“What’s that about your instincts?” Everett asks as he sneaks up on me.
I turn. “I’m getting tingles.”
Cheryl raises an eyebrow at me. “Tingles?”
“Don’t mock the tingles. They told me about Everett and Noah, and you.”
Everett nods slowly. “They did.”
“Is he serious?” Jennifer asks, like she can’t believe it.
She might sound a little dubious, but she feels excited.
Her brother’s hope swells too.
I turn back to them.
“You had a feeling about joining us, didn’t you?” I ask James.
He shrugs, not meeting my eyes.
Jennifer nods. “He did. I wasn’t completely sure, but James just knew. Like straight away. I trust his instincts, like your pack trust yours.”
“They’re in,” I insist.
“I guess you’re in,” Cheryl says. “If you want to come with us now, you can. Or one of the witches can send you over with your stuff when you’re ready.”
“We’re ready now,” Jennifer says. “We’ve been ready for hours.”
“We’ll give you time to get to know us,” Everett says, “before we talk about marking you.”
“Sure,” Jennifer says. “You don’t know us. We don’t know you.”
“Are we done here?” I ask my Alphas.
Everett nods, and Cheryl smiles.
“Looks like it. Grab your stuff,” she says to the twins. “If you’ve never teleported before, you should close your eyes to avoid getting sick.”
We all close our eyes, and we go home.
Chapter One-Hundred-Fourteen
Cheryl
Thehouseispackedfor Christmas, and we manage to pack it even more with our parents mixing in with our pack and our prospective pack members. My mom has no idea who everyone is, but she doesn’t seem to mind. She seems happy that I have so many friends. The smile never leaves her face all day, and it even makes Dad smile.
I don’t think it’ll be long until the twins ask for our marks. They’ve fit in with us all really quickly, despite the fact that James is a little stand-offish and not much of a talker. I think that’s why Everett seems to gravitate to his company. He doesn’t expect conversation.
Oscar’s tingles got them right. They belong here.
Leo and Ophelia feel like they belong too, but Oscar hasn’t mentioned getting tingles for them. Maybe it’s because they’re blood relations. Or maybe it’s because Ophelia can’t stop thinking about the Omegas she left behind when she was brought here by The Fates, and the kid might never have mentioned his mom once, but he must miss her on some level.
We spend most of the day in the lounge, where some last-minute online shopping Oscar did on Everett’s credit card a few days ago all came wrapped and carded before we put it under the fake tree we dug out of Everett’s basement. Oscar did well with the presents. He got something for everyone, but of course the biggest pile of presents was all for Leo, whose little face lit up more and more with each awesome reveal.
Ivy and Vi spent last night baking, and Everett cooked a turkey and got Ophelia to help with the sides since she’s never cooked in her life and she decided she should take lessons while she had the chance. She did well with what he laid out, but she confessed to a few mistakes later, once everyone’s parents left the party.
The last ten days were a real challenge, but we landed on our feet.