“Now I’m definitely worried.”
Eli and Anders both laugh at my expense, but I don’t feel like they are laughing at me. No, it’s light, cute, and flirty. We all sit at the old bench by the lake. I feel something I can’t exactly put words to when I’m between them. My perfume wafts off of me, and I feel my cheeks heat. I’m definitely not virginal or inexperienced by any means, but when it comes to more than one Alpha, that is something I definitely haven’t done.
Neither of the guys says anything about my scent, and I hope the cold air helps hide my slutty, little thoughts. We all take our boots off and put our skates on. The way they lace up is like it’s second nature. They both have their skates on by the time I’m almost done with my first.
Eli grunts and looks at my handy work, then shakes his head. “Not tight enough, baby,” he says. I think I faint or lose consciousness for a moment as he leans forward and laces and tightens my skate till it meets his approval. He doesn’t ask to do the second one, he just slides it over my foot and gives it the same attention.
“It feels too tight,” I say, and Eli grins.
“I bet it does.” He shakes his head and laughs, standing up. Anders follows, and they each hold a hand out to me. The lake is filled with adults and kids, but not as crowded as I thought it would be. The lake is quite large, and there are maybe two dozen people on the ice. Someone brought a speaker, so Christmas music is playing as the guys help me walk the few feet to the edge of the ice.
I can’t decide if I want to continue holding both of their hands, or have them let me free so I can prove to them that I’m competent on the ice.
Anders makes the decision for me as he lets go. “Show us what you got,Kulta.”
“What does that mean?” I ask him as he skates backwards and me forwards. Eli is still holding my hand.
“Mmm, not sure I plan on telling you.”
I gape at him, and he grins. “I’ll make you a deal. You catch me, I’ll tell you.”
“You’re nearly a foot taller than me!”
“Better get to skating, Charlotte.”
He takes off backwards, which is still fast as hell.
“He didn’t say anything about help,” Eli says. His grip on my hand is firm as we both skate. I’m skating harder and faster than I have in my life, Eli nearly tugging me behind him. I feel bad that I’m slowing him down until I realize his intention. He uses the momentum of being in front of me to sling shot me across the ice. I continue skating as hard as my legs and lungs will take me. Anders’ eyes widen as I grip his shirt. I give him a grin, and he grabs me by the hips, holding on to me as he continues skating backwards, just dragging me as I keep my balance and stand still.
He leans forward to whisper to me. “It means gold. As in precious, and your pretty blonde hair.” My cheeks heat as he pulls back, and I look back at him.
I’m not sure what to say. I’ve never been given a pet name. And one that basically means precious in Finnish, I’m not sure how to take it. I just tug on his shirt and bring him down for a light kiss. I forget that Eli’s here for a moment until I hear the ice shavings from him coming to a stop next to us.
There’s a moment of worry about how he may feel, but when he looks at us, he doesn’t seem upset or frustrated that Anders and I have progressed further than him. I reach out my hand, and Eli takes it. We skate at a much more manageable pace around the lake.
“Did you take ice skating lessons as a kid?” Eli asks.
“I did, before I perfumed.”
“So until you were what, sixteen?”
I sigh and adjust my hat tighter over my ear on the one side. “I designated at twelve.”
He stops skating and gapes at me for a moment. “Twelve?” He sounds astonished. It really is unreasonably young to designate.
“Yeah, I had to stop doing a lot of things. I was homeschooled. I couldn’t do skating lessons any more, didn’t really leave the house. As you can imagine, being that young as an Omega was unsafe for many reasons. I’ve had some not great encounters with both Alphas and Betas, if I’m being honest. Everyone seems to have an opinion on my designation and what we should be doing for them.”
“I’m sorry you went through that.”
“Me too. I think it’s why adjusting to college has been so hard. I spent so much time with just my mom and my best friend, Piper. Then college was a huge shock, being surrounded by people constantly.”
“Do you think it’s just your school?”
I shrug. “I don’t know any different, so I’m not sure. I don’t think being around a bunch of other Omegas or self-entitled Alphas helps.” He growls and stops skating for a moment and shakes his head. “Eli, is everything okay?”
“I… I just don’t seem to really like the idea of you going back to school with other Alphas around. Sorry. I, uh, actually haven’t growled that many times.” I furrow my brow and nod my head.
“Did you not have much designation education?” I ask, purely curious. For an Alpha, Eli seems a little clueless.
