AllFreeNovel
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All of them.
But I want them to know me before we commit to each other that way.
My fingers tangle in my lap and I stare down at them. “I know I never told you guys… but my mother died when I was fourteen.”
The backseat grows even more silent than it was before. I push on while I still can, forcing a sad smile. “She was an alpha. Like you guys. She loved her career too much to find a pack of her own, so when she decided she wanted a baby, she did it by herself.”
I force a strained laugh. “I was supposed to be an alpha, too. The doctors—I think they select for that sort of thing, genetically. But I guess their plan backfired, because two years after my mother passed, my designation came through.”
My eyes find Archer’s. “That’s why I don’t know about nesting or touch starvation.” I turn to Ronan. “And why I always had to work so hard to be on my own.”
I lean back to see Theo’s face. “It’s also the reason I couldn’t go to high school. I had no guardian, and the government doesn’t take responsibility for unbonded omegas once their heats start. No college will, either. I finished my entire education online.”
Archer’s eyes fill with compassion. He leans across the space between the limo’s leather benches and bends to kiss my hands.
Ronan’s otherworldly focus falls on my face. “Would you like to start a special school for omegas without guardians? Or a scholarship fund?”
Theo interjects, “Fuck it, we’ll do both.”
He always makes me laugh at the most inappropriate times. I slap a hand against his chest, chuckling. “Maybe eventually, big guy. But for now, I think I just want to start small. There’s a home for abandoned children right across the street from the Ospreys’ compound. I lived in a house like that, when I was a teenager and I just… for some reason, I feel like I should start there. I’ve noticed it every time we drive past, but I don’t remember the name.”
Another silence falls, this one strangely heavy.
Ronan is the first to answer again. “It’s called New Horizons.”
I narrow my eyes, casting him a questioning look. Archer sighs, drawing my attention. “We know the name because that’s Declan’s charity.”
chapter
forty-four
I don’t realize I’ve never been in love before Meg until I’m holding her in my arms, watching her rest her tear-stained face against my shoulder.
Fuck, she’s so beautiful. Brave and tough and more resilient than anyone I’ve ever met. After what she’s just told us, I want to spoil and protect her every day for the rest of her life.
She can have anything she wants. I’ll get it for her. Be it for her.
We stand in the foyer as the limo pulls away. Archer locks the door and Theo shucks his jacket. Meg sniffles and looks at the blank space where Declan should be.
“I’m—God, I’m so sorry. I feel like it’s me. Like if I was someone else, he would like me, and then your pack wouldn’t be breaking.”
Her last word cracks, along with the battered, black organ inside my chest. I tighten my hold on her, pressing her body into the deep purr rolling behind my sternum.
Our eyes meet again. I can feel mine burning when I reply, “I never want you to apologize for this again. You are beautiful and brilliant and sweeter than any of us deserve. You have nothing to apologize for.”
“But I’m—I?—”
Tears splash down onto her black gown, soaking into the silk. I shift so she can wrap her legs around me, pressing one hand to the back of her head and running the other down her spine.
“You’re okay, baby girl,” I husk, guiding her face to my throat. “Daddy’s here. Daddy’s here, now.”
Her control fractures. She sobs into my neck, the sound of her sorrow drawing Theo and Archer to her. They close in on us, each offering their own purr. Hands stroke, arms brush.
It’s doesn’t matter. We’re a pack. And this is our omega.
When she starts to settle, I pet her head in slow caresses. “That’s it, baby girl,” I whisper. “Tell Daddy what you need.”
She looks up at me, exhausted and vulnerable and shy. When she skims her nose under my ear, her tongue lightly traces my pulse. I squeeze her as tenderly as I can. “Good girl. That’s exactly what you need.”
