Page 87 of Big Knot Energy (Shadowverse)

Amir’s sisters were still a little too young to present, but I loved that their parents were already setting them up for success by not making them feel as though they would be a failure if they were a beta. Something I’d never experienced.

“We’re not having a ceremony,” Amir answered as we stepped through the cozy living room and was guided straight to a fairly largedining room with enough chairs to fit the whole family plus company.

“Why not?” Annalise and Amini whined at the same time, then startled giggling.

This was how a home was supposed to sound, how it was supposed to feel. Their absolute commitment and adoration to and for each other was palpable in the air and evident in all the framed family pictures and obvious child art. There were literal child paintings of crooked houses complete with the sun in the corner framed and hanging on the walls as though they were displaying a Renoir or Picasso.

Instant peace washed over me, chasing away the earlier jealousy as I was led to the kitchen and was instantly swept away by the scents of home cooking.

Sure, we cooked for each other at home now, but growing up, it was the nannies or the housekeepers who would provide the meals and it never smelled so much like…like a homecoming.

That was the only way to describe it, as though Athena had found a way to literally infuse her food with love before serving it to her alphas and her children.

“Your home is so beautiful,” I said as I let my eyes roam the space, the children’s art, the backpack hanging over the back of one of the chairs, the laptop sitting on an end table, even the pillows and throws that weren’t perfectly folded and arranged to make the house look like a museum.

“I would say sorry about the mess, but we live in a perpetual mess,” Athena said with a chuckle. “Now,” she started, guiding me to a chair as she went back to work in the kitchen, “tell me everything.”

I looked around for Amir – or anyone – to save me from this line of questioning. I was a little worried about how my omega’s family would react to the fact I’d had a previous alpha and had walked away, or that my family had been one of the most notorious crime families in the area.

Or that my sister was bonded to a pack of criminals.

“Um…”

“You’re so pretty,” little Annalise said, saving me for a moment.

“Are you the one who named Princess Fancy Pants?”

She giggled and tilted her head to the side like I’d embarrassed her, or maybe she was excited that I was actually talking to her.

“Yes,” she said with that same sweet giggle.

“How come you guys aren’t having a bonding ceremony?” Amini asked.

I had hoped to be saved from another line of quickfire questioning, but now, Athena was turned around watching me, a ladle in her hand.

My heart began to thump a little faster as I wondered how much to actually tell Amir’s family. I hadn’t been coached on what to say or not to say. I didn’t want his family to forbid him to be with us or to dislike us because of my past.

“She already had a ceremony and her alpha was an asshole,” Amir said as he entered the room, scooping Annalise up and tossing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

She squealed and giggled, kicking her little feet.

Amini and Athena were both looking between me and Amir and I waited for the judgment.

But Athena nodded and pursed her lips. “He hurt you,” she said before turning back to the stove.

It wasn’t a question. She’d simply stated it.

But when she turned off the stove and faced me again, there was anger in her dark eyes.

“Is he still breathing?”

“Mama!” Amir said with a shake of his head. “Could we at least eat before you start with your Greek anger?”

“You think it’s going to be any better with your Arab father?”

My attention bounced back and forth between them, unsure of exactly what either of them meant? Did this mean his father had a temper? Would I be peppered with even more questions? Surely, they wouldn’t want to discuss things like violence and abuse in front of the young girls.

“Girls, set the table,” Athena said.

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