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Instead, I watch as the figure scales up the side of the house and drops down next to me.

“Why are you outside?” Carter hisses.

“I can’t stand my room,” I murmur. “My mother messed with everything, and even my bedding is awful.”

He gazes at me for a moment before he shakes his head.

“Explain,” he grunts.

“Nevermind, I just like things a certain way,” I grunt. “Aren’t you worried someone will see you?”

“No,” he says. “I will not just ignore what you said. To answer your question, though, the alphas are here. They have your mother and they’re teaching her a few lessons in how to treat people. I’m here to keep you company.”

“Oh,” I say, checking my phone to see that Cassidy texted me to tell me something similar.

“Now, come snuggle with me and tell me what your bitch mother has done to your room,” Carter says, pulling me closer so I can drop my head on his shoulder. “Don’t say it’s dumb.”

Picking up his phone, he shoots off a text before getting comfortable.

“Are the pillows also fucked?” he asks.

“I didn’t check that far,” I admit. “I touched the blankets and escaped out the window.”

“Huh,” he murmurs. “Let me look.”

I watch as he climbs back into my room to forage for pillows, all the while smiling. I never thought I’d have a village like this.

I seriously love it.

Cooper

Cassidy glances at her phone in the basement of the house, pursing her lips.

“You’re such a fucking bitch, Miss Vivian,” she groans, glaring at my ex-wife. “What did you do to Nina’s room?”

My eyes snap back to Vivian, who is currently zip-tied to a chair. The alphas that have been taking care of Nina in our stead surround her with me, while Riley and Ethan stand guard inside. They also asked the staff to leave, and since Viviandoesn’t have any loyalty with the people she employs, they quickly did.

The only thing they asked is if Nina would be safe, which says volumes about her more than her mother.

“I rearranged her room,” Vivian mutters. “I really don’t understand these theatrics. You aren’t going to actually hurt me.”

I’m standing toward the back of the group and she hasn’t seen me yet. She also never saw Riley or Ethan, which means she believes these are upstanding pack members who would never touch a hair on her head.

Typically, she’d be right, but she’s pushed these alphas too far. They’ve been forced to see Nina in pain, hurt, and silently suffering for way too long.

She’s strung them all along while Nina was at Weeping Willow, all while they were kept in the dark. The blinders have fully been removed, and it’s not pretty.

“Perhaps you’re too comfortable, Miss Vivian,” Lyle, the lawyer, says with a fierce smile. I bet he’s a fucking shark in the courtroom. He certainly looks as if he enjoys the hunt. “I think we need to change that. We brought our own chains, didn’t we?”

Someone from Pack Nisim drops a bag at Lyle’s feet, and I watch as he pulls thin chains from it. These are Carter’s alphas, which is interesting since they are stoic while he cracks jokes. When I asked if I needed to bring anything, Silas told me they had it handled, and everything would be untraceable.

I guess having a lawyer in your corner for this is helpful. Mine tried her best, but couldn’t help at all while Nina was being imprisoned at Weeping Willow. Maybe I’ll keep Lyle on retainer.

My musing continues as I think about the alphas surrounding me. Someone in Pack Nisim is a medical examiner, while another is a police officer. I don’t think Vivian was thinking about how dangerous these men could be in the face of her greed.

Hindsight really puts things into perspective.

There are hooks in the basement that I put up when I wanted to hang a large swinging chair down here. I thought about turning this large area into a hangout space for Ethan and Nina, but Vivian eventually distracted me away from the project.