under a rock.
Timotheé
You live in a cave though.
Electra
Only sometimes. For work.
Cress
Even I know who he is. My students love him.
Dom
He blocked off the street for a baby race when he was here in concert not that long ago.
Baby race?
I looked over at Dusty, sitting contentedly next to Saoirse, who was on her phone.
“Baby race?” I needed some clarification.
“They’re a whole lot of fun. I do them sometimes to raise money for Children’s Hospitals. It's exactly what it sounds like–you line up the babies and let them race. The winning babies get prizes and the organization gets money,” he told me.
“That sounds like so much fun,” Hale added.
“I love that.” At some point we’d need to figure out what charities we supported as a pack. But that could wait until after we got situated. Though supporting Children’s Hospitals was pretty much a requirement.
Me
That tracks.
“All right, here’s our stop,” Carlos announced. We got off and we walked towards the bar.
Tito’s had a tropical theme going on inside, with the servers wearing floral shirts and there being lots of tropical decor, though there was also a nod to the holidays. I saw a server walk by with food on a tray. Good. They had food. I was hungry.
A server waved. “You’re back! Some of the others are here, too.”
“Why cook when we can eat here?” Carlos laughed.
I knew they went to Tito’s all the time anyway, because he told me, and I was very curious about his friends, because he’d mentioned so much about them.
There was a table with three guys. One of them waved.
“We’re meeting Clark, Anders, and Dimitri. They’re all on the Knights with me,” Carlos explained, waving back. “Gwen is with her team and Tenzin is in Portland, but he’ll be back.” He led us over to the table.
“Allow me to present my pack. This is my omega, Fiona, and our alpha, Hale, and this is my bestie, Dusty, and his amazing mate, Saoirse, who’s also mated to Fiona,” he introduced.
“It’s so nice to meet you. He was telling us about your adventures, and we’re all so happy for you.
I’m Clark.” Clark was the one with the slutty little glasses.
His glasses were different from Dusty’s slutty little glasses.
Clark’s were black plastic and looked like the kind a superhero’s nerdy alter-ego would wear.
“Clark Edwards, forward. He is on a line with me and Grif, who is Hale’s brother-in-law,” Carlos introduced. “This is Dimitri Belikov, defender.”
Dimitri was a big Russian with broad shoulders and was handsome in that Russian spy way, with dark hair and an intense gaze. Saoirse watched him intently.
“Carlos is one of the nicest guys I know, you made a good choice,” Dimitri said.
“Anders is also a forward,” Carlos added.
The other guy, Anders, looked Swedish with long blond hair and just absolutely screamed fuckboy. All three were alphas.
“Hi. We didn’t even know Carlos had a secret girlfriend,” Anders replied.
“I told you, I was going to introduce her tomorrow at Dimitri’s party.” Carlos rolled his eyes and pulled out a stool for me.
The server came over and took our orders. I was glad that everyone was ordering food and drinks. Yes, I absolutely wanted some French fries and a club sandwich.
“It's too bad Gwen’s not here. She’s my girlfriend. She’s playing a game tonight,” Clark added.
I texted the group chat.
Me
No war yet. Slutty glasses guy is with Gwen (formerly Little Gabs).
Ninon and Timmy knew her when we were kids, too.
Clark turned to Carlos. “I’m so glad you’re safe.
We all got really worried, you usually just don’t go missing like that.
Nobody knew you were skiing in Europe. Jorge was just like, Oh, he goes missing sometimes, but it felt weird that no one was doing anything.
I wasn’t sure if we should contact your family. ”
“Sorry. I thought I’d told Jorge about me going with Dusty to the music festival and my family all being on a cruise,” Carlos added.
“I didn’t really tell you guys I was going, because I was afraid that if Verity knew Hale and I were actually friends that she would revoke my cake pop privileges.
Though she was very clear in the locker room today that my cake pop privileges have been suspended. ”
“She'll still make us cake pops,” Hale assured, squeezing his hand.
“I’m really excited about your New Year’s Eve party,” Dusty said to Dimitri. “Do you want me to DJ?”
Dimitri went quiet for a moment. “That is fine, just please don’t post about it on your social media until the next day? My kitchen has never fully recovered from the roller skates.”
“Done.” Dusty nodded.
They caught Carlos up on things and asked us questions.
“We know Clark has partners, but are you single?” I asked, trying to make conversation.
“Are you offering your friends?” Anders waggled his eyebrows.
“Her friends would eat you alive.” Saoirse took a sip of her wine.
“I am quite busy raising my siblings. My younger sister lives with me and attends an omega academy, though she will be moving to the dorms. My younger brother goes to boarding high school.” There is a wistfulness to Dimitri’s voice.
This was the sound of someone pining, but it was unhopeful pining. My heart ached for him.
We finished our food and drinks.
“Can we still watch the game at your place, or should we go to mine?” Clark asked.
“We can go to my place. We’ll order pizzas. I already got some beer,” Dimitri offered.
We were already full of bar food and now they’re ordering pizza? But alpha boys ate a lot. I knew that from my brothers.
“Thanks,” Clark said.
Carlos looked at us. “Since we’re down the street, anyone who doesn’t want to go can just go home.”
“I want to see Gwen play. I remember how much she loved it–and disliked figure skating,” I replied.
Anders made a puzzled face as the check came. “When did you move down the street from Dimitri, Carlos?”
“I’ve got it,” Dimitri waved us off as he paid the bill.
“Thanks, man, I’ll get it next time,” Dusty replied.
“Last night. I closed right before Christmas. It's the one that Dimitri suggested to Clark and Bucket. After you turned it down, I checked it out and put an immediate offer on it because it was perfect.” He looked at me and grinned. “I’m glad I had the foresight to get a place for all of us.”
“Oh, that was a nice place. We only passed on it because we already were attached to the place we ended up buying,” Clark said.
“It is a nice neighborhood. I think you will be very happy there,” Dimitri said.
“Bucket?” I blinked.
“Bucket is one of Tenzin’s nicknames. Carlos gave it to him, because Tenzin is Gwen’s racoon in a bucket,” Dimitri explained.
We left and headed to the subway to go to Dimitri’s.
“Do you have anything harder than beer?” Anders asked.
Dimitri gave him a hard stare. “I am Russian.”
That would be a yes.
I glanced at my phone. Saoirse had texted?
Saoirse
The Belikov is nice? I was not expecting it.
Me
Do you interact much with them?
Saoirse
More like avoid them. Their reputation also precedes them. I want to ask if the one I dislike is related, but then he will want to know why.
Me
He does seem nice.
Saoirse
Home office still insists he's just a hockey player and his siblings are just students. I don’t understand.
Me
You don’t understand why somebody would want to do something different than their family?
Saoirse
I don’t know why it would be allowed. It’s Russia. Not following in your family footsteps would be a disgrace.
Me
Packs are made up of more than one family, maybe he’s following in somebody else’s footsteps.
I didn’t understand what a big deal it was.
Saoirse
True. We should still be cautious.
Timmy had also texted.
Timotheé
War in thirty?
Me
No war. We’re going over to his place to watch hockey.
Timotheé
Jealous.
We walked to Dimitri’s from the subway, which was the same stop that we had gotten on.
It was very neat when we walked inside and everyone took their shoes off. I could most definitely smell that an omega lived here. It was nicely decorated by someone who knew what they were doing.
“Who’s your decorator, Dimitri?” I asked as we grabbed beers and drinks, and went down into the basement, to a room with a giant TV and a bunch of couches.
“My little sister did most of it,” he told me.
“Is she here?” I asked. Making omega friends was always good.
“Tomorrow, she will be at the party. She is with her friends tonight,” he replied. “My brother, Sasha, is out with his friends as well.”
Hale and Carlos looked absolutely terrified, their eyes on an ottoman.
“Hale? Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Carlos’ voice shook.
“I do and I’m not even high.” Hale wrapped his arms around himself.
I got real fear from both of them. On the ottoman sat a little black kitten with blue eyes.
“Does anyone else see a cat on the ottoman?” Carlos’ voice continued to shake.
“I do.” I hugged them, because I didn’t know what was going on.
“Yes.” Anders gave them a look.
“Okay, so everybody can see him? Are we all high or has Lucky finally decided to show himself?” Carlos replied.
“Um, Lucky is made up.” Anders laughed.
Dimitri scooped the kitten up with incredible tenderness for such a large man. “This is Chernysh. I found him a couple of days ago. Bozh'ya Korovka is quite jealous that the cat distribution system has blessed me.”
“That is such a Gweny statement,” Clark replied.
Carlos frowned. “But that looks like Lucky. Well, baby Lucky.”
“Lucky is full-grown with a collar,” Hale replied. “But yeah, he does.”
“Again, Lucky is imaginary.” Anders plopped down on the couch.
“We can't normally see Lucky, but that doesn’t mean he’s not real,” Carlos added.
“Oh, this is the cat that you see when high?” I still really didn’t understand the imaginary cat thing.
“Yes.” Carlos nodded.
Dimitri handed Carlos the kitten. “He is just a cat.”
The tiny cat looked up at Carlos and made a cute baby kitten sound that melted my heart.
“I did tell you to get a cat to fill the loneliness of an empty house.” Carlos chuckled.
I scented the absolute tiniest shift in Dimitri’s mood. It lasted just a second, but something about what Carlos said made him incredibly sad.
“My little baby is real. I will be back.” Dimitri went upstairs.
We all took a seat. A moment later, Dimitri came down with pizza.
“If beer, soda, and vodka aren’t sufficient, you’re welcome to look in the liquor cabinet upstairs,” he replied.
“This is fine, thank you.” Oh, that pizza smelled good. I took a slice.
Anders set a shot glass in front of each of us. “Okay, rules of the game, pick a team, and if your team gets scored on, you have to take a shot. And considering most of you are picking the fucking Tigres, instead of the Sasquatches, who are second best to only the Knights, this is going to be fun.”
Drinking game? Okay, well, watching hockey just got a thousand times better.