Sunny grimaces.
“You know Winnie’s sister?” Zeke asks. "I thought they lived in Traverse City."
“They moved near Traverse City after I graduated. Sunny's grandma was a big part of the community, but we didn't really become friends until after high school," Winnie explains. Sunny smiles at the memory.
Gage sits behind us on the blanket. He watches Winnie from a distance. The space between them still yawns wide. She’s accepted me and Zeke. Rafe’s warming to her. Even Eli’s walls have shifted. But Gage still stands apart.
A voice crackles over the speakers. Mayor Liu. I tune it out. I'm not big on community events. Until she calls for dominant alphas.
A race.
Cole looks up. So do Bram, Harlan and Bax. Bram’s already standing.
"Whoever wins will receive a prize!" Mayor Liu says into the loudspeaker."
All of the omegas perk up.
“You can’t be serious,” Gage mutters.
“Oh, we are,” Sunny says. “And we’re going to beat the shit out of your pack.”
Harlan scoops Rose up with ease, settling her on his shoulders. Bram crouches so Clara can climb him like a monkey. Cole allows Sunny to get on his shoulders as well, though he looks fairly miserable about the idea.
“I’m opting out,” Cali says. “Connor’s racing for me.”
Connor looks terrified. One look from Cali and he caves. Bax crouches, and the image of a full-grown alpha scrambling onto another alphas shoulders will live rent-free in my mind forever.
I glance to Gage. Though he’s never been a dominant alpha he has technically been running the pack since I left. He smirks and shakes his head leaving this tradition firmly on my shoulders.
Winnie looks up at me, eyes wide. “If you don’t want to, it’s okay.”
Which tells me everything. She loves this town. She’d never want to miss an event no matter how silly.
I take her hand, guide her away, and kneel. Her delighted squeal sends her scent spiraling around us. She swings her leg over my shoulder. I skim my hand up her calf before offering it for balance. She hops, gripping both my hands. I stand, and she gasps, fingers tightening.
“You okay, Sweetheart?” I ask.
“You always ask that.”
“Because you’ll always be my first priority.”
Her scent blooms again, sweet and thick. I squeeze her hand and smirk. I’ve loved her longer than she knows.
And I think she’s starting to feel it too.
Winnie
Being on Corbin’s shoulders is insane. It kind of makes me dizzy, both from the height and from the feel of his muscled shoulders beneath my rear. He rolls them, and I feel it under me as my core presses into the base of his warm neck. I’ve already perfumed twice, but I could do it again. Especially after what he said. Not just that I’m his priority. His reply when I’d called him daddy. I hadn’t been trying to test out the nickname, really, I’d just been joking. But his reply that he’d bend me over had me thinking up all kinds of scenarios.
I have to bite my lip. I’m wearing a skirt. No one can see anything because of Corbin’s neck and head, but there’s no way he doesn’t feel the dampness at my slit.
One big hand goes from holding my knee to rubbing up and down my shin. “Settle, Sweetheart. I’ve got you.” His voice is a deep rumble, and the palms of his hand are callused but calming.
We all line up. There’s a definite moment where the alpha stack looks like it might topple, but they get it together and we wait.
“Here,” Mayor Liu calls through the blowhorn, staking a big red flag into the cold sand, “is the finish line. First pair across wins the prize!”
“How much you want to bet that that ‘prize’ is more of her husband’s bland homemade cookies?” Connor says, nearly losing hisbalance again. Sunny whacks him on the arm with her hand, and the blowhorn sounds.
