Page 60 of Sincerely, Pack Pucked
Iwanted Mable.
It didn’t matter how much I tried to remain stoic and unattached; I wanted that little omega more than anything-he night before had only solidified my feelings, which I’d tried to deny all day before calling her. Listening to Mable talk and thencomehad ignited a fire in me that I doubted would be easily extinguished.
It seemed like I blinked and everything had changed. My priority had been my three pack mates, but now it was them and the tiny pregnant omega whom I hoped would join our pack one day. My entire pack looked to me as their leader, but the reality was, I wasn’t that much older than any of them—and hardly that intelligent myself. Sure, I’d managed to help us negotiate a few hockey contracts, but that was the extent of my genius.
And quesadillas, I guess.
Deep down, I was still a sweaty-palmed, anxious alpha who didn’t know how to make a girl like him. Sure, I was particularly skilled at getting laid, but that was simply because I was an alpha and an athlete. It didn’t take much for a woman to fall into bed with you when those two features were stacked in your deck.Relationships, however, were different. They took more work, and they needed to be treated a lot more carefully.
As we drove to the game, my hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles were white, I couldn’t help but wonder if I could persuade Mable to come over again so she could see the plants on my windowsill.
Actually, they needed repotting before she saw them. The last thing I wanted was for her to judge me for the lack of care I’d given the plants. Care was what I did. I cared for the guys. I cared for the plants, and I’d care for her if given the opportunity.
We also needed to make the guest room more suitable for her. Most of the drive to the rink, all I could think about was nesting materials, baby supplies, and just how much our lives were about to change.
“Dude, I’m not even excited for this game,” Saint grumbled as we drove, throwing his head back. “I would much rather be seeing Mable.”
I hummed in agreement. It wasn’t even an important game, as we were in the offseason.
Jasper and I were in the front as I drove, Percy and Saint in the back. We always drove to our games together. It was the agreement we made when we were first scouted—we do everything as a pack. Sure, there had been a time when Jasper and Saint had been offered contracts with different teams, but they had instantly rejected them.
We were good players individually, but together—as a pack—we were amazing.
Our security team was following us in another car. Bear and Spencer usually had their hands full during games because that’s when Saint’s manic fans were most likely to flock to us in droves. They loved hanging around near the entrance where players would enter in hopes that they would catch a glimpse of him—or something more if they were one of the creepy ones. Chase, thethird member of the security team, sometimes hung back to keep an eye on the penthouse in case any crazy fans tried to enter.
I glanced at Saint in the rearview mirror. “I get that, but imagine how upset she’d be if you were distracted because of her.”
“True. I still don’t like it, though,” he grumbled.
“How long do you think it will be before we can convince her to move in?” Jasper asked, his tone almost whining, which was nothing new from our pack’s resident princess.Hate to break it to you, Jasper, but you’ve been dethroned.“We have a guest room. We can even get it nicely painted for her!”
I would be lying if I said I hadn’t also been considering how quickly we could convince her to move in. Mable hadn’t seemed particularly wild about the penthouse, but I didn’t think that was because of any of the design choices, more so because of the sheer extravagance of it.
I understood and appreciated that to a degree. It had taken me some time to get used to the penthouse. None of us were raised with wealth, and going from lower middle-class obscurity to signing a pack contract worth over eight figures had been a shock. Mable was living in a tiny dorm room, though, and it wasn’t in the best part of campus, so I was concerned.
Maybe buying her a security system in the interim would be a good idea? Did dorms allow that?
But before I could comment about it, we were at the rink. I pulled into the parking lot at the back of the rink, where the players could get a bit of privacy, and threw the car in park.
Our home rink was state-of-the-art and gigantic. The Chargers invested a lot of money on training their players. On game days, we always arrived an hour or two early to eat some food and practice with the team.
“We can’t push her to move in too soon. Her entire life has been turned upside down. We need to take things at her pace,” I said.
But as the words left my mouth, they felt wrong. My inner alpha was riding me hard. He wanted to scoop up Mable, get her in the penthouse, feed her snacks and look after her.
“But, okay, hear me out here—if her life is already chaos, what’s a little extra? Like, it’s obvious we’re going to be a thing, so moving her into our house sooner rather than later would be a good thing!” Jasper was often like a dog with a bone, and right now was no exception.
I could understand his logic, even if it was slightly flawed. Sometimes ripping off the Band-Aid was best.
“What if she doesn’twantto be with us?” Percy asked pointedly.
“Of course she’s going to want to date us. She’s pregnant with our baby!” Jasper said happily. “Thi—w!”
He was cut off as I smacked him on the back of the head.
“Dude, that hurt!”
“That was the point. Look, it doesn’t matter if she’s pregnant and may want to be with us, since either Percy or Saint is the father. We still need to show her that we want to be with her beyond just the pregnancy thing. She needs time to fall for us. If she’s going to. Just because she’s pregnant doesn’t mean she automatically wants to date us. Yes, it increases the chances, but if we don’t treat her well, she’s going to find alphas elsewhere who will.”
