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“Right, so you’ll meet my mums and my two dads today. But I’m the eldest of seven.”
Her eyes widen. “Seven?”
“To be honest, I’m surprised my mums remember our names. Turn around.”
She turns around, still kneeling, and I sit forward and gently begin combing her hair. I scrape my fingernails over her scalp and bite back a grin when she leans into it.
“I used to do this for my sisters all the time. All six of them.” I mutter and smile.
“Six sisters?” Scarlet squeaks.
“Feel bad for me, Alpha?” I whisper in her ear.
I feel her tremble and flick my eyes up to Bar, who’s lying on his side watching us.
“A little bit.”
“Right, so I have two mums. An omega, Sally, and my beta mum, Francis, and my dad’s are both alphas. The short one is Titus, and Cletus has the orange hair.”
“Wow.”
“They are…very hands on. So, if you stay with the pack, you’ll see them a lot.” I wince when that comes out, wishing I could take it back. She hasn’t stiffened exactly, but I can almost sense her moving away. I braid her hair, twisting the long, silky lengths over each other.
“What about the other pack families?”
“Gold doesn’t talk about his family after the thing,” I hesitate and then continue. “Bar has a wonderful mum and dad. You’ll like them a lot. Taylor’s parents are cold, rich, very blue-blooded snobs. We only see them once or twice a year. It’s always an ordeal, but it’s just who they are, and they do support us. And Jet doesn’t have a family. He grew up in an orphanage.”
I drop the bomb and wish like hell I could take that back, too. What is it about her that gets me so relaxed that I just spill everything?
She stiffens, her eyes finding Jet. He’s watching her and us. I know he heard what I said, and I try to convey my apologies, but he just smiles.
Scarlet tilts her head back so she can look into my eyes. “Jet does have family. He has the pack.”
I feel like the sun’s come out from behind the clouds, someone’s tilted my world, and like I’m falling from a great height at the same time. I don’t know everything about her, but I know enough. I’ll spend the rest of my life finding out the rest.
Nudging her, my hands spin her and pull her to straddle my lap.
“Acton?”
“I just need to hold you.”
She relaxes in my arms, hugging me back. Only Bar has given me this level of trust. I look over at him and find him smiling dreamily at us. I don’t know if she knows it or not, but Scarlet just carved her name into my heart.
Gold’s lips lift at the corner, recognising it. I feel happiness in the bond from Jet, but deeper in the house from further away, the bond with Taylor closes down a little tighter.
I can see her hesitance with my family, but my mothers ignore it, sweeping her up in their clutches and cooing over her in a way that makes me feel unsure. Should I rescue her? I rub the back of my head, monitoring her, while Bar, Jet, and Taylor speak with my dads.
“She’s beautiful.” My mum says and hugs me. Her omega scent, a floral mix that’s always tickled my nose, wraps around us.
“You like her?”
My mum stares up at me, and I can feel her hesitance. She looks at my fathers, who glance at her and smile before looking up at me again. “I think she’s hurting. I think she’s been alone for too long. But I think if there were any pack in the world she would fit best with, it’s yours.” She frowns, and even that looks cute on my diminutive mother. “I like her a lot. She’s strong. I think she’ll do you boys a world of good.”
Tension eases out of my body. “Thanks, Mum.”
“Just go easy with her. She’s got shadows in her eyes. She’s seen dark things.”
I make a non-committal sound, and Mum slaps my arm playfully.
