He’s watching Paul closely, waiting for a reaction, but my oldest alpha just shakes his head. “Nah, man. That’s my younger brother’s thing. I’m not much of one for sports, or television in general. Never played either, my long ass legs are good for running, but I’m not a huge fan of getting hit, and the idea of some big bastard nicknamed ‘the refrigerator’ chasin’ after me for a ball is pretty damned off-putting.”
Spencer guffaws loudly, and I turn to see him staring at us now. His voice booms across the space. “No, Paul won’t watch any sports stuff with me. He’s more into camping and shit. Full-on outdoorsy, go live in the wild with the squirrels and natureand stuff. I played football in college and his brother Josh never missed my games except when he was on his honeymoon, so that’s ok.” My big guy is grinning at us as he scrutinizes the two alphas standing nearby. “Lemme see.” He points at the stockier of the two. “Clearly rugby, no offense.” The stocky alpha just smiles, and Spence turns to the other one.
“Fighting huh…shoulda guessed. You look built for it, like sho—Sarah, here. Plus the way you move…mixed martial arts? Your upper and lower body are pretty balanced; otherwise, I would have said kickboxing, but you definitely haven’t been skipping arm day.” We all stare at my big himbo, confused at his observation. Even Ben looks mildly impressed. Spence’s ears blush, and he reaches up to run a hand through his hair. “Oh, I work at a gym…I mean, I already said I played football, and I got my teaching degree, but while I wait for a job to open, I also do personal training stuff…so…” The poor guy trails off under the intense stares of all three of Al’s brothers.
I guess I’ll have to be the one to ask the obvious. “So…how did three sports guys with, let’s be honest, large-sized alpha fathers, end up with Al?” I smile, pointing at the small alpha watching us. “Was there a hospital mix-up or something?” Ben snorts while Al looks affronted. “I’m just teasing you, Teach. You know I love you!” He looks shocked for a moment and I have to replay my words in my head to realize what I just said and why he looks so awkward now.
The omega who got to Al first comes over and pulls Spence into a hug. “Oh, my dear, it’s so good to see you in person, finally. Thank you so much for keeping us updated on your lives. It’s so good to see Alistair so happy…even if he won’t talk to us himself.”
She throws a glare over her shoulder at her youngest son before making her way to Paul. “And Paul, it’s nice to meet you, after all this time. Thank you so much for taking care ofmy baby.” Paul nods and blushes a little as the omega moves on, standing in front of Greg and me. She’s taller than I am—full figured and really pretty with long, dark, silver-streaked hair pulled back in a braid. Her alphas follow closely behind, forming a half circle around us. “And you must be Sarah and Greg. Oh, it’s lovely to meet you both. You look like such a sweet girl.”
Greg chokes, trying to hold in his laughter, earning a head shake from Paul and a brief admonishment from Janice. “Oh, come now, dear, all omegas look sweet. It’s part of the package that allows us to be tiny, vicious hell-raisers.” She says it with such a straight face that even I choke a little at the statement as she turns her attention to the entire herd of alphas around us.
“Now, come inside my darlings, we have a late dinner ready, and news for Alistair’s pack. Sarah, you must tell me all about you, Spencer has been so excited for the last few weeks, but I’m sure there’s a lot more you can tell me about yourself.” She steps between Ben and me, her hand coming to hover a few inches over my shoulder and leading me inside. “I’d be more than happy to hug you too my dear, but I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
Well, what can I say? I appreciate both her honesty and tact.
Chapter 94
“And then that little tramp tried to hit on me! Seriously, why the hell would I want to join a pack of intellectuals and pussies…no offense, bro.” No, none taken, why ever would I be offended that the omega that rejected me came on to my oldest brother. Ugh.
“Even if I was looking for an omega, which I’m not, I’d need something a little sturdier than that. Somebody with some meat on their bones, or at least like your girl here who could give me a run for my money in the ring. Not some simpering fragile thing that looks like she’d break as soon as she sees a knot. No offense.” This time he’s looking at Sarah, who just stares at my brother. How could anything he just said not be offensive? Just saying no offense doesn’t make it not offensive. Idiot.
Sarah surprises us all by cackling loudly and glancing at Greg. She laughs until her eyes water, and still keeps going until she’sslumped against him, her breath coming in harsh pants, finally ending in a, “Holy fucking shit.”
Greg wraps her in his arms, pulling her against his chest and nuzzling her hair before he turns his attention to us. “You guys know Sarah’s family is really...ok, lets be honest, they’re judgemental asshats. Her mom and sisters have outright told her she’s too loud, too masculine…too much. Just give her a minute.” He kisses the top of her head as her laughter turns into a sniffle.
I have an overwhelming urge to punch my brother for making her cry. It’s not even his fault. Despite his repeated offensive statements, he’s been fairly complimentary about my girl. I think this is more of a reaction to all the negative shit she’s had to deal with from her family and the stress from earlier. I lean over, taking one of her hands and rubbing my thumb across the tender skin on the back. The pads of her fingers are rougher; small calluses have formed across the palms and tips, probably from drumming and time spent at the gym.
Privacy isn’t an easy thing to come by surrounded by strangers—a distraction is easier. “So, how were the rest of them?” It’s surprising, but I don’t actually care as much as I thought I would. Even hearing that Melody hit on Ben didn’t actually make me feel much of anything. It was annoying, but not devastating like I thought it would be. Hell, it’s not even that annoying for myself; mostly I feel awkward for Ben and my old packmates. Not that they deserve any pity; they brought this on themselves.
Carson snickers this time. “Oh, not real happy. For one, they didn’t appreciate her hanging all over Big Ben here, but the threat of a lawsuit didn’t improve their mood either.”
What?
My puzzled expression must be showing, and Mom finally speaks up. “Oh, baby, you know the only reason your brothersdidn’t have an issue with you packing up with those sniveling pansies was because Dustin was going into law. Of course, we didn’t know at the time it was only for teaching. With you wanting to teach history, they had hoped that one of your packmates might be…” She waves her hand back and forth in a so-so motion. “Useful? Oh, my goodness, that sounds bad. But they don’t easily trust other people to take care of you. Anyway. Ben and Carson had hoped that they could help support anything you needed by hiring the man on as legal counsel since they spend so much time in the public eye. Neither of them was happy with how it turned out.”
Ben’s voice is so quiet I almost don’t hear it. “And it turned out he was a complete twat, let’s not forget that part.”
Mom glares at him, but continues. “Well, at least he knows something, even if he forgot when he was…for lack of a better term, pussy-whipped. The house is in all of your names, dear. You put a quarter of the down payment on it, and had been assisting with the mortgage for a few years before they let that little trollop kick you out. When she went to throw out all of your things, he realized that it could be a problem since you were still on the paperwork. Much to her annoyance, they just closed up your room, boxed up your books and left it all, hoping that eventually a statute of limitations would run out and they could declare it abandoned.”
Rob finally pops in. “So, after Mom talked to you last time, we went to Shannon. You know, she took over legal work for Ben last year when his guy retired. She grumped a lot, but is on retainer, so no real complaint. Big bro doesn’t get in that much trouble.”
Rob grins, highlighting the gap in his teeth from a misplaced mouthguard incident in high school. “Anyway, all your shit’s up in your old bedroom. Well, the books and diploma and shit—we didn’t see any clothes—and you should be getting a settlementletter in the mail in a few weeks with paperwork to transfer over your share of the house to them…along with a nice little paycheck for some of the down-payment you made. Sharron got ’em good since they tried to argue that you had lived there for part of the time. Something about good faith and forced pack removal. I don’t know, that’s above my pay grade.”
I shake my head at the statement. He makes a hell of a lot playing professional rugby, more than Sharron most likely, but I get his meaning, and I have to clear my throat a few times before I can speak again. “Thank you…really. Um…my clothes and all my important books”—I look pointedly at Mom, who just smiles—“they all fit in Nadine, so they’re safe. But I appreciate it; it’ll help a lot. Thank you guys.”
Mom leans forward and pats my knee firmly, and my dads rumble in the background while Carson blushes at my thanks, again. He reminds me a lot of Spencer, actually, and maybe that’s why I trusted the big idiot to join his pack in the first place. That or they’ve both just taken a few too many hits to the head.
Mom’s voice is stern, causing every alpha in the room to jump and move. “Alright, enough with the touchy-feely. Your fathers made a lovely dinner, and we should go eat while it’s hot.” She looks at Sarah. “Do you have any food allergies, dear, anything you can’t eat?” My omega shakes her head, smiling at my doting mother. “Very good. Well, we’ve got a variety of options for whatever you want. When you cook for this many at once, you learn that diversity is key. Not that I cook, mind you, but they’re so good at it.” She stands up, leaning forward to give Pa a kiss on the cheek. My other dads grumble until she laughs and gives them each a small peck before ushering Sarah, in front of everyone else, into the dining room.
Chapter 95
It's great to meet Al’s family. His mom is super sweet, and how did I not know that I already knew his brother? Well, I didn’t know his brother, but I knew who his brother is, but I also didn’t know he was related to one of my people. It’s super awesome! The guy is basically a legend. Al had the same last name when we met, but it’s not like it’s uncommon, and, ok…so they look a little bit alike, but I just never realized. I’m such a fucking tool sometimes.
Sarah says she’ll be coming back with us even though we have to rent a truck to move all of Al’s stuff that his brothers picked up. We’ll each need to call work and ask for more time off. Teddy’ll be excited enough about her moving that I don’t think it’ll be a problem, but I hope Paul and Al don’t get in trouble since they have more official kinds of jobs than me. Though I think Al can do most of his stuff online if he really needs to.
I offered to follow her back to her dorm and help her pack, but Greg says that alphas aren’t allowed in the dorms. This made me revisit my suggestion to sneak Al in wearing a disguise, but he refused and Sarah just cackled a bit; it was cute. They’re also worried about one of their neighbors seeing alphas in the dorm. She has some PTSD from being assaulted last year and hasn’t been able to be around alphas at all since then. Sarah looks sad when she talks about it, and I want to find these guys and break them in half for hurting my girl’s friends. Nobody should hurt anybody, and the irony that I want to hurt somebody for hurting somebody else isn’t lost on me; I just don’t care when it comes to my people.
