by Belle Harper
She giggled and shrugged. I made sure to stand in the middle of the room so not to leave my scent on anything.
“He has the pink pig. I don’t think it was for his mom.” I knew it wasn’t for his mom. But I guess she thought it was. I guess I was around Ranger a lot, and he was forever telling me how great Noah would be for Ada, and to put in good words for him. Which I just ignored. But from the look of this scene, Ada already thought some good things about him.
“Dude, remember when I told you not to stroke him when he was a wolf?” Her eyes widened. “You know how the guys mark me every day with their scent and mine rubs off on them?” She didn’t blink. She looked around the room and then down to the pink pig.
“Oh shit. Shit, help me, Lexi. Get it off.” She threw the pig at me and ducked to avoid touching it.
“Oh, hell no, I am not touching a thing. I already have a mate that is jealous, I cannot have my scent touching Noah’s things. How much did you touch?” She had been gone a while. She bit her lip as she looked around the room again, then to a closet door that was slightly opened. I laughed, there was no helping her with this. I shook my head and broke out into giggles.
“He is going to know you were in here, I can’t fix this.” I pointed to the closet door.
“Did you touch his clothes?” She stood, swaying a little, and shook her head.
“Noooooo… maybe… yessss.” She turned to the door, and I saw Zara standing there with her arms crossed against her chest. Oh no.
When her smile grew, she shook her head and laughed.
“Oh, Miss Ada. Have you been snooping in my son’s room?” I think Ada was going to faint or pass out the way she turned a beet red and swayed until her ass hit the bed and she bounced back and rolled into sitting. I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing. This wasn’t a laughing matter… well. Okay it was a little but Ada was my bestie, I wouldn’t laugh at her. Only with her.
“I’m so sorry Z-zara, I was just looking for the… ah. What?” I could see Zara wasn’t mad, she looked happy.
“Lucky this is Noah’s room; I think he would have been very upset to find you had snooped in the wrong brother's room. How did you know? Did you follow his scent?” I think Zara forgets we can't smell like wolves do. Ada pointed to the discarded pig on the floor and Zara laughed.
“He brought this home over a week ago and has been sleeping with it every night… oh wait. Don’t tell him I said that. I assumed it must have belonged to you.”
Now that wasn’t embarrassing for Noah… Ada stood up and stumbled over to it and picked it up.
“Let’s get you some coffee, Ada. Did you want to bring the pig?”
She looked at it and saw her mouth twitch from side to side. She was trying to decide. I smiled when she hugged it and placed it on his bed.
“Let’s go down, we are missing hottie Heath Ledger.”
We laughed and Ada held my hand as we walked out the room.
I guess Noah was getting a big surprise when he got home.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Ranger
It was nice to know I had this family that truly cared about me. And as hard as it was to admit it, I had anger problems. There was just something in me, my wolf I always thought wanted to fight, hurt, destroy others. But it wasn’t my wolf. It was just triggered by those feelings in me.
It was engulfed in them as I was. And I needed help with expressing myself better. And I had done that this week, I had gone a whole week at school without shifting once. Lex, Raff and Mav all made sure they were with me. That helped a lot. Knowing they were there for me every step of the way. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, there were times when I wanted to shift and rip the throats out of people, but I didn’t.
It was finally Saturday, and my reward this morning was a shower with Lex. Shower and sex with my mate… it was amazing. But today was a Lovell party. Some thought we should cancel, but we weren’t going to let some assholes stop our tradition.
Plus, we had something huge planned, and Lexi would have no idea. It was going to be a huge surprise. It was her birthday on Tuesday, but we knew she wouldn’t want a party or a big fuss, but she had mentioned the prom a few times during the week, hinting that she would like to go. How Ada had a date, which almost set me off. It shouldn’t have, but Noah had told me how her scent was all over his room. She liked him, she just needed to admit it to him… to everyone.
“Do you have it all?” Galen asked me, I raised my brows.
“Um, what do you think, old man? I have a great memory.” He smacked the back of my head and Mav chuckled.
“Ranger, you have a tendency to forget things, especially if you’re distracted.” I put my hands up and shook my head. Raff was going through the bags.
“No, I don’t. I got everything you said—” Raff cut me off.
“Where are the balloons?” The what? Fuck.
“I thought why have balloons when we have fireworks?” The three of them stopped what they were doing and stared at me. I grinned, I was so excited to show them.
“I got fireworks, I knew a place that if you asked the right people they would sell them to you, so I thought it would be a better surprise. You know. With fireworks.”
They weren’t smiling, huh? I thought they would be more excited. Was better than the balloons idea.
“You cannot set off fireworks, they are illegal, dumbass.” Maverick grabbed a bag off the floor and started looking through. I bought the rest of the stuff they wanted.
“It’s only illegal if you get caught by the cops… and guess what. Nash is the cop! We are all good, he will be fine with it.” I was sure he would be if Maverick told him. He wasn’t my biggest supporter at times. Galen shook his head.
“No, take them back. Get balloons. How can you make a balloon archway without balloons?”
I mumbled to myself, fuckers. I wasn’t going to take them back. Maybe I could go and see if Jett wanted to play with them later.
I found Jett in the house preparing meat for the grill.
“Hey, so apparently buying fireworks is something my packmates are against. You want to play with them later? We could set a few off?” He dropped the huge cut of meat onto the wooden chopping board and came down hard with the cleaver.
“You go down to Watson and get them?” I smiled, yeah. He knew “the guy.”
“Sure did,” I rocked on my feet. I was excited.
“You missed the meeting. Father was pissed. You didn’t happen to bump into any Panther shifters down there, did you?”
I shook my head; this was the first I was hearing about it. My wolf was interested. A panther shifter. Never met one before, I wondered how good they were in a fight. I quickly cleared that thought.
“Yeah, they called up the packs in the area. One of them was visiting their mate's family here in Watson.” He slammed the cleaver down hard again. “No idea who the mate was, but all the packs have been warned to stay away if you encounter him.”
I gave him two thumbs up. And marched up to my bedroom to get ready for tonight. As much as I loved being with everyone in the cottage, there was not enough room for my clothes, and nothing compared to the huge shower here.
We needed a new place, and we were going to ask my father after Lex’s birthday. And hopefully move out after graduation.
Chapter Fifty
Lexi
I got ready at Ada’s house; she thought it would be a good way for us to talk in private. The school week had been long, boring and full of Olivia having a hissy fit that no one would speak to her. I thought she would come and apologise, or at least say something nice to get me to turn it all back. But yesterday she threw a half-eaten apple at me, so might really take her a long time to realize you can’t treat people like shit and get away with it.
“You’re still dress shopping with me tomorrow, right?” Ada asked as she tried on another top, I swear she had tried that same one on earlier… she had tried on so much clothing in the last three hours
that everything looked almost the same. It was gold and a little plain in style. I tilted my head from side to side assessing it, so she would know I was taking this seriously. I moved my finger in a circle and she turned. It had three straps at the back holding it together.
“Oh wow, Ada. That looks amazing and yes.” Okay, that was hot, I got why it was plain at the front as all of that skin was showing.
“Is that a yes you’re coming, or yes to the top? I bought it last week but now I’m not sure, is it too much?” I shook my head.
“No, I love it you look hot. And yes, to both.” I was going dress shopping, because ever since Ada said the guys got tickets, I had been hoping they would ask me to prom. Like I hinted so much this past week, but nothing… I had come here mainly to sulk a little at not being asked. Like, did they just assume I would go with them? If I was going, I wanted them to ask me, not just assume.
“Okay, this is the top. I’m almost ready then we will go.” I laid back on her bed, her room an explosion of clothes. Michelle popped her head in and took a look at the state of the room.
“Ada, you better clean this all up.” She shook her head before turning to me. “You look lovely, Lexi. I hope you both have a lovely night.” And she closed the door as Ada called out she would pack it all up tomorrow.
“So glad I’m staying over, I think she would have made me clean it when I came home.”
I laughed as she grabbed a few things and we left.
I was so happy to see Jett; I hadn’t really talked to him much these last few weeks. I thought at first he was avoiding me. But he told me he was spending more time over at Mekhi’s place. Which was literally next door? I wiggled my brows at him and he told me to “stop thinking dirty thoughts” about him, if I “wanted an upgrade” I should let him know.
“Hey beautiful, looking for an upgrade?” Ada laughed, and I smiled and shook my head at him. Ranger had been so good this week I didn’t want him set off over something like this.
“I told you, model two-point-ohhh is so much better than the first series.” I stuck my tongue out at him. Mekhi, Nash and Saint laughed.
“Shot down again, brother.” Nash slapped him on the back, he smiled at me before he walked off back to the house. Nash had been confusing me a lot lately, but I think we had come to some understanding that I wasn’t leaving, I was here for the long run. And I could live with that.
“So, see any girls you might like?” I made sure the guys extended their invitation to more of the students at school. Not the same ones that apparently got invited. The ones who seemed to be overlooked, because you never know. One of them might be someone's mate. Or get asked to prom. Ugh.
“Let’s go find the guys.” I held Ada’s hand and took her away from Saint. He watched us, his face so impassive. It was hard to know what he was thinking.
“Thanks,” Ada whispered, then put on a smile as one of the junior girls she knew from the library waved at us. We both waved back, and she turned and laughed at something and put her hand on the guy's arm.
“Ohh, matchmaking happening.” It kinda made me feel good, like a cupid. He was a type of angel. I think. Fuck, I forgot to call Tobias back. I would do it tomorrow. Maybe he would want to come out on Tuesday for my birthday. Jack and Grayson invited us all out to dinner to celebrate.
“Ada, did you want to come to my birthday dinner on Tuesday?” She didn’t answer me; it was like she didn’t hear me she was so fixated on the girl from the library. When I looked back, she had her arm hooked in the crook of the tall guy's arm. Wait, oh shit. Tall guy turned around and his eyes flared at Ada.
“Noah.” My mouth dropped open. Ada had told me how much she liked him, but she liked Huxley and was going to prom. And I didn’t have any advice, really. Except maybe that she should ask Noah if she wanted to. She hadn’t decided. But she didn’t seem happy. I watched as he released the girl from her grip and started towards us. Ada turned and ran.
I didn’t know what to do, Noah came for me. Ah… where were my mates? Like how do I have four mates and none of them were out here. Fuck, fuck, fuc—
“Lexi, it wasn’t what it looked like. She kept laughing and touching me. And then she told me she felt dizzy, and I helped her not to fall was all.”
Well I was glad he wasn’t the only clueless one in this, well whatever this was between them. Oh, he was such a sweetie.
“I don’t know, it looked like she was flirting with you, and I guess Ada saw that too.” His hands went to his pockets, and he hunched forward. I wanted to hug him and tell him that one day this will all be over and he will have a mate, whether it was Ada or not. But he would be happy and all this, does she like me, does he like me, crap will all be over. But that was the fun of it all. The butterflies, the excitement that they chose you. They wanted no one else but you.
I heard a loudspeaker make some static sound as the music disappeared. And I heard the voice of my mate.
“Where is my beautiful Lex? You’re wanted by the pool, babe.”
Noah’s face changed, and he was now smiling.
I shook my head. What the hell was Ranger doing?
Chapter Fifty-One
Lexi
I walked over to the pool and froze when I saw red balloons made into an arch. Everyone was looking at me and smiling. Some of the girls pushed me forward, and I stumbled closer in a bit of shock.
What the hell was going on? Galen and Maverick stood to one side. Raff on the other. And Ranger right in the middle of the balloon arch, a microphone in his hand and what looked like a box of donuts? My brows raised as I nervously looked around what the hell was happening.
“Everyone, can I have your attention, please. I would like to ask a question to my beautiful, bossy at times, but very understanding mate, Lexi Turner.
“Lex, babe. Would you be mine and go to prom with me?” My hands flew to my heated cheeks as he passed the microphone off to Raff and he got down on one knee and opened the donut box. My heart was thundering. The donuts said prom. I giggled nervously, holy shit. I had wanted them to ask me to prom, but this… I didn’t like being the center of attention and now I was. But I also didn’t care.
“Babe… come say yes… donut make me.” Ranger waved his hand for me to come over, but his eyes now looked worried, like this was a mistake and I would say no. A smirk appeared on my lips and he shook his head and smirked.
“Come here,” he growled playfully, I laughed as I jogged over to him, he held the donuts high away from me as I wrapped my arms around his waist.
“You can’t eat them until you say yes.” I held his shoulders and jumped up, wrapping my legs around him and tried to reach for them. I could hear my mates laughing, I turned to our audience. It was mostly Kiba boys, and a lot of them were laughing too. Jett was one of them. His eyes lit up when I caught his eye.
“Can I have a donut, Lexi?” he called out. My mouth dropped open, and I quickly turned to Ranger, but he kept smiling. It made my heart sore that he didn’t rise to his brother’s bait.
“Yes, I will go to prom with you… if you give me my donuts.” I kissed him before he could say anything. And everyone cheered.
“And will you be mine?” His brow raised. And I giggled.
“Always,” I replied, and my lips met his again in a blinding kiss.
“Okay, move along, next…” someone shouted. I started to laugh as peeled my lips from Ranger. He had a huge grin as he slapped my ass playfully and dropped me down.
“I will feed you donuts after, babe.” He winked, leaving me under the arch. He walked away and Raff appeared in front of me. His shy smile doing things to me, as he shuffled his feet and froze when he saw the small crowd now quietly watching us. I reached out and took his hand. His eyes focused back to me and he loosened up slightly.
He put the microphone to his mouth and closed his eyes.
“Lexi, the first time you held my hand, I felt the world stop. Now, you make my world turn.”
My mouth went dry and
my knees a little weak, I let out a shaky breath. I was going to be in tears at the end of this, I realized this was more than just a promposal. I understood what Jett had said now. This was them claiming me as their mate in front of their pack, their peers.
I cupped his cheek, and he opened his eyes. Those amazing eyes, like sunshine on a clear blue lake. They bore into me; he was my soulmate—one of four.
“When you cared for me, healed my wounds. I knew you had a big heart, one that could love someone… someone like me.” My heart was breaking,
“Raff,” my throat was thick and my voice full of emotion.
“When I knew I could be the one to chase away the nightmares, when you trusted me to keep you safe. I knew then, what love was. I love you, Lexi Turner.”
“I love you, Rafferty King.” The microphone dropped and let out a horrible thud and distorted squeal through the speakers. He took my face in his hands and kissed me gently, when he pulled back I licked my lips, they tasted a little salty and I realized he had a few tears. Oh, Rafferty. I wiped them from his cheek with my thumb.
“Will you go to prom with me? And can I claim you as mine?” I nodded, his watery smile gave me butterflies.
“Yes, yes, a million times yes.”
I needed a few moments before Maverick was next. He could see I needed to compose myself. This was important to them. It was something I had heard talked about over and over from the first I walked into the high school, and Parker Tolson challenged Raff over his claim to me. Jett told me he and Mekhi didn’t claim Clare, that it was like a marriage proposal and they didn’t want to bind her to them until she was ready.
I knew I was ready, even though it hadn’t been long, I knew in my heart that I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else, or be anywhere but here. Kiba was my home, and it would be forever.