“I’m good,” I promise. “Will you see if you can get Verona to eat some cold watermelon? It’ll help her cool off. We’ll draw her a cool bath when we get home. This heat wave and the pregnancy are not agreeing with each other.”
“I’m going to steal an ice pack from the freezer too,” he murmurs. “I feel like even my asshole is sweating.”
“Is the ice pack for Verona or your asshole?” Easton snorts from the doorway.
Pablo bursts out laughing, realizing how he might think that.
“Verona,” he promises, shaking his head as he heads inside. “I will not try to stick an ice pack in my asshole.”
“Good to hear that,” Easton laughs, following him in.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, alerting me to a text I’ve been waiting for. Earlier this week, I got a message from an unknown number telling me they’d captured Emilia. Now that Avery is dead, this is one of the loose ends I’ve been eager to hear back from.
My cousin’s first letter to me was not the last. I’ve been getting letters from her every few months, and each one is more delusional than the last. She’s been having them delivered to a P.O. Box that I am forwarding my mail to, because I don’t want anyone to know where we live.
We’ve been there, done that, and definitely own the t-shirt.
Taking a deep breath, I pull out my phone and open the text awaiting me.
Unknown
It’s done. Emilia won’t be bothering anyone ever again. Any debts you think you owe karma have been paid.
A photo of Emilia’s decapitated body fills the screen, and her head sits perfectly next to it for proof that it’s her. She did not have an easy death, and she didn’t deserve one.
Me
Thank you.
Standing, I walk inside now that my curiosity has been settled, and I also want to smell my baby’s head as she sleeps. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m addicted to it. I’ll take twelve more please. I doubt Verona and Rosalia will feel the same, so I’ll enjoy every moment I do have while my daughters are babies.
Verona is also having a girl, and she is excited to even out the levels of testosterone in the house. I can’t wait to experience the chaos of all the stages of life that parenthood brings. I feel lucky to have it.
Rosa is deep in conversation with Pack Mayor’s omega, and I decide to wait my turn. Leaning against the wall in the living room, I accept a glass of lemonade from Silas, and bring it to my lips as I watch the omegas chat.
“How is she doing?” I ask Silas softly, inclining my head toward his omega.
She has long dark hair and shadows that still cling to her eyes as she speaks with Rosalia.
“Better,” he murmurs. “She always gets a little quiet when she speaks to her brothers. They both adore her and want a relationship with her, and she doesn’t believe she’s worthy of it. She swears she’s not the person she was when she disappeared from their lives, and that she doesn’t deserve their love.”
“I’m not the same person I was three years ago, much less when I was a teen,” I say quietly, sipping my beverage. Tucking my fan back in my pocket, I shrug. “She’s going to need to realize we all deserve to be loved, even if we made less than smart choices during a time when our backs were to the wall.”
Silas stares at me for a long moment, and I ignore him as I watch Rosalia because I rarely open up to other people the way I just did outside of my pack. My voice is still the shit of nightmares, but as long as they’re not Rosalia’s, I’ll live with the damage to my voice.
People tend to treat me as if I’m going to bite their heads off at any moment, and I use that to my advantage in business as needed. If I need to not scare the shit out of people, Ciro or Dario will pretend to be me. While we don’t look alike, a stranger often has no idea they’re not meeting with me.
“Maybe you need to have a conversation with my omega,” Silas breathes. Glancing at him, I just shrug.
“I don’t think she needs anything from me,” I tell him. “My voice alone freaks people out.”
“Yeah, I doubt that’s going to bother her,” Silas snorts. “She’s faced scarier bastards than you.”
“God, that sounds terrible,” I mutter, but my feet still begin moving in their direction. If I can offer the girl a little bit of peace, then so be it.
I want my children to believe their father is a good man, I may as well start proving that while they’re small. Maybe I’ll even believe it myself at one point. Carina and Vitoria will get the best of me, no matter what.
Even when you’re unsure of what your place in life is, how you show up in the world matters.
