By the time I was done explaining, Evey had crawled up next to me on the bed, her hand gripping mine.
“Why doesn’t anyone tell me this stuff?” she complained. I could hear the tears in her voice, though, and knew she’d rather focus on something small than the repercussions of the bigger picture.
I squeezed her hand and shot her a lopsided smile. “I thought there were no secrets in a pack.”
She snorted and then sniffed, looking away from me. “That’s what I thought, too.” She took a deep breath before meeting my eyes again. “So, you think it was Peyton and Conrad behind the attack?”
I shrugged. “That’s how it seems. I don’t know why they’re going after me, though. I mean, I get why Peyton would be holding a grudge, but what did I do to Conrad? He has no reason to want me dead.”
Evey shook her head, her eyes sad. “He’s tryin’ to get to Abraham by hurtin’ you.”
I frowned and shifted in bed so I could see her better. “That’s what Abraham said about the first incident we had at The Asheville Initiative. I didn’t think he’d go this far, though. I didn’t think he’d try to kill me.”
Evey sighed and squeezed my hand harder. “If his end goal is to take Abraham out, it makes sense that he’d try to do it by gettin’ to you.”
The repercussions spun through my head as we lay there quietly. I hadn’t really understood what kind of threat we were up against until then. I didn’t know this game we were playing with the Charlotte pack could have such deadly consequences.
“You’re really okay, though? And the babies? They’re good too?” she asked softly from beside me.
I turned to give her a reassuring smile. “The babies are fine. We heard their heartbeats and everything. And don’t worry about me. I’ve got a headache, but I’ll be fine.”
Evey shook her head. “I’ll always worry about you just as much as my nieces and nephews. You’re just as important to me and I’m just as unwillin’ to lose you. Never forget that.”
My nose burned with tears that I desperately tried to sniff back. I knew how Evey felt about me because it was the same way I felt about her, but there was something about hearing it said out loud that messed with my insides. Or maybe it was the pregnancy hormones. Honestly, it was probably a mixture of the two.
I sighed and squeezed her hand. “We’re all okay, so there’s no need to worry.”
She didn’t look convinced, but she let it go.
“What did you want to talk to me about, anyway?” I asked.
She shook her head. “It’s really not important. After everythin’ you went through today, the ceremony guest list is the last thing you need to be worryin’ about.”
I frowned. “What about the guest list?”
She sighed again and looked away. “Well, I know this is a werewolf ceremony, but we could keep it more human-like if you wanted to invite people from your old life.”
It only took me a moment to answer her. “There’s no one in my old life I’d want to come to my wedding.”
She arched a brow. “Not even your parents?”
My stomach sank as the thought of them entered my head. I hadn’t talked to them in months, which wasn’t unusual, but I knew they’d eventually reach out. Or a member of their staff would. They always did, even if it was only once a year.
I sighed. “I don’t want them there, either. They’ve never cared about me and they have no place in my new life.”
Evey shook her head, her eyes sad. “Why don’t you think about it for a little while? This isn’t somethin’ you can take back.”
I shrugged and relaxed back onto my pillow. I’d do what she asked and think about it, but I didn’t see that my answer would change anytime soon.
My parents hadn’t been a part of any aspect of my life for so long. From the moment they kicked me out of their house and shipped me off to boarding school, I’d been on my own. They usually remembered to call me on my birthday, but not always. I’d called them on theirs for years before I realized it made no difference to them. I was little more than a responsibility they were happy to have off their hands. I didn’t see that changing, either.
We lay there quietly, hand in hand, for a long time as the sun rose high on the other side of the sheer blinds. I didn’t know how long it’d been before we heard heavy footsteps in the hall that led right to the bedroom door.
When Abraham poked his head into the room, the lines around his eyes lessened as soon as he saw me awake on the bed. “Hey, baby. I was just coming to wake you up.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been awake for a while.”
He frowned at his youngest sister. “I hope you weren’t the one to wake her up.”
Technically, it was her call that had done the trick, but he didn’t need to know that.
“I texted her to come in here,” I told him.
He didn’t look entirely convinced, but he dropped it. “Evey, do you think you could give me a couple minutes alone with my mate?”
She wrapped an arm around my waist and gave me a gentle squeeze before sliding off the bed. “Sure thing, Abey.” I thought she was going to leave the room, but when she got closer to her brother, she stopped short and placed a hand on her hip. “Next time my sister-in-law is hurt like this, I better find out sooner.”
He sighed. “Sorry, Evey. It’s been a long day.”
She was quiet for a moment before she launched herself into his arms. He caught her with an oomf as the smallest McCoy wrapped him in what I was sure was a surprisingly tight embrace.
“I’m worried about you, too,” she murmured into his chest. “I want you to keep yourself, my sister-in-law, and my nieces and nephews safe, you hear me?”
She leaned back to spear him with a look, and he smiled down at her. “I will. I promise.”
She released him and nodded once. “That’s what I like to hear.”
With that, she flitted from the room, closing both doors behind her.
Abraham turned to me with a crooked smile on his face. “I always forget how strong she is.”
I chuckled. “The littlest ones are often the mightiest.”
He shook his head, a smile still ghosting across his lips. He covered the distance between us and sat next to me on the bed. “How are you feeling?”
I shrugged. “My head hurts, but I’m fine.”
His lips thinned as his eyes scanned my face. “You’re sure? I can have Kyle back up here in minutes.”
I reached out for his hand. “I promise. I’m fine. If you could grab me some Tylenol, I’ll be even better.”
I’d barely finished my sentence before he hopped up from the bed and raced to the bathroom. He came back in with a bottle of pills and a glass of water. I sat up with his assistance and swallowed a couple tablets before relaxing back onto the bed.
“Is there anything else I can get you?”
“Not right now. I just wanna know what happened at The Asheville Initiative after we left.”
He sighed and placed the glass of water on the nightstand. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
He shot me a small smile and shook his head. “Typical,” he muttered. He leaned back on the bed and turned his head toward the windows. “Wes, Wyatt, and Bea took the humans out to the woods. The plan was to make it look like an animal attack and leave them for the authorities to find.”
I swallowed harshly as the repercussions of this morning sped through my head.
What if the authorities found evidence that led to the pack?
What if they found something that linked Abraham to their murders?
“I can hear your mind whirling from here,” he said.
I looked up and met his denim blue gaze. “Is that enough? Will they be able to track their deaths to you?”
He shrugged, but I could
see the worry he was trying to hide in the lines around his eyes. “We should be good. Those humans smelled of heavy amounts of drugs. That coupled with the animal bites they’ll be found with and the authorities should think they’d gone on a binge that ended badly. I don’t want you to worry about this.”
I shot him a look. “Of course I’m going to worry. Maybe you should have called the police right then. It was self-defense, right?”
He shook his head. “And how would I explain killing three men by myself? And what kind of motive would they find? It’s not like we could tell them we’re in the middle of a dispute between two werewolf packs.”
He was right. I knew he was right. But that didn’t stop me from worrying.
“How will we know if they bought the story?”
He sighed and looked down at his lap. “In the past, we’d have Paul keep an eye out for us.”
“But you don’t trust him anymore either, do you?”
He looked up at me and I could see the answer clear in his eyes. “No. I don’t. Not with this. I don’t have any proof he’s not loyal to this pack anymore, but I’m not willing to risk it. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
I let out a deep breath and relaxed back onto the pillows. “I guess there’s nothing else we can do, is there?”
He picked up my hand and brought it to his mouth. “Please don’t worry about this, baby. It’s handled. You just concentrate on yourself and our babies and I’ll take care of everything else.”
I turned my hand to cup his face, his stubble rough beneath my fingertips. My love for him filled my whole body from top to bottom as I looked in his eyes. I knew he’d do anything it took to protect us and that he always would. His devotion was something I never needed to question.
“What did Evey want, anyway?” he asked.
And just like that, the warm feelings that had been coursing through my system fled just as quickly.
I sighed. “She was asking about the wedding guest list.”
“What about it?”
“More specifically, who I wanted to invite.”
He frowned. “Like friends and family?”
I shrugged. “I guess.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That there’s no one from my old life I want to be there.”
His frown deepened. “Not even your parents?”
“Especially not my parents.”
He was quiet for a moment before speaking up again. “Are you sure, baby? We won’t get another mating ceremony. This is your only chance to include them in our lives.”
I laughed humorlessly. “That’s pretty much what Evey said.”
“Because family is important to us.”
I shook my head. “Family was never important to me until I met yours.”
His features turned sad, and I wished I could take the words back, but they were already out there.
He squeezed my hand again. “Maybe you should talk to them. Give them one more chance to be in your life. That way you can say you tried.”
I pursed my lips as I thought over his request.
Was he right? Would I regret not including my parents in my wedding?
What about the babies? Was I ready to include them in that?
Didn’t I want my children to grow up with grandparents? Because Abraham’s parents were gone. We had Nana, of course, but that was it. Did my children deserve the chance to meet their only living grandparents?
I sighed and grabbed my phone from the nightstand before scrolling through my contacts.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
I sighed again. “I’m going to call them.”
“Really?” I didn’t have to look up to know his smile was spread across his face.
I just barely held back a third sigh. “Yes, really. But I’m only doing this for the babies. And I don’t think it’ll work. My parents have never cared about anything having to do with me unless it negatively impacted them. I don’t expect that to be any different now.”
“It doesn’t hurt to try, baby.”
“Famous last words,” I muttered as I hit dial and held the phone against my ear.
It rang and rang and just when I thought it was going to go to voicemail, my mother answered.
“Yes?”
“Hello, Mother. It’s Elizabeth.”
“I know. I have caller ID.”
I took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes closed. I could do this. I could give this one more try for my babies. That was all I had to do. Just one more try.
“I was hoping we could all get together sometime soon. Maybe have dinner.”
“Why?”
Abraham jerked backward, and I shot him a look. He wasn’t used to the callousness my parents dished out, but I was. This barely fazed me.
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, and a lot has happened in my life. I wanted to share some of that with you.”
She was silent for so long that I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the call was still connected. Finally, she released a deep breath that rustled through the phone line like a gale force wind.
“I suppose that could be arranged. When were you thinking of coming?”
Of course, I’d have to come to them. It was out of the question that they’d go out of their way for me.
I squeezed my eyes closed again and took a deep breath. “How about this weekend? We can be there on Saturday around five?”
“Who is we?”
I opened my eyes and shot Abraham a look. I hadn’t cleared this with him first, but if I had to deal with them, he was going to be right there with me.
“My boyfriend, Abraham, will be coming with me.”
She sighed again, and I heard the clacking of her heels on the other end. “Fine. I suppose that’s all right. We’ll see you at five. Don’t be late.”
With that, she hung up. No goodbye. No see you soon. And of course, no I love you. I don’t remember ever hearing those words come from either of my parents’ mouths.
I tossed the phone aside and looked up at Abraham. “Happy?”
His lips were pressed into a thin white line. “Why did you call me your boyfriend and not your fiancé?”
I let out a deep breath and crawled out of the bed. “Because I didn’t feel like getting into that with her on the phone. We’ll tell them at dinner that we’re getting married.” I turned around and muttered, “Which should be so much fun.”
I threw on a sweatshirt and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” he called.
“Downstairs to eat. I’m starving.”
He chuckled as he caught up to me and grabbed my hand. “Of course you are.”
Chapter 51
“Baby, stop fidgeting.”
I sighed and pulled my fingers away from the hem of my dress. I’d been smoothing it out for so long that it was practically wrinkling beneath my hands. I looked down at myself and cringed. I was about two and a half months pregnant, and even though that was still pretty early, there were three babies in me, and they were beginning to show. I’d picked the dress that covered me the most, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t matter.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
He reached over and picked up my hand before bringing it to his lips. “Don’t be. What are you so nervous about, anyway?”
I sighed again. “I don’t know. We have a lot to tell them and I’m worried about their reactions. They’re not like normal parents, Abraham.”
He shrugged and put my hand in his lap before grasping the wheel again to make a turn. “You’ve gone this far in your life without them, so it’s clear you don’t need them. You’re being the bigger person by giving them one more chance to be a part of our future. If it doesn’t work out, then you’re not really losing anything,
are you?”
When he put it like that, it made so much sense.
I had lived so long without them and done just fine. More than fine. And besides, I had the McCoys now, and they were more family than anyone could ever ask for. I didn’t need my parents, but deep down inside, I knew I wanted them. I wanted what Abraham had when he was growing up. A loving mom and dad who did anything they could to support their children.
Maybe my parents would see how much they’d missed in my life and want to be a part of it.
Maybe the idea of being grandparents would snap them out of their uncaring daze.
Maybe they’d hear I was getting married and want to be involved.
Or maybe I was delusional, and this would be a disaster.
“You’re fidgeting again.”
I looked down at my hands and found them tugging at my dress once more, so I folded them in my lap. Hopefully, if I clasped them tight enough, they’d stop betraying my anxiety and stay still.
While I’d had almost a week to worry about this dinner, thankfully it had been uneventful. There’d been no more attacks, and we hadn’t heard from or seen Peyton, Conrad, or any of the Charlotte pack.
I’d been surprised by Abraham, though. After we’d been attacked, and he’d suggested I quit my job, I thought I’d get more of an argument from him. But, true to his word, he found a compromise we could both live with.
Abraham had a state-of-the-art security system installed in The Asheville Initiative practically overnight. That building was locked up tighter than Fort Knox. He’d also insisted on not only driving me and Wyatt to work every day, but one of them always entered the building first and checked every nook and cranny before I was allowed inside.
Honestly, after what happened, I wasn’t complaining. In the past, I might have griped about Abraham being overprotective, but those days were gone. It was clear I had a target on my back, and I was in danger. And it wasn’t just me now. I had three little lives to think about too, and I took that very seriously.
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