Page 23 of Mated To The King’s Gamma (Lycan Luna: Abbie & Gannon #3)

I t was hard explaining everything, but she demanded to know, and I was done keeping secrets from her. She knew about Sia and her grandmother, but not to the full extent, so I told her what she wanted to know.

“It’s fine, it will be okay.”

“No, it won’t,” she murmurs. I know she is worried about Azalea knowing her family’s part in it, worried about everything, including me. “You won’t do that again,” she murmurs. My brow furrows at her words as I watch her walk toward the bed.

“Do what?”

“Try to change me, you stole my choice. Just like everyone else did,”

“I wasn’t going to watch you die,”

“I was ready to die!” she tells me. Her words made me sick to my stomach.

“No, you promised me and Azalea. You promised us, Abbie. More than my life, remember?”

She rubs her eyes that are red raw from crying. “I know, I know, but everyone decides for me, I don’t. I don’t want my choice taken, Gannon, and that is what you did. You tried to force me to live, to live with everything,” she tells me.

“I won’t promise that, Abbie,”

“You will, or we are done. I won’t try it again. Whatever Azalea did helped, but I won’t live with you if you will force me to change. I can’t sleep, wondering if I am going to wake up to you trying to kill me,” she says. I swallowed, remembering the look of fear on her face.

“I don’t want to fear you, so promise me,” she pleads, and my eyes go to Tyson.

“Gannon?” My heart beat hard in my chest as I glance at her.

“Please,” I shake my head. I can’t lose her; I need her, I love her. I don’t want to be here without her, yet I find myself saying what she wants to hear to risk not losing her.

“I promise, I won’t try to change you,” I tell her, and she exhales.

“But you have to promise to come to me when you’re upset, don’t bottle that shit up,” I tell her, and she chews her lip.

“Abbie?”

“Fine, I promise,” she says, gripping her hair and I sit on the couch watching her as she settles next to Tyson.

She now knows everything; everything is out in the open.

I have her back, now, I worry for how long.

She lies on the bed with Tyson. I’m too scared to leave her side.

A knock on the door pulls me from my thoughts.

Getting up, I quickly answer it to see it’s Liam.

He looks past me into the room at the bed.

“Is she okay?” he asks, and I sigh, glancing over my shoulder to peek at her. I nod before stepping out the door and shutting it slightly, leaving it open just a bit to see her where she sleeps.

“Are you okay?” Liam asks me. I shake my head. Her words haunt me.

“She made me promise not to change her,” I tell him, not liking that part of the deal. She felt betrayed by me. I could feel that much through the bond that is slowly forming after I marked her.

“You’re worried she will try it again,” he says, gripping my shoulder. I glance up at him and nod before staring back into the room.

“I will handle it, you won’t lose her again,” he says and my head whips to the side.

“What do you mean? if you change her, she will never forgive me,” I tell him.

“Not what I said, but you don’t need to worry. She will be fine, I will ensure it,” Liam tells me.

“What do you mean?”

“Best you don’t know. She can’t catch you out on a lie, if you don’t know what it is,” he tells me before walking off.

“Liam!” I hiss, worried he is going to find some witch to perform some ritual on her.

“It will be fine, Gannon. The less you know the better. I won’t let you lose her,” he says before walking off. I grit my teeth, regretting saying anything to him when I hear arguing. Damian’s voice reaches my ears, and I turn to give him some privacy while he deals with his mate.

Fuck me it was drama after drama around here and I was about to lose my head. As I go to close the door, I hear Tandi’s voice.

“Oi, what a face.” I freeze looking back into the hall to see Tandi pass Hunter to Damian.

“What are you doing?” he demands, reaching for her arm.

“Getting the fuck away from you, watch your stepson!” she snaps at him.

“Tandi!”

“Fuck you, call me a whore and think I will play nice,” she snaps at him, and I bristle. Yep, I will stick with Abbie. Damian has his hands full with her. He can have her!

I quickly duck inside, not wanting to get involved. “Gannon, right?” Tandi says, and I internally groan. She is Damian’s problem; why does she suddenly have to become mine?

“Yes!” I growl, turning around when she barges past me. “Good, I am stealing your mate!” she says, slapping my chest before moving toward the bed. I glare at Damian out in the hall before rolling my eyes.

“Fine,” I mutter, knowing he wants me to keep an eye on her. She rips the blanket back and grabs Abbie’s arm, making her wake up startled.

“Tandi?” Abbie murmurs.

“Yep, get up. I need a drink and away from all these fucking men!” she snaps, tugging on her arm.

“I have Tyson,” she says quickly, and Tandi looks back at me.

“Nope, the man-beast standing in the door can watch him, now get up. Let’s go find Azalea.

Time to let loose.” Abbie’s eyes go to me, and my shoulders drop, but I see the ghost of a smile grace her face.

She loves Tandi, loves her confidence and no fucks given attitude.

I hope she doesn’t rub off on her too much.

“Go!” I tell her and Tandi yanks her out of bed, hurrying her to the door.

They take off, and Damian glares at me.

“What the fuck!” he says, glancing down at Hunter in his arms. The boy begins to wake, and he rocks him.

“You’re letting them just leave?”

“It’s fine, I will make one of the guards watch them,” I tell him before mind-linking Liam and tasking him with the job.

Damian growls and I sigh. “Coffee?” I ask him. His shoulders slump. “Yeah fine,” he says moving toward my room and I believe half the reason is that he has no idea what the fuck to do with the kid in his arms.

Damian follows me into my room, still grumbling about Tandi storming off. He looks absolutely pissed, but that’s not what has me holding back a laugh. No, it’s the tiny, sleeping bundle in his arms.

Damian, Beta of the Kingdom, a man who could cut a rogue in half without breaking a sweat, was holding a baby like it was an explosive device that could detonate at any moment.

Hunter shifts slightly in his arms, letting out a soft breath, and Damian freezes. His entire body locks up like he’s expecting the kid to wake up and start throwing punches.

“I don’t think he’ll wake if he didn’t out there with you trying to contain your mate,” I say, raising an eyebrow as I pour coffee into two mugs.

Damian glares at me but doesn’t move, standing completely still like movement will somehow trigger an alarm in the child’s brain.

I shake my head, smirking as I hand him a mug of coffee. He somehow takes it while cradling Hunter like a grenade with the pin half-out.

“You sure you don’t want me to hold him while you drink that?” I offer, enjoying his suffering.

Damian scoffs, shifting the kid slightly in his arms, but then Hunter stirs.

Damian freezes again.

We both stare at the tiny human like we just spotted a wild animal that might attack at any moment.

And then, it happens. The baby’s face scrunches up and turns red before he lets loose with the wettest-sounding fart making me wonder if it was Damian who shit himself because no way something that small made that sound. Damian peers down at Hunter when I am hit with the instant stench of it.

The god-awful, soul-destroying smell.

Damian stiffens, nostrils flaring. “No.”

I slowly sip my coffee, eyes locked on him over the cup's rim. I snicker at the look of pure horror on his face. “Oh, yeah. That’s definitely what you think it is,” I say, suppressing a grin.

Damian gags. He actually gags.

“Take him,” he orders, shoving Hunter toward me.

I step back, holding up my free hand. “Nope. Not my kid!”

“Gannon.”

“Damian,” I reply, shaking my head.

“You’re good with kids! You have Tyson! You do it!”

I grin at him. “Yeah, but Tyson’s potty trained now. Hunter? Not so much. And you are his mother’s mate. That makes you Daddy Daycare.”

Damian looks at me then actually looks around the room, as if expecting Tandi to appear and save him from his fate.

“You change him,” he tries again.

I shake my head. “Nope.”

“I outrank you,” Damian growls.

I take another slow sip of coffee. “And yet, you’re the one holding the poopy baby.”

Damian lets out a low, feral growl before reluctantly marching toward the bed and setting Hunter down. He hesitates, eyes scanning the child like he’s mentally assembling a battle plan.

I watch, thoroughly entertained, as he undoes the tiny pants, moving like a bomb squad disarming an explosive.

“You know what you’re doing?” I ask casually.

“How hard can it be?” Damian mutters.

Famous last words.

The moment he pulls back the diaper, chaos erupts, and he gags, and I’m pretty sure he threw up a little and swallowed it.

“What the actual fuck?!” Damian shouts, rearing back as if he’s just uncovered a demon’s curse in that diaper.

I burst out laughing. “Oh, that’s a bad one.”

“It’s… how does something so small produce this much… this texture?!” Damian shouts, visibly horrified. “And why is it yellow!” he retches.

Hunter coos, absolutely unbothered by the catastrophe in his diaper.

Damian stares at it. Then at Hunter. Then back at the diaper. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

I cross my arms, leaning against the dresser. “Well, first, you gotta wipe him.”

Damian glares at me. “With what? A fucking pressure washer?!”

Tears burn my eyes as I watch him frantically look around.

“The wipes, Damian. The wipes.” I gesture toward the pack on the nightstand.

He snatches them up and pulls one out. Then another. Then fifteen more.

“Dude, you don’t need that many!”

“I NEED THEM ALL,” he snarls, aggressively wiping Hunter while trying to breathe through his mouth.

Halfway through, Hunter kicks, sending the soiled diaper flying off the bed and onto the floor.