Beck, unfortunately, misses absolutely nothing.
He waits all of ten seconds before leaning toward Warren. He lowers his voice like I’m not sitting right there. “Okay,” he mutters, sharp and annoyed. “We’re not doing this. Acting weird isn’t going to make Tansy feel at home. What’s going on?”
Warren’s jaw tightens. He shakes his head once, clearly telling the beta to drop it.
But Beck doesn’t. He sits up, cutting a frustrated look between the two younger alphas, “You’re both making dinner weird.”
Warren finally looks up. “Beck,” he says quietly, warning threaded through the calm. “Drop it.”
Grason nods once, stiff and uncomfortable. “Please,” he adds, voice low. “Let it go.”
Beck looks between them, incredulous. “I’m not the one making dinner weird,” he says flatly.
Cass lets out a heavy sigh as he sets down his fork. “Warren and Grason are being punished,” he says, voice low and even.
“For what?” Beck makes a face, clearly not understanding.
“For claiming an omega without permission,” Cass continues, and I take a quick sip of my water. “They don’t get to speak to Tansy unless she speaks to them first.”
Beck’s mouth falls open, then snapsshut again. He blinks once, then points his fork at Cass. “Wow. Okay. In that case, I’d like to formally request the same punishment.” He turns to Warren and Grason, lips curling into a little smirk. “You’re both not allowed to talk tomeunless spoken to first either. Fair’s fair.”
A low, unmistakably playful growl rumbles out of Grason’s chest before he can stop it, and Beck beams like he’s won something.
I can’t help it. A small snort slips out of me, before I catch myself. I quickly look back down at my plate, hoping no one heard it.
“Stop it, Beck,” Cass warns gently as he takes a bite of his dinner.
Grason’s shoulders ease just a fraction, tension bleeding off him, while Warren lets out a quiet breath through his nose, the barest hint of amusement crossing his face.
Beck, however, is undeterred. “So,” he says, clearly trying to sound very casual, “how long does the punishment last?”
My fork pauses halfway to my mouth.
I glance at Beck out of the corner of my eye, stunned. I can't believe he's questioning Cass about how he's punishing his pack like it's no big deal. My fathers would have lost their damn minds if you evenlookedat them funny after handing down a punishment.
Actually, questioning them out loud would have earned me a backhand and a week locked in my room.
But Beck isn’t afraid at all.
The casual way he asks, and the fact that Cass doesn’t bristle or harden in the slightest. It’s so foreign it makes my head spin.
“Long enough for the lesson to stick,” Cass says evenly. “Now eat, beta.”
Beck nods, accepting that without argument. “Cool,” he says, and reaches for another roll. “Just checking.”
Warren shakes his head, lips twitching despite himself, and Grason lets out a quiet huff that might almost be a laugh. The table settles back into its easy rhythm, conversation drifting again, the tension fully dissolved this time.
I take another bite of my roll, heart still thudding a little too fast as I try to wrap my head around a pack where questioning the alpha doesn’t end the world.
It feels so fucking strange.
And that might be the most unsettling part of all.
Later that Night
Grason
A few hours after dinner,the house settles into that quiet calm that only comes once everything’s been cleaned and put away. Tansy and Beck sit on the long navy couch facing one another, with soft lamplight pooling around it. Tansy’s knees are tucked under her bottom while Beck talks with his hands the way he always does.
