Page 58 of Pack Larsen

Without meaning to, my eyes dart over to Pace, and I find him already watching me with a bone-shaking intensity that makes me wonder if he just heard my grandmother. Swallowing hard, I try to deny her words, only she gives me a look that dares me to lie to her face.

“I know you well enough, Silver Lane Gage. You’re smitten with those boys, there’s no denying it,” she softly admonishes, patting my hand in a motherly gesture that reminds me of every other time she’s proven what a better mother she is than mine. “You know, that boy with the dark hair and drawings all over him? Munro? He’s a dish, isn’t he? A bad boy, as the youth would call him, right? They’re all dishes, actually. All filled with different flavors.”

“Oh my god, Meemaw,” I choke, eyes wide as I stare at her.

“What? I have eyes that work just as well as yours,” she teases, grinning widely at me, finding far too much enjoyment in making me squirm. “They’re all very handsome guys, Silver. You’re a lucky girl.”

Pace snorts, and I snap my eyes to his. Oh, great. So, he definitely heard, then. That’s going to be an awkward conversation later. Maybe I can pretend it never happened, never bring it up, and hope he does the same. The burning in his honey eyes tells me that’s not going to happen, and I narrow my eyes on him again. It only serves to make his smile grow into a grin, and I roll my eyes at the bastard with twitching lips.

Focusing on my grandmother, I lower my voice and whisper, “I’m very lucky, Meemaw. So, you really like them?”

She nods, reaching for my hand to hold as she says, “They’re perfect for you. Just the pack I would love to see you belong to. I’m so happy for you, my girl.”

Well, shit. That means more to me than any approval I would ever get from my mother. With a sniffle and a fight against my emotional tears, I breathe, “Thank you, Meemaw.”

“Of course, sweetie,” she sweetly offers, leaning in to kiss my temple in a way she always has since I was a little omega with big dreams. “Now, how about you go sit with that boy who can’t keep his eyes off you. I’m going to mingle and wrangle some dollars out of the snobs your mother invited to this farce.”

“Farce? I thought you loved these things?” I blurt, frowning in confusion.

“As much as I love your Paws’ morning breath and afternoon toots,” she quips, brushing my hair out of my face before disappearing with only a wink left behind.

Pace is suddenly in the seat Meemaw vacated before I stop laughing, and I roll my head to the side to eye him as he watches me closely. My eyes are rolling next when he teases, “A dish, huh?”

“Shut up,” I snicker, turning to face him better in my seat, feeling wildly relaxed and ignoring why. I mean, I haven’t caught sight of my mother yet, but there’s still time.

Grinning at me, Pace leans in and rests his elbows on his knees as he peers at me closely, cataloguing every expression that crosses my face as he asks, “So, she approves?”

I bite my lip and nod slowly. “Thinks you’re all good for me. I think that’s debatable, if you want my opinion, but she’s an old woman set in her ways. I won’t bother trying to convince her otherwise.”

“You’re such a brat,” Pace sighs playfully, and I’m the one grinning next, my heart fluttering from a simple moment of banter.

A moment that is ruined when I smell her before I hear the voice that still haunts every waking and sleeping moment of my days. My smile slips suddenly, and my body tightens to almost painful, and Pace notices instantly. He’s standing and pulling me up with him in the next breath, wrapping an arm around my back just as my mother approaches with a wave of her lavender scent and cloying perfume that reminds me of decaying flowers.

“Silver,” she greets blandly, and I turn enough to look over my shoulder at the woman who birthed me. Her pale-blonde hair is pulled into a perfectly coiffed chignon, not a single wisp of hair out of place, and her artful makeup is applied in a way that provides her with a natural look that hides the bitch beneath.

A blood-red dress drags across the floor as she slowly walks toward me, arm linked with a man I’ve never seen before in my life, and my breath catches painfully in my chest. I almost stopped breathing entirely when my mother stops two feet away, eyes Pace like he’s the scum of the earth, glares at where his hand is pressed into my lower back, before she focuses her calculating gaze back on me. “Darling. I’ve been looking for you.”

‘Darling,’ my fucking ass. I pull a face that she doesn’t like, her fake smile dropping slightly before she recovers quickly, appearing to all the world what she believes a loving mother would look like. What a crock of shit.

I don’t bother answering, turning to face her and feeling Pace’s hand trail over my waist and stomach, where he keeps it as he stands tall at my side.

Releasing the guy’s arm, my mother takes a deep breath and leans in as though she’s about to hug me. No, thank you. That’s a boundary I’m not crossing, because I’m not about to play the part of an obedient, omega daughter like she had me play for sixteen years of my life. Even before my designation came in, she was treating me like an omega, ensuring I grew up as an omega despite the possibility I could be a beta or alpha. After all, three of my fathers are alpha’s.

“Don’t touch me, Cynthia,” I warn before she can wrap her bony arms around me, my words halting her movements instantly.

My mother offers me a scathing look as she tries to recover from the blunder that will embarrass her if anyone is watching, dropping her arms awkwardly as she returns to the stranger’s side. Patting his arm, she plasters on her fake smile once more and proclaims, “I wanted to introduce you to someone. Philip, this is my darling daughter, Silver. Isn’t she a beauty?”

My face pulls into an expression of disgust, and I sink deeper into Pace’s hold, feeling so painfully uncomfortable that it would be funny if this wasn’t a common occurrence. I don’t even know why she keeps trying. I want nothing to do with her or her pack, want nothing to do with her money, influence, or companies. And she fucking knows it. But, apparently, losing the control she once had over her daughter is proving difficult to let go. Her reputation matters more, of course. I’m sure there’s been whispers of my disappearance from Cynthia’s world of fabulous fancies and expensive luxuries, and Cynthia is probably flapping on how to smooth it all over. She’s been trying for four years, always finding me at functions and trying to lure me back into her clutches with wealthy packs that see me as a commodity and not a person. Not a member of a pack filled with love, care, and affection.

I’m a fucking pawn to these people, and I won’t be anything but.

Just as I open my mouth to awkwardly shoo her and the newest suitor away, pissing her off in ways only I can, Pace drags me close to his body and dips his hand lower on my stomach, his hand flattening the poofy material of the skirt to reveal his hand.

Cynthia catches the movement instantly, and I watch as a fire appears in her gray eyes only a shade darker than mine. With a bitter smile on her face that she tries to morph into one that looks more genuine, my mother clings to Philip’s arm and tilts her head like a dolt, laser focused on my alpha as she asks, “I’m sorry. My daughter hasn’t introduced us. You are?”

I peer up at Pace, eyes wide with alarm, because we didn’t discuss specifics. I have no idea what the hell I’m supposed to introduce him as. Is he my pack, my alpha? Ah, fuck me rolling down a hill.

Thankfully, my intense alpha flashes a lethal grin and answers for me. “Pace Larsen, Silver’s alpha and packmate.”

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