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“Yes,” Terra said. “This is Gambit’s friend, uh…” She looked at me expectantly.
“You don’t know his name?”Kit hissed.
“I was about to ask,” Terra said, affronted.
“You can’t just invite strange alphas in without—”
“Gambit’sfriend!” Terra snapped. Then looked at me with the same fierce expression and raised eyebrows.
“I’m… Rook,” I said before I could catch myself. I hadn’t considered a fake name, just as I hadn’t anticipated being swept into a family home and offered dinner. “But I shouldn’t stay,” I said as Terra began setting the cramped table for another.
“Nonsense.” She waved a hand. “My son’s friend coming over and not staying for supper? I won’t have it said of me.”
I swallowed, looking back around. Kit was still watching me, as were a few of the others with wide eyes, though the youngest, Petal, who barely reached my thigh, had returned to her colouring book.
“Gambit’s friend?” Kit finally managed to ask. “Or…?” She trailed off.
“Or what?” Terra asked, glancing back between us.
Justine, the kid who’d appeared at the front door, was edging up to me, her eyes still wide. “He’s an alpha, Momma,” she said. She reached out and poked my leg.
“Justine—!”
“You’re an alpha, right?” she asked, her voice a loud whisper.
I nodded with a smile, though she wouldn’t see it through the mask.
“You smell like candy,” Justine said, stepping right up to me confidently.
“Thank you.”
“I know he’s a…” Terra trailed off, then she blinked, gaze snapping back to me. “Wait. You’re not…?”
“Oh…” I realised what she was saying. “No. No, Gambit’s not pack. He uh… he knows my omega.” I almost winced as I said that, knowing how little I deserved to call Vex mine.
“Ah…” Terra said. “Well. Good. I mean, of course. He’d not bond to a pack without…” She patted down her apron anxiously, looking around the room as if searching for something, a glaze in her eyes.
It was at that moment a gangly teen—Layla, so I assumed—slouched into the room, eyes fixed on an old gaming console in her hands. She drew up a few steps in, however, and looked up, staring at me in confusion. “Uh… What’s going on?”
“We’re serving dinner,” Terra said pointedly. “And we have a guest, so put the game away and don’t be rude.”
Next thing I knew, Terra was at my side again, hustling me to the table and almost manhandling me into a seat. “No allergies, dear?” she asked.
“No, but I really—”
“Good, good. You’ll like it. Gambit’s favourite. Afterwards, you can give us what he sent.”
“Gambit sent something?” Petal asked, looking up from her colouring book.
“Yes, yes. But let’s eat.”
Around me, the room came to life as bowls were passed to Kit, and demands were made for serving amounts.
“I can uh… help—” I began.
“Don’t be silly,” Terra said as she set a bowl of chilli and cornbread before me. “Drink?” she asked, though she was already pouring me a glass of water and setting it down.
“Thank you,” I said awkwardly.
