Page 52 of Loving Ladybug: Part One
Her spiced plum scent grew spicier with anger. “That asshole. Maybe your department has ideas? Do you have any research Compass BioTek would want? I have an in and they pay people for that.”
“Not that sort of mathematician,” I laughed. Three of her siblings did stuff for them.
A shadow fell over us.
“Ladybug!” Dean grinned, green eyes sparkling. He was well over six feet and positivelygiantfor an omega. His strawberry-blond hair had grown long in the off-season, and he had a scruffy goatee instead of being clean-shaven. He was a goalie for the Knights.
“Hey, Double D. Hi, Team Mom.” I grinned back.
Verity, also known asTeam Momby the skate smashers, was with him. She was around the rinka lot,because she had to be Mercy’s responsible adult before Mercy had turned eighteen.
She was striking, with long, thick dark hair, golden skin, and blue-green eyes, and leaned on her pink forearm crutch. Verity was tall, even for an alpha female, and willowy.
“I’m excited to be included in the goalie dance for JP’s wedding,” I added to Dean. I’d been learning it from the videos.
“It’s going to be so much fun,” Dean agreed.
“Are you and JP recovered enough to do that choreography?” I frowned. Both of them had been nursing injuries during theplayoffs. A couple of times they had to bring up a goalie from their farm team to help.
Dean nodded. “We’ll be good to go.”
“How are you going to get your hair done at spa day with Valya? New status, new hair.” Mercy was friends with Dimitri’s sister, too.
“I was thinking of cutting it shorter since it’s so damaged. Maybe dark purple? I never did a breakup post. Maybe I’ll just post anafterof mysingle girl glow-upand leave it like that.” I’d been deleting the more couple-y pics of us off of my social media.
Five years was a lot.
“Great idea. I might join you for shopping. Nothing fits right,” Mercy told me.
In these past few months Mercy had gottentalland broad,hitting that last growth spurt now that she’d come fully into her designation as an alpha.
“Oh, hey, Ladybug.” Jonas appeared. “Dark purple would be nice. So would a dark blue. Like ink. Sorry about the breakup.” The alpha’s eyes fell on my forehead. “That asshole didn’t deserve you. Are you here alone?”
He was a little taller than Dean, and broader. The Asian defender had lots of piercings and tattoos, alsobluehair. Jonas was in a pack with Dean and Verity.
I shook my head, seeing the text that Tenzin had found his friend and was on his way. “I’m here with my friend, Tens.”
Jonas smirked, absently petting Clara the cow. “Oh, right. Your new racoon in a bucket.”
“Who has a racoon in a bucket?” Griffin ‘Grif Graf’ McGraff joined them. He had red hair and a bushy beard. The star forward was bigger and taller than everyone else, standing six-foot-six.
He’d also pretended to be a beta until last year, when he’d been outed as an omega. While there were a couple ofomega goalies, there hadn’t been omega forwards in the PHL–especially an enforcer like Grif. Technically, Anders was the enforcer now.
“Ladybug,” Jonas replied.
“Congrats on the wedding. The pictures were beautiful,” I told Grif and Verity.
Grif and Verity had met on an airplane like they were in a rom-com. Verity had married Grif in a field of omega lilies on a Greek island this summer, so she could have the fantasy wedding of her dreams, followed by a huge-ass bonding party to celebrate their pack.
My phone buzzed with a message.
Unknown
You found my lizard? I saw your posters.
Me
I did! I couldn’t take care of him any longer, so I brought him to the reptile house at the zoo at the park. Call them and they’ll give him back.
