Page 55

Della

Two Days Later

It’s early as I sit on the kitchen counter, kicking my feet as I demolish a blueberry muffin.

Vincent, on his way to the refrigerator, lifts my right foot and presses a kiss on the sole. Giggling, I immediately yank my foot back.

“Stop that.”

The slow grin spreading across his handsome face makes me instantly forget all about my muffin.

“You’re ticklish,” he announces.

I yank my foot harder. “No, I’m not. And you have some secret foot fetish that you absolutely did not tell me about. These are things a girl needs to know before moving in with a guy.”

“You are.” One hand circling my ankle, he tugs, my ass sliding across the counter. “Aren’t you?”

I don’t fight him as hard as I should until he tickles me again. Then, I damn near kick the guy in the face, giggling and nearly falling off the counter to get away.

“What’s up with the giggles?” Xavier grins as he walks into the kitchen.

We’re all in pajamas, having not long crawled out of bed.

I throw myself at him, dramatically declaring. “Save me.”

He catches me, claiming a kiss. “From?”

I point an accusatory finger at a grinning Vincent. “Him. He tickles. And he has a foot fetish. No one told me about foot fetishes. I might not have agreed to take on the name Madden otherwise.”

Their smiles freeze. So does Levi as he enters the kitchen, a soft look on his face that tells me he heard what I said.

“You’re a Madden,” he says, cupping the back of my head.

“As long as no one else is hiding a secret foot fetish, I have no complaints about being Della Madden.” Neither does Everleigh, who tackled me to the floor with a hug when I told her that I wasn’t just moving in with Vincent, Levi, and Xavier; they were my alphas, and they were taking me to Paris.

He grins at me.

A knock sounds at the door, distracting all of us.

“Who’s that?” I ask, frowning.

Xavier sets me down and scratches his sleep-tousled hair. “It’s a bit early for guests.”

At eight in the morning, we’ve all just barely gotten out of bed, and that’s only because we were in a contest to see whose stomach could growl the loudest. I think I won that.

Vincent called a local bakery and had them deliver pastries and muffins.

There’s no food in the house because we won’t be here for much longer.

The last couple of days have been insane . Between packing my apartment and moving in, we’ve been getting ready to leave for our month-long trip to Paris. We’ve also talked a lot. About each other, where we’ll go after Paris, how many kids we all want.

They want a hockey team. I told them since I’m the one popping them out, I’d be happy with three, maybe four.

And at no point during the last two days have I stopped grinning like an idiot.

Vincent returns from answering the door with Garrison.

I shift my gaze between them. “So, I’m guessing you knew about the fake death already.”

The corners of Garrison’s eyes crease in a smile. “What makes you think that?”

By mutual agreement, we head to the kitchen island, where all the coffee and pastries are. “You’re not screaming about the ghost of the head of the Council haunting you.”

He chuckles. “He let me know he was walking away from the role. It’s why I’m here, actually.”

Vincent offers him a coffee, but he declines, saying, "I’m not staying long." Then he adds, “The OPU hit the news this morning.”

“OPU? What’s that?” I ask, smiling gratefully at Xavier when he passes me a glass of orange juice.

Maybe one day I’ll get used to having three alphas bring me things, spoil me, and love me. I doubt it. Every day feels like a dream I never want to wake from.

“Do you remember when I said that I had some things I needed to do before we could bring you home?” Vincent asks me.

I nod. “And you did. You faked your death.”

“He did more than that,” Levi says with an enigmatic smile.

“No one knew how much control the teachers had over the omegas,” Garrison explains. “The school should have been guiding omegas, screening alphas, and helping them find the ideal alpha mate or pack. Not deciding for them.”

“But no one cares,” I say. “The Omega Institute agrees to all the mate bonds.”

Omegas and alphas sign a register held by the Institute. They had to know that not all omegas from Haven Academy were happy with their arranged mates.

“The Omega Institute has been working too closely with Haven Academy. They’re practically in service to wealthy alphas instead of protecting omega’s interests. One of my last acts was establishing a task force, the Omega Protection Unit,” Vincent explains.

I perk up, liking where this is going. “And their role is?”

“To interview every omega matched by Haven Academy. I’m leading the task force,” Garrison says to me, then turns to Vincent. “Thanks for the job. Not that I have time for it with a business to run, but this was too important to say no.”

I frown. “Can you do that? What if the Council or the Omega Institute has a problem with it?”

“I stripped the Omega Institute of its power,” Vincent says calmly.

I stare at him. “ What ?”

“Cook, the new head of the Council, is not someone you want to fuck with, but he craves stability like no one else. We formed a pact. I would step aside. He could claim he’d gotten rid of me to stop the other Council members from fighting him for control.

He’s backing the task force and supported my decision to strip the Omega Institute of its power,” Vincent explains.

“So, does that mean the end of the omega register?” I ask.

The Omega Institute tried to get my sister and Pack Ashe to sign it.

They refused. They viewed the register as just another way to control omegas, or have their alphas control them.

I agree. The Institute made it harder for an omega who wasn’t happy to leave her alpha because it’s the alpha who initiates the bond-breaking. Not the omega.

“It means the start of something new,” Garrison says. “I’ve met with Cook. He wants the Asylum and the problems with Haven Academy dealt with. He wants to focus on building his legacy, and this mess cleaned up. Cook has given Lucas Security the power to enforce.”

I stare at him, disbelieving. “So, if an omega wants to break the bond with her alpha?”

“Then it will be broken,” Garrison says.

“And if the alpha fights the omega on it?” I ask.

Garrison’s expression hardens. “Then they won’t like what we do. Kylian and Cian have volunteered to lend a hand.” He gets to his feet. “I’ll let you enjoy your breakfast.”

We say our goodbyes, and I reflect on what it all means. Things are changing in bigger and more permanent ways than I could have ever hoped for.

“Is Haven Academy opening again, then?” I ask.

“For now, it’s closed,” Vincent says.

“We leaked the news about an omega serial killer to the press,” Xavier explains. “Not sure if any parent would want to send their child there, but there’s going to be a lot of changes happening before it reopens. If it ever does.”

“And us?” I ask.

Xavier claims a kiss. “We take you to Paris, come home, and figure out what we all want to do with the rest of our lives.”