I was a grown-ass woman. Of legal beer-drinking age.I walked into the kitchen and beelined toward the fridge, trying hard to mitigate my limp. As I grabbed a bottle from the door, the nape of my neck prickled. When I turned around, I caught Liam’s kid ogling me, green eyes widening when I called forth my claws to pop the cap off my beer.
Yes, this lady has tricks.
I took a swig as the front door opened and shut, and in walked the two missing Freemonts along with Adalyn. I was about to lead my bestie out of the kitchen to have a word with her about the man of the hour and ask if she’d known he was coming, when she popped a stripy pink bag that saidVictoria’s Secreton the island.
“Your b-day present finally arrived.” She grinned while I just gaped in total horror.
My parents were present.
Our Alpha—who happened to be a total stranger—was present.
Niall popped another bag on the counter. “And this is from me.” His shit-eating grin made my stomach bottom out. Niall lived to embarrass me. “Saleslady said it was oodles of fun.” He added a saucy wink.
I rolled the beer between my palms, dying a little on the inside.
“It’s your birthday?” Liam asked.
“It was last week.” Adalyn pushed a sharp lock of bleached white hair behind her ear. “Nice to see you back in BC, Liam, even though the circumstances of your visit suck.”
“Yeah.” He took a long pull on his beer.
“Um. I’ll just—take these to my room.” I put my beer down and went to grab my giftbags, but instead, knocked both over and out spilled the contents—a bright red lacy bra and panty set from Adalyn, and a—
“You got our sister a sex swing?” Nate glared at Niall, who hollered with laughter. “What is wrong with you?”
“Niall,” Mom said sharply, while I stuffed everything back into the bags, cheeks flaming.
“Chill, Mom. It’s just a gag gift.”
When I straightened, strangling my giftbags, I hissed, “Next time you get skunked, Niall, you’ll be sitting on the porch alone.”
Nash guffawed before coughing out, “Or swinging from Nikki’s new swing.”
Adalyn jabbed her elbow into his ribs while I shot him my very best glower. Must not have been all that intimidating, because his blue eyes sparkled as brilliantly as his white teeth.
“There’s also some sour gummies in there.” Niall gestured to his gift, grin still tucked into his cheeks.
The pleasant side effect to my level of embarrassment was that I didn’t even care if Liam noticed my limp.
Adalyn trailed me out of the kitchen and up the stairs into my room. “Happy birthday?”
I tossed the bags on my bed and sank down beside them. And then, because my nerves were a little shot, instead of groaning, I cracked up so hard I tipped backward on my pink comforter. I didn’t even like pink, but Mom had been so excited to have a girl that I gotallthe pink.
In between bursts of laughter, I said, “First, I accuse our Alpha of murder, and then he gets a front-row seat to one of the most embarrassing unboxings of my life. He’s going to think I’m nuts.”
Adalyn’s grin seesawed off her lips. “Rewind. Murder? Why would you accuse Liam of murder?”
After I told her what had happened, her blue eyes, which she’d accented with her usual black wingtips, twinkled as wildly as my brother’s had. Lycaon, those two were going to make sickeningly pretty babies.
She laid back and turned her head toward me. “On the upside, he’ll never forget meeting you.”
“Ha.” I dragged my hands down my face. “Did you know he was coming?”
“Nash mentioned he might, but I didn’t know it would be tonight.”
“Dinner’s ready!” Mom called up to us.
Sighing, I rolled up and followed Adalyn back down the stairs to the dining room where everyone was already seated. For some reason, I’d missed the travel crib in the corner, but this time I saw it, the same way I saw that there were two empty seats at the table. One between Niall and Liam. The other between the twins. Adalyn went straight toward the one between my identical brothers, which left me the chair between my currently least favorite brother and our Alpha.
