Page 15 of Pack Favero

“Mhm,” she answers, her voice soft and lyrical and just as sweet as she smells. Her scent fills the entire car, and I inhale deeply but subtly, taking a heady hit of it like a greedy bastard who hasn’t eaten in years. Then Zira distracts me by asking, “Is everything okay? You both looked a little stressed.”

I shake my head, flashing a gentler smile and tell her, “Other than needing to replace your ruined phone, everything is okay.”

“Okay, if you say so,” she smiles softly and I’ll be damned if it isn’t like those movies where it takes one look for a man to fall. Hell, another smile like that and I could see myself easily offering her my bank account, my last name, and the house my pack and I live in.

What the hell is wrong with me?

“Anyway, thank you for driving me. You really didn’t have to, but I appreciate it,” she adds, saving me from the embarrassment of offering her everything I own after knowing her for less than twenty minutes.

“It’s the least we can do,” Mac assures, and I spot him watching Zira from the middle seat in the back.

Lips twitching, I turn my focus back on the road, and decide to ask, “So, you’re visiting your mom?”

Zira nods, patting the bouquet of sunflowers on her lap. “Yeah. I try to visit as much as I can, especially since she’s not living with me anymore.”

“No? How come, if you don’t mind me asking?” Mac asks, stealing my question before I can pose it myself.

Zira sighs and shakes her head, crossing her legs delicately, and I force myself to focus on the road and not the creamy expanse of thigh that suddenly appears from beneath the pretty floral dress she wears. “How much time do you have?”

“Sat nav says fifteen minutes,” I note, flashing her a smile when she huffs a laugh. “I think that’s enough time tounload your woes on two strangers.”

She shrugs, looking completely at ease, and it loosens something in my chest at the sight. After all, my brother and I aren’t exactly small. At six foot five each and built with muscle thanks to the use of our home gym Alek insisted we needed, we’ve been known to be a bit intimidating. Moreso because of our businesses. Being a CEO of several companies across the world offers one the title of ‘hard-ass’ even when we’re anything but. So, knowing Zira is comfortable enough to relax into her seat despite us being total strangers… I don’t know, it’s nice. I like it.

“I guess it can’t hurt. What’s that saying, a trouble shared is a trouble lessened?” she snorts, a cute sound that has my smile growing. “Where do I even start?”

“Anywhere you’d like. We’re all ears,” I tease, grinning at my brother through the mirror when she laughs.

“Alright, so, Mom has a dodgy heart. We didn’t realize it was bad until a couple of months ago, when she was struggling to catch her breath just walking from her room to the kitchen. We took her to the doctors and they told us she had a deteriorating valve in her heart that needed replacing. Unfortunately, her insurance wouldn’t cover it, so she held off from having the surgery. Six weeks ago, the crazy woman collapsed and was rushed into emergency surgery despite our insurance refusing to pay out for such an expensive procedure,” Zira sighs, biting her lip as she peers out of the window. “Turns out, it was more than the heart valve that needed fixing. When mom collapsed, she fell hard enough onto the coffee table that she shattered her hip and broke her leg in the process. So, it was surgery on top of surgery and the cost mounted up. Anyway, when she came to recovery, her doctor instructed that she’d need a lot of physiotherapy and around the clock care, something I can’t provide while trying to work and make sure the bills are paid. She made the executivedecision to move there while she recovers. I’ve only been able to see her on weekends when I’m not teaching my girls.”

“Your girls?” I ask before Mac, hearing his inhale a second before the words slip past my lips.

A beautiful smile blooms over her face, and she answers, “A rowdy bunch of girls aged five to thirteen who have a passion for gymnastics. I teach on the weekends. Gymnastics was the only thing that kept my energy levels stable when I was growing up. I’m prone to hyperactivity, moreso since I came into my designation.”

“Let me guess. Omega?” I tease, causing Mac to snort and Zira to snicker. I’m pretty sure she perfumes a little when I beam at her before focusing on the road once more, a sweeter plume of creamy banana split with faint hints of caramel seeping through the car.

“You’d be guessing right,” she laughs, a faint blush painting the apples of her cheeks an alluring shade of pink.

“So, how long is your mom in the care facility?” Mac wonders, sending me a look that I read like a book. I’m pretty sure, if memory serves, that it’s the same facility Lazarus offered to pay for. The night they came home after Zira asked them to leave, Barnes explained it all to us and what happened, so I know Zira isn’t too happy with two of the alphas in my pack.

The omega shrugs. “I don’t know. However long it takes for her to get well again, I suppose. Mom seems pretty happy there. Probably moreso since she knows I’m not paying for it.”

Mac and I share another look before he opts to play dumb and says, “I don’t follow. I thought you said your insurance wouldn’t cover it.”

Zira groans and drops her head back, turning to look at Mac over her shoulder. “They won’t. They’re not paying for it. My coworker and his packmate are. That’s a whole other story.”

“Seems connected to me,” I joke, and she huffs anotherlaugh.

“It is, but it’s a whole thing right now. I’m realizing I might have been acting like an idiot toward them both and now I’m regretting it and feeling guilty. I have issues with copious amounts of money, and it seems I took it out on them,” she confesses, that blush deepening with embarrassment.

Me? Hell, I’m ecstatic, because if she’s feeling bad, that means not all is lost like Barnes seems to think. There’s a chance for them to talk it out, forgive and forget, and Barnes can finally stop hiding her from us. I mean, there isn’t a chance in hell that he’s hiding her anyway, not now that I’ve finally put a face to the scent that has followed me around for weeks.

If the look Mac sends me is anything to go by, I’m pretty sure his thoughts mirror mine.

“I’m sure they’ll forgive you,” I confidently assure, turning down a street when the sat nav instructs me to do so.

“I like your confidence. I’ve been a little bratty about the whole situation, so I’m not so sure,” she counters, that blush spreading over her cheeks and down her neck. If she didn’t look so sheepish, I would have teased her for it. She flashes me a look, and I can’t really tell what the emotion in them is, but there’s a spark there that I’m enjoying. “Truthfully, they should cut me off for it.”

I’m so distracted by that gleam in her gaze that I shake my head, my words slipping free before I think.

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