Like me, Ethan took a moment to gather himself. He’d been completely unprepared for a full-frontal assault. Every muscle in his body was on edge and straining against his crisp white shirt as he warred with himself about what to do next.
Luckily for us, the waitress solved that problem when she looped around his rigid body, dropping off our drinks. That break in the tension was exactly what we needed to stop an all-out brawl.
As she distributed our beverages, Charlotte quickly polished her remaining glass off so that the waitress could clear it away. Thank God her buzz had kicked in early. If the booze hadn’t been flowing so freely, she would have picked up on the tension between Ethan and Osyrius straight away.
“Cam, this is my boyfriend, Ethan,” I introduced, placing a reassuring hand in his to settle his pent-up aggression to a slow simmer.
Somewhat pacified by my touch, Ethan slid into the booth beside me. I could tell it took every bit of his personal control not to order me to leave with him at once. Which, I’m sure if I’d been here with Flint, would have happened immediately. But my mate wasn’t like the hot-headed Flint. He was controlled and even tempered. He didn’t just react. He carefully assessed a situation before acting on it. Right about now, I was extremely thankful for that rare gift of his. It meant we weren’t about to have an explosive event right here in front of the entire pub.
“Important call?” Osyrius posed, as he sipped his drink and assessed my mate over his glass.
“Yeah, I was just speaking to my brothers,” Ethan surreptitiously warned. “They’re in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by for a drink. I told them the more the merrier. I hope that wasn’t too presumptuous of me, babe.”
Ethan drew me in closer than I already was and kissed my temple. The intimacy of this act caused Osyrius to tense and grimace with rage. I could tell, despite the good-guy mask he was wearing, he was barely holding it together. The slightest misstep might push him over the edge, and I had no desire for that to happen.
“Have them stop by,” Charlotte encouraged. “If they’re anything like you, Ethan, I can call my cousin, Alice, and she can meet up with us, too. I’m sure she’d love that.”
“Why don’t you hold off on that for a moment, babe,” Osyrius said. “I want to spend some time getting to know Millie, and her friend here, first.”
I noticed the way the ware had downgraded Ethan’s role in my life to a “friend” in an effort to offend him. My mate, however, didn’t miss a beat and answered in kind.
“While I do consider her my mate,” he quipped, a play on the word “friend”, “Millie is so much more than that. In fact, she and I were just discussing marriage plans, as I’m sure it won’t be too long before we have a little one running around the house.”
I nearly choked on my drink over Ethan’s bold words. While I considered us far closer than any ring or ceremony could ever bring us, we’d never discussed marriage before. And babies?Yeah, we definitely hadn’t discussed having any of those. Though, to be honest, the thought made me giddy with hope. A tiny boy or girl with grey blue eyes nearly made me weak with longing. After losing my family young, I’d wanted to create the biggest one I could manage. Ethan’s brothers were a great start; Ethan’s children would be the icing on the cake.
Charlotte gasped as her hands flew up to cover her mouth. “You’re getting married! And you’re preggers! Girl, why didn’t you tell me?”
Not wanting to deny what Ethan had just said, I shrugged and took a sip of my drink. My alcoholic drink. Better clear up that last part before my friend thought I was boozing while knocked up.
“We’ve been talking about both, though we don’t have anything mapped out completely just yet,” I answered as vaguely as possible.
Because Charlotte was so lit, she didn’t shoot any holes in my logic. “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you. My vote is for a fall wedding. They’re absolutely magical.”
Osyrius had nearly turned to stone at this point. His anger came through in his scent, which was even stronger than before. What his smell didn’t tell me about his emotions, his face perfectly relayed in hateful, minute detail.
“Thank you, Charlotte,” I said, giving her a true smile that I flashed in Osyrius’s direction out of sheer pettiness. “I’ve never been so happy in all my life. Ethan is all I could ever want in a man and more than I’d ever hoped.”
Osyrius picked that moment to reach across the table to grab a straw and “accidentally” spilled his full drink intoCharlotte’s lap. She gave a helpless yelp as the entire contents of his glass soaked through her pants.
“Oh no!” she ejected, jumping up and staring at her dripping clothes.
“So sorry, babe,” Osyrius apologized, handing her a stack of napkins. “I’m such a klutz.”
“It’s not your fault,” Charlotte quickly dismissed. “These drinks are really strong. I’m feeling the booze kick in myself. I’ll just pop over to the bathroom and clean myself up. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll come with you,” I offered, getting ready to join my friend so that Ethan could take care of Osyrius in private.
“No need. Stay,” Charlotte told me, waiving away the help. “I’m going to call Alice anyways. You and Ethan can keep my man company while I’m gone,” she told me before pulling out her phone.
As soon as she turned the corner, Osyrius dropped the smile and adopted an expression of sheer hatred. “Get your fucking hands off my mate, mutt,” he growled at Ethan, his upper lip curled in a snarl.
Ethan tilted his head to the side and ignored his command entirely. “Millie’s my mate, not yours,” he replied, lifting his fingers to my neck and stroking his bite mark there. “I’ll touch her however, whenever, and wherever, I like.”
Osyrius’s eyes rounded in burning outrage. “You will fucking pay for your disgrace of my omega, and my pack, Conner! Mark my words. You’re a dead man. You just don’t know it yet.”
“I don’t think so,” Ethan casually returned, leaning back in the booth like he didn’t have a care in the world. “Omegas have the choice of who they’re mated to. Millie has made her choice, whether you like it or not. If I were you, Osyrius, I’d walk away while you still can.”
“What choice did she have?” Osyrius angrily retorted. “She didn’t even know who she was, or where the fuck she belonged. You’ve stolen her birthright. It was her destiny to be at my side at the head of the most powerful pack in North America. Not the head of some rag-tag mutt pack that doesn’t understand anything but self-interest.”
