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“Not really,” I rasped, knowing that I had to get everything out in the open before my courage fled. “Mia, I have a confession to make. I slept with one of your alphas. Byron. We were together three times, and I swear it was before I knew you were involved with him. I only found out when I came to the house to meet with you and the others about the gang trying to sabotage the restaurant.”
I closed my eyes, waiting for the explosion. There wasn’t one.
“I know,” she said simply, sitting down on the edge of my bed in the space Emiel had recently vacated.
I opened my eyes. “You... do?” Had Byron told her after all?
“You dropped your phone in the alley when you and the others were taken.” She hesitated. “I... um... I was pretty desperate for any kind of clue to what had happened, so I unlocked it. I saw your texts.”
“Oh.” There didn’t seem to be much else to say to that.
She wrapped her arms around her chest. “It doesn’t matter, Nat. I mean, I’ll admit I was upset when I found out. But it happened before Byron and I ever got together, and if you didn’t know who he was to me, and he didn’t know whoyouwere, it’s not like anyone really did anything wrong.”
“But we purposely hid it from you, once we realized,” I said helplessly.
She shrugged. “Yeah, that part kind of sucks. But the thing is, I was terrified you might both be dead, and Luca stuck somewhere worse than death. I care about you, and I care about Byron, and Emiel, and Luca, and Zalen, too. That’s why itdoesn’t matter. Why would I be upset if the people I care about also care about each other?”
I gaped at her, not able to believe what I was hearing.
Emiel, who’d apparently decided that my parents weren’t about to sneak back into the room, turned toward the bed, looking down at us.
“You live alone, right?” he began. “You should come stay with us, after they let you out of here. It only makes sense—if you’ve been with Mia, and you’ve been with Byron, it kind of seems like you’re an honorary part of the pack anyway, right?”
“I... what?” I asked, looking at Mia helplessly.
She huffed, her expression softening. “You know, I think you might be onto something there, Emiel. Especially if the alternative involves going to your parents’ place to recover, Nat.”
I couldn’t help it. I shuddered in revulsion at the very idea.
Was this a real thing that was really happening? If it was a dream or hallucination, I was damn well running with it until I woke up.
“Okay,” I whispered. “But only if Byron and the others agree as well.”
FORTY-TWO
Mia
WHAT EMIEL AND I HADjust told Nat feltbig, in a way I couldn’t process right now with everything else going on. But it also feltright, as though something that had been off-kilter for months was settling back into balance.
There was no time to sit with it, though.
“Speaking of the others,” Emiel prompted. “What did you learn?”
“The doctor’s finished with Luca,” I said. “I need to go see him. It’ll be a while until Byron can have visitors.”