Page 32

Saylor

One Month Later

O ur first trip as a family pack was to my school to pack up my dorm room. It had to be done pretty quickly before my father yanked my tuition, but come to find out, there’s always been a clause in my trust to pay for any type of my education. Ever since my mom died, my father has been submitting receipts to be paid back for all expenses related to my schooling.

And Samantha still had the audacity to talk to me like I was a drain on their family resources. They might have paid for my tuition up front, but the guarantor of the trust explained they were always paid back within three months of submitting the expenses.

On one hand, it’s hard to fathom, and on the other, it’s really not.

For my own sanity, I’ve decided to let all those hard feelings go. I want no part of any type of relationship with them, but I won’t carry around all this hate. It’s been draining me and disrupting my own happiness.

That’s why I have to tackle this one last thing.

Shaw stands next to me as I ring the doorbell at my father’s mansion. Even getting through the guards at the gate was a huge ordeal, but once I gather the mementos left from my mother, I won’t have to come back here again.

Samantha rips the door open, looking cold and elegant in a way I’ve never managed to pull off. “Ahh, yes, I heard the two of you bonded. How lovely. Not strange in the least.” She extends a lithe arm, gesturing into the entryway. “By the way, I recently stumbled upon a letter that belongs to you. I added it to your pile. Everything is stacked just here. There’s no need for you to roam the house.”

Oh yeah, I heard all about the letter Leo and Shaw sent for my eighteenth birthday—the one I never received.

Leo told me it mentioned how they never changed their phone numbers, just in case I ever needed to reach them. It explained a little about why they stopped working for my dad, and it encouraged me to reach out when I was ready to talk.

I’m sure Samantha kept it from me out of spite, but that’s actually pretty low on the list of terrible things she’s done to me over the years. It hurts, but fuck her . I’m not giving her the satisfaction of knowing how much it bothers me.

I give a tight smile and slide past her into the long hallway.

Turning back to Shaw, I say, “Give me two minutes, and I’ll help.”

“You got it,” he says, flashing a wink that makes my knees weak.

My eyes rake over the pictures on the wall, taking in the images of the happy family. There’s one of me holding the boys when they weren’t more than three months old, but other than that, I’m basically a ghost.

Samantha’s heels click as she follows me down the hallway, like she needs to ensure I don’t rob them.

I ignore her, stepping into the formal living room on the left.

This house holds nothing but bad memories. It was hell. I feel safest in confined spaces, and this place is open and grandiose. Actually, the only good memories I have in it revolve around the time Leo and Shaw lived here with us.

Turning back to face Samantha, I clench my hands to keep from stimming. Even seeing her fills me with anxiety, but I need to get this off my chest so I can move on. “Where are the boys?”

“Piano lessons. You’re late. I need to leave within twenty minutes to pick them up,” she says simply.

“I know what you did. Not telling my father about the phone call and instructing the guy at the facility to keep me,” I tell her, catching her cold blue eyes. “I’m not sure what I did to make you hate me to that level, but ultimately, I don’t think it was about me at all. No matter how well I behaved…” My head shakes as my eyes burn. “It never would have been enough.”

I’ve never hated anyone to the level she seems to dislike me. Maybe the alphas I met in the facility, but that was justified.

Her hate isn’t.

It’s always existed without reason. And that says more about her than it does me.

“At the end of the day, you have to live with the choices you made,” I say, smiling tightly. “Knowing that would eat me alive, but we’re two very different people.”

The toe of her high-heeled shoe taps against the tile floor.

It clicks.

Nothing I say or do is going to have any impact on her.

I sigh. “I hope you treat your biological children a hell of a lot better than you ever did me.” And with that, I head back to the entryway.

The pile of stuff is gone, and Shaw is just shoving the final load into the back seat of his truck as I make it outside.

I pull the door closed behind me and take long strides toward the vehicle. Only, that single picture frame with the photo of me and the boys flashes in my mind.

“Come on, princess,” Shaw says, waving me over. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

I raise a finger, rocking on my heels. “I forgot something.”

“Hey, wait,” he growls, jogging in my direction.

I’m closer to the house, though.

I don’t bother knocking this time. Striding inside, I make it to the wall of photos and grab the frame of the one I’m looking for.

Shaw’s boots slam against the tile as he follows me in, but low talking catches my attention.

More than that, it’s the voice.

Omen has the worst American accent I’ve ever heard. He only pulls it out when he wants to make me laugh. I make it back to the doorway to the family room, peeking around the corner.

I squeak, but Shaw slaps a hand over my mouth from behind. It takes me several slow blinks to realize what I’m seeing.

A man in a mask and gloves stands immediately behind Samantha. I mean, I assume it’s a man, based on their height and stature. He’s got his hand plastered to her forehead, keeping her head pulled back at an awkward angle while his other hand holds a knife to her throat.

I struggle against Shaw’s hold until the man’s eyes meet mine.

Those greenish-gray cat eyes.

Omen .

“You’re alive solely because someone I love asked me not to kill you, but we know what you did, and we can get to you anywhere ,” he says in that terrible excuse for an American accent. The knife barely digs into her pale skin, and a single drop of blood appears as she screeches around his gloved palm. My heart pounds as I study the terrified look on her face. I think I’m probably supposed to feel sorry for her, but all I truly feel is apathy. “If I were you, I would mind every decision I made. One wrong move, and that grace you’ve been given can be rescinded.”

Shaw drags me back down the hallway as I clutch the picture frame to my chest.

* * *

My alpha unceremoniously chucks me into the passenger seat and jogs around to the driver’s seat before climbing in and starting the vehicle.

“That was Omen,” I accuse as he pulls the vehicle around the long circle to exit the driveway.

“Was it?” Shaw shrugs. “I couldn’t tell.”

I laugh, shaking my head. “You guys are awful.”

“You said we couldn’t kill her. You never said we couldn’t torture her a little.”

“That is true,” I concede, snuggling back against the leather seat of the truck. “Do we need to wait somewhere to pick him up?”

“Nah,” Shaw says, shaking his head. “Valor and Leo will get him. They’re going to meet us at the restaurant.”

They might not have had the chance to court me before we bonded, but they’ve made up for it at every turn.

I nod, glancing out the passenger window. “Okay, good. I’m starving.”

The old me would have been hysterical after witnessing that little stunt, but the facility desensitized me to a lot of the ugly truths of the world.

Samantha deserves what she gets and more.

* * *

I lean against Valor’s chest as we all sit in a circular booth in the little Italian restaurant. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is cozy, with dim lighting.

Omen is on my other side, and he leans over, squeezing my thigh. “Now that you’ve had some nutrition, are you still mad?”

Leo stretches around Omen to get a better look at my face, and I laugh.

“I told you, I have no problem with a little torment,” I say, untangling from under Valor’s arm. “I just don’t want any of you getting arrested. So, if you feel the need to make my father and Samantha pay, maybe try some less obvious options?” I snuggle closer to my psychopathic beta. “Like making sure all four of their tires get a flat.” I snap my fingers, pointing at his chest. “Or you could put dead fish in their air vents at the house.” My nose wrinkles, imagining how horrendous the stench would be. “Maybe we could break in and rearrange all their furniture six inches to the left, so they think they’re going crazy.”

Omen grabs my hand, bringing it to his jeans. “Do you know how hard you just made me? You’re perfect for me, darling.”

Shaw snorts. “We had to sweet-talk Calder into shutting the cameras down this afternoon. We’d need to prep carefully if we plan to get back into the house.”

I shrug. “I honestly don’t want to waste any more of my life thinking about them. I say we let them rot in their misery. She and my father deserve each other.”

“Moving on to happier subjects,” Leo says, grabbing a folder from between him and Shaw. “We finally got our gold-stamped marriage license, which means we can start looking for houses.”

I nod, giving him a tight smile. “That sounds great. I just don’t want to go too overboard.”

Valor scoots closer to my back, running his hand down my back. “You are weirdly attached to the apartment.”

It’s tiny and there’s no nest, but I do love it. My favorite part is that we’re all together, and we’ll have that in a house too. I just don’t want it to be anything like the houses I grew up in.

Shaw catches my eyes and nods. “We get it. There’s a huge difference between a 2500 square foot house and a 10,000 square foot mansion.”

“Five or six bedrooms sounds grand,” Omen says, squeezing my ass. “That way, we’ve got a few extra rooms for kids if they ever make their way into our pack.”

I run my fingers over his T-shirt and shrug. I’m still really young, but the idea of kids doesn’t terrify me anymore. I’d have an entire pack at my side to help, and I would love to have a similar relationship to the one I had with my own mom, except with a daughter of my own.

Knowing my luck, I’d have five boys and give up trying for a girl. Either way, it’s not something we have to decide right now, but I know Omen and Valor don’t have any family outside of us. I could probably be sweet-talked into procreating… Somewhere a few years down the line.

For now, I just want to enjoy my life with my guys.

“One more thing,” Valor rumbles, grabbing my left hand. He quickly slides something onto my finger, and I gasp.

“It’s a little late, since we’re already married and bonded,” Leo says. “But consider this another courting gift. It’s from the four of us.”

It’s a princess-cut diamond solitaire in a low setting, and it is beautiful. I have no idea how big it is, but it takes up most of the top of my ring finger.

“I love it so much,” I whisper.

“Not as much as we love you, princess,” Shaw says, and my heart races.

I know they do.

If I could go back in time to keep from being kidnapped, I wouldn’t do it. There were some terrifying and ugly moments, but ending up here made it all worth it.