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I held up the phone and put the call on speaker while saying, "Annerly is on the phone, Christa agreed to let us court her, but she has conditions," And to Annerly I said, "Anton's here, phone's on speaker."

Anton glanced from me to the phone, his eyes growing large. He hadn't spoken to either the Beta or William in a long time, choosing to let all communication go through me because every time he did talk to them they ended up fighting.

"What conditions?" he asked, hesitantly.

Annerly cleared his throat before laying them out. "First, you can't tell Tracy that we've found her. At all. Second, she's staying on suppressants. As long as she needs to. Even after we've mated her."

I didn't even have to think about those. "Done."

Anton's jaw ticked. Not with resistance. I was glad that no one could actually see us, but to them it would look like he was annoyed by the conditions.

I knew him better than that. His problem wasn't with what our Omega wanted. His struggle was with wondering if it would be enough. Hoping that this would be it, and we would have the chance to be withourOmega.

He cleared his throat before speaking up again. "We haven't spoken with... Tracy in years." He hesitated at her name, not wanting to refer to her as our mother. "I know you and William thought we chose her side on some things, but that was never the case. Regardless, she won't be a problem. And I really hope you'll convey that to Christa. Make sure she knows she's safe from that particular Alpha."

"I will," Annerly assured us. "I just needed your verbal consent, so I could tell her. And remind you both that we will need to be patient. She's flighty. Understandably so. She's been through a lot, and is still very scared."

"She has every right to be," Anton said quietly.

They were both right.

She did.

But me? I was vibrating with a kind of joy I can't remember ever feeling before.

"Annerly," I called out to the man that used to be one of my best friends. "Tell her thank you. Please. For giving us this trust."

"I will," he said, and the call ended with a soft click.

I turned to Anton, grinning so wide my face hurt. "She said yes. Bro, she said yes."

Anton crossed his arms and gave me the kind of look he usually reserved for ourseriousconversations. "Don't scare her off before we even get started, Drew."

"I won't!" I laughed. "But come on. This is good news. Amazing news. It deserves to be celebrated!"

"I'm not saying it isn't. Just..." He looked out the large windows, his eyes distant. "Be careful, okay? Keep hold of that hope and protect yourself." He tapped me on the shoulder before continuing. "And remember, she's scared. If we come in too hot, we might burn everything down."

That sobered me. I nodded. "Okay, yeah. Gentle. Respectful. Quiet and calm Alphas."

Anton arched a brow. "You? Quiet and calm? I didn't ask you to get a personality transplant." He snorted.

I slugged his arm in response. "I can try."

He didn't smile this time, not really. But his eyes did soften. Just a bit. "I'm serious, Drew. Don't change who you are. But go slow. Follow her lead."

I nodded, more serious now. "No pushing, I know."

Anton exhaled and finally moved to sit on the edge of the old armchair I kept in the corner of the sunroom. He glanced at the painting.

"Do you think she's changed a lot?" I asked, my tone wistful.

"I don't think it matters all that much what she looks like now," he responded.

We sat in silence for a while. The kind of silence I used to think I could only share with my twin, until we found the rest of our pack.

A silence I missed sharing with them.

Finally, after some time, Anton spoke up. "Do you think we're ready?"