Page 8 of Pack Favero

Apparently, that’s all it takes for the hangry omega to tuck into the delicious goods Barnes baked just for her. It didn’t even take any coaxing. Apparently, he overheard my promise of cinnamon buns and he just made them. I consider it Zira’s new superpower, being able to get Barnes to bake her treats without even begging. A man could get used to that.

At the first bite, Zira moans lowly, her long eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks as her eyes shut with a sigh. I’m so distracted by those pretty noises and that pretty face that I don’t notice Barnes step back into the room, offering us each a plate of our own. I don’t even know when the hell he went to the kitchen, unable to take my eyes off Zira enjoying her breakfast.

None of us speak while we eat, and I’m all too amused when Lazarus places one of his cinnamon rolls onto Zira’s plate just when she finishes her second and looks saddened that her plate is empty. It’s hella cute, how an alpha’s instincts kick in when there’s an omega around. They haven’t noticed it, but they do the same with Silver, only there’s nothing brotherly about the interactions currently happening with this particular omega. Barnes hasn’t taken his eyes off the beautiful woman, watching her every move like a panther watching his prey. Lazarus has been doing the same, only with a little more subtlety, his eyes drawn to her mouth a whole lot more than I’ve ever seen him offer a single person before.

By the time we’re done, Zira taking the last cinnamon bun slowly as if to savor it, Barnes takes her plate and I turn in my seat to face her as I ask, “Feeling better?”

Zira sighs, slouching in her seat, enough that my hoodie rides up on her thighs, revealing more of her creamy thighs that I ought to be ignoring. I can’t, though, because those thighs lookabsolutely biteable and I’m all too aware of the scent of her trickling from her skin.

Thankfully, she distracts me enough when she nods, a shy smile tugging at her lips as she says, “Much, actually. Thank you. You’re the first person, other than my mother, to know what I need before I do.”

I shrug. “I have an omega cousin. I’m well equipped to handle a hangry omega fresh out of a heat cycle.”

That blush on her cheeks deepens, the rosy color suiting her far too much, and my grin widens at the sight.

Zira clears her throat, shuffling awkwardly in her seat, before sighing once more and holds her hand out to me. “I suppose introductions should come next, right? After all, you’ve already crossed several barriers without telling me your name.”

Chuckling, I slide my large hand into her much smaller one and shake, offering her my name. “Alek Gage, at your service.”

“Gage,” she mutters, eyebrows pinching together as though she’s thinking hard about something. “As in, related to Silver Gage?”

“That would be the aforementioned cousin, darling,” Laz quips, smirking over at her as he leans nonchalantly in his seat, eyes solely on the woman beside me.

Zira huffs. “I’m still not talking to you.”

“Fully aware, sweetheart,” he retorts calmly, amusement crinkling the skin around his eyes in ways I’ve only ever seen when he’s with us. That’s interesting, to say the least.

“So, now that we have that out of the way, why don’t you explain to me why you’re giving the Englishman the cold shoulder and ignoring poor ol’ Champ’s calls. The man has been nothing more than a lovesick puppy pining after you for the past six weeks, though it was only yesterday that I realized it was caused by your voicemail,” I suggest, turning in my seat to offerher my undivided attention, digging my elbow into the back of the couch and resting my chin on my fist.

“You already know why, you git,” Laz sighs, taking a sip of his tea like a walking cliché of every British person ever. “You’re simply relishing in the fact that she doesn’t know-”

“Tell me it all, little lady. Unload your troubles and woes,” I interrupt the bastard before he can lump me in with those shitheads. Of course, I know what they did. I simply want to know why Zira is so pissed at them. I mean, sure, it’s a lot of money to drop on a relative stranger, but we have more than enough to spare between the five of us. In fact, I’m sure one of us could have paid the medical bills and it would have barely put a dent in the account the money came from. For five men who make enough money to live beyond the means of comfort for the rest of our lives, Mother Favero’s medical bills were simply loose change, in the grand scheme of things.

I am fully aware and conscious that I’m much luckier than many, though. What’s spare change to us could fund a life for someone with all of the necessities they could need. Which is why we support as many charities as we do. You don’t earn as much money as me and my guys do without wanting to give back to those who aren’t as fortunate. Which is what we did for Zira, though it was less charitable and more that Barnes wanted to take care of the omega, and we held the same sentiments.

Zira, still spicy enough that the fire inside her has only ebbed enough that one wrong gust of air could set the embers to flames again, sighs deeply and shakes her head, crossing her arms over her chest as she grumpily explains, “I’ve already told those two why I’m annoyed.”

“But I’d like to hear it from you,” I counter, winking at her when he peers over at me from beneath long, dark lashes that brighten those unusually-pale-green eyes until they pop.

“This is stupid,” she breathes, rolling those gorgeouseyes. “But fine. I’m pissed because, when they suggested they pay for Mom’s medical bills when the insurance wouldn’t, I refused the offer, because I don’t like owing people. Money, favors, debts. I hate it. I worked my ass off, Mom worked her ass off, to get to where we are now. I wasn’t prepared to allow someone I’ve known for only a few short months and a stranger I met at the hospital throw money at us like it held little to no value. When I thought the issue was resolved, I found out that they paid it regardless. Without my approval, my mom’s medical bills were covered, and I was only informed when I went to ask about possible payment plans. It would have taken me ages to pay it back, but I would have done it. But that’s not all. To add salt to the wound, Barnes offered to pay for a care facility that would be better equipped to deal with Mom’s needs after her valve replacement and broken leg and hip after she fell. Mom didn’t even hesitate before accepting, so now I live alone, without the one person on this shit-sucking planet that actually cares about whether or not I eat throughout the day. I’ve been with that woman every single day for the past twenty-five years. Every. Single. Day. There were no sleepovers, no summer camps, nothing. It’s been me and Mom since the moment she found out she was pregnant. Now I’m only able to see her on weekends, I miss my mom, and I’m living in that shitty apartment alone. So, you’ll have to excuse me for being pissed about it.”

My eyes are wide as I watch Zira heave for air, her rant pouring out of her as though I turned the faucet too far and her words pour out of her in a flood of sharp words. I’m utterly enraptured, because the more she talks, the more of that guarded, cautious look in her eyes fades, making way for a bone-deep aggravation that I shouldn’t find as appealing as I do. As it was, I’ve never seen anyone with quite so much passion and fire under their skin until now. I mean, not even Silver gets this riledover things, and she can be a sassy little shit when she wants to be. Pretty sure Juno isn’t even this wild, either.

“So, now I’m indebted to a pack I don’t know,” she grumbles, before pointing at Barnes’s devilishly good-looking face. “I have to see that face every day, my phone is plagued by his calls, and now I’ve been kidnapped by him and the pack I didn’t even know he had until the night Mom ended up in hospital.”

“So, we’re back on the abduction,” Laz notes, voice calm and controlled even as his lips twitch with amusement.

“Yes. We are. Because despite the way you’re all trying to downplay it, I didn’t agree to be here, surrounded by men I don’t actually know, and naked under a hoodie that isn’t even mine,” she snaps back, those embers fully aflame now.

I shiver, because apparently a riled-up Zira Favero is something that really does it for me. It shouldn’t, because I don’t know this feisty, little omega, but tell my body that. Worse is the image she’s planted in my head of her lithe, tiny body encased in my maroon hoodie that looks much better on her than it ever has on me.

Deciding to keep my hands busy in order to prevent myself from reaching for the omega and likely scaring the absolute piss out of her, I run my fingers through my hair, untangling the lingering knots and decide to try my hand at braiding the unruly strands once more while Barnes finally speaks up. “It was either bring you here where you could rest or leave you on the bathroom floor. It’s not like we blindfolded you and bound your ankles and wrists to ensure you couldn’t get away. You were barely hanging on to consciousness when we arrived. Is it so bad that we wanted to help you and brought you here to provide what you were lacking in your apartment?”

“I was perfectly fine on the floor,” she argues with a sniff, tugging the sleeves of my hoodie over her hands before crossingthem over her chest once more. “It’s not like I asked you for help. I didn’t even let you into the apartment, you both just let yourselves in without even knocking.”

“We did knock, little lady. We’re not Neanderthals. When you didn’t answer, Barnes called your mom and she told us to walk straight in because you were likely indisposed,” I correct gently, smiling at Zira when she turns her head to face me, shock etched into her perfect face.

“That meddling little heifer,” she breathes, eyes dropping to where my hands are trying and failing to wrangle my hair into braids. “So, she was the cause of my abduction?”

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