AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, I’m glad it's coming up. You’ve been through a lot in a short time, and I know that can speed things up for people. Don’t be afraid to slow down if you need to.”
“Nothing with this pack hasevergone slow,” I said, getting our walk going again. “I don’t mind though. Feels like I lived my whole life in slow mode. I think I needed things to kick into gear to bring me to where I was supposed to be.”
Hana kissed my hand and didn’t say a word as I started up swinging them again.
“As long as you’re happy,” she said.
“Pretty sure I’ve never been happier. I know there's a lot of stuff to still figure out, a lot of conversations that need to happen, but I think I finally feel like I belong.” My breath hitched, all my emotions sneaking out through the net of anxiety that had contained them under the nervous panicky buzz. “Dammit I wasnotsupposed to start crying on this walk.”
Hana stopped us again and leaned down a bit, pressing my nose to her throat so I could breathe in the bright, earthy mint scent of her. Her purr kicked on, and the sweet rhythmic sound of it untangled my knots of stress.
“Youdobelong,” she said. “I was the most hesitant, and I’m saying that. Never doubt that this pack adores you.”
I huffed her like paint, minty matcha invigorating me until I had pushed the tears back down. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m so emotional today.”
“Confessing your feelings is a pretty emotional thing, to be fair. If I were a different person, I would probably cry right along with you.”
We finished up our walk back to the pack house, and already there was a car I didn’t recognize in the driveway.
“Oh god, I’m not ready. Who's here?”
“I’m pretty sure that car belongs to Jasper's moms.”
“And they’re nice, right?” I squeezed Hana's hand to reassure myself.
“Very nice. They’ve been really supportive of the pack. I don’t think they’ll ever complain about more people being interested in loving their son.”
“That's so sweet.”
“Come on inside now. If by chance anyone today is rude to you, I’m not going to let it slide. The family members we all still talk to are well aware of our boundaries and the treatment of other pack members.”
I nodded along and nervously chewed my lip. Hana cupped my face with both hands and pulled my lip from between my teeth with her thumb.
“Excuse you. That lip is formeto bite. Your job is to take care of it until I get to it again.”
I giggled helplessly, excited butterflies turning over in my stomach. “Yes,ma’am.”
Hana's eyes glinted. “Get inside or I’m going to detour you to the garage and do unspeakable things to you in there.”
“That's not a lot of motivation, but I suppose it would be rude to keep Jasper's moms waiting.”
I opened the main door, and the entire pack turned to us as well as a statuesque woman with a red pixie cut and another about my height with red curls down past her shoulders, thick green-framed glasses perched on her button nose. They were both too cute for words.
The tallest of the pair swept towards me, arms open. “You must be Nicky.”
She pulled me into a bone-crushing hug and kissed each of my cheeks.
“Yep, that's me.”
“It's so nice to finally meet you. I’m Beryl, and this,” she said, gesturing to the other redheaded woman, “is my wife, Opal. Jasper's told us all about you.”
“Oh my god! I just realized you all have rock names! That's so cute.”
Beryl stepped back with a laugh. “Yes, Opal and I met at a gathering of local redheads back in the day and bonded over both having gemstone names. Obviously, we had to share that with our son. He hasn’t decided yet if he's going to share it with his future children, too.”
“Mom!” Jasper's face turned red up to the tips of his ears, blending in with his hair.
“Well, I think it's an adorable tradition, whatever Jasper decides,” I declared.
