Chapter 10
Elijah
Devon’s smug expression is nothing compared to how happy he is in the bonds.
I reach out and touch Sofia’s arm, trying to steal her attention.
She jolts, sees it’s me, and turns a bright and brilliant red.
We don’t need to ask what she’s thinking about; we can all smell how turned on she is.
Their date might have been yesterday, but it had an impact.
Her scent is calling me like a siren, and I don’t think I've ever been harder than I am right now.
Devon, the smug bastard, gave her his courting gift, and she’s fingering the beautiful shell bracelet now. When she sees me watching, she stops.
“It’s okay to have a good time,” I mutter.
She cringes. “I’m, yes, it was a good time,” she murmurs quietly, looking at the kitchen where Sebastian and her parents are waiting.
I sigh and reach out, touching the back of her hand. She startles and spins to face me.
“Sorry, what were you saying?”
“Do you want to head down there? The event should start soon, we can get some space from all this.”
Sebastian snarls something that has her cringing.
“Yep, let’s go.”
I scoop up Danger and hold my hand out to her. She hesitates, staring at me long enough that I almost drop it, but at the last moment, she puts her small hand in mine. I lead her out the front door and down the steps.
I catch a whiff of bitter in her scent and wonder what the reason is.
“What’s wrong?”
“I, uh, I don’t know how things work, and I know we…” she trails off.
“We’re a pack, Sofia, we share.”
She stops walking, her mouth falling open as she stares at me, shocked. “Share?”
“Why are you stuttering over that word? Your mother has two bonds.”
“But it’s you three. So, you’re all right with me and Devon doing,” she clears her throat, “that?”
I lean in. “I am dying of jealousy, but, other than wishing it were me, I am fine with it.”
Sofia lets out a squeak of sound, and her scent loses the bitter notes and turns sweet.
It’s really hard not to stare at her. She’s wearing white denim shorts and a black shirt tied at her midriff. Her legs look like they go on forever, though they are paler than I remember.
Mack joins us, whistling a tune and tickling the puppy in my arms. “So, are we ready for this?”
“The group date? No,” Sofia snorts and runs her fingers through her loose hair. It reaches her lower back in a wave I want to touch.
“It will be fun. We can just enjoy it.”
“I just don’t want anyone to figure out that we are circumventing my mum’s plan. If she finds out, we’ll all be dead. You saw what she and Sebastian are doing.”
I wince a little. Devon’s still inside trying to help Milton and Franco find peace between them.
“I still can’t believe he deliberately chased off his match,” Mack says with a laugh.
“Oh, I can. His determination level puts him right up there in terms of competitiveness. His deal with Mum is solid; he’ll get out of this, but she will probably kill him before the end of it,” Sofia explains.
“What did he do to the omega?” I ask.
Mack and Sofia turn to me.
“Do you remember people taking you to Old Booties field?” Sofia says with a waggle of her eyebrows.
I can already see where this is going and I hate it.
I wince.
“Well, Bootie had a son two years back, and his son has taken up Old Bootie’s job with an aggression that has terrified all the locals—or so Imogen tells me.”
I pale. “He took her to run through the field, didn’t he?”
“Yep, needed to test her mettle,” Sofia says with a scoff. “She left town in the next taxi and swore black and blue she would never return to Sunshine Cove.”
“Running through Old Booties field is tradition, though,” I say, trying to hide a smile.
“Yeah, when you’re expecting it. I gather it doesn’t feel so great when you don’t.”
“Oh.”
“Plus, she was in a dress and heels.”
I wince.
“He’s lucky he didn’t get her killed,” Cordie snaps, startling all of us.
“Hey,” Sofia says and hugs her. “You have to stop this sneaking up thing; we are too young for heart attacks.”
“He’s infuriating. So irresponsible and reckless.” She huffs and tugs her bag up higher on her shoulder. “But did you hear about the thief?”
Sofia stiffens, looking carefully at her friend and not at us. “No?”
“Someone has been going around town stealing all sorts of stuff. Wallets, keys, Mrs Tomson’s cat figurine. Really random stuff.”
“There’s nothing worse than a thief,” Mack growls. “Don’t worry, we’ll find them and sort it out.”
“I would have thought you’d be skipping out?” Ugh, why did I just say that in such an accusing way? I wince at the tactless delivery, but when I glance up at Mack, he’s smiling at me, and I exhale in relief. I overthink things too much, but Mack helps me navigate my social awkwardness.
“I would have, but I’ve been roped into volunteering. Speaking of, I have to go up there and grab some stuff,” Cordie grumbles.
“Good luck,” I say solemnly.
She gives me a narrow-eyed, suspicious look before stomping off.
Hmm, apparently that didn’t come off how I wanted it to.
We continue down to the center of Sunshine and find a spot near the beach to wait. I lean on the rails, looking down the stairs at the sand. It’s a gorgeous summer day, perfect weather, not too hot, not too cold.
“What do you think it’s going to be?”
“With your mum, who knows,” Mack murmurs. “But it will be eventful.”
Twenty minutes later, a group of alphas, betas, and omegas are standing in front of us, facing the beaming Pack Makers. I don’t think any of us are as enthusiastic as they’d hoped.
“Are you ready for your first date?”
No one answers them.
“I can’t hear you!” Betty cries.
“Yes!” someone shouts more enthusiastically.
“Good alpha!” Betty says with a wide smile. “Today, we have something special. Your first date needs to find a common ground, discovering something you can like about each other.”
Kylie holds up her hands, drawing our attention.
“For that purpose, we’re sending every matching group on a scavenger hunt.
The fastest teams who can also answer the pop quiz correctly will get a special prize going into round two.
You will be given one clue and a packet of questions.
When you correctly find your answer, you will find a second clue.
There are ten items that you have to photograph and upload to our social media page.
Each of you has different clues and places to go, so no cheating! ”
I glance at Mack, whose eyes are shining.
“Mack is in his element,” I whisper to our omega.
Sofia looks from me to Mack, her expression turning guarded at his enthusiasm.
“Do you like…?”
Mack looks at her. “I really like puzzles and games.”
“And action figures and knitting?”
Mack turns red; it’s cute, and I know I’m not the only one to think so.
Her smile is slow but enchanting. I could almost be jealous that it’s directed at Mack and not me.
She laughs at the way he bounces on his toes.
“Well, go get our clues,” Devon says, suddenly joining us. He grabs Sofia’s hand and lifts her knuckles to his lips. “Good morning, Rebel.”
Her tiny sigh twists me up inside. I want more than anything for her to look at me like that.
“Oh, I made this for you.”
I reach into my bag and pull out a perfectly baked cookie. Her eyes widen.
“For me?”
“Yes.”
There’s something in her expression that looks far too much like pain. She bites her lower lip, looking around as if she’s self-conscious.
“You don’t have to eat it. It’s fine, I just thought you might like it,” I say quickly, cursing myself.
To my utter astonishment, her eyes fill with tears, and she turns away, brushing them. I wrap the cookie up, kicking myself for doing something wrong, though I’m not sure what, when she grabs my wrist.
“Wait. I want it.”
“Sofia, it’s okay, you don’t have-”
“I want it, please, Eli. It’s not you; it was a memory. Someone said something mean once, and I just remembered it.”
I hand it over to her slowly. She unwraps it and takes a bite. Her eyes widen and snap to my face.
There it is, the look I was hoping for…except I made her cry.
She’s not as comfortable with me as she is with Mack and Devon, and it shows. I pack up my backpack and step back, giving her space.
Devon hisses something at me, but I ignore him. I can hear the condemnation from my parents, the hisses that I’m not enough.
“On your marks…may the best smitten win!”
Mack bounces back to us and opens the envelope with the clue. “Something round, something blue, something borrowed, something canoe.” He waggles his eyebrows.
Devon groans in exasperation, but Mack and Sofia put their heads together.
“Has to be the river.”
“All right, let’s go.”
I follow along behind them, deep in thought. Things were good the other night. I’m not sure what’s happened.
“Eli?” Sofia asks softly.
I look up; they’re all looking at me.
“Sorry, what?”
“The question was, what are you most afraid of?”
The question? I look down at the paper in her hand. Oh, the game. Right.
“Afraid of? Well, I guess that would be becoming irrelevant.”
She waits until I’ve caught up and falls into step beside me. “How do you mean?”
“My parents expected big things from me, huge things. They told me I was special and going to be someone amazing. Right up until I didn’t please them, and then I became someone who was wrong and disgusting.
Now that I’m free, I live in this town, and I just…
exist, but what makes me afraid is that, one day, I will wake up and people won’t remember my name or what I did.
I won’t be important to anyone. No one will think I’m special or that I made a difference. ”
Danger stretches up and licks my chin.
“I love you, too, little buddy.”
“Eli, you would never be irrelevant.”
I shrug my shoulders. “It doesn’t matter if I am, really; what will be will be.”
“No, stop.” She grabs my arm. “Even if we never met again, you would be important to me forever.”
“You don’t have to be nice-”
“You were my first kiss.”
“I was…what?” I gape at her.
“You were my first kiss. That night, it changed everything for me. I thought about you for a year. You didn’t come back, though.”
“My parents sent me to boarding school,” I mutter, but my head is reeling. I was her first kiss.
She leans into me. “So, no matter what happens and who you end up with, remember that you are important to me.”
I look up to see Mack smiling at me. He winks.
“All right, next question,” Devon says.
“The next question is, ummm, oh. What is your biggest pet peeve?” Sofia asks.
“Dirty nails,” I say straight away.
Sofia laughs. “You and Dad must be like two peas in a pod. Mine is,” she pauses, frowning a little, “being cruel for no reason.”
“Really?” I ask, wondering why she looks haunted.
“Yes, I hate it. I don’t see the point. People should just be kind to each other; there’s no reason to be foul.”
“Drinking to excess all the time,” Devon says, and I know he’s thinking about his dad and oldest brother.
“What about you, Mack?”
“Judging people by their looks and not who they are.”
Sofia’s expression softens.
I turn away, not wanting to look at them. I feel like a fourth wheel on a three-wheeled bike.
“Look, we’re here. So, what was the clue again?”
“Uh, it was something round, something blue, something borrowed, something canoe,” Mack says.
“I hate games like this,” I moan. “I’m terrible at them.”
Mack bounces up on his toes, looking around. “The kayak shed.”
He leads us over there, but though they search, they can’t find it. I’m sitting on a log, looking at the small river when I see a blue disk on the nearest tree.
“Mack!”
Mack ducks out, looking at me. He always listens when I call him. He values what I have to say. I know we met because of her, but we bonded because we’re perfect for each other. I point to the disk.
“Yes! Good work, Elijah.”
He races over to it. “Got the next clue.”
We all gather around him.
“Berry sad to greet you again!”
“The berry bush near the road out of town!”
Sofia laughs. “Go, Eli!”
She throws herself at me, ignoring the grumbling puppy, and hugs me. She threads her fingers through mine, and we walk to our next clue.
We find it and the next one, and the one after that. All the while, we answer the questions that are on the sheet, and I find myself enjoying every moment.
We fit together so easily. Our morals and values line up, what we want out of life. Maybe I have a place on this bike. Perhaps she could learn to like me a little bit.
“What do you want in the future?”
And that question that Mack asks kills the mood faster than I’ve ever seen. Sofia goes quiet; she focuses on walking Danger, avoiding looking at us.
“It’s okay if you don’t know or you can’t decide.”
“We can’t have what we want,” she mutters and then stomps ahead of us, leaving Mack scratching his head.
I rush after her, pulling out a flask.
“Sofia, stop.”
She does, but she doesn’t turn to face me.
“Drink something.”
“No, I-”
“Omega, you haven’t had a drink in an hour. You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but please drink something.”
She huffs and turns to me, taking the flask and drinking.
I pull out another one of those cookies.
She eyes it and passes the flask back to me. I casually put the cookie in her hand and lean into her.
“Do you know what someone really wise told me about the future?”
“No, what?”
“This person said that the future isn’t decided yet; if you want something, you should fight for it.”
Her eyes widen. “Dad.”
“Yeah.”
“When did he say that to you?”
“The day I was waiting for my parents to come pick me up after leaving you.”
“Eli-”
I cup her cheek and lean down, kissing her softly. She responds to me instantly, shifting closer, one hand rising to rest on my chest.
I pull back. “I have been wanting to do that for years. It was better than I imagined.”
She blushes.
“Shall we go and finish this game so we can head home? I want to kidnap you tonight, if I can.”
She draws herself up and looks me in the eye.
“I’d really like that.”
I love that she sounds like she means it.