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When they came in, they took my breath away. Would I ever see a pack as beautiful as them? I could tell they were remorseful, but they hadn’t felt the emotions I had felt. And they hadn’t been through the years of rejection that I had been through, compounding my suffering. When they spoke, each of them tried to convince me to forgive them. I put on a hard shell outside. Inside, however, I was absolutely melting. Jameson was on his knees, giving an honorable speech that almost made me want to burst out in giggles. But Piper was right - they needed to earn their way back into my heart. I demanded my courting gifts, something I would never have had the courage to do before my whole kidnapping adventure. They looked at each other, then at me. Jameson spoke first.
“My courting gift to you will be the hands of all the Pack Deloney members, who should never touch an omega again.” I barely had time to do much other than let my mouth drop open when Cy stepped up.
“I will hack into any bank and get you any funds you desire. Or let you know spoilers for any shows you want. Just name it!” Maddox nodded and added his own thoughts. “We will give you anything you want - with our skill set, nothing is off the table.” Okay, this wasn’t quite what I was expecting when I asked them for courting gifts. Luckily, Kian stepped up and straightened his tie.
“Excuse us, Bella. Old habits die hard. What we mean to say is, we realize you can have any courting gift you desire at this point. We want to show you what we can offer you that no other pack can.” He shot a look at the rest of the pack. “And we are now only doing clean business, despite what my pack is saying. We have changed, Bella. And we’d love to show you how much.” I swallowed. No other pack had shown me such devotion. I already knew I had more fun and affection with them than any other pack that had ever courted me. And now, I had my pick of the best packs in the world - and I didn’t even care. The packs in the ballroom were only interested in status and money. Not me. No one else had ever truly seen me before. But also, no one had hurt me in quite the way they had.
I looked at them, seeing the hope in their eyes. For such a pack with such a notorious reputation in the Eastern Province, they sure were at my mercy. And they were giving me a choice. If they wanted, they could have stolen me from here - they already accidentally stole me once. I took a deep breath and looked at each of them. “Alright. You can have the opportunity to court me.” Their faces lit up like Christmas trees decked with lights, but I wasn’t going to let them off the hook that easily. “That doesn’t mean I’ll pick you. That, you’ll have to earn.” They nodded, although I could tell the mood had improved significantly. “But first, I can hear the orchestra playing. And what I’d like is for you to show me how well you can dance.”
Chapter 63
Cy
Bella practically waltzed out to the ballroom, looking absolutely perfect as she did so. She walked with confidence and grace, the type of attitude she should have always had. And although she was dressed like a princess, she could have been wearing a garbage bag and still looked like the most powerful and beautiful woman in the country. She was just that magnetic.
Our pack followed her past Piper’s pack, who were waiting outside the room. They looked at us, several of them sneering and one of them letting out a low growl in warning. I didn’t care. I was glad Bella had friends who cared for her, and we weren’t going to mess up again. When we reached the floor, the spotlight found her, lighting her up and catching the attention of the entire room. The event host spotted her and started speaking again. “Ah, there she is, just in time for the first dance of the night!” Bella looked over her shoulder, and although I hadn’t danced in years, I strode over to offer her my hand before the other packs got any ideas. She took my hand, and we began to dance. The worry I had about my skill slowly left as my muscle memory took over.
Bella must have been shocked as well, although she hid the surprise on her face. “Cy, I never took you for a dancer.” I smiled down at her, adjusting my frame as we waltzed together.
“As soon as I presented as an alpha, my parents sent me for lessons. Although I never made it to an omega ball.” She raised an eyebrow at me and I pulled her a little closer. I missed having her near me. “My interest way always in computers. Well, and maybe breaking into things. Electronically, of course.” She gave me a smirk. I loved it.
“And I assume it was your doing that you all were able to get into my event?” I nodded. “Yes, although we had a last-minute issue. Luckily, your friend Piper helped us the rest of the way.” She looked thoughtful, and we swayed to the music. “By the way, you look absolutely stunning tonight. You always do, but this is the first time I’ve seen you with such confidence.” She looked up at me. While we had an audience of hundreds, it might as well have been just the two of us. She leaned in a bit, resting her head on my chest. I felt eight feet tall.
“I’m glad you came.” Her admission made me feel even taller. “But how did you get here? Was the announcement right? Do you really live in my province now?” I held her close as the music turned more romantic.
“We changed, Bella. We meant what we said. Kian sold the real estate business and we cashed out. We moved here to start from scratch. Jameson is going to open a studio for martial arts, and Maddox is trying his hand at working in the pharmaceutical industry. I’m going to take on contract jobs.” She turned to look up at me, asking me with her eyes if it was true. “We sold everything, Bella. We left our old jobs behind. We know it wasn’t safe for you, or for us. Now we can start fresh in the Western Province, far away from all that. We don’t have as much, but we are going to work hard. In safe jobs. For you.” I hoped she would realize it was all for her. Everything we had given up was to assure her that we could provide a life where she would never see Maddox, or any of us, get injured again. A life where she could be close to her family and friends, in a province that gave her rights and where she would never have to worry about her safety. Now, if only she would pick us.
The song ended, and I handed her off to Kian, who was waiting in the wings for his dance with her. They looked beautiful together, with Kian dressed impeccably next to Bella’s black and crystal sparkling formal gown. I glanced over my shoulder. The rest of our pack was waiting to dance with her, and from the looks of it, we were going to keep her busy the rest of the evening. But this was only the start. We had to prove to her that we were the best choice. And we had to honor her decision, whatever it may be.
Chapter 64
Jameson
Giving up everything and starting fresh was the easy part. We’d sold off our company and handed off our contracts to packs that we knew would be good stewards in Roebri, ones who we knew would be the most ethical. We spread the word that we were no longer available for under the table assignments and cashed out all our assets to move to the Western Province. There was a lot of paperwork, not to mention we’d been dealing with the culture shock of starting fresh in a new place where the rules were different. But even though we’d need to start again from the ground up, we’d done it before. We could do it again.
The hardest part would be demonstrating to Bella why we were the best option for her when we had already broken her heart and her trust. I could see how hurt she was at the ball. We were lucky enough to gain residency in the Western Province just in time to get on the pack registry and get clearance to attend. Cy helped us a little when the tickets were sold out. But when I saw her there, I knew we could never hurt her again. We had to do this right.
Which was why I rented out a massive movie theater for the night. “Seriously? A movie? You know packs are trying to court her with international trips and luxury cars, right?” Maddox griped as I put in orders for flowers to be ready for our date. I hummed as I looked through the list of tasks to complete before we took her out.
“Do you trust me, Maddox?” I asked, looking over at him as he ran his hand through his ruffled dark hair. He was stressing about giving her the perfect date. But I knew of something we could give her that no other pack could.
“I trust you with my life. But with romance… I’m not sure that you have much experience.” I hummed and ordered several bottles of wine for the date night.
“Never fear, Maddox. I’ve dealt with plenty of omegas before in the past.”
“For their heats, Jameson! Not in a courtship!” He threaded his hands together on top of his head, blowing out his breath in frustration. I looked over at him. He was a gorgeous man, his dark tan skin and chocolate eyes giving him a delicious appeal. I knew Bella found him irresistible. But he was more sensitive than he appeared. I needed to let my alpha side take over and calm the stress.
“Yes. I know you are concerned that we can’t compete with the billionaires that are vying for her hand. But we have one thing they don’t - we know her. We knew her before, and we know her now. Even if she’s changed a bit, grown since we saw her last, we can still show her why we are the best choice.” He looked at me with skepticism.
“And how’s that?” I looked at my phone, solidifying details for the date night.
“We won’t be wooing her with material items. She’s probably got everything she needs at this point, plus she has her own money for security. But what no one else can give her is the knowledge that we accept her completely. For who she was, for who she is, for who she will be as she continues to grow and evolve. We accept her, and we love her. We need to remind her of exactly how much we can give her that millions of dollars can never buy.” Maddox stalked through the kitchen of our rental. We hadn’t yet found a place to buy.
“We can get plenty more money again if we put in the work!” I turned back to my planning, not bothered by Maddox’s fears.
“That we can. But in the meantime, she will need a pack that’s reliable, that she knows is there for her and not just her notoriety. Have faith, Maddox. She didn’t even dance with a single other pack at the ball.” It was true - she hadn’t even glanced in the direction of anyone other than us. I remember dancing with her, doing very basic steps, since I wasn’t educated in such things like Kian and Cy. But she didn’t seem to care. She just held me like she didn’t want to let go. Feeling her against me was all I could ever have hoped for. And now I was determined to do anything to get that feeling for the rest of my life.
I looked over my list once more. We were almost ready. Bella had agreed on a singular date, and we wanted it to be perfect. I called out to the rest of the pack to tell them the plans. I needed everyone to agree to the idea. Cy and Kian strolled in, both of them much more relaxed since our time seeing Bella wasn’t a huge disaster. Cy looked at me, his eyebrows raising above his glasses.
