The same contentment and happiness rested in my chest. I didn’t have any lingering doubts. They were telling me what they wanted, and for the first time, I believed it.

Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

________

KADE

The blaring sound brought a groan out of me, and I turned over. That was the shrillest alarm sound I’d ever heard, and it had to be Esme’s phone. None of the pack’s phones sounded like that.

Her phone ended up on the floor at the edge of the nest. I grabbed it and swiped the alarm off, too late realizing it wasn’t an alarm at all, but a phone call.

Fuck.

“Hello?”

“Who is this? Put Esme on the phone right. Now.”

I blinked, still not fully awake. “Hold on.” Muting the call, I rolled back toward the center of the nest where Esme was sleeping, laid out in her silk nightgown like a fairytale princess who needed to be woken with a kiss.

So I did just that. I stepped over Rylan and Luke before kneeling beside her and kissing her. “Time to wake up, baby.” She moaned and curled toward me. “Not yet.”

“Someone’s on the phone for you, and sounded… insistent.”

Her eyes opened, looking at me as I held out the phone. “I thought it was an alarm and accidentally answered it.”

One look at the screen had her rolling her eyes. She unmuted the call and put it on speaker. “Hello?”

“EMSE ELYSE WILLIAMS.”

I picked Esme up and turned her so she could sit across my lap. “Mom, if I wanted screaming as a good morning I’d live on a farm. With roosters.”

“You think this is time for a smart mouth? What the hell is going on?”

I felt her wince. “So you saw the pictures?”

“Everyone in the world has seen the pictures. Is there a reason I found out you’re consorting with a pack from everyone else but you?”

The word ‘consorting’ made me chuckle. I buried the sound in Esme’s shoulder.

“It wasn’t planned. I promise I can explain.” She pressed a hand to her forehead. “It’s Saturday, right? We’re supposed to have lunch, anyway.”

Over the line there was a frustrated sigh. “Yes. Be at Aurelia’s by noon, and for god’s sake take the back entrance. They’re already going to be all over you. And make sure you’re camera ready.”

The call went dead, and Esme dropped the phone. “Good morning to me.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I wouldn’t have answered it.”

“No, it’s not your fault. She would have kept calling until I answered either way. We just got it out of the way faster.”

Luke pushed up from where he was lying on his stomach. “I now understand your fear of judgment with regard to clothing.”

Esme stiffened. “My mom’s not a bad person. I promise.”