He disconnects the call, kind of surprising because I didn’t get a lecture about being careful, but at the same time I probably don’t need one, because he would have arranged a small army to trail behind us.
Putting my phone back in my bag, I accept the glass of champagne Simona has waiting. She gives me such a heartfelt smile, all our play falling away. “Let’s get you packed, Raney.”
And then we spend the rest of the drive to our first stop drinking champagne and giggling. Being with these girls is so easy; we’ve been through thick and thin together. Through our catch up, we all keep a watch on Heidi. She’s laughing in all the right places even though it’s a little louder and her smile is forced. But we all know if we push too hard, she’ll shut down completely.
The car slows as I’m finishing explaining what kind of dress I’m looking for. I swallow my words when we pull up out front of Birdie, one of the country’s most exclusive nesting shops. We’ve actually spent countless hours at Unity looking at all their products online, and they have a lot: wall finishes, endless reams of materials, aisles of room scents and air purifiers, candles in every colour imaginable, pillows and cushions for days, and rugs for every situation. The girls are more enamoured with Birdie’s competitor, Twiggy, but I’ve been one of their most ardent followers. And I have always wanted to spend time here. It looks like another of my dreams has come true.
“Today, you need to trust us, okay,” Tristan says, interrupting my window shopping. Her voice is as gentle as the hand she places on my bouncing knee. “Some things today won’t happen exactly the way you thought they might but that doesn’t mean your special day is going to be any less amazing. Despite our entrance before, Raney, you know we’d never do anything to embarrass or upset you.”
“Yeah, I know that,” I answer, leaning into her again, while my eyes take in the large building that’s full to the brim of any and everything an omega wants for their nest.
No matter how much we fuck around, these three are my soul sisters. If I need to trust them, it’s not a hard task to do.
“No dress?” I ask, finally turning away from the amazing window in front of me to Tris.
“Again, Raney, today you have to trust all of us and let us make your dream come true.”
ChapterThirty-Six
PUCK
Koz hasn’t stopped white knuckling the bottle of bourbon King gave him since the second Raney’s ass got abducted by her girlfriends. For a confident man, he’s got me questioning our plans now too.
“She’s going to be disappointed,” he hisses for the tenth time. Or maybe it’s the fiftieth—he’s a little fixated on it.
King scoffs a laugh. “Yeah, I call bullshit. Raney doesn’t get off on dresses and diamonds. You know that.”
The tension strumming through Koz’s body doesn’t let up. He’s stinking up the inside of King’s truck with his anxiety. And nothing Joker or King is saying is getting through to him.
“Hey.” I’m a bit surprised by how quick he swings his attention around. He’s definitely freaking out. You can see it in his face, but if he chills out, he’ll remember how well he knows her and how much she’s going to love the day we planned. “She only wants you.” I pause for a second to let my words sink in because the man is stressed. “I mean, admittedly, she wants me too. And hell, you should probably at some point know that Hayes and Talon might join our pack. At the end of the day, Koz, all she wants is this.”
It’s strange, but I can actually see him absorbing what I’m saying. Maybe it’s not what I said but our shared obsession of loving Raney that gets through to him. Either way, he chills on the aggression. And after being around him for a few days, it’s easy to see how complex a person he is. I’m not suggesting I know much about him at all, but his honour is super easy to recognise. The change of events and the mix match to what Raney thinks is happening would be like acid in his stomach. It doesn’t take much to know that in his logic he’d be thinking he was breaking promises.
Sitting in the back of King’s truck, giving advice to the guy who looks to be my alpha might be weird to some, but it makes sense. I feel pretty okay accepting him as our pack alpha. I don’t need to think about whether I trust him or not or even if I’m making the right or wrong decision because much like my connection with Raney this feels right instinctively.
The longer I spend with her more of me wakes from what feels like a deep grief filled slumber reawakening. All it is, is another sign I’m so fucking ready for her.
And so is he.
“Koz, she’s going to love it.”
“I told her she was getting the gala,” he snaps, irritated.
“You promised by sunset you’d be packed and everyone would know. Don’t get hung up on her missing out on a dinner where new packs are paraded and desperate alphas pine. What we’ve come up with is all her and beats those pompous get-togethers any day of the week,” I reply with a growing conviction.
“Amen to that,” King adds from the front.
Koz ignores King and jumps to the next issue causing this second guessing. His icy blue eyes hold me hostage. “Am I doing it wrong, asking them to be there when she said she didn’t know?”
“Nah, you know Raney better than that. Besides, Hayes and Talon would have said no if they didn’t want to attend. I heard the same conversation you did. They jumped at the chance as soon as they found out you were packing her privately. We got this.”
He scrubs his face, my eye catching the tattoo of her name on his hand—he just needs to look at that as his reminder. I go to suggest it, and he flips on to his next worry. “I don’t want to kill anyone today.”
“Yeah, well, like she said, we’ve got enough security to rival the gold carpet at Alpha Film Awards. All the Fallen, plus your team, and the additional security travelling with her girls means no one’s getting near her. I’ll make sure no one is dying today, Koz. Tomorrow, or maybe next week, we can both agree that’s going to change, but we can easily do no killing today.”
He nods his head at me, taking a swig straight from the bottle of bourbon, pulling a grimace at the burn the cheap alcohol makes. “Jesus.”
“You going soft on me, Koz?” King laughs. Not that funny ha-ha laugh, nah, it’s one of those laughs he does so well when he’s giving you shit. And it’s not that cool he’s giving Koz shit on today of all days.
