The hearts triple. So do the surprised-face emojis.
Kellen glances at the camera, then away, then back, like he’s learning how to look at his own reflection for the first time. “I’ve always tried to be honest with you all,” he says, which is an outright lie, but nobody in the comment section is going to call him on it. “At least inside the realm of the best baking recipes and methods. Today I’m revealing my face to you for the first time. I also want to talk about something that matters to me. To a lot of people, actually.”
The view count is over a million now. I wonder how long we have before the rest the palace’s Ravenwood Shield contingent is inside these walls ready to turn off the livestream and maybe apprehend their own prince.
“You all know Piper Sumner, right?” he says, and now the chat is just her name, over and over. “You might have seensome rumors about her and about us all. I want to address them directly.”
He pauses. His fingers tremble against the marble countertop. “Well, Piper is amazing, as I’m sure you all already know. She’s got an exquisite ability to make you feel like you’re the only person in the world with just her voice. But, in our case, it’s that she’s made thethree of usfeel like we’re the only person in the world.” He straightens and, while giving a beat for that information to sink in, pulls in a deep, steadying breath. “Piper is also, yes, an omega.Myomega. Well,ouromega. Piper Sumner and I are part of a loving pack, and while there are those who do not support this, their lack of support changes nothing.”
The chat goes wild. Hearts fly by. Piper’s name again, and then Kellen’s. A lot of questions as to who our other pack members are. A surprisingly small amount of hate messages or direct threats. I’ll grab a log of who was in the live stream for later, to cross-reference and double check the threats aren’t credible. But overall, this is going much better than I think either of us had any right to assume.
Then Kellen looks to me and tilts his head, a question in his eyes. He raises his eyebrows expectantly.
I straighten and nod. He wants to show me to them. My whole life, I’ve been in the background of Kellen’s. No longer.
Kellen smiles back at the camera. “Do you want to meet one of the other alphas in our pack? Truth be told, he’s been here all along. Hidden in plain sight one might say.” He leans forward to grab the camera from its tripod and flip it toward me. While he does show, the chat is just a flying wave of messages moving far faster than any human could ever read.
I try to smile for the camera. Or at least, not wear a stoic expression screaming,“Don’t come near me.”I’m aware that’s my default.
Kellen keeps the camera trained on me as he introduces me. “This is Elliot. You’ve probably seen him around. Elliot is not just my bodyguard, we have been best friends since childhood. Our bond has always been here and now we have a full pack to express that bond with. It’s honestly magical.”
Kellen turns the camera back on himself. “That’s all I wanted to share today. Thank you so much for joining me here, and I look forward to baking with you all again soon. See you next time!”
He turns off the camera and the livestream both. Only once both are off does he stretch out and collapse on the kitchen island. “It’s done. It’s out there.”
I lean over and kiss his head. “I’m proud of you.”
“My parents won’t be.”
I lift up his face so he has to look at me. “Your parents love you, Kellen, and you’ve been an adult for a long time. You’re allowed to make your own choices.”
He nods. “You’re right. Just feels like I’ve given them the go-ahead to strip me of my title and set me out to sea.”
I laugh at the dramatics. “It won’t be that bad, you’ll see.” I hold my hand out to him. “Let’s go. Why don’t we go get our omega? She’s playing a festival today. We can surprise her there.”
Kellen rises from the island and straightens his shirt. “Yes, let’s. Fuck, I miss her.”
“I do, too.”
I miss the peace we had on the island the most, but I’m hopeful that once this all blows over, we’ll have that again.
We just need to get the pack back together.
CHAPTER 25
Piper
The sun is nowhere.I mean, it’s technically there, somewhere beyond the grim quilt of clouds and last night’s city smog, but I won’t see it for another week unless I die and get reincarnated as an early-morning jogger. The haze fogs even Nolan’s expensive Ray-Bans and settles inside my mouth, metallic and sour, like anxiety made physical.
From the darkness of the SUV, the highway appears empty except for us and a few doomed commuters. Nolan drives with one hand on the wheel and one hand permanently flexed as a fist on his thigh. He’s stone-silent except for the dry clicks of his tongue every time I refresh my socials, which is a lot because I’m constitutionally incapable of not reading my own bad press at six in the morning.
It’s anticipation, really. Kellen went live early this morning and told the world everything we’ve all been too afraid to say aloud. It’s freeing having that information out there, but now we’re waiting for the fallout from Kellen’s parents and even Raelynn. The same Raelynn who already sent me an intense email about all the interviews I’ll be doing today.
Don’t say anything re: Royals, Piper. Focus on the music. Only the music, or so help me.
I read it again as Nolan pulls into the VIP entrance of today’s music festival. We glide past two layers of security with ease given I’m one of the top performers, and then he sets me inside my green room without us running into any crazy fans or journalists looking for quotes.
Inside, it’s only marginally warmer and the air smells like damp plywood, popcorn, and electricity. It doesn’t give me much hope. The best I can hope for is that the storm promised by the humid air and rising temperatures doesn’t happen while I’m on stage. For some reason, the festival has decided the threat isn’t so great they’ll cancel, but I’m nervous as hell.
