Good Lord. They were okay with it.
I was speechless as Max guided me through a crowd to a group of people who looked just like him. Some of the guys who’d been standing outside his house earlier were there now. A handsome, very muscular man in his fifties, whose very presence screamed “Alpha”, absolutely had to be Max’s father. A beautiful, stocky woman of about the same age, with black hair that had one white streak in the front, stood next to him. She had beautiful green eyes.
“Any time now,” I whispered to Max, as panic rose up in my throat and threatened to choke me. He smiled politely, as if he had no idea what I was talking about.
We were standing right in front of them. Oh, my God.
“You play a mean game of chicken,” I muttered.
“I play a lot of mean games. But I promise you’ll like them,” he said, with a meltingly sweet smile and an evil gleam in his eye.
“Mother, father, this is Josephine, formerly Josephine Southpaw, now Josephine Battle. Josephine, this is Vince and Jade Battle, my parents.”
He’d called me Josephine Battle. Oh good Lord Almighty. My name had changed. I now had the same last name as my husband. My husband.
What had I done? I swayed where I stood, and a wave of dizziness swept over me.
Chapter Five
Max caught me quickly, and before I knew it, a chair was shoved my way and I was sitting down.
“My goodness, did you feed her at all today?” Jade asked indignantly.
“Well, no, I mean, I-” Max was actually nonplussed. Finally, something rattled him.
“Bring her some food!” Jade demanded. A tray full of food appeared in front of me almost instantly, and I realized I was famished.
“Thank you so much,” I said, stuffing food into my face. “I’m so sorry for making such a terrible first impression.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s entirely my son’s fault. I don’t want you to think I brought him up that way; we do feed our guests!”
“She’s not a guest, dear, she’s family,” Vince chided.
“Of course. Silly me. Do you want another roast beef sandwich?”
Shifters were crowded around me, shoving trays of food at me. I looked over what they were offering, and saliva pooled in my mouth.
“That was delicious. I believe I’ll have an éclair, thank you,” I said, plucking one off a plate.
His parents were incredibly nice, welcoming people. I was really starting to get pissed at Max for letting things go this far. What were they going to say when they found out this wedding was a sham?
“What time do you want to start the Running?” Vince asked Max.
He glanced up at a wall clock. “I’m thinking an hour from now,” he said.
His mother nodded. “That sounds like a good plan. We’ll have time to introduce you around to everyone.”
She led me over to a group of people. “These are my sons Pierce, Lance, and Troy. This is my daughter Virginia.”
They crowded around me, insisting that I tell them all about the Southpaw pack. Somehow, they managed to make me feel as if my wacky, hippie pack of misfits was exotic and intriguing.
Max introduced me to his brothers, Lance and Pierce, who looked a lot like him but had much more of a Beta vibe about them, and his younger sister Virginia.
Virginia was a pretty teenager with shiny brown hair and an unusual eye color; one eye was green, one was blue. It was a genetic anomaly that meant that she was a Healer. If someone were gravely wounded, she could heal their wounds and pull them back from the brink of death. At her age, she was just in the training stage, but by the time she was in her mid-twenties she’d be a full on healer and a valuable asset to her pack.
“So you’re an artist?” Virginia said. “That’s so cool! Your pack sounds like so much fun. I should go live out there.”
“No way in hell,” Pierce and Lance said at the same time.
She glared at them. “I’m eighteen. Get it through your thick skulls. I can do whatever I want.”
“No, you can’t. You’re a Battle, which means you are under pack protection,” Pierce said.
“I’ll show you a battle,” she snapped, glowering at them. “Mom! Tell them to stop trying to boss me around!”
“No, tell her she still acts like a baby and-”
“Hey, want to see me turn a napkin into a bird?” I said, and quickly grabbed a paper napkin and folded it into the shape of a swan. Then I made its wings flap. “I’m a teacher,” I added. “I teach art class. My kids love origami.”
I’d temporarily distracted Virginia and her brother from their fight, at least. “Show me how!” Virginia said, delighted. I sat there and showed her the folds, and then she made a bird too, and threw it at her brother Lance. It stuck in his hair.