Page 43 of Claiming Xan
“Sounds ominous,” he muttered. “Like I’m going to be sacrificed to a great wolf god or something.”
That made me snort, then giggle. Rolling over, I leaned in and kissed him. God, I liked kissing him. “No one’s sacrificing anyone,” I said, matter-of-fact. “I don’t know why we needfamily involved, though. This is between us and her. My siblings don’t have any business being a part of this, but leave it to Mom to add a bit of drama to the mix.” I rolled my eyes. “Ugh. I don’t want to go. Do we have to?”
River looked at me, and he looked so damn soulful that my heart skipped a beat. Emotion shone in his two-toned eyes, but it was an emotion I couldn’t quite decipher until, finally, he spoke.
“We could always skip town. Elope and put down roots somewhere else, where nobody knows our names. Start fresh, just the two of us,” he said softly, making my chest squeeze.
“I’m tempted…but this place is my home, and these people, however insufferable, are my family,” I told him. “And besides, I would miss Shay and Donovan a lot. I’m going to be a godfather in a couple more months. I can’t miss that.”
River smiled. “I know. Your place is here.”
I reached over and squeezed his hand. “Your place can be here, too, you know. With me,” I said. “Let’s just deal with Mom and get it over with. Worst case scenario, we only see her on holidays and only because I don’t want to deprive my baby of never knowing it’s grandmother.”
“And best case scenario?” he asked.
I puffed out my cheeks on a sigh. “I don’t know. I’d like to think Mom’ll come to terms with us being mates and start treating you better, but who knows. C’mon, let’s go shower before we have to pack up and check out.”
Just like the last time we made the trek from hotel to home, the drive was quiet. Except this time, I held on to River’s hand, my thumb rubbing gentle circles over his knuckles.
I could feel the Alpha’s tension. I knew that this wasn’t comfortable for River—hell, it wasn’t comfortable forme, seeing how I left things with Mom, but we needed to set things straight.
As I pulled into the drive and parked alongside Kace’s truck, I turned to River. “Look at me.” He did, and I gazed into his eyes.“No matter what, we’re in this together, okay? I’m not letting you walk away again. If she can’t accept you, then she can’t accept us.”
River growled, but it petered into a soft whine before he nodded. I leaned up and kissed him, and we went inside, our hands held and our hearts hammering.
Home smelled like it always did—freshly brewed coffee and something sweet and cinnamon in the oven. We barely made it through the door before I heard, “Xanny!”
Nevin came running over and threw his arms around my neck, hugging me fiercely. I dropped River’s hand to grab onto Nevin’s shoulders. “Nev, hey.”
He pulled back, his brows pinched in a frown. “I was worried about you…” He glanced over at River, who had gone stiff. Then Nevin offered a delicate hand. “I don’t think we were ever formally introduced. I’m Nevin Moore, Kace’s mate.”
“And fiancé,” I teased, pointing out the gorgeous sapphire and diamond ring on Nevin’s finger. The other Omega blushed. “Nevin, this is River. He’s a little on edge right now, but maybe we can all get together for game night sometime, and you could get to know each other?”
Nevin’s smile was bright. “I’d love that. That’s a great idea.”
“Wait. Where’s the baby?” I asked, and Nevin giggled.
“In his carrier, fast asleep. Car rides always zonk him out.”
“Aww, so cute.” My hand fell to my flat stomach, my thoughts immediately turning to the little glow of life growing inside of me now. Would it be a boy like Zechariah, or would I get a little girl to dress in cute dresses and hair bows?
Kace’s shadow fell over the doorway to the foyer. “Hey, the gang’s all here. Are you coming?” he asked, a lopsided smile on his face.
I waved him off. “Yeah, yeah.” I looked up at River. “Ready?”
“No,” he grunted.
“C’mon.” I squeezed his hand, and we entered the dining room together, on the heels of my brother and his mate.
Mom sat at the head of the table. I couldn’t help but notice she looked exhausted, her wrinkles more pronounced and the bags beneath her eyes sagging. On one side of her sat Tasha and Quinn, and Kace and Nevin took the other.
Mom’s gaze landed on River and I saw the anger flicker across her face before she quickly schooled it. River stiffened beside me, so I knew he’d noticed it too, which meant we were already off tosucha wonderful start.
Mom gestured and said, “Please. Sit.” We took our places at the opposite end of the table, facing my family directly. I won’t lie, it felt kind of like we were about to face the executioner.
Once we were seated, she cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter in her chair. “I appreciate your willingness to hear me out.”
“Yeah, but why did you need to get the whole damn family involved in our personal matters?” I asked, cutting a glance to Kace. “No offense.”
