Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

H arper

If I thought I was going to have a moment to catch my breath before seeing the newly formed Pack Stanton again, then I am wrong. The following day, it turns out my mom has invited them around for a family lunch, which is why I find myself twenty-four hours later back in the company of the three alphas who, up until yesterday, I hadn’t seen in ten years.

My step-dad is barbecuing an array of meats which leaves me, my mom and the three men I spent seven days screwing in her house, hanging out on the deck.

Not awkward. Not even a little bit. Not even when I remember some pretty impressive gymnastics out here in the yard ten years ago.

We’re joined by two new additions to the family – Death and Terror. Two large guard dogs Ethan adopted three years ago to help protect the property. They may sound fierce but they are possibly the soppiest pair of pups I’ve ever met.

Death lies over Daxton’s feet, snoozing in the sunshine. His paws twitch occasionally as he dreams about chasing rabbits or squirrels or both. Terror is lying in front of Wyatt and Owen, all four legs in the air, demanding tummy rubs.

“Have these dogs actually ever deterred anyone from doing anything at all?” I giggle, watching as Terror begins to dribble. “They’re such big flirts.”

“They look tough, even if they act like a pair of softies underneath it all,” my mom says.

I peer round at the three alphas. That’s a pretty accurate description of them too.

After we’ve talked for another ten minutes about the dogs, my mom switches the conversation.

“How was the date yesterday?” she asks.

“Disaster,” Owen says as Wyatt shakes his head and Daxton cringes.

I laugh. “Oh, come on, it can’t have been that bad.”

“It was,” Owen says. “It was that bad.” He leans back in his chair and swings his feet up onto the empty chair in front of him.

I roll my eyes. “Was she not pretty enough for you?” I ask Owen. “Not smart enough?” I say to Wyatt. “Too bratty?” I direct at Daxton.

“ She was not the problem,” Wyatt says, rubbing his knuckles against Terror’s sternum, “we were.”

“Why?” I ask, scrutinizing each of their faces. “What did you do?”

“That was the point,” Daxton mutters, peering off into the distance. “Nothing. She never gave us the chance.”

“Maybe she didn’t like your scents. You know how that goes.”

Wyatt nods, Owen’s nostrils flare and Daxton shakes his head.

“It wasn’t our scents. It was our lack of money.”

“I doubt it,” I say laughing again, “the three of you are doctors.”

“It’s what she told us,” Owen says.

“Probably an excuse.”

“Well whether it was our financial wealth, scents or personalities, she wasn’t interested,” Daxton says grumpily.

My mom shakes her head. “This is exactly what I was talking about yesterday. What’s the matter with these girls? Because do you see anything wrong with these boys, Harper?” She waves her hand in their direction and all three alphas stare at me.

If I wanted the ground to swallow me up yesterday, today I actually want to die.

Because, of course, I don’t see anything wrong with them. All I see is a whole deal of right.

“Erm,” I stutter, pretending to find something under my chair suddenly fascinating.

“I don’t know,” Owen says, scrubbing his fingers through his beard, “maybe there is something wrong with us.”

“We were seeing this omega last month,” Wyatt continues. “Really sweet girl. We thought things were going well. Then …”

“Then?” I ask.

“Got engaged to a different pack,” Owen says. “Seems she was dating several packs at once.”

“And the pack she chose was the one with the mansion and the yacht and the beach house in the Caribbean,” Daxton adds.

“Omegas are rare,” I remind them. “They have choices.”

“Are you suggesting we aren’t a good choice for an omega?” Daxton says, his voice taut. It almost sounds as if he’s hurt by the insinuation.

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “No, you guys are …” I trail off, swallowing hard.

Daxton stares off into the distance again. “Sometimes I think we’re never going to find an omega.”

“Well,” my mom says, patting his arm, “perhaps that’s something Harper could help you with.”

“Wh-what?” I cry as Daxton’s eyes widen in alarm.

“You’re an omega, Snuffles. You must know what omegas want. Now you’re back, maybe you could help your brother a little. Give him some advice.”

“Wh-what?” I repeat.

“Your friend Molly was telling me about how she helped her brothers out when they were trying to win their omega. They found her thoughts and ideas very helpful.”

“But … but I’m a horrible teacher,” I mutter, scrabbling around in my head for an excuse (any excuse other than the actual truth) as to why this is a bad idea.

My mom laughs. “You are not, Harper. You are the reason most of your friends passed that Biology exam and their Math and probably their English too.”

“I’m sure Harper is far too busy to help us,” Daxton says. “She’s only just returned. She’ll be looking for a job and–”

“Nonsense,” my mom says, “and it will be a really nice way for the two of you to get to know each other better.” I cringe, very thankful my mother is unaware just how well I do know my step-brother. “Something your dad and I are very keen to see happen.” She peers in Ethan’s direction, waving at him as he skewers another piece of meat.

I glance at my mom and cringe again. She’s totally sincere. She wants us to be one happy family. It’s something she’s always wanted. She hated that I had no siblings and no dad growing up.

“I’m sure I can find some time to help you,” I mumble, not making eye contact with Daxton.

“Thank you, Harper,” Wyatt says. “We’d appreciate that.”

“Actually, we would. We could do with some help,” Owen says grinning. “Finding a life partner is different from picking up girls.”

“You don’t say.” I roll my eyes. “Probably your reputation for picking up girls hasn’t helped your search for a life partner.”

“Nah, it’s not that. We just …”

“Could use some guidance,” Wyatt continues.

Owen leans in and whispers in my ear: “I remember learning quite a bit from you the last time we spent time together.”

I gulp.

I remember learning an awful lot from them too!

“When can we start?” Wyatt asks.

“Errr … start?”

“The lessons,” Wyatt says.

“Right, yes, the lessons. I imagine you’re much more busy than I am.”

“Then you’d better make it tomorrow,” my mom says. “They’ll be working all week.”

“Sure,” I say, smiling weakly.

This is not good. This is very bad.

I was hoping Daxton had accepted my help simply to be polite to my mom. However, they’re all sounding pretty serious about this. And now we have an actual date for this lesson!

Fuck my life!

How the hell do I get myself into these situations?

Because not only is my step-brother hotter than ever, not only is he now living in the same city as me, not only has he formed a pack with his hot best friends, but now, to top it all off, I have somehow volunteered to help my incredibly hot step-brother and his incredibly hot packmates find an omega.