“We all will,” Zinn amended. “You did enough with the cooking. We’ll clean.”
Assa threw down his dish towel. “Did you think I would protest? By all means, allow me to relax while you do the literal dirty work.”
Calder chortled. “How about we all relax for a few minutes while Ryde is in his bath,” he suggested. “After the month we’ve had, I’d say we’ve earned it.”
Seated in the living room, the five men raised their wine glasses.
“A toast,” Wes said, “to having so many mysteries resolved, with so many things to look forward to.”
“I want to toast our newfound family,” Assa added. “I didn’t know how much we needed you in our lives until you appeared, and now I can’t imagine how we ever got on without you.”
“Thank you all for giving me my life back,” Valentin whispered.
He glanced at Zinn, who was practically in Calder’s lap as he held up his glass.
“It’s sort of boring to toast to happiness,” Zinn said, wiping a tear from his eye. “Sorry—blame pregnancy hormones. But I just want to say that I’m so happy. More than I ever imagined possible. For the first time, I feel like I’m truly in charge of my future.”
“You are in charge, sunshine.” Calder raised his glass toward where Valentin sat between the betas. “Just as we all are. And if I’ve learned anything from the past, it’s that you cannot predict the future. Sometimes it opens doors you never imagined. But whatever happens next, the one thing I’m sure of is that we’ll be in it together…cheers.”
The men clinked glasses.
Heat prickled beneath Valentin’s skin as he swallowed his wine.
He looked up. Calder was watching him. Studying him.
As Assa and Wes engaged Zinn in conversation about his pregnancy, Calder lifted his glass to Valentin, mouthing,Cheers to finding our way to what happens next.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Assa
ONE YEAR LATER
“Sorry I’m late,” Assa whispered, sliding into an aisle seat next to Valentin. “Got stuck at the lab.”
“No worries.” Valentin kissed his cheek. “You haven’t missed anything. The principal just came out to say they’d start in about five minutes.”
Wes took Assa’s hand from Valentin’s other side and rested them together in their alpha’s lap. Next to him, Ryde complained, “I can’t see!”
Calder, sitting beside Ryde, picked him up and plopped him on his knee. “Can you see now?”
“Of course I cannow, Papa C, cuz you’re a giant. But I’m too big to sit in someone’s lap. May I please go be with Jordie?”
Assa sighed. Ryde was growing up so fast. And sassier by the day. Six months ago, he’d even forbade them from calling him “nugget.”
Two rows over, Jordie and Kino had an empty seat next to them.
“You can sit with him as long as he doesn’t mind,” Wes answered.
Jordie smiled and waved Ryde over.
“Jordie’s such a great kid,” Assa said. “I can’t believe he’s graduating next year.”
“You’re telling me,” Calder said. “Whenever I hold Lachie, it feels like it hasn’t been that long since Jordie was on my shoulder.”
Valentin tensed at the mention of Calder and Zinn’s four-month-old baby.
Before the tiny omega was born, Valentin and Zinn had reached a sort of stasis. After months of talking through their past, they’d grown easy with one another, and obviously they were overjoyed to be in Ryde’s life. Many times, Assa had noticed Valentin or Zinn smiling while watching the other one with him.
