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“He held a knife to his own daughter’s throat?” River growled, fury making his dark chocolate scent deepen with a charred edge. “If he wasn’t dead, I’d kill him.”
I could feel each of my mates vibrating with a similar fury, and their protective instincts were flaring brightly. Matching mine. Growls broke out around me, including from Sam and Hunter. Lexie and Maia both looked livid, too.
“He called her an experiment when I asked him about her. He treated her as if she wasn’t a person,” I said, that rage I’d felt in the moment flaring back to life.
“He treated most people that way,” Wolf said, as Nick stroked my arms, trying to calm me. “Philip had developed a very good mask to get by in society, but he had no empathy or remorse that I ever saw. He was a true psychopath.”
A psychopath that had been destroying the world from the shadows. I couldn’t help but be glad he, and Maven, were gone.
“So you’re adopting Angel?” Lexie asked. Never one to hold back.
“You can’t ask that,” Maia hissed as she pinched her. Lexie just swatted her hand away.
“I can, because I’m family, and taking on a five-year-old as a newly bonded pack is a big deal. I want to make sure they know what they’re doing, and the impact it’s going to have on their dynamic now. But not just that, they’re going to blink and she’ll be a teenager yelling ‘you’re not my dad,’ five times over. It’s a commitment they need to make for the rest of their lives.” She watched us closely. Lexie didn’t mess around when it came to protecting people in need, even from people she loved.
I felt my heart rate speed up as I glanced at my mates.
River, Ryder, Nick, Cary, and Wolf just looked at each other over my head and grinned before they said, “Yes,” in unison. They didn’t need to discuss it. They were all in. It was clear in our bond how much love they had for her.
“We know exactly what we’re doing,” River added. “As long as Ava is on board, too.”
All eyes turned to me, but it no longer bothered me. None of my guys looked worried about my answer. They could sense how I felt.
“Yes,” I said, as I breathed out heavily. I couldn’t think of anything more perfect. “Besides, I think she adopted us already, with the way she seeks us out.”
My mates surrounded me in a hug and I felt joy wash through me as happy tears ran down my face. I hadn’t dared to hope my guys would agree to bring a child into our pack so soon, but I shouldn’t have underestimated them. Their capacity for love was endless, and they’d already proven that by how quickly they had accepted and bonded each other.
“I’m still breeding you, though,” Wolf growled, and the guys laughed.
“Of course,” Cary added. “Angel’s going to need an entire tribe of brothers and sisters.”
I rolled my eyes at them, but I was secretly over the moon. It was fine by me. Being an only child, I’d always wanted a big family.
“Get in here, Maia. I know you want to,” I called out.
“I’m such a sucker for hugs,” Maia laughed, as she squeezed in. Lexie, Hunter, and Sam quickly joined her.
“We’re going to be the best uncles,” Hunter said.
“She may hate us when she’s a teenager, and some guy wants to take her out on a date, though,” Sam chuckled. “He’s going to have to get through a wall of us.”
“She’s going to be an amazing big cousin to your baby, Maia,” Lexie added, and Maia agreed. I melted all over again at how willing our found family were to embrace us all.
“Okay then,” Maia said, reluctantly pulling away. “Let’s go get your girl and get you guys on the road. You can borrow Damon’s truck.”
River grabbed my hand as everyone else stepped back, before he led me down the stairs. When we got to the dining hall, people surrounded us, everyone wanting to check I was okay after the kidnapping and exclaim over what I had done. Apparently, word had spread that I’d barked an alpha into submission.
Having people worried about me, and interested in me, was nice, but also a little bewildering. I didn’t think I’d done anything special. My instincts had taken over, and I’d protected what was mine. I wasn’t the first person to do that, or even the only person to do it that night. My mates had been much more impressive in my mind. I got that what I’d done was unheard of, but I didn’t feel like I was anything extraordinary. I was just me.
The crowd made my mates nervous, though. They huddled around me, and their protectiveness flared, causing dominance to spill into the room.
GG stepped into the fray and clapped her hands loudly before things could get out of hand a moment before Lexie was about to do the same. “Give the girl room to breathe, people. She’s newly mated. Do you all have a death wish? We’re going to have a bonfire to celebrate tonight and you can talk to her one-on-one then. For now, you all have work to do to get it ready, so get on with it.”
It had my heart melting to watch them immediately capitulate out of respect for the tiny elder.
“Thank you for my sweater, GG,” Wolf said to her quietly, before she could turn away.
“You’re very welcome, son,” she answered with a grin and a pat on his arm.
