Chapter 147 147.Marriage and Matches
Chapter 147 147.Marriage and Matches
Tabitha’s POV
“Oh, are you guys talking about the gifts?” Melanie asks as she steps up beside Evelyn.
I turn and see Melanie with Isabel and Arthur right behind her.
“Yes!” Evelyn says with a grin. “We were just comparing efforts. What did you three get the birthday boys, anyway?”
Melanie laughs. “I am not revealing mine yet. I want to see their faces first.” She winks.
“You are cruel,” Jace says, placing a hand over his chest.
Isabel smiles at Luca before glancing at me. “I kept it simple this year. I figured practical is better.”
“That sounds ominous,” Luca replies.
As the brothers chat with Melanie and Isabel, Arthur walks towards me and gives me a polite nod.
“Good evening, Tabitha. You look lovely tonight.”
“Thank you. You clean up well too.”
He flashes a charming smile.
“Oh, you have something in your hair.” Arthur reaches out and carefully removes a tiny gold thread from the edge of my curls. “There you go…”
“Thank you.”
The brothers freeze mid-conversation. Reed looks visibly pissed, Evren’s glare sharpens to ice, and Luca and Jace tense, their attention locked on us. I can almost hear them growling through the mindlink. I almost roll my eyes.
Fortunately, before things escalate, one of the event staff carrying a fancy camera approaches us, drawing our attention.
“May I get everyone together for a photo?” the photographer asks, lifting his camera.
We shuffle into place as instructed. Rhett stands first, then Evelyn, then Elsie, then Reed. I stand next to Reed. Jace takes his place on my other side. Evren stands beside Jace. Melanie stands next to Evren. Luca stands beside Melanie. Isabel takes her spot next to Luca. Arthur stands at the end.
“Closer please,” the photographer says.
Jace’s arm slides behind me. Evren’s hand rests low at my back. As the camera flashes, I feel both of them stroke me in a slow pass that sends heat straight to my face.
“Perfect!” the photographer says. “One more. Smile!”
The flash goes off again. Their hands linger for a second before falling away. Just as we step out of formation, I hear my name along with the brothers’.
“Your father is calling for you,” a staff member says.
Before we move, Elsie leans toward Reed.
“Happy birthday again,” she says, then rises on her toes and presses a quick kiss to his cheek.
Reed’s eyes widen and glances at me at once.
Isabel reaches out and brushes her hand lightly over Luca’s chest. “Happy birthday,” she says with a shy smile.
Melanie steps close to Evren and straightens his collar with careful fingers. “Smile, darling. It’s your birthday.,” she tells him and playfully pats his cheek.
Jealousy burns through me like a match, but I keep my face blank. I’ve been through this before and my thought process will always end up the same way—I have no right to feel this way.
I turn without waiting for them and head toward Alpha Emery, refusing to look back. It doesn’t take another second until someone catches up to me.
“It is a good day to be alive and single, huh?” Jace murmurs near my ear. I can hear the grin in his voice
I shoot him a look. “You sound proud.”
“I am.”
I shake my head, unsure whether to laugh at him or scoff. If Yennifer were here, my chest would have ached four times worse. Instead, Jace walks beside me, smug. How ironic that the known womanizer of the Aldair brothers is the one who is left without any chicks tonight.
Behind us, the other three finally follow. When I glance back, they look tense, but I ignore them and turn my gaze back to their father who is waiting for us. Alpha Emery steps onto the small platform set up in the middle of the garden. A static noise hurts my ear as he taps the microphone.
“Good evening, everyone,” he says. “Thank you for joining us tonight to celebrate my sons’ twenty-fourth birthday. This is a milestone in an Aldair’s life, and your presence honors our family.”
Polite applause rises from the crowd. I can hear Jace scoffing through the mindlink.
I watch as Alpha Emery continues speaking about legacy and duty. He keeps repeating that the age of twenty four is significant for the Aldairs, and especially for his sons.
I wonder why. Is it somehow tied to their werewolf blood?
That would explain the vagueness of his statements. He’d yap about ‘milestones’ and stuff and how special this birthday is compared to any other birthdays they had and will have in the future, but he never really specifies what makes it special.
I scan the crowd of guests around us. The majority of them are most probably werewolves from the three main packs of the island. But there’s definitely still a few humans scattered among them as well. Maybe some of them are aware of the supernatural side of Kaelara—but maybe some are not.
Just like my poor friend Andrew. If humans like him—completely unaware of the existence of werewolves—are here today, it makes sense why Alpha Emery keeps his words vague and never mentions anything directly.
My gaze finds Andrew in the crowd. He catches my eye and lifts his glass with a grin.
“Who invited that clown here?” Reed grates through the mindlink.
“I did. Your father asked me to.”
I hear him click his tongue in annoyance.
On the platform, Alpha Emery spreads his arms.
“And now, I would like to invite my sons to join me,” he declares. “Come up here.”
The brothers glance at me briefly before striding toward the platform, moving like they’d rather be in the trenches than standing anywhere near their father.
As his sons stand beside him, Alpha Emery lets out a smile straight out of a politician’s playbook.
“I am proud of the men they have become,” Alpha Emery says into the microphone as he glances at each of his sons. “Each of them carries our name with strength. Jace with his spirit. Luca with his judgment. Evren with his discipline. Reed with his resolve.”
“Ugh, he’s embarrassing us.” I hear Jace gagging through the mindlink.
“I’m gonna throw up,” Reed groans.
“Are you sure that’s from your dad’s speech and not the tequila you chugged earlier?” I raise a brow as our eyes meet.
The corner of his lips curve into a smirk.
I bite my lip to suppress a laugh.