“It’s nice to see you too, Sabs,” Cole mutters.
Sabs sticks out her tongue at him over her shoulder. “I’m used to seeing you all the time.” She checks out the bite on my neck. “Yep, that’s definitely a claim mark.”
“I made a celebration cake,” Delilah staggers in after her, holding a mammoth box in her arms that’s half her size. “Where do you want it?”
“Let me help you with that, Del,” Laz offers, coming in from the yard with Ren.
He takes the box from her, then pretends to stumble. “I’ll take that,” Ren steps in, seeing the look of horror on Delilah’s face. “Thank you. If it’s anything like your banana bread, I'm sure it’ll be amazing.”
“Oh, it’s wayyyy better than that,” she promises. “I’ll help you unpack it. We need to be really careful because of the layers.”
Ren nods and moves slowly, taking his duty seriously.
Delilah pauses as she passes. “I’m so happy for you, Faye. You’ve found your pack!”
It’s ironic, as many omegas spend their whole lives searching for a pack, yet mine stumbled right onto my lap.
“Have you filled out all the forms?” I overhear Kady asking Cole. “There’s the BC12, the AD1, and the ORA4.”
“I submitted everything this morning,” Cole responds.
“Good.” Kady nods in satisfaction, like they’re ending a business meeting. “I’m glad everything is in order.”
“I hope you know if you do anything to hurt Faye, you’ll have us to deal with,” Sabs chips into their conversation.
“We wouldn’t dream of it, little sis.” Laz creeps up behind her, hooks his arm around her head, then rubs her hair.
“I just got a blowout!” Sabs wails. “I swear, I’ll?—”
He lets her go for a second, and she lunges at him. Laz’s quick, though, sprinting away as Sabs chases after him toward the backyard.
“Why don’t you join the others?” Cole suggests as he ties the remaining balloons to a banister.
“I told her that balloons weren’t a good idea.” Kady shakes her head as we head outside, then her smile brightens. “Congratulations again. How are you doing?”
“It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind,” I confess. “It wasn’t exactly planned.”
“You can’t help who you fall in love with,” Delilah chips in, nudging Kady playfully. “Just because the Ice Queen here doesn’t want to bond with anyone.”
Kady rolls her eyes. “The idea of a pack just doesn’t appeal to me. No offense, Faye. I just think I’ll be happier on my own.”
“Your drinks.” Cole hands us freshly made mojitos with sprigs of mint. “Ren’s the mojito king.”
“These are delicious.” Delilah takes a long sip then sighs. “Maybe if you find an alpha who can make cocktails like this, you’ll change your mind about bonding, Kady?”
“Perhaps,” she says, but her expression says otherwise.
“So tell me everything!” Delilah gushes. “What was it like? Intense? Hot? I mean, Damon gives off dark and dangerous alpha energy.”
I turn to look at Damon, only to find he’s already watching me. His lips curve into a smile mid burger flip. A smile that sets my insides alight and makes me want to leave the party right now, just to be alone with him.
“He’s a teddy bear, really,” I reply loud enough to make sure he’ll hear. “I guess one thing led to another, and it happened. I actually bit him first.”
Swooning, Delilah presses a palm to her chest. “That’s so romantic.”
A jarring splash has our heads whipping around to find the source of the commotion.
“Laz!” Cole scolds. “How many times have I told you to put on the pool cover?”
