And at that, I was given the sweetest of forehead kisses before I was patted on the arse and sent on my way.
“What the fuck was that?” I muttered, utterly befuddled. “What the fuckwasthat?”
“A sign of things to come, love. Now sit down and relax. Dinner will be ready soon.”
Chapter 16
OK, I was beginning to see why Cheryl et al used to walk around school like their shit didn’t stink, because if I were looking down the barrel of a life of alpha pampering, I might’ve been a little smug too. Blake returned with two bowls heaped high with pasta and sauce, a small sprinkle of parsley applied to both before he set smaller ramekins of freshly grated parmesan cheese and chilli flakes on the coffee table. Then he sat down, right next to me. I watched him when he grabbed the remote, flicking through the channels until he found what he was looking for.
“10 Things I Hate About You?” I yelped. “I freaking loved that movie!”
“I know, now eat.”
He wasn’t exactly being bossy, but there was just a tiny little bit of alpha bark in his words that had me grabbing my fork and twirling the pasta around it. Weirdly, it didn’t leave me feeling harassed or pressured. I felt…cared for. He was right though—I needed to experience it to understand it, because if I had picked up anything like this in an interview with a subject, I would’ve been spikier than even the very irate Julia Stiles in this movie. But as I slumped back onto the couch, the soundtrack punctuated by the comforting sounds of us eating, I wondered.
When I’d first watched the film, the shrewish Kat’s insistence on rejecting Heath Ledger’s attempts at courting her seemed ridiculous. Playing Patrick Verona, Heath brought as much alpha charisma as a beta could to the role. He was gorgeous, funny, and his song and dance act, even if it might have been a little calculating, was enough to win teenage me over, so why not Kat? But as my eyes slid sideways, as Blake caught me at it, I started to get a better understanding of her character.
She wanted to protect herself, her ambition, her needs, her desire to be something more than the mould she was supposed to be cast in, and guys didn’t respond well to it. So she treated them badly in response, pushing them away before they could even reject her or say anything at all. It was only the persistent Patrick Verona who managed to weasel his way past her sky-high boundaries, finding a way into her heart.
“Am I supposed to be learning something from this?” I asked, having demolished half my bowl of spaghetti and unable to fit another bite in. Blake sighed and grabbed my bowl, finishing this off as well before turning to me.
“You loved this movie.”
“Yeah, but—”
“You used to go on and on and on about the main dude and how hot he was, though you liked him with blond hair, not dark.”
“Right, though—”
“And after…” He went silent for a second, those dark brown eyes meeting mine. “After your dad died, we watched it over and over on rotation, tangled up in a big puppy pile.”
Fuck. It felt like an icy knife had been driven into my chest, because I’d forgotten all about that. The empty bowl was set aside, and then Blake’s arm went around my shoulders, pulling me in close.
“You fell asleep more times than I can count curled up into my side, watching this movie.”
As he said the words, my hands rested on that massive body, able to see in my mind exactly what he meant.
“You didn’t touch me much, or talk to me. I always struggled with girls, and you… I dunno if you even saw me or heard me over all those other dickheads.” He let out a long sigh. “Haze wanted to come tonight. So did Colt, so did everyone, but I said no. We pushed all your buttons at once last night, and we have to work hard to undo that.”
He pulled me closer still, so I was half sprawled across his lap, and then I felt a gentle kiss pressed to my hair.
“We fucked up, forgot everything we’d ever learned about taking a mate. If you were an omega, you’d be flighty, scared, wondering what the fuck would happen with all of us and there being just one of you. Our job is to create a space that you feel safe enough to relax in, because it’s only then that you can let us in.”
I looked up at him then, feeling like I saw the strong planes of his face for the first time. I moved until I was straddling his lap, his hands coming to rest on my hips, even as he held his body very still. My fingers found the severe planes of his cheekbone, tracing down that slope until I reached the squared off shape of his jaw. The result of a lot of testosterone, I knew that academically, but in reality? This was a hard face with no softness in it, but for his eyes and his mouth. I traced his full bottom lip with my fingers, frowning, then said, “If I let you in, then what?”
“I’ll be where I know we need to be.”
“I’m not an omega. I can never give you what you need.”
“Says who?” He pulled my fingers closer, kissing my knuckles. “Says who, Riley? I’ve had omegas bent over and presenting, begging for my knot…” I growled at that, and he grinned in response, the expression transforming his face. “And I never felt anything but a sense of responsibility and pity. What are you worried about, Riley?”
“That I can’t give you what you need.”
“And what do I need? Someone to take my knot?” He shook his head at that. “We wanted to make sure there wasn’t someone out there, the mythical omega who would complete us, just like everyone said, but she’s not. We spent seven years searching until even the dads gave in. Whatever happened, whatever this is, it’s real. When we took fur for the first time, where did our wolves go?”
“That’s not—”
“Who did they seek out?” he insisted.