He doesn't look like he's about to dive to the floor, which I would fully expect anyone to be in the process of doing if they gave an order like that to an alpha. But he's not the only one acting like it's perfectly normal for a beta to speak that bluntly to an alpha.
The rest of the pack are still quietly chatting among themselves as they eat their breakfast and sip their orange juice or coffee.
Maybe they're keeping their head down to avoid attracting Bennett's attention.
My gaze goes back to Bennett, as I wait for the alpha of the Winter Lake Pack to pull Mack up about ordering him about. If anyone from Shane or my father's pack ever spoke to them like that, they'd be lucky if they were still breathing after.
Once Mack takes the platter from a nonplussed Bennett, he's forking bacon on my plate when he must sense I'm distracted. He glances into my face. "You okay?"
I snap my mouth shut, which is when I realize I must've had it hanging half-open all this time.
"Uh, sure. Just surprised."
For a second confusion clouds Mack's face, and then it clears away as if he's just realized something. "You mean about the way I spoke to Bennett."
"Uh, well, yeah actually." "Oh, it's just the way we are."
I glance over at Bennett to confirm if what Mack is saying is the truth or if he's merely waiting for Mack to lower his guard before lunging across the table at him. My wariness is more about self-preservation because I'm sitting next to Mack, which means there's a strong possibility that I'll be a casualty if I don't get out of the way quick enough.
Bennett just looks confused.
For the first time, he talks directly to me, like I'm stupid, but he talks to me. Which I guess is something. "I don't understand why. In your pack doesn't your al—"
"What Bennett means," Mack interrupts, making my eyes widen with shock because a beta interrupting an alpha like that is practically unheard of, "is that there are different dynamics in all packs. His role doesn't mean he's always the only one giving orders."
I stare at him in confusion. "But that's what an alpha does. Gives orders."
Penny has a coughing fit and Mack turns to clap her on the back. Once she's stopped, he continues speaking. "Things are a little more fluid here."
Since I've never heard, or seen any pack dynamic like this—where the beta can order the alpha to do something and there's no pushback, I shift my focus back to Bennett to see what he's making of all this.
Bennett's expression is completely blank. "Alpha," he murmurs.
"Alpha," Mack repeats with a wide smile. "Now, did you want more bacon, Aerin?"
I lower my gaze to the pile of bacon on my plate. The towering pile. It's far more than I can ever hope to finish, and I wonder if Mack didn't get distracted and keep adding more to my plate than he realized.
"No, uh, thanks but I think I'm good."
I go back to eating, but I can't help but notice there's some weird tension in the air I can't quite figure out. While Mack is the only one who doesn't seem the slightest bit aware of it, the others keep shifting their glances between me, Mack, and Bennett, only I don't understand why.
When I peek up at Bennett, he's busy shoveling food into his mouth and chewing mechanically, like he's just going through the motions. Looking at him, I'm getting the impression he's not even tasting the food. Like he's just trying to clear his plate as quickly as possible so he can leave.
Maybe this is all perfectly normal for this pack, but my instincts are telling me that there's more going on than I'm seeing, or that I understand. My doubts about Mack's role in the pack resurface, and I steal a peek at him out of the corner of my eye.
Out of anyone at the table, Mack looks the most relaxed as he eats his breakfast at an easy pace, making me wonder if I'm just imagining things.
As if he feels my attention, he turns his head in my direction and I jerk my head back to my plate.
Then, at the sound of the front door being pushed open, there's an almost palpable easing of the strange tension, as if in relief. And I start to get a bad feeling, only I can't figure out why.
Mack turns to grin at someone entering the kitchen behind me. "Adela, pleased you could come. Let me help—"
"Don't be silly. I'm old but not that old yet. I'll just sit here next to our guest." Hearing the warm and soothing voice of an older woman, I lower my fork and turn to her with a smile.
But then I catch sight of the woman with white hair and a long, lavender floral dress with probing blue eyes as she sinks into the seat beside me. My fork slips out of my hand and clashes loudly against my plate before falling to the ground.
Before anyone can offer to get it, I twist as much as I'm able to without falling off my chair and duck my head down beside the table.
Mostly hidden, I close my eyes and silently curse the universe because it's proving that it not only hates me, but it's also determined to make me suffer in every single way it can.
Crap. This is bad. This is so, so bad.
"Aerin, you need to be careful with your leg. Here, let me." Mack grabs the fork with one hand and helps me back up again with a firmness that I'm not expecting.
Smiling weakly, I take the fork gratefully from him. "Thanks, I…uh, I just didn't think."
"Well, you should be more careful," he says.
"Not to worry, I can take a look at her leg after breakfast," Adela offers.
I turn with an even weaker smile, hoping her old age means she's blind to what I am.
"Yeah, this is Adela. As our resident fixer-upper, she wrapped your leg for you after the accident." There's no hiding the genuine warmth in Mack's voice, and it's clear that he not only respects her but regards her as a friend.
"Former nurse is what I am," Adela corrects with a smile that she aims at Mack.
"But that's not all she is. She's also our omega."
Which is the problem. Because if anyone is going to be able to penetrate the hasty shields that I've thrown up around myself to hide what I am, it will be this woman. This omega. And if she reveals it to Bennett, no matter what Mack promised me, there's no way they won't try to keep me.