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I dropped the empty bag I had been carrying and went over to him. I wrapped him up in my arms, rocking him gently, whispering that everything would be okay. Because I would make it okay. Because ithadto be okay eventually, didn’t it?
My limbs were exhausted. My brain was fuzzy and tired. I couldn’t see much through the haze of fear that had driven me to go into panic mode. Not many people had been very accepting of us in this pack save for Archie’s family. The alphas were doing their best with us. They seemed receptive to our needs.
Except for the mating stuff. Was that why Slater had broken things off? He hadn’t even given me an explanation, but the abrupt nature of the text told me something was off. I had to go talk to him. I had to see what was going on—and to finally get the truth off my chest.
Everything I did was for the safety of my children. If they wanted to stay here, then who was I to deny them that kind of life? I would fight tooth and nail to make sure they were accepted. And with people like Francine defending us, I didn’t see why it couldn’t potentially happen sooner rather than later.
I knelt in front of Anthony and gave him a bright smile. “Alright, sweetie. Let’s find Adhara’s controller and get you back to Archie’s house.”
“We’re not leaving?”
I shook my head. “No, sir. We’re not leaving.” I squeezed his shoulders gently. “We belong here, buggy. This is our home.”
Chapter 17 - Slater
Fresh wood sat in a pile outside the entrance of the new Bravecrest school. Most people had gone home before the sun ever touched the trees, but I had lingered around with a couple of Philly cheesesteaks in a cooler, thinking about how I had practically destroyed my family over a woman who had kept my kids from me all these years.
Literally, forten years, and five of those had been right under my damn nose.
I took a massive bite out of the cheesesteak. Part of me was totally psyched about having something delicious to eat that I didn’t need to share, yet there was another part of me that was upset. Gertie had sent me a text saying she needed space. I understood that. But what I didn’t understand was why the alphas had to drag her into my family BS.
I scrubbed my forehead.Because I put her there. That’s why.
Irritation lingered where hunger should have been quelled. A few more bites were enough to satiate me, but I couldn’t stop chewing, couldn’t stop shoving food into my mouth to keep myself from facing the dark truth.
I was alone again. And it was technically my fault.
Instead of just stepping into my role as the father of those twins, I’d erected a wall. My parents did it all the time. Why couldn’t I do the same thing? Virginia was the one who had made a mistake. She’d run me off by keeping the truth from me. So, by that logic, itwasn’tmy fault.
Anger turned the food in my mouth to ash. I spat out the bite I had taken and tucked the sandwich back into the cooler, feeling too hot to be eating anyway. Everyone was gone. I was by my lonesome with nobody to talk to and nothing to truly do. Other than some paint, the school was finished, thanks to Wendell and I fast-tracking through the building process with all of our late nights.
Now I had a week off with nothing to do but sulk. Without any projects to keep me occupied and no cars in need of repair, I was faced with my thoughts, with the darkness that would soon wash over me from the fact that my mate had betrayed me. Or maybe she never had been my mate.
Had I bitten a complete stranger?
I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead repeatedly. Footsteps echoed from the side of the building, sounding light and hesitant. I had to guess that was Gertie coming to her senses about the situation. But then again, she might be coming to chew my ear off just like my parents had done.
The only person who seemed sympathetic to my situation was Troy. But he couldn’t do much when he was deferring to Blake about the mate decision. He’d admitted to me after the meeting that he wasn’t used to the mate process, that things were a bit confusing for him and that he needed some grace.
Gravel crunched under the footsteps. Though they were still light, they grew louder with their approach, surprising me when they stopped several feet away from me.
I lifted my head only for my heart to drop into my stomach. “What are you doing here?”
Virginia chafed her arms. It was rare for me to see her wound up so tightly. The primal part of me, the wolf that desperately wanted to lunge forward, was eager to comfort her. But rage remained from her deception.Deceiverhad been a word thrown in her direction in the past.
I could see why.
I turned away. “Never mind. You shouldn’t be here. This is still an active building site.”
“I came to tell you the truth about the twins.”
I barked with laughter so bitter that I could taste how sour it felt slipping off my tongue. “You can’t be serious. Don’t you know that I know?”
“You know?”
Full-force anger took hold of my eyes as I glared at her. “Blake told me everything.”
“Then he must have told you about Dirk.”
