The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 100: Chapter 100

“What do you mean, I’m going to a ball? Do I look like Cinderella?” Pamela Brown raised one eyebrow at her unusually perky Nari and glanced down at the precious pink-cheeked baby she was holding.
Pam loved babies. She’d spent so much of Paulie’s infancy trying to keep him safe, it seemed so far away now. Getting cuddle time with little Celia and Melly was her favorite time of day.
She loved those twins to pieces and was honored when the Nari had insisted that Pamela allow them to call her Aunt Pam. The memory still brought tears to her eyes. She couldn’t wait to spoil the little princesses when they were old enough. Even her son was enamored of the twins.
“Auntie Pammy-wammy is gonna get dwessed up weal pwetty and go to a dancy-wancy, yes, she is,” Elissa cooed and babbled to the infant she was currently dressing, and this time, both Pamela’s eyebrows went sky high.
Ookaayy.
Something was definitely up with the tiny blonde woman Pamela had grown to trust and love over the past year since she’d mated the Pride Neta. Elissa had been born a normal, but once she’d received the mating bite, she’d experienced the Puspa.
Now a powerful white Tiger and the Nari of the Maverick Pride, Elissa ruled by her mate’s side, and earned the love and respect of everyone in the Pride. Pamela included.
The rare gift of the Puspa, or the Change, had been bestowed upon the Alpha couple by the Fates themselves—doubly blessing her mating to Hunter Maverick in a way that was unheard of these days. Their love story was the stuff fairytales and legends were made of.
If only.
Pamela acknowledged their fabulous love story with a wistful sigh. She had never known that kind of singular devotion, and probably never would.
Lucky them.
But it was more than luck. It was Fate. Truth was, Pamela did not know anyone more deserving of a happy ever after than the Neta and Nari. She couldn’t be happier for the two of them. Their love and powerful matebond were testaments to the strength of the Pride.
A Pride Pamela had once undercut with her mistaken loyalty to the former, and now thankfully deceased, Beta, Blake Segal. Her she-Cat paced at the unhappy reminder, and she closed her eyes to soothe the beast.
He is gone now. Can’t hurt us anymore. Grrr.
Blake had been bad news from the start, but using his innate charm and charisma, he’d managed to fool her, and others in the Pride. He’d caused untold damage to the infrastructure of the Maverick Pride, hurt so many of the males and females he should have been protecting. And then there was Paulie. Ignoring her son was the best thing that sonovabitch had ever done.
At least now, the Pride bonds were being slowly mended through the efforts of Hunter, Elissa, the Tigers of the Honor Guard, and their mates. And in a small way, even by Pamela herself. She was trying to correct the wrongs she’d done in every way possible. Especially since that meant a better life for her precious cub.
Happy and grateful for the chance, Pamela was doing things she never thought possible. She was making connections and friends with the women of the Pride whom she’d once viewed as enemies. Blake had poisoned her mind and set her against the others, filling her head with lies and abusing her trust and self-esteem until it had been nonexistent.
But that was in the past. Pamela was moving on with her life. She was trying, but still, she had no expectations about her position in the Pride. She was just damn grateful they had not thrown her out. Cue her being positively stunned by Elissa’s surprising news.
“Are you gonna make me get official, Pam?” the Naris asked, squinting her eyes. “Fine. Pamela Brown, I want you to go to Uncle Uzzi’s party as a representative of the Pride.”
“What? No way, you don’t want me to do that, Liss,” Pamela said, rocking the baby too quickly and earning that tug in her hair from the infant. “Sorry, bugaboo,” she murmured kissing the babe’s sweet head.
“Yes, way, and the baby is fine. She’s a Tiger cub, a little rocking won’t hurt her—now where was I? Oh yeah, you are going to go. You’ll drink, eat, dance, have fun!”
“You should go with Hunter⁠—”
“Nope. Not happening. Come on, Pam. Please? I don’t want to leave the babies and it will be too noisy for them. And everyone else is pregnant,” she snorted.
“Yeah, that’s true. Your friends are super easy,” Pam joked, then raised her eyes to Elissa’s uncertain about her lame joke.
“OMG! That is a good one. I am so stealing that and using it on Jess.” She smirked.
Whew! That was close.
“Look, Liss, I’m sorry but I can’t represent the Pride, I–”
“Yes, you can, Pamela. Don’t make me use my Nari voice on you.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“As a heart attack. Alright? You good? Yes!”
Finally, Pamela nodded, caving in, even though it made her nervous as hell. Imagine her representing the Pride at one of the infamous get togethers hosted by none other than Uncle Uzzi himself. The older matchmaking Witch was well-known and respected in Shifter circles, especially in Maverick Point.
Oh gods. What was she going to wear? Who was she going to talk to? This was a bad idea.
Pamela turned to tell the Nari, but then Elissa was on the plush baby mat on the floor, talking baby talk about Pamela’s upcoming night out.
“Aunt Pammy Wammy is gonna get some yummy num-nums. Yes, that’s right. It’s time she got her musty, old stocking stuffed—yes, she is!”
“OMG! Lissa! First, it’s not that old or musty—you know what? I think you’ve been around dirty diapers all day, Liss,” she snapped at her friend and Nari, who was now giggling hysterically. “Seriously, woman. Maybe the fumes are getting to you?”
The Nari answered by keeling over in a fit of giggles and snorting. Loudly.
Pam was so fucked. There was no way she was getting out of this.
Shit shit shit.
“No, I have not been sniffing too many baby bottoms today, Miss Brown. You just make sure Marion has time to wax you before you get ready for the ball, Pamerella. That man is a genius with the wand,” Elissa informed her.
She leaned over to blow a raspberry on her other daughter’s tummy, tying her little pink shoelace before reaching out to swap babies with Pamela.
“Hunter doesn’t get mad when Marion waxes you?”
“Hell, yeah, he does. My sexy shaved Neta gets mad with passion, that is. My mate can’t stand the scent of another man anywhere near me, even when he knows it's platonic. Just makes him want to claim what he already knows is his.”
“Is that why you started waxing twice a month when we both know you don’t need it?”
“Yep!”
Elissa held her fist in the air for a bump, and Pamela indulged her, reluctantly. This was a conversation she did not want to touch with a ten-foot pole.
Imagine—that little blonde female was knowingly goading an Alpha male Shifter, one as powerful as the Neta, but having her girly bits waxed by another male—a gay male. But still, a male.
Damn, Pamela had to give it up to Elissa. She had to admire the brass ovaries on that woman.
Holy shit. The Nari is a motherfucking badass.
“Alright, I think she’s ready,” Elissa pursed her lips at her daughter, and Pamela smiled at the gorgeous baby’s Christmas splendor.
Today the Nari was hosting a photos-with-Santa event at the Pride House for all the cubs and her daughters looked like little pink presents with pretty velvet bows tied around their tummies. Pamela had volunteered to help for the event, and somehow, she wound up dressed as a Christmas Elf of all things.
Her inner she-Tiger chuffed in annoyance at the silly red and green sequins and the white faux-fur trim that made up the costume, but Pamela loved Christmas, and she was more than game.
She carried one precious infant while the Nari held the other and waited patiently for Elissa to finish explaining her nutty idea.
A holiday ball? Her? What would she even wear to something like that?
The Nari was clearly not thinking straight. Then again, things always went a little sideways when Uncle Uzzi came to visit, and she’d seen the Witch’s car in the driveway when she’d arrived. Maybe that was why Elissa was still a little bit giddy.
“Did you see the lights Hunter and Brayden put up outside?” Elissa asked, and Pamela smiled and nodded while she chatted about the Christmas decorations.
Yes, Pam had noticed. The Pride House looked incredible, but the she-Cat was a little preoccupied at the moment. Fear and shame welled up inside of her at the thought of doing anything to embarrass them, her people—the Maverick Pride, at the event. What if she messed it up so badly, they hated her and wanted her to leave? Fear gripped her heart as she looked at the faces of those she had grown to rely on.
Until about a year ago, things were very different for Pamela. She’d been used and manipulated, passed around among Blake and his Shifter friends like some sort of possession. How could she have been so stupid? The truth was, she thought she loved Blake. After all, he’d given her Paulie.
The sounds of her now six-year-old cub running through the Pride House, giggling away, reached her sensitive ears and Pamela said a small prayer to whoever listened that her young stayed happy and safe.
He was a different boy now that she had earned a place for them there. Her work with the Maverick Pride Support Group, led by Gretchen and Reg Cray, had done wonders for her self-confidence. It also helped erase those mistakes from her past.
Still, she bit her lip and wondered. Was she worthy to represent them at Uncle Uzzi’s holiday bash? She wasn’t so sure.
“Liss, I don’t think I can go to that party,” she explained.
“Pamela, you were born into this Pride,” Elissa interrupted her negative thoughts. “Who could better represent us? Uncle Uzzi has asked for you, personally, and after all he has done for us, it would be insulting not to attend,” she finished, and Pamela had to agree with her words.
“I have nothing to wear,” she used her last and best excuse to try to sway her friend, but the maddening woman simply laughed.
“Like that is a problem! Um, hello, Nari here whose sis-in-law has a boutique in town. Duh!” she said and snorted. Pamela just laughed.
She used to be quite the fashion disaster, but once she’d stopped allowing herself to be Blake’s victim, she threw away all her notions of what was sexy and attractive. That had been his doing—the makeup, hair, and the too tight clothes. She had starved herself to be skinny enough for him. Had bleached her curly hair and wore the slinkiest little designer outfits to please him.
Grrr.
Pamela was quite unrecognizable now. She’d gained at least twenty-five pounds of weight this past year, grew the bleach out of her hair, and had it cut. And best of all, she often wore only comfortable jeans or yoga pants with big billowy tops.
After all, her job as one of the only two manicurists, plus her promotion to junior hairstylist at Gretchen’s salon, did not require heels and couture.
But a Christmas ball certainly would. Sigh.
“I am so honored you asked me, but Liss, I can’t afford to spend money on a gown. It’s Christmas and I am getting Paulie that bike he wants if it kills me.”
“Girl, do you think I’d let you go somewhere looking like a pauper? Look, Jessica is bringing over some selections from her shop this afternoon and you are gonna love them, and best of all, it will be free publicity for her. Just think how many of Uncle Uzzi’s guests will like it, and they might ask where you got it,” Elissa said excitedly.
“Really? That is so nice, especially with her being in her third trimester,” Pamela replied and inhaled deeply, trying not to give into tears.
It still moved her to think how kind all the women had been to her ever since the truth about her situation had come out. She’d been really awful to Jessica, Gretchen, Kylie, and Elissa too, back when she’d first met them.
Mostly, she’d been horrible to Gretchen. No number of apologies could make up for what she’d done, but the wonderful woman had not only hired her, but she’d welcomed her into her closest circle of friends.
Pamela worked hard to make it up to them. She would do anything to repair the damage she’d done because of her own warped image of herself and females in general as a result of Blake’s abuse and lies. In fact, she’d thrown herself into the support group Gretchen was kind enough to host. Now, she was finally in a good place, both mentally and physically. The only thing left was to try to make the best life she could for Paulie.
It was difficult for her to trust anyone around him, after all, he was the offspring of the man who’d done nothing but hurt the Pride, but Hunter Maverick was not the average Neta.
He had really surprised her. He was a forgiving and nonjudgmental man who’d welcomed Paulie with open arms and assured Pamela it was what any good leader would do.
Yes, this Christmas was going to be good for them both.