“You’re already ours,” Cato says, of course pretending the rules don’t apply to him.
But my little omega heart is pounding after hearing his claim and the confessions of the others, knowing they’re risking their jobs.
“We’ve discussed ways to make this work,” Charm says, glancing at his packmates.
“I wanted to protect you, Hestia, but obviously hiding our feelings isn’t working for any of us,” Orion says.
The others nod or murmur their agreement.
“You’re an amazing rescuer and we don’t want to interfere with your career, but I can’t deny that we return your feelings. As much as I’d love to officially ask to court you, I can’t in good conscience do that when we need to keep our relationship a secret. Butunofficially,willyou date our pack?” Orion asks, but he continues before I can contain my excitement enough to answer.
“We can’t go public yet, but I don’t want you to think we’re not in this for the long haul. I’ve updated our pack registry, listing us as open to new members. It might raise suspicion if HR sees it, but I’m not required to notify them of the change, so I didn’t. I know it’s not fair to ask you this, and if the company ever finds out, we’ll take the blame. But here at home, why shouldn’t we be together. We’ll?—”
I throw my arms around him and say, “Yes! Yes, of course I’ll date your pack. I don’t care if we have to hide, I just want to be with you.”
Orion hugs me fiercely until Cato eventually pries me off so he can scoop me up. They pass me around until I’ve hugged everyone several times.
I end up back with Orion, who takes me by the hips and says, “I’m not sure how you feel, but it might be best to take things slow. We’ve gone a bit out of order, living together and helping with your heat. And even though we’re scent matches, I don’t want you to feel pressured to jump into things. We’ll plan dates here at home so we can get to know each other as mates rather than coworkers.”
“Dating sounds like a good idea. I’m happy to take things slow,” I agree, despite the fact that I mounted Magnus mere moments ago.
Orion is probably right though. Not that there’s anything wrong with doing things differently, but it would be nice to get to know them better. I held back before, not wanting to make it obvious how interested I was in them, but as their girlfriend, I can be a menace with questions.
“I don’t ever want you to feel like you have to agree to something just because we’re your bosses. I’m only in charge of the team when we’re in the field.At home and in our relationship, no one is in charge of you but you,” Orion says.
“I trust you. We’ll make this work,” I say, hugging him again.
“And we only have to keep it a secret for two years. We can easily weather that together,” he says.
“It’s 681 days,” I correct automatically.
They laugh, but I know they’re impressed with my quick math.
“Now, let me help you with these,” Magnus says, holding up my shorts.
Chapter 42
Henri
Iput the spicy chips back in the cabinet for the third time.
Hestia likes them, but I’m not sure they complement the other snacks.
I want everything to be perfect, and that includes the menu. Every detail is important for our first date.
Since we can’t date publicly, we’re going to watch movies in our screening room, but I want her to have the full movie theater experience. We’ve done this plenty of times before, but now it’s anofficialdate.
I want to show Hestia we’re the perfect pack for her. She deserves the world, and I’ll do my best to give it to her, even if we have to stay cuddled up at home.
Food is one of the most important ways I can show we’re capable of providing for her and paying attention to what she likes.
That’s why I’m taking so much care putting together our snack trays.
I have bowls of tortilla chips, jalapenos, salsa, and othertoppings. I asked Magnus to turn on the nacho cheese machine in the movie room so it will be hot and ready.
The other snacks are the usual movie theater fare, popcorn with plenty of butter, several jars of popcorn seasoning, and candy of all sorts. We have a soda machine in the screening room, so drinks are covered.
I think that will be enough food for our first date.
