“All of them,” Curt said. “You'd be with me for one. That's a hell of a benefit.”
I groaned. Gotta love a cocky alpha. “I'm not—" My phone beeped indicating I had another incoming call. “Just a minute, Curt, my parents are calling.” I put him on hold and switched over to my parent’s call. “What's up?” I said.
“Are you almost home?” my omega father asked.
“Yes,” I said carefully, wondering why everyone was so hell bent on me getting back. They knew it was a long drive.
“Great. Because we have a lot of activities planned for the new moon dinner tomorrow. And we really don’t want you to be left out.”
“Left out how?” I said.
“Well, you're the only one of your cousins that isn’t mated right now.”
My heart rate kicked up another notch. What was everybody's fascination with being mated lately?
“Dad—”
“Listen, there are several eligible alphas in the pack. I was thinking you could meet with Trevor. He's a young beta that is unmated. And then there's Darren, he's another alpha in the pack that I think you could get along with really well.”
I rolled my eyes at both those suggestions. I knew those guys, both were older than me, and perfectly nice, but if they were mine, my wolf would have told me so. It might seem old fashioned, but I was sort of waiting for my fated mate and I trusted my wolf to tell me who that was.
“We were hoping that you would meet someone in Ashcliff, but that clearly didn't happen.”
“Because I'm already dating someone,” I said. And then immediately wanted to slam my head against the steering wheel. Oh, shit. What had I just done?
“Oh, really? Who?” my dad asked.
“Curt,” I said with a clenched jaw. “We’ve just been taking things slow since I’ve been gone for four months. But I figured now was as good a time as any to tell you.”
“Oh, well, that’s perfect then. Please invite him to come to our new moon dinner.”
“Okay.” I grimaced. Fuck. What had I just done?
“That's really wonderful news, sweetheart. Your father and I couldn't be happier for you. We just want to see you settle down with a family of your own.”
“Of course,” I said. Because what good was an omega if they weren't spitting out babies? I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles were white.
I hung up with my dad and I switched back to my call with Curt, surprised that he had held on.
“Okay,” I said. “My parents are apparently on the same ride as yours are. Is there something in the water there?”
Curt laughed. “Everybody's been finding their fated mates left and right. So, now all of us young ones are getting the pressure. So, you'll do it? Be my fake boyfriend for a while.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I don't love the idea. We'll have to plan a breakup.”
“I’m offended by that,” Curt said. “Don't be so sure that you'll want to get rid of me.”
I chuckled because I couldn't say anything else. I mean, if he was actually interested in me, I would love to actually date him. But if he wanted it to be real, he would have asked for real, not fake. Now I had to figure out how to keep my heart guarded against heartbreak if we were going to fake this whole thing.
“Come see me as soon as you get home, okay?”
“Yeah, I'll get settled and we'll catch up tonight or tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Tyson. You won't regret this.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, knowing that I already sort of did. What in the world had I gotten myself into?
2. Curt
Curt
Once I hung up the phone with Tyson, I began to rethink my plan. Perhaps I should have waited until I saw him in person to broach the idea. I didn't want to pressure him into lying to his parents or mine for that matter. But when I’d thought of this idea, just last night after my parents asked me for the five thousandth time who I was going to bring to the winter solstice celebration, I decided it was worth a shot.
It had been four months since my wolf had been silent. Sure I could shift, and he was there, but it was almost like he was sulking since Tyson had left. He had slipped into a depression, and nothing I did could drag him out of it.
If things didn't change soon, I was likely going to have to speak with Lissy about it. Although, since I had never heard of