Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Silva
The sun is shining by the time we get home, and Syrus carries me inside to continue to sleep while Izzy, Harlan, and Kyren take care of any evidence. We apparently didn’t leave the lot for another two hours while Kyren and Harlan worked, and Izzy went back to help them at some point.
I slipped in and out of sleep, and I’m exhausted. Work is gonna suck tonight.
It’s almost five in the afternoon by the time I get up, and I curse as I find myself alone in bed. Rushing, I run to the bathroom and shower. Scowling at my hair, I braid it and pin it into a ballerina bun. That’s about the best I can do.
Getting dressed quickly in a pair of trusty black cargo pants and a long sleeved off the shoulder shirt, I also pull on my thick socks before brushing my teeth and throwing on some makeup. I don’t want to look dead, because that leads to more questions than I want to answer.
Checking myself over in the mirror again, I stumble as I see that my skin is littered in bites. There are also an absurd amount of hickies. Biting my lip, I touch them, smiling softly as I remember my heat.
“Possessive men,” I mutter.
“Yes, yes we are,” Izzy smirks from the doorway.
“No one woke me up,” I remind him, deciding to wear the shirt.
“We lost track of time,” he says, wincing slightly as I push past him. “Syrus texted me from work to make sure you were up.”
“Ha!” I say, grabbing my purse on the way out of my room. It’s kind of trashed, I’ll have to fix it later.
“I’ll clean up to make it up to you,” Izzy promises, making me side eye him. “I can feel your emotions now, and they were kind of stabby.”
Snort-laughing, I nod as we head downstairs. “Well that explains it,” I murmur. “I have to run so I’m not late.”
“Sy also wanted you to eat,” he groans.
“I don’t have time,” I laugh, pulling on my combat boots and outerwear. “People need their booze.”
“I saw there’s supposed to be a big storm soon,” Kyren says, watching me as he crosses the house.
“When?” I ask, wrapping my scarf around my neck and pressing the button on my expensive gloves to start the warming function on them.
Izzy takes my keys and auto starts my car so it won't be freezing inside by the time I get out there, and Harlan grabs the ice scraper. Looks like these boys are figuring out how to manage a Colorado winter just fine.
“Wednesday of next week,” Harlan grunts.
“Plenty of time before that happens,” I shrug with a smile.
“Crazy woman,” Kyren mutters. “They’re saying we’re going to be snowed in.”
“I guess we should see what we’re running low on, and what we need to buy then. Shouldn’t we, Pookie?” I tease him.
Growling, he swaggers toward me until I’m pinned against the wall, his lips devouring mine until they’re puffy and my face is flushed.
Pulling back, he gazes at me with something akin to confusion on his face.
“We should go on a date,” he murmurs.
“Okay,” I agree, enjoying how his emotions change. He’s projecting all over his gorgeous features. Brushing his red hair back, I grin up at him. “When?”
“Tomorrow during the day?” he suggests.
“Do you ice skate?” I ask.
“Kind of. It can’t be too hard to figure it out, right?” he asks, making me chuckle.
Oh, this should be interesting.
“Of course not,” I tease him, pushing him back so I can collect my keys and open the front door. “Good bye, boys.”
“Bye, Princess,” Kyren calls after me as I walk out the door.
Harlan follows me, his breath huffing out in front of him as we walk to my SUV. He works quickly to scrape off the ice on my windows as I get into the vehicle, and I get situated.
Warmth that has nothing to do with my seat warmer fills my chest, making me sigh. Harlan, Kyren, and Izzy have infiltrated my life, and I’m no longer angry about it.
Harlan waves at me once he’s done, and I blow him a kiss as I pull out of the driveway.
My mind is full as I think about what my life could look like as I drive through the streets.
Our snow plows have been through by now, and the roads are well salted.
We always want to make sure people can get home safely, but as Syrus has told me, sometimes that’s not always possible.
Parking is easy since we aren’t quite open yet, and I rush into the club to find my sister is behind the bar.
“Hey, Lex,” I say, rushing past her to dump my things in the office down the hallway. Blowing out a breath, I make my way back. I didn’t expect her to work behind the bar tonight with me, but I’m so tired, I’ll appreciate the help.
This town has one of the best grapevines for gossip anywhere. Once they hear I’m at the club, people are bound to come in for a chat and to make sure I’m okay.
“Hey, Firefly,” Lexi says, amused as she watches me. “You okay?”
“Me?” I ask, thinking about the whirlwind my life has been over the course of the last four days. “Yeah. I’m really good.”
“Bite marks, huh?” she asks, turning me so she can examine me. “Who?”
“Isidro and Syrus,” I reply. “I’m not ready for alpha bites yet.”
“Did they do something?” she asks.
“Did who do something?” Emmett asks, coming closer.
“No one,” I say, rolling my eyes. His gaze returns to Lex and I can’t help but grin as she smiles at him.
I’m glad they’re together. She seems so much happier nowadays. Lex was originally worried about his age because he’s so much younger than us, but it’s just a number. He’s so protective of her.
Emmett pulls his eyes away from my sister to look at me again, blushing when he sees one of Izzy’s bites on my collarbone.
“Damn,” he mutters.
“Ugh. I have makeup in my bag,” I sigh. “I’m going to cover it up.”
“Silva,” Emmett begins, but I flick him off and leave, rushing for my bag. I have a cover up that’ll work just fine.
“He didn’t mean anything by it,” Lexi says, finding me in front of a full length mirror in the office, using a sponge to blend the makeup into my skin.
I’m an old pro at putting my face on at work.
“I know,” I say, watching the bites disappear. Blinking hard, I start to panic because it feels wrong. Pressing on the underside of my breast where Syrus bit me, I use the pain where it’s healing to ground myself as I keep my breaths even.
Chill out, Silva. It’s just a little makeup.
“Then what’s wrong?” Lexi asks.
“Decided I don’t want to be stared at all night,” I explain, blending everything.
With patting and a little elbow grease, it’s like nothing ever happened. Fuck. Breathing deeply, I will away the tears that are ridiculous. I’m not erasing my heat, simply giving myself a little privacy.
My phone vibrates in the pocket of my pants, and I sigh as I dig it out, checking to make sure I managed to color correct all the love bites.
“Hello?” I answer, leaving the phone on speaker as I find a spot that looks like a bruise.
“Can I kill whoever made you feel sad?” Izzy growls, making my lips twitch as I chuckle.
“No, you can not,” I murmur. “I’m in the office covering some of the lovely bites you left all over me.”
“Rude. That’s a work of art!” he yells.
“You’re dramatic,” I say, finding the pain in my chest easing.
“Please don’t kill my boyfriend,” Lexi says beside me, watching me.
There’s a scuffle for the phone, and I hear people punching each other as I roll my eyes.
“Oh my God,” my sister says, looking worried.
“They’re fine,” I say. “Are you going to beat each other or talk to me? You can’t do both.”
“The bloodlust is strong with this one,” Kyren says, wrestling the phone away from Izzy. “He was worried about you.”
“I’m alright, just sleepy. I ran out of the house without coffee or food,” I shrug.
“I can fix the coffee and food part,” he decides. “We need to go into town anyway. We’re a little light on food.”
“Hmm. Feeding a pack will do that,” I tease him.
That’s not entirely true. I stocked up knowing that I would be having people move in with me.
“Well, the pack just has to make sure they feed their omega, huh?” Kyren says, playing along as my cheeks flame. “We’ll be there soon.”
“I hear there’s a stabby omega in the bar. Don’t get tased,” I say easily.
Kyren chuckles, the rich sound making me sigh happily as he hangs up.
“Is that what foreplay sounds like for you?” Lexi asks, grinning as I stare her down.
“Foreplay leads me into some really interesting places,” I say instead, enjoying as the smile drops off and she sticks her fingers in her ears.
“Silva!” she groans.
Having sex outside after murdering Brad is definitely one of my favorite moments, not that I can tell anyone that.
“Don’t ‘Silva’ me,” I say, deciding that I’ll pass the club test. No one will see the results of my heat. “Tell me what I’ve missed? I’m not the only one with a pack that’s moved in, am I?”
“No,” she mumbles, biting her bottom lip. “They were going to get kicked out of Tea’s place. You know how she is, and everything is full.”
“That’s exactly how I got Isidro to agree to move in with me,” I snort. “Honestly, Lex. I swear we’re devious even when we aren’t trying.”
Relaxing, she shrugs. “It’s been going okay so far. I’m not used to having so many people in my space.”
“Thankfully, I was too strung out during my heat to really notice,” I say. “They’re picking up after themselves, and helping to take care of the house while I’m working. I could get used to this.”
Leaving the office with her, I find myself no longer as anxious now that I know Izzy and the guys are coming to see me. Being an omega is confusing at the best times. While you’re trying to figure out how a pack is going to fit into your life?
It’s sure to ensure that I’m going to fall into some emotional potholes.
“The girls are asking for a girls’ night soon,” Lexi adds once we’re behind the bar again. “It’s been awhile.”
“It has,” I admit. “Things have been nuts. Let’s do it soon.”
Emmett waves at me to show that he’s about to open the doors, and I nod to show that I understand.