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Until she has a voice of her own, I am her voice. I need to be her advocate, her warrior, her protector. Being a parent is putting your child’s needs first because they can’t do it for themselves.
And these men—my mates—are the key to helping me achieve that.
I don’t trust the supernatural. I don’t trust anyone outside of this house, but I’m willing to work with the men inside it. Over the last three weeks, other than this one huge lie, they’ve done everything to help me.
Offering comfort, support, and knowledge.
They’re mine, even if I’m not theirs. Even if I’m not yet theirs.
But I can’t just blindly accept this life. Not when it’s Phoebe’s future on the line.
“Before we move on,” I say, rising from the armchair to once more look each of them in the eye, “before we get into everything else, I want a promise from each of you.”
“Anything,” Alex says, relief dripping from his tone.
“Yeah, no, don’t hold me to that. Alex is a fool. I won’t agree to anything,” Ben interjects, sitting forward with a scared look on his face. “I’m not falling into that trap. Give me your demands, wench, and I’ll agree if I’m okay with them.”
A smile tugs at my lips, but I smother it back down. “You made a decision that wasn’t yours to make when you took yet another choice from me. From here on forward, when it comes to Phoebe, we work as a team, and I get the final say.”
“Agreed,” the four of them say in unison.
“You do not use your alpha commands on me,” I continue.
“Unless it’s an emergency,” Topher interjects, despite the two glares from both Alex and Ben. I’m equally surprised and unsurprised to see Seb nodding as if he agrees with Topher. “I will not make that promise knowing I might break it depending on the situation.”
“Define an emergency. Because I’m not going to move forward when I’m going to be scared that my choices will be taken away at every opportunity that you deem emergent. You’ve stolen my autonomy once, you’ve hidden the truth from me, what else is there?”
Topher nods, and his eyes flash gold for a moment. “I’m the oldest, and I’m the one who has to make the tough decisions. Sometimes, there’s a split second where I need to decide, and that decision is often costly. But I still do make mistakes, Maia. I can promise that if I do fuck up, I’ll work my hardest to repair the damage I’ve caused.”
“And I appreciate that,” I say softly. “But that doesn’t answer my question or reassure me in the slightest. What do you constitute as an emergency?”
He sighs, but it’s Alex who answers for him. “I’d define an emergency as something life threatening, injury-inducing, or even just a very important decision that needs to happen within the next thirty minutes. If debating something back and forth could risk a life, then we’ll act and discuss it afterwards.”
I nod slowly. “This still seems like an unfair balance, but I can at least attempt to work with that.”
“When the roles are reversed, say a magic word, and we’ll obey,” Ben says, grinning at me. “It’s like a safe word, but not the one we’ll use in the bedroom.”
“Why would I need a safe word in the bedroom?” I ask, narrowing my eyes, as I try to hide my amusement. All four men, even Seb, who has been enamoured with Phoebe, exchange cheeky grins, and I get the feeling I don’t want to know what that look is for.
The way my vagina is fluttering has me thinking my body believes differently.
“We’ll discuss that later,” Topher says with a smirk. “But I’m agreeable to giving you a safe word where you can have the same balance.”
“Pick something you won’t use every day,” Ben says, waggling his brows at me. “So not “Holy fuck, Benjamin Wolfe, you are?—””
“Do not swear,” Seb growls, and Ben groans.
“Lavender.” I blurt the word out, needing to move the conversation forward.
“Perfect. Then I’m agreeable,” Topher says, and each of the men nod.
“Is there anything else that you’re keeping from me?” I ask seriously.
“Yes, but we’re going to get into that now,” Topher says. “Hopefully, by the end of tonight, you’ll know all of the important things.”
“Okay.”
“Is there anything you’re keeping from us?” Alex asks after I nod.
