Page 145 of The Packaged Deal

“You don’t play?” I ask with a laugh.

“Fuck no. I’ve got artists’ hands. I’m not risking them for a bit of mud and some bruises.” Hazel moves to lean on her omega.

They look so good together. It took a while for the packs to get this comfortable seeing them together. I think everyone expected them to suddenly attack each other, but their love just grows stronger.

Hazel and Soren understand each other, and you don’t get one without the other. It’s like they are two halves of the same whole.

To my surprise, Ruby brings my son back to me. Holding his hand and leading the four Treyfield scions who have thunderous faces.

“What happened?” I ask, but I’m hit with three mini alpha glares that look far too much like their fathers. Leo, Kest, and Ash stare straight at me. But it’s the sweet Drake that catches my eye. He’s staring at Ruby with adoration.

“How did you do that?” I ask the girl suspiciously. “Do you have your mother’s magic?”

Ruby laughs, and right then, at eleven years old, I can see that she is going to be an almost perfect replica of her mother. Well, these kids are in for one hell of a ride, but then again, so are the parents.

“He said he’s mine and just followed me.”

I choke. My son, no, he’s got years to go before I need to worry about girls. “Did he now?” I make a mental note to speak to his fathers about this and warn Kandi.

Scarlet puts an arm around her daughter and whispers something.

The girl nods, her eyes shining.

Onyx and Hazel just stare at me with laughter in their eyes. I snarl at them, but it doesn’t stop them at all. Evil cows.

“Oh, look. Give me my daughter back and go greet your sister,” I bare my teeth at Onyx, who lets out a squeal when she spots Silver.

Soren laughs softly and jumps down from the rail, sweeping Hazel into his arms.

“Let's go watch from the sidelines.”

“Ew.”

Soren whispers in Hazel’s ear until her face gets slack, and she turns red. She nods frantically.

“We’re going to watch from the sidelines.”

“Yeah, okay, bye.” I do not even want to know.

Onyx hands me my daughter and skips down the steps and across the grass, leaving Scarlet, Echo, and I standing under the shade. I coo at my daughter as she shakes her tiny fists. She’s going to be as beautiful as her mother.

No, she is as beautiful as her mother.

Silver and her pack are hesitant as they approach. But that changes when they get pulled into the mass of alphas. It’s the first year I've been able to make Silver attend. Silver’s pack are some of the most popular alphas around. They make friends wherever they go. Silver not so much, but our friendship has only gone from strength to strength. We hang out with pack Vore more than we do Raptore. Adrian and the twins especially get along really well.

I wonder how many of us are here because we got second chances.

I don’t realise I’ve said it out loud until Echo answers me.

“I got a second chance,” Echo says softly. “Xan was my childhood love, and we reunited years later.”

“I got a second chance. The pack I was in didn’t want me, they just wanted what I could do. I didn’t think anyone would want me. Then I found them, the Knights.”

Scarlet smiles down as Taylor, Acton, and Jet look up. “How strong the bonds are between us that just a change of emotion alerts us to each other.”

People start arriving in groups. Simon and his husband arrive. Moira, who worked with Onyx at the Omega Meet. People from Raptore Security. I spot Rayne with his new girlfriend. Jenny Lathem from the Omega Refuge. Captain Bordy, who is now retired, goes straight for Adrian’s mother. The two are good friends, and I think we’re all waiting to see if the widower and Adrian’s mother will end up as something more. I spot some of the locals from town and smile as the yard fills with people. Friends, family. Friends of friends. Our circle is large and sprawling now, always room for more.

Missy leans on the rail beside me. I shake my head at her super stealth skills.

---