She’d wanted to tell everyone as they came in. She trembled with the secret, but Danny said that’d ruin the surprise. He wanted everyone there, even her parents on a video chat, before the announcement. But it was so tempting to pull aside her closest friends, like Anna and just let it all out.
The handful of her ex-boyfriends that Pretty Brandon had invited had no idea what was going on. Brandon had gone above and beyond the guest list, sifting through her Facebook friend list, inviting anyone that seemed appropriate. This also meant that her dentist was at the party as well as at least a dozen people she didn’t recognize at all who claimed they knew her from elementary school. He’d done the same to Danny, inviting ex-girlfriends and college friends who hadn’t seen him in person in years. Brandon had an idea about how many people should be at a party, and the idea was “all of them.”
“What is going on?” her friend Natalie asked, pulling her into a conspiratorial hug. “You are seriously glowing. Did you just get back from a spa weekend, you bitch?”
“No way,” said another friend, Anna. “I know that glow. Sister here has been getting laid on the reg, right?” Anna wiggled her body in a lewd dance making grunting noises, until she realized everyone in earshot was watching her.
“It’s a surprise,” Sarah said. “I really can’t say any more.”
Natalie glanced at Danny across the party. “Mmm hmm. You don’t even need to.”
“It’s about goddamn time,” Anna added. Then in an excited whisper added, “How was he?”
Danny glanced over at them then. He was the tallest man there, standing head and shoulders above the crowd. With his shifter senses he must have heard Anna’s question. He cocked an eyebrow at Sarah, as if asking Are you going to answer his question?
“The best,” Sarah said, her eyes locked with Danny’s across the party. “Seriously the best.”
“I need a big man like that,” Anna said, frustration dripping from her voice. “I’m tired of these skinny little hipster boys I keep finding on Tinder. I’m always worried I’m going to break them with my thighs.” Anna had curves to rival Sarah’s and zero hesitation about using them.
“What about that one?” Natalie nodded her head at Rhett. He was leaning against a far wall, in shadows, pointedly not talking to anyone.
“Yeah girl,” Anna said. “I could ride that all night. He’s almost as big as Danny and after these techie boys I could use a big rough man.”
“His name is Rhett,” Sarah said, pronouncing his name loud enough so the big man couldn’t miss it with his enhanced senses. “He’s been Danny’s friend since childhood. I could introduce you if you’d like?”
But then another group of friends arrived and peppered Sarah with a thousand questions. Her head spun from all the attention.
She was dressed to the nines in a little black dress that hug her curves rather more snugly than she liked—Brandon picked it out and had it messengered over. Around her neck was a string of fat pearls that Good Boy said were from a bank he’d robbed in Brazil last year. He whispered the value of them to her with his lopsided grin and immediately Sarah felt very weird wearing them in public. They were worth more than everything she owned put together. They were wedding presents, she realized only too late. Danny’s packmates were presenting her with wedding presents.
Sarah had known about the pack for years, ever since she’d found out that Danny was a bear. But it wasn’t until they started giving her gifts and doting on her that she realized what they would be to her going forward. As Danny’s mate, she was now inextricably and implicitly part of his pack. These strange shifters, these bank robbers and con artists and men of violence, were now family to her.
Rhett’s gift came later. He was the member of the pack Sarah knew least well. He kept to himself and rarely spoke. He was tattooed and scarred, even more muscled than Danny, but given to sitting a little farther away from everyone. At first Sarah took it for dislike, but then she realized it was a form of shyness. He approached her before the announcement, wheeling out a silver cart with a massive selection of chilled wine on top.
“Sarah Honeywell,” he said, bowing his head deeply as if she was the queen of all shifters or something. “This is my gift to you.” He nodded stiffly at the cart full of wine and stepped back. Was he blushing? The big man looked out of place in the formal wear Danny had insisted that the pack wear. He tugged at the collar when he thought no one was looking, as if he couldn’t wait to be shirtless again.