Page 123 of Perfectly Naïve
“Right. Well, why don’t you all follow me into the dining room? We have drinks and hors d'oeuvres.” Mother waves a hand, inviting the Whittier pack to the dining room. They oblige her without so much as another glance in my direction.
“Henry,” I whisper, “I forgot my phone at Sawyer’s. Can you please call?—”
“Whatare you wearing, Olivia? When I set out that dress for you, I didn’t intend for you to cover it up with that horrid wrap.” My mother’s voice is sharp. Almost as biting as her nails when they grab hold of the collar of my sweater and tug it off my shoulder before I have a chance to process her movements. “I swear, Olivia, sometimes I think you don’t even want to find a pack. I’m putting in all this work, and you?—”
Her words cut off with a gasp when she sees what my ugly sweater was hiding. Every cell in my body tightens, preparing to run, to hide. There is danger in her gaze, and despite this being exactly what she’s always told me she wanted—me claimed by a pack and fulfilling my duties as an omega—I didn’t do itherway. This is the moment that changeseverything, I know it is, and the pounding of my pulse is so loud in my ears, I’m not sure I’ll even be able to hear what she says.
I look to my brother for reassurance, my hands shaking so badly, I have to clasp them together over my stomach to keep them still. Despite the violence in her eyes, I don’t believe my mother will try to physically hurt me, and even if she tried, there are too many people here to stop her. My chest feels too tight. I’m struggling to breathe. Logically, I know Henry won’t let anything happen to me, and neither will his pack.
Still, this won’t be pretty.
Henry sucks in a breath, I steel my spine, and my mother lets out a shriek that would make any banshee proud.
“What is that?”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
OLIVIA
“Oh, shit,” I vaguely hear Henry mutter as my mom advances on me with a wild look on her face. Turning to Henry for support, I find he has his phone in one hand while he reaches for our mom with the other. “Let’s all stay calm, okay?”
“Stay calm?” Mother shrieks. “Staycalm?”
I flinch when she tears the wrap the rest of the way off my shoulders, exposing the last of my mate marks. Despite the way her furious expression makes me want to run and hide, I pull my shoulders back and lift my chin. I wasn’t hiding my mate marks because I’m ashamed of them; I was hiding them to avoid this kind of reaction. Now that it’s unavoidable, all that fear and anxiety collides inside of me, morphing into something I’ve never felt before, something I refuse to let go of. Somethingtheyinstilled in me with every gentle touch, every smile, every look of longing thrown my way. Confidence.
For the first time, despite the circumstances—or maybe because of them—I can stand tall in the knowledge that I am exactly where and who I’m supposed to be.
I’m proud of the men I call mine. They love me unconditionally. Nothing, not even my mother’s hissy fit, will take that away. My mother can’t hurt me, not unless I allow it, and I’m done bending to her whims. I’m done letting her make me feel small and insignificant, and I willnotallow her to imply that my mates are somehow lesser because they don’t fit her small-minded, selfish, reductive view of what makes a personworthy.
“Olivia Rose! What is the meaning of this?” My mother’s loud, high-pitched voice carries through the house, so I’m not surprised when Verity and the rest of Henry’s pack come striding into the room.
“What’s going on?” Aiden rumbles, his posture alert and ready for trouble as he keeps Verity tucked behind his bulk.
Verity’s eyes widen when she takes in the necklace of marks that my pale pink dress only seems to highlight. “Oh my god,” she says, a huge smile overtaking her face. “Liv, this is wonderful!”
“Wonderful,” my mother snarls. “Hardly. Explain yourself, Olivia.”
Clearing my throat, I wince when Pack Whittier strolls into the room, followed by my dads. Great. More witnesses. There’s nothing like having an audience for one of the most stressful moments of my life.
“Can we please discuss this somewhere more private?” I ask, my fingers tracing the marks around my neck. The bond pulses in response. I want my mates. If only I had magic and could bring them here, none of this would matter. It wouldn’t matter that my mother looks like she wants to murder me, or that snooty Pack Whittier is sneering at my neck in disgust, or that my dads look impotently between me and my mom, once again proving that they will always choose her over me.
“What exactly is there to discuss? The way I’ve been doing everything in my power to mate you off to a respectable,well-connected pack, or the way you’ve gone behind my back and mated some unknown pack that is no doubt beneath us?”
“Mom,” Henry growls in warning.
“Right,” one of the Whittier alphas drawls, his disdain loud and clear. “We’ll be going. This was a complete waste of time.”
They file out without another word, and some of the pressure lifts off my chest. I’m sure I’ll be the talk of the town by the time the hour’s up, but at least they’re gone. Having fewer eyes on me makes it that much easier to breathe, even as a thick, oppressive silence fills the room. The slam of the front door and my labored breathing are loud in the silence.
“I would have told you,” I say to my parents, sighing. “But you didn’t exactly give me a chance. Just shoved me into my room after springing another date on me. I tried to tell you I wasn’t interested, but you wouldn’t let me get a word in before storming off.”
“When did this happen?” my dad Eric asks, stepping toward me. I think this is the closest he’s looked at me in years.
“A few days ago.” The memory of my heat and the way they claimed me has a secret smile curving my lips.
“And you’re happy?” my dad Darren asks more gently than I’m used to from him.
“Yeah, I really am.”
