I expected more of a fight from Kieran as he came to terms with losing his ex, but I think the fact that he saw me give her a place between us helped. Even Lennon didn’t bother trying to fight it. He was all in now.
They all were.
I was never one for keeping my mouth shut, and I had to address the elephant in the room.
“Why the change of heart?” I questioned. “The date, the open flirting, the acknowledgments.”
“I thought that was obvious,” Mason said. “The moment you crossed that line with Cade, we became a package deal.”
There was that hidden vulnerability again, and I wanted to soothe it.
“You’re ready for us now,” Kieran pointed out.
“You stopped holding yourself back, and now you smell like ours,” Cade added as he breathed in, filling his lungs with my scent and purring in response. “Is that the reassurance you needed, princess?”
“Actually, yes,” I admitted. “I’m trying to work on not waiting for the other shoe to drop. For you to prove me wrong.”
“We’re not the type to hold anyone’s past against them,” Lennon said with a shrug. “You gave me a chance, and I was very much anti-omega from the start.”
“Yet you were the first one to show me the real you,” I countered.
He leaned in and captured my lips. “Because you made it easy.”
“Just like you’re not going to spend our entire lives comparing us to your exes. And we’ll do the same with ours. This is real.”
“We were always meant to be pack,” I said softly. “Nobody in our past was.”
“God, it’s good to hear you say that,” Mason said, pulling my face his way and kissing me. “My delta has been wanting me to claim you and rut you from the moment we met.”
“I’ve never been rutted before,” I admitted.
“Didn’t you have a delta?” Lennon asked.
“He took blockers that were approved by the AHA medical team,” I said quickly, not willing to let rumors spread. “He thought rutting was a weakness.”
“That makes sense with how they regarded your heat,” Cade muttered.
“They only gave me half of themselves in the beginning, then nothing,” I said. “And here you are giving me everything,including a date you planned down to the dress. Will you really not tell me where we’re going?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not far, princess. You’ll survive,” Lennon teased.
It wasn’t until we pulled up to one of the nicest restaurants in the city that I saw the sign outside. It was a murder mystery dinner. Something I’d never done before, but always wanted to.
“Don’t worry,” Wilder teased. “No suspense with this one, just fun.”
“Exactly how I like it.” I grinned, getting even more excited.
They led me toward the door, the sound of jazz music filtering out as Cade held it open for our pack.
“Do you have a reservation?” the woman behind the counter asked as we filed into the lobby.
“Yes,” Cade answered. “Pack Rhodes.”
She tapped away for a minute before looking back up at him. “Pack Rhodes, you’re at table four. Have a great night.”
Pack Rhodes. That had a nice ring to it.
Chapter
