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Later, with Storm asleep, I washed the remaining blood off my mate in the shower. He insisted on bringing our son’s crib into our room. Neither of us wanted Storm out of our sight.
The rest of the family rallied, bringing food and bunking down in the spare bedrooms and nursery. Luckily Storm was too young to remember today, but Matt and I would never forget.
I wandered into the living room because of the murmured voices of my family, leaving the bedroom door ajar in case Matt woke up. But he stumbled out almost immediately, wanting to bring the crib with Storm in it.
“I’ll stay with Storm,” Uncle Arnie offered, and Matt agreed.
“I have more details,” Flint said. He explained Josh got into debt and took out a loan with a loan shark, our friend Dane. It was an age-old story. Once immersed in the shady world of Dane’s businesses, Josh found himself performing menial tasks to pay off his debt that never decreased. And now he was going to jail.
“I blamed myself for all of it.” Matt clung to me. “But it was my brother the whole time. The guy I looked up to my entire life.” He sobbed, and when his tears dried, he sat up. “So in Josh’s head, him betraying me and having Dane put a bullet in my head for supposedly double-crossing him somehow distanced himself from being responsible for my death?”
I’d witnessed people twist themselves in knots, rationalizing that they weren’t behind a killing. It was the dead person’s lack of loyalty that ended their life.
“I think so. He offloaded part of the guilt onto Dane, saying it was your fault if you died because you’d fucked with the Alpha.”
I put his mating hand on my cheek. “But no matter what happens around us, our family will always stick together.”
EPILOGUE
MATT
I thought I’d never get over the grief of my brother’s betrayal. The one person after Ranger who had my back, or so I believed. We were a team, but it turned out to be a team of one. Me.
But Ranger and Storm got me through it. And a lot of therapy with a shifter counsellor because no human would understand what I’d been through. Ironically, Treyton, our would-be midwife, recommended someone who’d graduated a couple of years ago.
Ranger always said he would have found me if we hadn’t met at speed dating because he’d already scented my presence, and I held onto that, knowing that we were destined to be together.
Our son toddled toward me as I sat on the floor, arms open wide. He fell into them, and I held him close, his heart thudding against my chest.
“Da Da.” He kissed my nose, and we both giggled. He’d watched me do that to his Papa, and he squealed when I did, waving his hands until I repeated the kiss. In return, I placed my lips on his nose, and he dissolved into giggles, getting progressively louder the more I kissed him.
A baby’s laugh could banish the gray and chase away any sadness.
Storm plonked himself on the floor and took my hand in his chubby ones. He kissed my mating mark because he’d witnessed Ranger doing the same.
“My turn.”
Storm offered me his palm, and I peppered it with kisses. When I was done, I took him in my arms, inhaling his unique baby scent.
“Hungry?”
His head jerked forward and back, reminding me of that bobbing bird toy “drinking” water. “Num, num,” he said.
After putting him in his highchair, I grabbed his food I’d prepared earlier from the fridge.
The phone dinged. That was Ranger’s ding. He’d put an app on my phone so the tone of his messages was recognizable.
“What does Papa want?” I asked Storm, and he glanced around as if looking for Ranger before playing with the toys on the tray.
I’m coming home for lunch.
It was super convenient us living so close to the La Luna Noir headquarters, allowing my mate to pop in during the day, though Flint sometimes complained Ranger wasn’t to be found when he needed him. Balancing his work and family didn’t come easily to my mate.
Thank gods for Uncle Arnie and microwaves. We’d left Rudy’s weekly Sunday lunch yesterday, armed with leftovers that would see us through to Wednesday. I was heating up our food when my mate arrived.
Storm banged his feet on the highchair and held out his arms to his Papa. Ranger kissed around our son’s face, ending with one on his nose.
My mate reached out and took my hand, tracing his finger over the scar. This was routine. Whenever we were apart, whether for minutes or hours, he reminded me of our mating moment.
