Chapter 39
Flora
The entire drive to my old apartment, my heart was in my throat.
This was right up there with going to the dentist on my list of nightmares, and my day just seemed to be getting worse and worse.
I tried to push that thought away, to allow myself to feel protected by my alphas.
Thankfully, the distraction of my mother bursting onto the scene was helping.
“Why didn’t she bother to tell me she was coming?” I asked, scrolling through my phone, another diversion that was rather hit-or-miss.
“I have no idea, honeybee, but it will be okay,” Chase assured me. “We’re all here with you.”
Next to me in the driver’s seat, Spencer placed his hand on my upper thigh and squeezed lightly, his touch reassuring. In most cases, I would have given him shit for thinking he could just cuddle up to me, but in that moment, I needed the physical reminder that I wasn’t alone in this.
“Do you want me to sit this one out?” Bear suggested quietly as we approached the building, his steps dragging.
“Why would I want that?” I asked, turning to look at him.
“I don’t exactly give good first impressions,” he said pointedly.
“Like I give a fuck,” I growled, shaking my head. “You’re mine, and you’re going with me. End of story.”
Bear looked like he was going to say something, his mouth opening and closing several times, and his eyebrows way up by his hairline. As we pulled up in front of the building, though, he shook himself, straightening and staring right ahead.
“According to the building manager, she’s in the lobby,” Spencer informed us, his tone as direct and flat as ever.
“I honestly think I would rather deal with my stalker than this.” I sighed, only half joking.
“Unfortunately, there’s no avoiding it, princess,” Spencer sighed, holding the door open for me.
It wasn’t hard to find my mother. The minute we walked into the building, I could hear her shrill voice ringing through the echoey halls.
She was shouting at the building manager, a man in his late twenties, with long, greasy hair and a look on his face that said he was not interested in having this conversation whatsoever.
Next to her was someone I hadn’t met: a blond-haired alpha who towered over her and would certainly do the same to me. He was wearing khakis and a polo. He looked like what I could only describe as the perfect all-American alpha.
“I don’t care. I want to see my daughter now,” my mother insisted, stomping her foot.
“Mom,” I greeted, walking forward.
Harriet Hewitt was standing in the lobby of my old, rundown apartment building, wearing one of the little sweater dresses she adored. I didn’t think I’d ever seen my mother in jeans.
“Flora!” she exclaimed upon seeing me, striding forward and pulling me into her arms. “Where the hell have you been? You’ve had me worried sick.”
“I moved,” I explained simply.
She pulled away, glowering at me in that disappointed way only a mother could.
“I figured that out when this apartment manager—or whatever he is—told me you no longer lived here. You said you were living in dormitories. This is far from dormitories,” she grumbled, looking around the dilapidated building in disgust.
“I’m sorry the building doesn’t meet your standards, Mother. It’s all I could afford, considering you didn’t want to help me pay for school,” I said pointedly, trying to keep the anger out of my voice, which resulted in a lot of snark.
“That was because we wanted you to attend a school closer to home, where we could keep an eye on you,” she huffed. “So, where exactly are you living now?”
“Who is this?” I asked, ignoring her question.
My mother turned to the side, running a quick stare over the tall alpha next to her.
She faced me again, a polished smile on her face.
“This is Harry,” she said, gesturing to the alpha.
“His pack works with your dads. When I told him I was coming out here to check on you, he wanted to come meet you.”
I glared at my mother for a moment, trying to fully comprehend her words. Was she… setting me up with someone when she was supposed to be worried about me?
“Wait—you came out here to check on me but brought a blind date?” I asked in astonishment.
My mother looked affronted but didn’t deny it.
“Harry saw your photo and thought you were pretty. I didn’t think there was any harm in bringing him along,” she said, putting a hand to her chest like she was the one who had the right to be offended.
“After all, you never even look at the dating profiles I send you.”
“Because I’m busy studying!” My head was throbbing, everything was spinning, and I was fairly certain I could vomit right then and there, right on my mother’s shoes.
Or maybe Mr. Perfect’s.
“And how can I believe that, hmm?” Mother folded her arms over her chest. “Because I think you’ve deceived us.
You’re not living where you said you were, and apparently, this rundown hole was what you considered permissible in the first place.
You need to come home immediately. If you insist on finishing your degree, you can do so at the local university.
You know your fathers will happily pay for that. ”
It was an argument I had heard many times before. Only, now, it wasn’t even an option. And we had an audience.
“I’m sorry, Mom, but I can’t do that.” I paused, collecting myself as I straightened my spine. “I have a pack.”
Harriet Hewitt, in all her motherly glory, complete with a random alpha in tow whom she wanted to foist on me stilled, staring at me in abject horror.
“You’ve… joined a pack?!” she asked in a shrill voice. “And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was planning to, but it’s all very new.” As I spoke, her eyes finally homed in on the bite mark on my neck, widening when she realized what it was.
“You… you’re bonded,” she whispered, looking as if she might faint.
“I am,” I smiled widely, because I wouldn’t be ashamed of it, no matter what she said.
“To whom?” Mother blinked at me, almost as if she were looking for another head to sprout out of the bite mark.
I turned toward Bear.
“To Bear,” I said simply, nodding in his direction.
My mother’s astonished expression quickly shifted to horror when she took in Bear’s appearance—his large size, the scar on his face.
“Flora”—Mom shook her head, taking a step backward—“what have you done?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. I knew Bear received less-than-warm welcomes a good chunk of the time, but I’d never seen it. And now, my own mother was staring at him like he was some… monster. Her tone rubbed me up the wrong way, and I bristled, stepping up to her to give her a piece of my mind.
Leveling her with a hard glare, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I bonded with an alpha I’m in love with. Isn’t that what you want for me?”
My mother leaned back, her brow pinching. “I wanted you to come home and settle down, so you could enjoy pack life with a nice, sensible pack. Who even are you?”
She stared at Bear and the others as if they were thugs or criminals, with no evidence whatsoever to support her assumption.
“They are my pack, Mother.” I gestured to my alphas. “This is Spencer, Chase, and as I said, this is Bear.”
My mother’s horrified gaze flitted between all three men, no doubt taking in their size and somewhat rough exteriors.
But she didn’t know them. She was judging them all by their appearance alone, which was ridiculous.
The pack was more than capable of caring for me, and most importantly, they actually liked me and had gotten to know me.
“And what, precisely, do you do?” she asked tersely.
“No, hi, no, hello, no, good to meet you?” I countered.
Chase didn’t bat an eye at her rudeness, shoving it off with that charming grin of his. “We run a private security firm,” he said, stepping forward and offering his hand.
She gingerly shook it, barely touching him. “While it’s… lovely to meet you”—she took her hand back, trying to disguise how unhappy she was—“I think it’s best that Flora comes home for a while.”
“If you want your daughter to visit home, we will happily accompany her,” Spencer cut in smoothly. “As long as it doesn’t impact her classes. Those are of the utmost importance to Flora, as I’m sure you know. We don’t want her to fall behind.”
I rolled my lips between my teeth to keep from smiling. Sometimes, I really loved how much of a dick Spencer could be.
Clearing my throat, I regarded her again.
“Mother, I love you dearly, but if you keep looking at my pack mate like that, one I am bonded to, we’re going to have a problem.
Yes, Bear has a scar on his face. No, I don’t give a shit.
He is more handsome than the pretty boy you brought to try to lure me back home with.
I don’t want to leave. I am quite happy where I am, and I need you to understand that, for once. ”
“Flora, you don’t have to—” Bear started.
I looked over my shoulder at him. “No one speaks poorly about my alpha. I love you, and I won’t deal with anyone—even members of my own family—treating you badly.” I turned back to face my mother. “Understood?”
“You can separate from them for a few days to come home and see your fathers,” Harry appealed, stepping forward.
“Flora is a member of our pack, and she said she’s staying here,” Spencer spoke calmly as he stepped up to Harry, sizing him up. Spencer was easily a foot taller and loomed over the stuffy alpha.
Harry took one look at Spencer and quickly realized he had no chance. He stepped away and cleared his throat. “Well… fine, then.”
“I’ll call you and give you my new address,” I informed my mother, moving toward my alphas. “But for now, I think it’s best if you leave.”
Mom’s brows shot up as she gaped. “Wait—you don’t want to at least get dinner with me? Flora, don’t be ridiculous.”
“You insulted my pack mate. No, I don’t want to go to dinner with you right now. How would you feel if someone said something like that about one of my dads?”
The room was utterly silent as my mother failed to understand where I was coming from.
I turned around, reaching for Bear’s hand as I started toward the door.
He was quick to take it, and I looped my arm around his, proudly walking out of the building with him, as I called back, “Tell my dads I said hi.”