Page 67 of Knot Their Girl
Gideon drives with one hand after he reaches for me across the center console. His fingers grab mine, and though I don’t feel his heat through the gloves, the pressure is enough to calm me down. “Listen to me,” he says. “I won’t force you to feel or do anything you’re not ready for, but you have to know that what happened was… none of it was pretend for me, and I don’t think it was pretend for Pax, either.”
I want to argue with him, out of habit, because I’m a brat and don’t like admitting that someone else is right, but I don’t. Instead, I keep my mouth shut and ruminate on his words.
Thankfully, he doesn’t push me on it. He drives in silence to our destination, a mansion a good thirty minutes away, but hedoes hold my hand the entire time, and as much as I hate to admit it, the hand-holding does bring me some comfort.
It shouldn’t, but it does.
The mansion is hopping by the time we arrive. There are so many people there, there’s even a valet, a young and hopeful pair of betas who are dressed in sleek black outfits with constant smiles plastered on their faces.
As Gideon helps me out of the car and I take his arm, he hands the valet the keys. Together, we walk toward the massive front entryway to the mansion, whose doors are propped open. The moment we step inside, it’s like walking into a whole different world.
So many people. Alphas, betas, even some bonded omegas with their packs. All dressed to the nines. So many jewels, so many sparkling things. The air must be thick with numerous scents, because Gideon wrinkles his nose—and I don’t know if he wrinkles it due to the pheromones in the air or if it’s simply due to a hazardous mix of added perfume.
For once, I’m thankful for those shots. Not only do they save me from smelling Gideon and Pax, but they also save me right now, when I’d probably be visibly showing my disgust much like him. And thank goodness for my scent-blocking cream. Not every alpha in here is going to be bonded to an omega. The less appetizing I smell, the better.
“Wow,” I say as he leads me through the house. “I had no idea there would be this many… people.” For some reason, when he said it was a dinner party, I assumed there would only be enough people to sit around a long table or something, not an entire mansion full of rich people.
I wouldn’t say I feel out of place here. I’m a Whittenhall, after all. I grew up surrounded by people like this. Still, it’s been a while, and I was never a fan of the fake niceties that tend to encompass parties like this.
It’s all fake. They’re all fake. I’d much rather be myself and tell it how it is.
As we walk down the main hall, Gideon mumbles, “There does seem to be more than I thought, too.”
“Well, if there’s one thing I know about these things, it’s that we need to start making our rounds. First the one throwing the party, then everyone else on the board.” I bring my free hand up to my hair and fluff it up a bit. “I’m ready. Bring it.” The alpha beside me doesn’t say anything away, so I tilt my head as I look at him and ask, “What?”
I’ve only ever seen Gideon ruffled the night I stumbled upon him in his room. He’s always been well-kept, perfectly manicured, never a shadow of stubble on his jaw. Tonight is no different. He wears that suit perfectly, and even in my heels, he towers over me. He still wears his glasses though, and his blue eyes are such a dark hue they’re almost unreal.
He really is a handsome man, isn’t he?
We must be on the same wavelength, staring at each other and thinking about how good the other person looks, because Gideon whispers, “You really are beautiful, Raeka.”
I laugh softly, my stomach doing something funny. Of course it’s not the first time I’ve been called beautiful, and it won’t be the last—still, it just sounds different when it’s Gideon giving me the compliment.
Instead of telling him he doesn’t look too bad himself, I break our intense eye contact and say, “Okay. Now, who’s house is this?”
Let’s just say if I didn’t have a lifetime of grooming on how to act and what to say at parties like this, I’d be bored out of my mind.
Well, no, wait. That’s not entirely accurate. I’m bored out of my mind regardless. No, my experience with people like thismakes me able to laugh and smile and engage in small talk while secretly being bored out of my mind. Key difference there.
The owner of the house is an older alpha named Gregory Bahker. An omega in her sixties is with him, his wife. The rest of his pack is supposedly upstairs—the off-limits area to tonight’s guests. Gregory is on the board of Chase Jewels, and he cannot hide how shocked he is at meeting me.
After shaking my hand with vigor, he’s all smiles, as is the omega beside him. “Very nice to meet you, Raeka Whittenhall. I think I’ve heard of your family.” Of course he has. Our bloodline is an old one. To Gideon, he says, “I admit, when you sent that email out, I thought…” He chuckles. “Let’s just say I’m not the only one who thought you were lying.”
The smile Gideon returns is tight, and I angle myself a bit more towards him and set a hand on his arm, trying to wordlessly remind him to stay calm. The action works, and his shoulders untense. That fake smile is replaced by a genuine one as he glances at me. “Yes, well, I thought it was time to start a family of my own.”
A family. Kids. That’s something no one has discussed yet. Long-term arrangements have been largely forgotten about while we deal with the problems of the now. I don’t really want kids, and it isn’t like any of the guys have asked, but I made sure to get an implant just in case. I’ve heard of omegas getting pregnant and being trapped, and I’d never let that happen to me.There are free omega clinics that do them, provided you’re at least sixteen, no questions asked.
Would I want kids in the future? With how much I hate being an omega, I don’t really know if I’d be the perfect model of a mother, and I sure as shit wouldn’t want to be as overbearing as my own mother was to me.
“You haven’t bonded her yet,” Gregory states, and his wife shoots him a look that warns him he’s tip-toeing the line of discussing something inappropriate.
“No,” Gideon replies. “We’re waiting a bit. It all happened so fast. She…” He chuckles softly, as if he’s speaking of something sweet and endearing. “She wants me to court her the old-fashioned way, first.”
“Ah, and who said romance is dead?” Gregory laughs. “Come on! Let’s go find the others. I’m sure they’re dying to meet your omega as well—you didn’t hear this from me, but I hear there were bets placed.”
Bets that Gideon was lying and didn’t actually have an omega? Sheesh. These guys, though they might all be on the board or whatever with Gideon, must not have too high of an opinion on him. I mean, sure, the guy has been pretty homebound since becoming Colter’s guardian, but given the fact that Colter refuses to leave the house, that’s not really all too surprising, is it?
It’s a long night of meeting new people and getting introduced. I’ll admit, I’m not quite used to being introduced as someone’s partner, as someone’s omega, as their plus-one. I’m the afterthought here, not Gideon. Typically it’s the other way around, but I don’t mind. As we meet the board members and put in our time, we’re offered champagne and various finger foods. I turn down the food, but I do grab myself a glass, slowly sipping it as we hop from group to group.
