Of course, I couldn’t be here by myself either, but Gage’s steady presence a few tables down was a constant on these little coffee meetups. I sure hoped that he couldn’t hear what we were talking about but judging by the way his beard was twitching I was pretty sure that he could.
“Stop, Tibby, you're disgusting.” I laughed and shoved the other omega who just smiled, smugly and shrugged.
“One person’s disgust is another person’s treasure. But seriously Maddie, that's some seriously good advice to give your brother.”
Madeline mock bowed for us, “Thank you, I’m available Monday through Friday, nine to five.” I couldn’t believe how nice it was just to sit and chat with friends despite the strange looks we got from the other omegas at the academy. Most omegas didn’t come back after moving in with a pack, so it probably seemed weird that I was here. I guess I would always be the weird omega, even when I don’ttechnicallylive here anymore.
“How have things been going here?” Tibby looked tired despite her cheerful disposition.
Tibby shrugged, “Just fine. They tried to give me a roommate but I scared the poor thing away in ten hours flat. I’ve been sleeping weird too, but other than that nothing really interesting. I wish I could get out and go places with you guys more.”
I felt bad that I could go places and Tibby was still effectively trapped here. I wondered if I could convince Carolyn to let her leave the academy for a day trip with me as long as we were chaperoned. I made a mental note to give her a call tomorrow morning and ask.
I gave Tibby’s hand a reassuring squeeze. My phone buzzed letting me know it was time to head back to the house and get ready for the first of many parties.
“We’ve got to head back to the house.” I said and we all got up and I gave Tibby the tightest hug I could manage, “I’ll find a way to get you out of here and we will wreck the shit out of San Francisco. Sound good?”
Tibby smiled and nodded, waving to us as we headed towards Gage who was already standing with his car keys in hand.
25
“If one more person tells me that I am ‘adorable’ or ‘cute’ I’m going to rip their balls off.” I growled as I sipped on my champagne. Over the past three weeks we’d spent nearly every night at parties. I'd laughed more fake-laughter in the last twenty days than I had in my entire life. It was amazing how alphas thought that they could get to Pack Russo through me and approached me with that intention. What they didn’t count on was that Pack Russo didn’t like anyone near me, like at all. Half the time they would close ranks around me with a cold look or would straight up growl at the incoming alpha.
The ones who did manage to talk to me spoke to me like I was an idiot who was just arm candy for my high powered alphas. That was as far from the truth as you could get.
“Darling, you are going to have to get used to it if you want to exist in this world.” Cecelia’s open laughter drew the gazes of several of the partygoers around us. She’d been at nearly every party we’d been at and had effectively taken me under her wing. If anything she scared more alphas away from me than Pack Russo did. All it took was one icy stare from her and the alphas went running away. “Besides, you are cute and adorable.”
I rolled my eyes but said nothing. I was grateful to have a friend at this party who I could chat with while my pack was chatting with potential investors. Man that was such a strange thing to think and say. I’d really started thinking of them as mine after we’d adopted Lucifer, something about that piece of paper told me that I was theirs on a more permanent basis and despite still wanting to find Link—I didn’t want to leave them either.
Cecelia placed her empty champagne glass on a passing waiter’s tray and grabbed my hand, tugging me along with her as she greeted people at the party. I looked around, clocking the members of my pack as I went. Gage was leaning against one of the walls, his hawkeyes on me at all times. I shot him a smile which he easily returned, sending butterflies fluttering in my belly. Ric and Leon were chatting with an older alpha woman who had an almost bored expression and Owen and Dominic were standing at the hors d'oeuvres table engaged in a lively conversation.
“You know you don’t have to stay with me the whole night, right?” I asked as we weaved in between people. Atticus and Roald smiled at their omega as she passed but didn’t stop their conversation.
We made it to the balcony and I relished the cool air on my skin. I may have drunk too much champagne tonight and my head was a little fuzzy. The air helped. Cecelia always seemed to know what I needed, it was probably an omega thing.
Cecelia chuckled, “Yes but I enjoy spending time with you, so you will just have to deal with this old woman’s presence.”
I snorted, “If you’re old, then I’m an alpha.” We shared a commiserating smile and leaned against the railing and stared out down into the San Francisco streets below. We were on the top of the building where a restaurant had been built and the people below looked like little ants crawling around form up here.
“You look happy… much more content than the first time that I met you.”
“I am much more content.” I agreed, flipping around so that I could lean my back against the railing and take some of the tension off of my high heeled feet. “Thanks to your words I stopped looking at everything as this or that. I can wait for Link and I can be happy with a group of men who take care of me.”
It seemed pretty simple now and I couldn’t believe that I’d spent years torturing myself. Or maybe I was just waiting for the right pack to come along and show me that it was okay to be taken care of by others.
Either way I was super excited to see where everything was leading to.
“I’m going to run to the restroom really quick, will you still be out here when I get back?” I stood up straight and put a hand on Cecelia’s arm.
“No, I'll probably head inside, the cold isn’t great for my arthritis. Come find me?”
I nodded and we parted ways, I made my way through the crowd of people and remembered to mouth ‘restroom’ to Gage who gave an affirmative nod before I headed for the entrance. I knew the restrooms were just outside of the restaurant near the elevators so I made my way there weaving in and out of the way so that I didn’t run into anyone. The party was starting to become packed and it wasn’t surprising when a stray elbow knocked into me, sending me teetering on my heels. Luckily a pair of hands caught me by the shoulders and steadied me.
“Whoa there, you okay?” A deep voice said and I turned and the first thing I saw was green eyes the color of granny smith apples. The scent of citrus and the ocean washed over me and my whole body seemed to seize into a gasp.
“Link?”
PART TWO
