“If he’s alpha and he hasn’t identified her as a mate, he probably won’t. Unless he’s a council alpha,” Bailey explains. “Since… they’re all queued up now.”
Skye tops my now three quarters empty glass up.
“And Linc could, once it’s his turn,” Skye says.
“I’m not holding my breath,” Cicely advises nonchalantly.
“This is really good,” I announce after a gulp.
“Thanks. And I know,” Skye agrees with a big smile. She does it good-naturedly though. There’s nothing remotely pompous about her. I really like Mason’s mom.
Bailey pushes her glasses up onto her nose and pipes up, “Council alphas mate in birth order. Don’t know why but that’s how it’s always worked, ever since our pack was formed with the help of the local coven several generations ago. This council, things have gone a bit differently. The eldest was Tyson and he was kidnapped as a baby, so nobody knew what happened with him. Mase is second, but for some reason Riley identified his mate first, even though he’s third in the birth order but Riley’s role acted a lot like the first alpha of our pack.”
“Kidnapped as a baby? Brutal. By who?” I like Cat Savage. It must’ve been horrific to lose her child.
“Yep. Long, long story. Crazy uncle. But anyway, Tyson mated Ivy and that meant Mason was next. Enter you. Now, Riley being third is an anomaly but like I said, he didn’t fully complete his mating. He only spotted her and I think he marked her, but didn’t knot her. Right? Or did he lose her before either happened?”
“I don’t think he marked her either,” Cicely says. “Don’t the markings happen during the knotting?”
“Oh. I’m not sure,” Bailey says.
“Not for me,” Skye says. “I was marked first. Carrie said she didn’t get the mark until their second time. Then again, Graydon had been mated before, to Greyson’s mom, and he was surprised he could knot with Carrie, which happened during their second coupling.”
“That’s my dad,” Bailey advises. “Graydon Blackwood. My brother’s Greyson. Dad was in the last council before they retired. Grey is in this one.”
“You?” I hear Skye ask as I put my mouth to the rim of my glass. My eyes slide her way and I find her looking at me.
I choke on my drink at the innocent way she asks the very personal question. About her son.
“Um, while. It was during, uh…”
“We get it,” Cicely replies, saving me from continuing down that path.
I shoot her a look of gratitude.
“It’s not always the same,” Skye observes.
“So…” Bailey continues, “We don’t know how the Riley factor will affect things. Anyway… now that the eldest two have mated, we believe that opens things up for the rest of the council alphas. They’re all joking they’re about to drop like dominoes now, considering the fact Tyson and Mase mated just over a week apart. My brother Grey is born after Riley, then there’s the others. Jason, Lincoln, and Joel. And the birth order thing might be why things went sideways last week.”
“What do you mean sideways?” I ask.
Skye’s phone rings. “One sec, girls. That’s Mason.”
The room goes quiet as she talks to him. There are just a few sentences spoken, but it’s obvious that he’s asking about me and probably reiterating she needs to watch me like a hawk, so I don’t run off.
She wraps the call up quickly. “Where were we?”
“Jase,” Cicely scoffs. “As if he’d ever settle down. He’s a wild one.”
“So’s Linc,” Bailey huffs almost indignantly. “And so was Mase, so…” Bailey’s gaze shoots to me. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
I shrug. “I don’t care. Like I said, I’m not here for a long time. But today, a good time.” I raise my glass and touch Cicely’s. Bailey comes closer so she can touch her glass to mine. Skye moves in, too.
“I’ll drink to almost anything, but you will be here for a long time,” Skye says.
“Don’t stress her out,” Bailey says, seeming upset.
“She’s touchy because she’s carried a torch for Jase since she was little,” Cicely says.
“Shut up!” Bailey shouts, popping the p. “You telling me you wouldn’t be thrilled if Linc looked into your eyes one of those nights you two were doing the no pants dance and suddenly declared you were his one and only?”
Cicely huffs. “Then marked and knotted me? I’d have been over the moon. And that’s why I’ve turned my attention away. Because what if he doesn’t? I don’t want to be his fuckbuddy with me catching feelings and every time we fuck I’m waiting and hoping for the knot. Suddenly, he’ll pull away and tell me we’re done because he’s found his one. And if we’re in the same pack I’ve got to watch that for the rest of my sorry days? I don’t need to set myself up for that kind of heartache. Either I’ll find myself on the radar of an alpha in another pack who wants me, or I’ll get myself a decent beta, which is a bonus because they can still be hot and muscled like our alphas if you’re lucky enough and yet they aren’t cavemen.”