Apparently they were dealing with the head of the Worthington family and his pack. Atticus Worthington, his two alpha pack members: Roald Worthington and Simon Worthington and their omega, Cecelia, would be in attendance tonight. The gala was apparently Cecelia’s favorite event of the year and by the pictures I was shown in the car Cecelia Worthinton fit in very well with the upper echelons of polite San Franciscan society.
As we stepped out of the town car and onto the black velvet carpet cameras flashed, nearly blinding me and making me panic for a moment before a hand pulled me close. To my surprise it was Leon who had pulled my hand into the crook of his arm and shielded me from the majority of the camera flashes.
“Just keep your chin up and smile Eloise, don’t answer any of their questions and remember: when you are with Pack Russo you are above them.” Leon’s gravelly voice sent goosebumps erupting across my body and I wanted to lean into his woodsy smell and inhale deeply. But I forced myself to straighten my spine and put the mask on my face that I had to work for years to curate. Friendly but unapproachable.
“Good girl.” Leon praised in my ear and the facade nearly fell away with surprise as the praise and it filled my belly with warm tingly feelings. I gave myself a little shake as we walked towards the main entrance flanked by the rest of the pack. Leon didn’t evenlikeme and I sure as hell didn’t like an overbearing alphahole. So my inner-self needed to get her shit together or she was going to get both of us in trouble.
Stepping into the ballroom I had to force myself not to gawk. It looked like the ballrooms from one of my favorite historical romance movies, but classier. Men and women milled about, chatting with each other and sipping on glasses of champagne. The sound of superficial laughter came from one side of me, a socialite batting her eyelashes at an older alpha, and music from a smartly dressed string quartet came from the other.
The ballroom was long and was flanked by windows on either side, one side showing the neatly manicured garden which was lit by what looked like thousands of fairy lights and the other showed the San Francisco bay that was just beginning to light up as night fully set in. It was the fanciest place I had ever been in my life—even adding in the events that the academy took us to.
“You look a little nervous.” A voice murmured in my ear and I took a break from my gawking to look over at Ric who was giving me an encouraging smile.
“She’s fine.” Leon rumbled, “Keep looking forward, we’re being watched.”
This was true. As we made our way deeper into the ballroom people, who had previously been engrossed in their conversations, stopped and turned to watch our group.
When we finally made it to the center of the ballroom we were greeted by a small group of older people who were very clearly a pack.
“Ah, Leon Russo, it’s so good that you could make it.” The clear leader of the pack stepped forward with a benign smile as he held a hand out to Leon. He was taller than Leon but he had a slighter build. His gray hair was perfectly coiffed and his gray beard was neatly groomed, not a hair was out of place on this man's head and I was seriously jealous. I’d only had my hair up for an hour and a half and I was pretty sure it was already looking frizzy. Hair aside the man was dressed impeccably in a deep plum satin suit that warmed up the cool tones in his lined skin and to top it all off the man had a pair of the iciest blue eyes I'd ever seen. He definitely had the whole ‘silver fox’ thing going on. The two men behind him were no different, one was an older black man with tightly curled gray hair and deep brown eyes that seemed to take in everything at once. I quickly recognized him as Roald Worthington. The other, who must be Simon Worthington, was the shortest of the trio but still maintained his dark slicked back hair with only a few streaks of gray. He had a hawkish nose and a bored expression that told me he’d rather be anywhere but here. Same dude, same.
“Atticus.” Leon greeted the man and shook his hand. I had to keep from snorting when I noticed both men were white-knuckled in what looked to be an oh-so-masculine dominance contest.
“Now boys.” A tinkling laugh came from behind the two alphas flanking Atticus and a pair of hands wedged themself in between the two men’s touching shoulders and shoved them aside and I got my first glimpse of the woman who was undoubtedly Cecelia Worthington.
“Atticus you are too old for these dominance contests, I’m sure you are both packing some serious heat—in fact I am 50% sure that I am correct about that.” Cecelia gave an inelegant snort and stepped up next to her alpha. Despite her obvious age Cecelia Worthington was beautiful. I could tell she had, at one point, been a blond as her gray hair erred on the side of silver. She was dressed in a mauve gown that was cut straight across her collarbone and extended out to full sleeves. She was tall for an omega, standing nearly at Atticus’s height. A pair of sparkling blue eyes were in the middle of a slender face with high cheekbones and a larger but slender nose. She was so gorgeous that I nearly missed her crass words. Thankfully the men behind me hadn’t missed them because I could hear Dominic give an audible snort and then an ‘ouch’ when someone, probably Owen, whacked him.
“Cecelia please do not discuss what I’m ‘packing’ when we’re around others.” Atticus didn’t sound angry as his omega, simply affectionately exasperated.
“Oh please Atticus, when have I ever refrained from talking about what you are packing around company? It’s my favorite topic to discuss.” Cecelia smiled impishly at her alpha and the alphas behind them chuckled.
“That’s our Cecelia. Looks of an angel but the mouth of a sailor.” Roald muttered just loud enough for everyone in our group to hear.
I couldn’t help the bubble of laughter that fought its way out of my throat and immediately placed my fingers over my mouth. Everyone was now looking at me and I decided that if the floor decided to suddenly open up and swallow me whole that would be a-okay with me.
“Oh my,” Cecelia gasped as if it was the first time she noticed that I was standing next to Leon and I prepared myself for the ultimate smackdown from this gorgeous woman for daring to laugh in her presence. But thankfully that didn’t happen.
“Aren’t you the most gorgeous little omega that I’ve ever seen!” Cecelia stepped forward and grasped my free hand in hers. Pack Russo, who had previously stiffened at her words, seemed to deflate with relief.
“Um, thank you…?” I was still reeling from the last thirty seconds of my life so forgive me if my words sound a little bit stupid.
“Who is this absolute doll you have on your arm, Leon? Last I checked your pack was firmly anti-omega.” Atticus asked from behind Cecelia, his voice cooling off a bit from the previous friendliness. One thing was abundantly clear: this alpha did not like Pack Russo’s stance on omegas.
“This is Eloise Taylor,” Ric stepped in to rescue Leon who, if his jaw clenched any tighter, looked like he was about to break a tooth.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I chimed in, giving them my best academy-trained omega smile.
“Eloise is staying with us and we are loving every minute of it.” Ric continued on and I felt myself leaning into him for support. It seemed like he was the diplomatic one of the bunch while Leon… was not.
I gave Leon’s arm a little squeeze and he turned to look at me, his dark blue eyes questioning why I had done so. I visibly relaxed my jaw and he seemed to understand and I watched as he relaxed his jaw, letting the tension melt out of his body as he turned to face the group in front of us.
“Well boys,” Cecelia gave a little clap of her hands, “I am going to steal your omega for a bit so you big strong men can talk business.”
She held out a hand to me and I looked up at Ric and then at Leon. I did not want to leave their sides at all tonight, but one look at them told me that they weren’t going to tell Cecelia Worthington that they didn’t want her to take me anywhere.
Cowards.
With a sigh I slid my hand into hers and let myself be drawn away from Pack Russo.
