Page 104 of Their Knotty Pack
"Um, yes." She nods, her cheeks reddening.
Dad is still staring me with that weird look on his face. "Dad?" I ask, my voice sounding small.
"I…" he sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I keep wondering what I did wrong."
My stomach drops in disappointment. "You think something about your parenting biologically changed me into an omega?"
"What?" He shakes his head. "No. I…feel like I failed somewhere, that you didn't think you could come to us with this. We would have made sure you were taken care of, son."
"I've been taking care of myself—" I feel a nudge from who I'm sure is Damien. "Iwastaking care of myself, Dad." I give Damien a pointed look, but he just winks at me. "But now, we're all taking care of each other."
Dad regards us for a moment, his face unreadable as his eyes log every point of contact from my pack. Hunter's protective hand on my shoulder, Kieran's and Damien's shoulders touching mine, Brody's chest against my back. Bethany's fingers threaded through mine.
For the first time, I think I truly understand what it means to be pack.
"Good." Dad finally says, nodding. "The more eyes looking out for my son's wellbeing, the better." His words have my jaw dropping. It's…it's that easy? "Looking at you now, it's a wonder I never saw it before." He gives a small smile, shaking his head, before stepping up to me and opening his arms.
"What about…" I clear my throat, shifting my feet. "What about the community views? On male omegas and female alphas? About them being abominations?"
"They can go fuck themselves," Dad says fiercely, surprising the hell out of me. "I never put much stock into what they say anyway, the community…it was just a safe place for you to grow up. I'm sorry I didn't see how that was going to affect you."
His response has tears welling in my eyes, and it's second nature to hug my dad, our arms banding around each other. He's only a little bigger than me, but somehow I feel like a little kid again. Mom sniffles again, drawing my eyes before coming up to the two of us and joining our hug.
We break apart, all a little teary eyed, and Mom steps towards Bethany. My hackles go up immediately, because I am not a fan of how they were treating her two minutes ago, but Mom surprises me by taking her hands. "Bethany, sweetie, we are so sorry. We never should have spoken to you like that. We just…we've always worried about Miles. He's too sweet for his own good. And when it looked like he might be being taken advantage of, we panicked, and we lashed out. You didn't deserve that."
"Thank you," Bethany gives a small smile, "I meant what I said. I love Miles. So much that it scares me."
"I can tell," Dad steps in, "you were going to continue to let us think the worst of you, just so you could help keep Miles' secret." She looks at him warily, and he has the good sense to look sheepish. "I'm sorry too, Bethany, and to the rest of you," he adds, acknowledging all of the pack, "for not respecting your pack as I should have."
The guys seem to relax as they all accept his apology.
"Now, I don't know much about alphas…" Dad says, rubbing the back of his neck, "but everyone loves good food, right? We'd like to treat you all to dinner, if you'll have us." Mom nods in agreement behind him.
Holy shit. My parents…they not only accepted me, but…they're actuallytrying.
Then I glance at my pack, but they all look to me, letting me make the decision.
My parents look at us with so much hope, I can't help the feeling of lightness that takes over my chest. "Can we have an hour to get ready?"
Dad nods once. "Take all the time you need."
We retreat upstairs, each member of my pack taking a turn to hold me, including Hunter. They tell me how proud they are of me fortelling the truth, and then I get to Bethany, who was willing to defame herself for me.
"I'm proud of you," she says, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me.
"I don't deserve you," I murmur against her lips.
"Yeah, well, you'll get there eventually." She giggles as I release her and chase her into the nest, the rest of our pack looking after us with longing in their eyes.
Maybe we'llallget there eventually.
Chapter 41
Damien
"You have to tell me where you're taking me." Bethany's stunning eyes fix on me from the passenger seat. It seems that the alphas and I are determined to not let the omegas drive themselves anywhere ever again.
The Sunday afternoon sun dips low on the horizon, and I was somehow able to convince the rest of the pack to let me abscond with the raspberry-scented omega.
