Page 43

Verity

“ F reddie’s here. Why? Why would he even be here?” I turned to Grif, a champagne flute in hand as the star forward of Southern United sauntered past. Derva hung on his arm in a dress that was a fashion malfunction waiting to happen.

“Image rehab maybe with Chet now in jail? I think he’s trying to get himself traded,” Grif replied, letting me hide behind his enormous frame.

Black and silver balloons and banners with pictures of kids participating in the Squire Foundation’s youth hockey programs adorned the ballroom’s atrium. There was an open bar, passed hors d’oeuvres and a table full of things to bid on. Later there’d be dinner, speeches, cute kids, and dancing.

While all the Knights were here, there were some Maimers, and a lot of New York’s elite. Mercy and Kaiko hunched over the silent auction table. Some auction items were things like signed Knights memorabilia and experiences, such as a goalie lesson with Dean or the chance to be the mascot for a game. There was also everything from baskets of designer purses to strange handmade things to vacations.

Who knew what they were up to?

Hopefully dinner would be soon because my whole body hurt, and my head pounded.

Maybe I should take another look at the purses up for auction? While the purse hospital had saved some of them, one of my favorites was beyond hope.

Sure, the guys had been amazing at replacing things for us. But they shouldn’t have to feed my love of high-end purses.

“Grif, you’re here. This is my Ma. Ma, this is Grif and Team Mom.” Clark bounded over to us, wearing a Defender League tie. There was an older woman with him. He had a black eye from the fight he’d gotten into in their last game.

Aww, the rookie brought his mom. “Hi, it’s so nice to meet you. I’m Verity.”

“Hey, Clark. Clark’s mom.” Grif waved, keeping me close. “I’m here and I can’t wait to get back on the ice.”

“We miss you. There are so many fancy dresses. Even my senior dance at high school wasn’t like this.” Clark took a sip of his beer, eyes riveting in another direction. “Oooh. Ladybug looks like Aquatica.”

Clark’s eyes focused on Gwen, who wore a sparkling blue puffy dress that looked like something you’d wear for your excellent eighteenth party. Her normally pink hair was light blue and down in soft waves, making her look like the underwater superhero in the Defender League movies.

On Gwen’s arm was a muscular guy about her age, wearing a light blue suit, his hair dark blue. That must be her boyfriend.

“Right? Gwenifer looks amazing,” Mercy agreed, appearing at my elbow. “Auction mission accomplished. I’m going to go bug her.” She set off.

“Oh, there’s Dimitri.” Clark took off, mom in tow, after Dimitri, who looked like a Russian mob boss.

Dimitri’s teen sister accompanied him. Her long dark hair, pale skin, black, and silver dress, and red lips made her look like she’d stepped out of a fairytale.

Kylee appeared in a striking black dress and red lipstick I needed in my life. “Verity, sweets, can I steal your honey? I will give him back, promise.”

“Only if you tell me what lipstick you’re wearing. Grif, go schmooze with some donors. I’ll go find AJ,” I assured. This seemed a lot like the university and science fundraisers I’d gone to all my life where the parents had to make nice with important people so they’d have jobs and funding.

I spied AJ cornered by two women, one small and delicate, in a black and silver dress, neck bejeweled with diamonds. She had golden skin and long, black hair. The other was much taller, her dark brown hair short, and she wore a sleek pants suit, but just as much jewelry, including a wrist full of bangles.

AJ caught my eye and shook his head, looking frantic. Was he warning me away or did he need saving? These might be his moms.

I strode over the best I could with my crutch, trying to be the epitome of elegance and grace.

“Hi.” I slid my arm around his waist.

“Hi.” His scent was bitter, but he leaned into me.

“Verity Thorne. It’s such a pleasure to meet you.” I flashed them my best Southern girl smile.

“Ah, Grif, and Dean’s girl.” The smaller one, who was clearly an omega, looked me up and down. “I’m so curious about you. Oh, is that dress a Vecci?”

“Oh, it is.” I gave her a look as if to say, what else could it be?

“These are my mothers. This is Verity. She’s in a PhD program at NYIT.” His eyes flickered as if looking for the exit.

“Oh. What do you study?” The taller one, who might be an alpha, but I wasn’t sure, gave me a look, eyes narrowing.

“My research is in plant genetics. I work with omega lilies,” I replied, arm still around AJ.

“Oh. How interesting. What do you do with that?” Her voice and look filled with judgment.

I hated that question. That look.

“My research is proprietary, but I assure you, Compass BioTek has uses for it.” I wiggled my hand with the ring Grif and Dean had given me, making sure they got a good look. I turned to AJ. “Kylee took Grif. Should we go find him?”

“We should. With you two being freshly bonded, you should stay close. Mama, Mum, I’ll see you later.” He took my arm.

“See you later, Iksander,” the shorter mom said.

“Thank you.” Relief coated him as we left.

“You’re quite welcome.” I squeezed his hand. “Iksander?”

“What did you think the A in AJ was for?” he chuckled. “Only they call me that. I feel more like an AJ or Alex, anyway.”

Iksander was a form of Alexander. That seemed just like him, many names for the many parts of him—and keeping everyone guessing as to which was the real him.

“What’s the J?” I asked.

“Jameson. Family name on one of the dads’ sides. What’s your middle name?” he asked as we walked through the throng.

“Noémi Fayrouz. I have two because Mama and Baba gave me the names they’d always wanted for daughters . Verity was something they decided on together to fit the whole virtue name theme Dad wanted for all us kids,” I explained. Both hoped I’d go by one of those middle names instead, but I liked being Verity.

We found Grif posing for pictures and talking to a bunch of kids who were probably all in the Squire program. We found a seat near and watched, content to not chat with strangers.

“He’s going to make such a great dad,” I whispered as we watched Grif sign some autographs.

AJ nodded and squeezed my hand. “He will. Dean, however, will be the overindulgent dad that never says no .”

“I was thinking it would be Jonas.” I grinned.

He thought for a moment. “I can see that. We’re fucked.”

I laughed. All four of them would make great dads one day.

The doors opened for dinner. Already, I was ready to go home instead of making small talk with people I didn’t know. AJ would gladly go back with me if I asked, but I should at least eat so I didn’t appear rude.

“I’m going to run to the restroom,” I told him. Giving him a little kiss, only partially because one of his mothers, and a large man that was probably one of his dads, watched us. I left to find the restroom.

When I came out, the crowd in the atrium had thinned as people made their way into the ballroom for dinner.

“Ver, can we talk?” Freddie leaned against the wall, alone, like he’d been waiting for me.

“I guess?” If it came to it, I’d hit him with my crutch the way AJ taught me.

“Not here.” Freddie led me to a patio off the atrium that was used for smoking. Given the cold, no one was out here, even with the heat lamp.

There was only one way in and out from the atrium. The patio had a low fence around it with a little gate and looked out onto what could be a small garden, but was hard to see in the darkness. A couple of bistro tables and chairs occupied it.

“What do you want, Freddie?” I leaned on my crutch, not having the energy for this.

He sighed and for a moment, he looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “I wanted to apologize for being so awful to you when you became an alpha.”

“Oh. Thank you. You made it seem like I was hiding things from you. I’d always been forthright about my designation.” It was cold out here and I wasn’t wearing a wrap or long gloves, only my thin scarf, which was more for decoration. I moved closer to the heater.

“I know. With you basically being a beta, we were on even footing. When you awakened as an alpha, the power shifted, and it wasn’t something I wanted in a permanent relationship. But I could have handled things better,” he told me.

Permanent? It was hard not to snort. There was never any understanding of it being long-term. He was fun, but not someone I’d spend forever with.

“It would especially have been nice if you hadn’t tried to wreck my reputation. Or encouraged people to be mean to me. I didn’t try to get Coach fired. Just like not going pro wasn’t my choice.” So much hurt and emotion flowed through my voice.

Freddie nodded slowly. “Yeah. But you were so good. It seemed a waste. I sort of figured your parents didn’t let you.”

I stared at him. “If you did, then why were you so mean?”

“A lot of it was Chet. He was hurt. Not only that you’d waste your talent like that, but how you treated your coach. Keeping Chet happy meant that he’d get me a good contract, and Southern United isn’t bad.” He shrugged, leaning against the wall of the hotel, braced by one leg, hands in his pockets, dark hair in his eyes.

“Which is why you want to be traded now?” I gave him a look.

“It’s a business, Ver. Chet fucked with my career, and now I have to get it back on track. You know Derva and I go way back. You fucking with your coach like that hurt her. It was like you were doing it to be mean to her,” he added.

“Um, I did it because his actions were inappropriate and creepy, not because I have a vendetta against her. Which I don’t. Though as I said, I didn’t try to get him fired. It just… happened.” My brain went fuzzy. What was he talking about? I didn’t enjoy working with Derva, but I didn’t hate her.

While I vaguely recalled Freddie knowing Derva, I had no idea what she had to do with my collegiate fútbol coach. While I was getting a degree, playing fútbol, and taking modeling gigs for funsies, she was living in New York, modeling her ass off.

“Also, you can’t seriously be with those hockey players. This is a rebellion thing, right? You can finally date, so you’re with the absolute antithesis of everything your parents stand for?” His eyes gleamed with jealousy.

“No, you were the antithesis of everything my parents wanted for me, which was part of why I dated you.” It might be a bit mean, but it was the honest truth. He was a beta literature major who played fútbol and wanted to go pro then write adventure novels. Blasphemy in my family.

Though I hadn’t dated him because of that. I’d dated him because he was hot. Fit. Knew a million ways to fuck. Was super fun as long as everything went his way.

Grif’s rain scent tickled my nose as his arm snaked around my waist. “Antithesis is big word for a fútboler. Hey, Kitten. We should go to dinner.”

“That sounds good. It’s cold out here.” I leaned into him as if I could absorb his warmth.

“Who’s in charge of this weird-ass relationship, anyway?” Derva leaned in the doorway to the atrium, the neckline of her dress so plunging I’m sure she had to tape her tits in.

“Oh, Derva.” I shook my head.

“Save your patronizing bullshit, you fucking life ruiner. It wasn’t good enough that you had to ruin my dad’s life because you can’t take a joke. But no, you have to ruin my sister’s, too.” Absolute vitriol laced her voice as the spicy scent of anger rolled off her.

I sucked in a breath. “Are you related to Coach?”

It was the only thing that made sense. Coach’s kids weren’t around much. They were off living their lives.

“Are you that dumb? Of course, I am. Freddie and I met because my dad used to coach him at summer camp. Then my dad moved us to Research Circle so he could be a head coach in fucking humid, giant bug, sweet tea land.” She shuddered. “I was lucky I could live with my sister so I could keep modeling. Did you think when you’d run into me in Research Circle I was there to torment you?”

“I never thought that. Everything that happened with Coach had nothing to do with you personally.” Oh shit. My old coach was her dad. How had I not known that? But then while we knew Mrs. Coach, and that he had grown kids, he didn’t talk a lot about his personal life.

She snorted. “Um, yeah. Just like you think you’re better than all of us because of your fancy fucking education. You play with flowers , for fucks sake. That doesn’t make you special.”

“Well, of course not.” I frowned. Did some of the models I worked with think I thought I was better than them because I was getting a PhD? Hopefully it was just Derva.

Grif gave her a look and pulled me closer. “Yeah, we should go inside.”

“Wait, what do you mean about your sister? Isn’t your sister older? I remember how she used to go to modeling jobs with you before you were eighteen. How did I ruin her life?” I was so confused.

“Oh, wait.” She focused on Grif, eyes narrowing. “That’s you. You ruined her life. You had her husband put in jail. It’s leaving her career in tatters.”

“Your sister’s married to Chet. That’s how Coach knew him.” The pieces fell together. Huh. Small world. Grif had mentioned Chet’s pregnant wife being in tears at the hearing.

“Oh fuck,” Grif muttered.

“Their marriage was happy. Sure, Chet made a few bad choices, but he didn’t deserve to go to jail. She and my nephews shouldn’t have to suffer.” Anger continued to roll off Derva. “But no, you had to ruin it.” Derva lunged at Grif.

Grif put his hands up, not wanting to hurt her, and she knocked him off-balance. He stumbled back into one of the tables, knocking over a chair. A burst of surprise came through the bond from him.

She pulled back her hand.

“Derva, stop this right now,” I snapped, not about to let her hurt my Grif.

“Make me.” She smirked. Derva threw a punch and Grif caught her wrist before she landed it.

“Derva, I’m sorry your sister is in a bad spot. I feel for her and the kids, but what Chet did was wrong,” Grif told her.

“Get off!” She flailed, jerking her hand back.

Derva stumbled backwards. I side-stepped to avoid her. She tripped over my crutch and sprawled on the ground, something ripping.

“Are you okay?” Freddie helped her up.

“You smug, stuck-up, life-ruining bitch.” Derva launched herself at me, pushing me back into the heat lamp, knocking it over as she grabbed the filmy scarf around my neck.

Ow. Fabric tore as I tripped. The heat lamp made a crashing sound, me nearly avoiding it. My leg throbbed.

Shit. I wasn’t expecting to get into a girl fight with Derva today.

Grif grabbed my arm to balance me. I smacked Derva with my crutch as she tried to throw a punch. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I needed her to not try to hurt us.

Frustration and anger at her trying to hurt my mate bubbled up inside me. “Derva, stop trying to attack us .”

The air sizzled with alpha command and her movements froze mid gesture.

“Oh fuuuck,” Freddie murmured, standing back and watching.

I did it. I’d actually barked someone. Grif squeezed my shoulder.

“How dare you? You’re not better than me.” Derva’s face contorted in surprise as her hand flopped to her side.

“Don’t. Hurt. My. Mate.” I growled. “It’s shitty and I’m sorry everything has impacted your family, but neither your dad nor Chet were innocent.”

“Wow, you got them both out here. Good for you, Derv. You can have her. Though you already destroyed her stupid research,” a voice said just beyond the fence separating the ballroom patio from the hotel gardens.

I couldn’t see who it was. But I could guess. Chet’s wife. Derva’s big sister, Winnie. Wow, I’d never made the connection.

Winnie had moved to New York to work for a big marketing firm and often used her connections to get Derva modeling work. She probably met Chet at a party. I remembered Coach talking about his daughter’s wedding.

Wait, Derva had gotten Samantha to destroy my research? That made sense. Not only did she hate me, but she could destroy something of mine the way I ruined her dad’s career.

“She fucking deserved that for what she did to our Dad. That fucking bitch barked me! You didn’t tell me she was a real alpha.” Derva slugged Freddie. She turned to me, lips curving into a sneer. “I wish you would’ve stayed in obscurity where a washed-up, basic bitch like you belongs. But no. You had to date famous people, didn’t you? You’re such an attention whore.”

“No, she’s not,” Grif snapped.

“Winnie’s here? Why did you attack them, Derv? I know you’re still mad about your dad. But, um, laws .” Freddie looked exasperated in the dim light.

“Honestly, I was never that broken up about Dad going to jail. Because he did get creepy with my friends. That’s why I moved out.” Winnie moved closer to the fence.

Still, all I could see was someone in a hoodie, about Derva’s height but curvier.

“But Chet. I love Chet. They won’t even tell me where he is. You ruined my life, Griffin McGraff. We have children. ” Her voice hit an epic pitch. The fear, apprehension, and hatred wafted off her in a spicy, acrid cocktail.

“Grif, I think it’s time to go.” I tugged on his sleeve, getting a hint of his concern through the bond. Derva blocked the door to the ballroom atrium with her body.

I’d knock her over if I had to. Sure, she was a beta, but I needed to protect my omega.

“I don’t think so.” Winnie’s hands raised. Something glinted on the other side of the fence and I caught a whiff of her fear, her anger… her desperation.

I pivoted in front of Grif as I pushed him in the opposite direction, shielding him with my body. A shot rang out and something pierced my shoulder. Pain exploded through me and I lost my balance.

“No,” someone else yelled. “You’re ruining everything, you dumb bitch.”

“VERITY!” a voice bellowed as I slipped to the ground.

We always protect them at all costs.