“Ho! Buzz the gate and tell them I can come up,” she squawks impatiently. And the look I get from her is all about push back until she sees the moment I relent and then she gives me one of her famous smiles. “I got ya, boo. Just don’t take Raney’s calls or text her, you’re the worst with surprises.”
“I am not!” I growl.
“You are. Anyway, we can argue over a boozy lunch before or after we see our girl get her happy ever after,” Simona sings back at me instead of Tristan.
“Okay, give me a second.” I hit disconnect as a wave of emotion makes the water meld into a few errant tears, but I swipe them away. The last thing I need is red puffy eyes today.
The girls having my back should not get me all weepy, and usually it wouldn’t. I don’t waste too much time figuring out why I’m super sensitive at the moment… I mean, it is pretty obvious—my scent matched mates being paid to love me is my worst fear coming true.
Grabbing a couple of towels and covering myself, I poke my head out of my suite and ask the guard at my door to buzz down to the front gate and let Tristan in. And then I all but race to put some clothes on before I sprint out the door, suddenly desperate for a hug from her.
“Ho, you look like shit,” is the first thing she says to me before she drops her bags and squeezes me. Making it feel like I can breathe again. “Heidi, I am so sorry. Still mad at you, but…”
Tristan and I stand wrapped in each other before it starts to feel fucking weird. I push out of her hug, and she’s laughing again. “That was nearly a hug record for you.”
I roll my eyes, picking up a couple of her bags before we start up towards where I’m staying.
“Ho, I swear to god, if I see that Kai again, I’ll slog him right in his pretty face.”
I don’t answer. I mean, what do you say? And then we say nothing until we reach my suite.
“How long have you got until you have to pack Lowly?” She asks, the second we’re alone. “Are you sure we can’t do it any other way.” She shivers, pulling a god-awful grimace at the same time.
The message is loud and clear.
“It’s done, Tris.” I slump over the bed I have not yet slept in.
She copies me and flops on the bed. “How done, done?”
“Pack Lowly signed the intent forms.” I roll to face her, glad she’s here, also glad she hasn’t said a word about me clearly not having slept in the bed. None of my stuff is in the room, and the bedding smells brand new.
Tristan rolls, so she’s lying closer to me and I’m looking down at her. “Yeah but didn’t Pack Alastor do that too.”
“They did, to a degree.” I move so we’re both lying down, facing the ceiling. It feels easier to tell her the details when I’m not looking in her eyes. “I needed Kai’s signature on the form, so I didn’t have a full squad of security following me around. Effectively, that form transfers my personal security to Pack Alastor, making it nearly impossible for the Board to pull anything shifty. But because it’s an Alpha Council form, it’s not like you can argue the detail. Anyway, it worked.”
“Okay, so we must be able to do something like that with Pack Lowly. Are there any other Alpha Council forms we can use, so they stay away or something?”
“It’s a bit late, Tris. I agreed to become their Omega. Honestly, I’m still in shock the four of them signed it so quickly.”
“What do you mean?” She twists, her face a mask of horror.
“I think they saw the name of the document—Deed to Pack—saw a number listed they wrongly associated with compensation, and before delving too deep, they jumped at the chance. Assuming wrongly what my intention was. I just need a Pack.”
“You’re paying them to pack you?” she squawks.
“In a way. But the joke’s on them, Tris, by the time I’m running Verdune and have access to my Trust, people won’t even remember their names.”
“What are you doing this for?” she pushes, a hint of frustration tainting her usual sugary sweet scent.
“Because if I’m not going to have a pack that actually wants me, I’ll focus on Verdune,” I answer slowly, careful not to get too bitchy in the way I speak. It’s not her fault this is my last option if I want to claim my legacy. “If I take a Pack, I don’t have an advisory board or Alphas telling me what I can and can’t do. I get to live my life, and I get Verdune. And those dumb asses in Pack Lowly just made it happen.”
She looks at me. Her perfect pink painted lips open. She’s doing a great job impersonating a fish. “You’re tying them to you for forever, Ho! That’s kind of gross… surely we could just pay to get some of them taken out by assassins. Holy shit! What about we get the Phoenix Group to do it?!”
“You’re a dickhead.” I sit up, pointing my finger at her.
“You are! Heidi, you have to do heats with them!” Tris starts fake vomiting all over my bed.
“Yeah.” I snort at her theatrics. “That is not happening. Like I said, the Deed they signed sets everything out in black and white. I don’t have to partake heats with them. I actually don’t even need to consummate our arrangement for it to be binding.”
