Chapter 23
Chapter twenty-three
Growth
Demetrius
On my phone was the image Lukas had sent me of the rock somebody had left for Ivy.
I couldn’t stop staring at it—the anger felt out of control inside me, but after a while, I finally calmed down and really analyzed the writing.
I was no writing expert, but this handwriting looked to be female.
Whether it was the same person who put the glass in Ivy’s shoe was a different matter.
My hands reached down to the side drawer on my desk. Last month, I’d asked all of the dancers to fill out bios on themselves, along with fun facts to help promote each of them. The returned stack sat in this drawer—maybe I could compare the writing styles on the form.
I flipped through each paper, one by one, making separate piles of those who appeared to be Ivy’s friends versus those who did not.
It really irked me that her friends' pile was significantly smaller than the other one. I’d needed to fix this for her…
no, she’d probably tell me that everyone just needed more time.
After going through every single one, I took the ‘non-friend’ pile and divided it up between male and female dancers. I then cross-referenced the list of dancers against Lukas’s observations.
Yesterday, he’d found a container of glass in Christian’s locker.
I found Christian’s form and pulled it out as well.
I was just about to add it to the suspect pile when I looked down at his handwriting—it looked like he had a first grader fill out this form.
I let out a small laugh as I put his form down.
He might still be guilty of the glass, but he probably didn’t write the message on this rock.
I glanced over at Adrienne’s form, then Susan’s, followed by Erika’s and Tracey’s forms. Nerissa hadn’t turned hers in yet, so I had nothing to go on there.
Adrienne’s writing looked very aggressive, while the rock contained more of a delicate, cursive style. Susan’s was cursive, but the slants were all wrong. I almost thought Erika could have written this message when I glanced over to Tracey’s form. The handwriting was a perfect match.
Part of me was excited to have put this clue together, but a whole other part of me was disappointed. Tracey had been with the company for over three years. She never made a fuss, never created any problems; she just showed up and did her job well. Why would she feel so threatened by Ivy?
I pulled out my phone and sent a message to Lukas. Hopefully, this connection will lead us somewhere.
***
Preston
Ivy and I sat in the backseat of the pack SUV, waiting for the other three to come out.
This morning, I gave the two of us class in the home studio, then we ran through our piece a few times.
Ivy claimed her toe was feeling better, but with our performances next week, we all agreed not to push her too much.
I could feel that both of us were excited to get out of the house. We were supposed to go shopping this past weekend, but with everything going on, the trip was moved to today.
Lifting Ivy’s hand to my mouth, I gently kissed her knuckles, softly rubbing her hand with my fingers. I hoped that this shopping trip would brighten her spirits—with everything going on in her life, she deserved to feel like a million bucks.
As soon as I saw the other three coming out of the company building, I rolled down the window and handed Dem the keys to the car. Lukas hopped into the front passenger’s seat while Isaac slid in on the other side of Ivy, immediately snuggling in her neck.
The level of aggravation was still high amongst the four of us, but what surprised me was the alpha energy radiating off of Dem. If I weren’t his packmate, I’d be terrified to approach him at the moment. He probably needed this trip to destress as much as Ivy did.
As soon as the car pulled onto the main road, Dem cleared his throat, catching our attention. “Quick review: we’re looking for bedroom supplies for Ivy, along with things for her nest.”
Isaac lifted his head out of her hair. “We should stop by a lingerie store as well.”
“And why is that, Isaac?” she asked, slowly rubbing my hand with hers.
“You mostly wear sports bras during the week, which is fine, I guess, but do you own anything sexy?” Isaac asked.
Ivy laughed softly. “No, I've not had a whole lot of reasons to own a wide array of sexy clothes before now.”
“Maybe Isaac and I will go shopping for you while you find your room stuff,” Lukas said.
With a sigh, she shrugged her arms. “You know what I hate the most about this? That little omega part of me is squealing with delight that you want to buy me lingerie and have me wear it for you. Who have I become?”
“Preston, Dem, do you have any requests for our sexy goddess here?” Isaac asked.
“White, soft, angelic-looking things,” I said, earning Ivy’s attention as she lifted her brows at me. “Maybe some pink, too.”
“I’ll text you,” Dem said from behind the wheel, earning a laugh from around the car. Minutes later, we pulled into the parking garage and found a spot near the entrance.
As we all stepped out of the car, I spotted Ivy taking a deep breath and a loud exhale behind me. I shot her a curious glance, making sure she was okay.
“I used to secretly mock seeing packs with their omega walking around in malls and shops.” She anxiously replied. “I feel very self-conscious doing this.”
“But now you realize why packs travel together, right? Alphas want to be with their omega. I want to be right next to you, holding your hand.” I brushed my hand along her shoulder. “Would you prefer I give you space?” I clearly didn’t want to, but if that’s what she needed, I'd do it.
Much to my relief, she shook her head and reached for my hand, giving me a little squeeze.
“No, I want you all by my side. It’s time I face some of these insecurities,” she said.
It felt a little odd walking together as a pack with Ivy. Before her, we'd never done much together unless work called for it. I would have laughed at Dem earlier if he'd suggested we four all go to the mall to shop.
But now, there was an excitement between us as we walked around Ivy. Not only did I want to show her off, but I wanted her to feel special and help her find everything she needed to feel welcomed in our house. As we made our way inside the mall, Dem led us over to a brightly lit mall map.
Pointing at several areas on the map, he said, “I think you'll like this store for your room. Isaac and Lukas, there’s the lingerie store. And then here in the middle is the nesting and omega supply store. How about we meet at the nesting store in ninety minutes?”
After agreeing with Dem, we each took off to our stores, with Isaac and Lukas turning to leave, all full of jokes as they walked away from us. Ivy stood for a moment, watching them go before she turned and laughed.
“Now I’m sad my whole pack isn’t with me,” Ivy said, pulling my hand up to her chest. “I have this urge to show you all off.”
“I get it now,” I replied. “In the past, you were jealous of the omegas you saw!”
“Maybe,” she said as she reached for Dem's hand and held it along with mine.
Walking through the mall, it took us about five more minutes to reach the bedroom supply store. Standing outside of it, Ivy gasped as she looked in through the window display. “Oh, this store is so fancy!”
Dem turned to her as she looked at the display. “Ivy, this is obviously a pack expense. You’re not paying a dime for anything." Before Ivy could protest, Dem held his hand up and shook his head, pulling her into the store to start shopping.
“Fine. What’s my budget, at least?” she asked as we walked towards the first bedroom set.
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied.
Wrong answer, I thought to myself as I subtly shook my head at Dem.
Ivy paused and crossed her arms, turning towards Dem. “That’s not fair. Am I part of the pack? Shouldn’t I understand where our limits are? I’d be too concerned about buying anything, thinking I was about to hit some invisible maximum amount.”
Dem eyed her for a brief moment before nodding in agreement. “Very well then. I was hoping not to spend more than thirty thousand dollars today. If something really catches your eye though, I could probably move some money around.”
“What the hell?” Ivy gasped, reaching for us and pulling us closer. “There’s no way I’d spend that much.”
“Which is why I originally said don’t worry about it,” Dem replied. “Though honestly, the nesting shop might be expensive, who knows?”
“I’ll throw a few thousand in if we need more,” I said, happy to contribute to Ivy's needs.
“There’s no need,” Dem said to us. “I’ve been saving money in a separate fund for this very reason all these years. I want to spoil you and get you everything you need.” He kissed her forehead before adding, “And we both know your little omega heart is loving it.”
She took a deep breath in and then exhaled loudly. “Fine, I accept. And yes, I can’t seem to silence the excited squealing.”
We spent the next hour perusing the shop as Ivy looked through every little thing in the store.
I loved chatting with her about her opinion on how she wanted to design her room, which so far sounded very fairylike and soothing—almost the opposite of mine, if I thought about it.
Maybe I was a tad intense. She pointed out everything she liked and didn’t like, and behind us, Dem made little notes on his phone, keeping tabs on everything she pointed to.
It was probably a good thing Isaac and Lukas left us, as their patience would've been tested here.
As we approached the time to rendezvous, Dem held out his list to Ivy, and they reviewed everything she’d picked out. After they both reviewed the list, Dem worked with the purchasing counter while I took Ivy outside of the store to sit on a nearby bench to let her toe rest a bit.
“Does it feel odd not having to worry about money?” Ivy asked. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it.”