Page 30 of A Very Knotty Halloween
“You came here with your friend, right?” When she nods against my chest, I go on, “Well, maybe the four of us should leave here together? We could follow your friend home to make sure she gets there safely, and then we could go to your houseand break the news to your dad and my mom. When they see us together, they’ll realize they won’t be able to keep us apart.”
“Hmm” is all she says, like she has to think on it. “What about your dad? Do you think he’ll be upset?”
“No. The person I’m worried about is your dad.”
I can practically feel her rolling her eyes, she does it so damn hard. “My dad’s a beta. He’s chill.”
“True,” I agree with her. “Besides, all we really have to do is say we’re scent matches, and neither my mom nor your dad should be able to argue with that.” How could they? Finding her scent match late in life was the whole reason she split with my dad. If anyone understands scent matches popping up at the most inopportune times, it should be them.
Damien chimes in with a joke, “Sounds like family reunions are going to be really weird from now on. So, if Cas is your step-brother, but he’s also your mate, does that mean to our kids he’ll be daddy and uncle?”
The jerk is close enough that I can shove him without looking at him, so that’s what I do: I reach over and give him a shove, to which he acts like I stabbed him or something.
“Ow,” he whines. “That hurt. Just because you’re the pack leader doesn’t mean you have the right to push me around like that. So rude. Besides, like I said earlier,I’mthe daddy here—”
Jack says, “No, you wanted to becalleddaddy. Wanting to be called daddy and actually being one are two different things.”
“This is the twenty-first century. There can be multiple daddies in the picture. I guess I can share my throne with Cas, if I must—” The sigh that escapes Damien is ridiculous and dramatic, and it makes Marnie shake with laughter on my chest.
“You’re so silly,” she tells him, turning her face toward him and giving him a smile. I know firsthand the power behind that smile; it’s a damn good thing he’s laying down, otherwise he might’ve been knocked off his feet by the curve of those lips.
“Silly,” Damien echoes. “Don’t know if I’ve ever been called silly before, but coming from you, I’ll take it.”
“What about your families?” she asks the other two alphas, and Jack and Damien share a look before the latter speaks.
“My parents will be fine with it. I think my mom will want to throw a party the moment she finds out, and my dads… well, they’ve been on me for a while to start the search for an omega for our little pack. I say, once we tell your guys’ parents, we drop by my parents’ house without warning and give them the news.”
Jack gives him a strange look. “You want to just show up at their house with Marnie in tow without warning?”
“Uh, yeah, it’ll be funny.”
The other alpha doesn’t address that. Instead, he looks at Marnie and says, “Well, I’ll definitely tell my folks before I introduce you to them—it’ll give my moms some time to cool themselves down before meeting you.”
Marnie asks, “You have more than one mom?”
“Yeah. One of them is an omega, the other is a beta. She started out as a pack-panion, but she fell for my dads, too, and they took them both in and made them a part of the pack.” Jack shrugs, like it’s no big deal.
Not many packs have more than one female, but it does happen. Pack-panions are like companions; when an omega isn’t sure about a pack but wants to give them a chance, sometimes that omega will invite a pack-panion to accompany her or him for the trial run. It’s a very antiquated term that doesn’t see much use anymore. I think Jack’s family are the only people I know of that have used a pack-panion around here. Typically that pack-panion is a beta, someone who can stand up to the alphas and have the omega’s back, and once it’s decided whether or not the omega will officially stay with the pack, the pack-panion leaves.
Obviously, that didn’t happen with Jack’s mom.
“Wow,” she whispers. “I can’t wait to meet them. I mean, I’m nervous, but kind of excited at the same time.”
I trace circles on her lower back. “You’ll do fine. Jack’s moms are nice. His dads are pretty nice, too. Same with Damien’s. They’ll all love you.” I say it with emphasis, because I know it’s true. Not one of them would dislike her, not even my dad. We’ll have their blessings and then we can make it official. Get all the paperwork we need, maybe throw our own party; whatever Marnie wants to do, we’ll do.
Tonight was about getting her, and now that we have her, we’ll never let her go.
Chapter Fourteen – Marnie
It’s insane to me how right it feels, laying on top of Cas, with Damien and Jack to our left. The four of us on a giant bed, with all the space in the world, yet we lay so close to each other, I could touch the other two alphas if I wanted to—and I feel so at peace about it.
No more worries. No more anxiety. Just me and them. Me, them, and acceptance. Excitement about the future, even. That’s not something I could ever really claim before, but now… everything is different. All it took was a single night for my life and my future to change, and I wasn’t expecting it at all. That’s the crazy part. These three alphas came in a whirlwind, sucked me into that same whirlwind, and refused to let me escape.
But I don’twantto escape. This is where I want to be, no matter how awkward it may be when Cas and I tell our parents.
I’m freaking exhausted, I am, but at the same time… I can’t say that I’m ready to end the night just yet.
After we lay there a while, the silence comfortable, I decide to speak up. I turn my face to look at Damien and Jack when I say, “You know… you told me earlier you’d put on a show for me. I wouldn’t mind getting a taste of what it’ll be like to be a part of your pack.” As I say it, my cheeks flush to the point where they feel like they are on literal fire. I’m not someone who ever asks for something like this—never even imagined wanting to watch something like that, but tonight has opened my eyes in more ways than one.
