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Chapter Twelve
Willow
Even though Jimmy is well aware his oldest son is a monster, this is still so hard.
“He attacked us. Maxim and I,” I say in a halting voice. “We were asleep at a hotel on the way back to the city. He was trying to kill his brother and Maxim was already so weak from being tortured. I…”
I dampen my lips and push on. “I only saw one way to stop Bane so…I did what I had to do. He’s dead. I wish I could say I was sorry, but even in the short time I was at his camp it was clear he was beyond redemption, Jimmy. I don’t like to think that about anyone, but with Bane it was the truth. There was too much darkness inside him.” The back of my nose stings as I add, “He was like a black hole.”
Jimmy reaches a hand my way. I cross the room and take it, holding tight as he says, “It’s okay, Willow. You did the right thing and I’ll always be grateful to you for saving my son. And I don’t just mean last night.”
“Me, too,” a soft voice sounds from the doorway to the sitting room and goes straight to my heart.
I turn and run into Maxim’s arms, not stopping until he’s holding me so tight my feet lift off the floor. “You did good, little wolf.”
“I was scared to death,” I confess against the warm skin at his neck. “I’m probably going to wet myself the second I set foot on the battlefield.”
Maxim stiffens against me for a moment, then hugs me even tighter and presses a kiss to the top of my head before putting me down. “You’re not going to the battlefield, Willow.” My lips part, but he raises his voice and pushes on, “I’ve already talked it over with your mom just now in the hall. You’ll stay here with your parents, Hermione, and Dad. That way, if anything happens to me, we have a solid team in place to take care of things here until Diana is old enough to take over.”
I shake my head. “No. I’m not leaving you. You need me. You’d be dead right now if it weren’t for me. Twice. You’d be double dead.”
“I know that,” he says, capturing both my hands and leaning down until his eyes are level with mine. “But you’re having our baby. Even if you weren’t, knowing you were there, in danger, with zero combat experience, would be distracting as hell. But now…” He trails off with a shake of his head. “I can’t have you there, little wolf. I just can’t. Please. I need to be able to lead my team without worrying about your safety.”
My eyes fill with tears so fast his face blurs in front of me. “I hate that you’re giving orders again. And I hate that you’re right. And I don’t know if I can do it, just…sit here while you’re so far away and in danger and I know if…” I sniff, but I can’t stop the tears or the words shoving up my throat. “When I know there’s a good chance that I’ll never see you again. That when you leave it will be goodbye. Forever.”
I lose my shit after that. I break down and sob my heart out against Maxim’s chest, even though we don’t have time for this. We don’t have time for feelings and fears and doubt.
But then, maybe we don’t have time to ignore them, either.
If this is the last day, the last few hours I’ll ever have with the man the universe, in all her wisdom, made for me, I don’t want to waste a second of it. I don’t want to hide what I feel. I don’t want to pull away and shut down. I want to get as close to Maxim—and make as many memories—as I can get.
Finally, I cry myself out and step out of Maxim’s arms, accepting the tissue my dad has waiting for me. Because that’s the man my dad is—he has always anticipated what people need and done his best to provide it.
And that’s who Maxim is, too, though in a bossier, Alpha way.
But that’s part of what I love about him. That his love feels familiar, but also brand new.
“You’d better come back to me,” I tell him, swiping at my dripping nose. “If you don’t, I’m going to name the kid Fergus.”
“I hate that name,” Maxim says in a voice that says “I love you. Always. No matter what.”
Fighting to keep it together, I lift my chin. “Then you’d better get your ass back here safely tomorrow.” I prop my hands on my hips. “Now, how do we do the whole ‘getting ready to fight the bad guys’ thing? Are we going to need snacks? Pep talks? Maybe a montage?”
Jimmy smiles through his own tears. “Oh, yeah. We’re going to need a montage and lots of good music to get the people ready to fight. I’ll call the guys and gals in the band and get them down to the Atrium.” He glances my dad’s way. “You look like a guy who can play a harmonica, Harvey.”
Dad smiles. “I’m tone deaf and dance like the whitest white man ever born. But I love live music.”
Jimmy laughs. “Perfect. You’ll provide the comic relief. Come with me. Meet you in half an hour in the boardroom, son?”
“Sounds perfect, Dad,” Maxim says, leaning down to catch Jimmy on his way by and hugging his shoulders. “I love you, and I’m grateful to you. And I always will be.”
Jimmy embraces his son so tightly it breaks my heart all over again. “And I love you, son. And I’m proud of you, even when you make mistakes. Because you learn from them, and you try so damned hard. You’re going to be twice the Alpha I was. I can’t wait to see you grow.” He pulls back, cupping Maxim’s face in both of his hands. “And that son of yours will be a lucky boy. No doubt in my mind.”
By the time Jimmy and Dad leave, I’m crying again, but at a sustainable rate of tears per minute. When Maxim asks, “Do you want me to take you up to the apartment before I head to the war room? You can take a nap or—”
“Nope,” I say, cutting him off with a shake of my head. “I’m coming with you. I’ll stay here when you leave, but until then I’m your shadow. Just in case you need my expert advice on battle formations or sneak attacks or something.”
His lips quirk as he brushes my hair from my forehead. “I think you have more important things to offer than that. I’d like you to share your vision again with the full council. See what our prophecy experts think about it.”
