“Your health is more important. You’ll stay for however long you need to.”

She led her sister up the stairs, and the first person they saw was Josh. The young warrior who’d been sent home after he made a connection with Brit. He was speaking to another young man, but the second they walked into the house, he looked at Brit, and his nostrils flared.

Brit stopped and tensed, but Josh just nodded before walking out of the lobby.

“Asshole,” Brit muttered.

She couldn’t stop the grin. Young love. At least Brit wouldn’t have the obstacles she and Jax had in the beginning.

The man came down the stairs, perfectly composed, as if he didn’t fall apart in the bedroom. He smiled at Brit as he stopped in front of them.

Jax was still Brit’s least favourite person a year after he crushed the young girl’s dreams.

“Welcome home,” Jax said.

“I won’t be staying for long,” Brit replied. “I’m sure I just need a break from all the stress of my schoolwork, and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

She met Jax’s gaze over Brit’s head.

‘I don’t think she will take this well.’

She looked away from him because she knew what he would say. It was an argument they’d been having since Brit called her on Jax’s birthday.

“Let me show you your room. You’ll love it,” she smiled as she led Brit to the stairs.

‘Use the key.’

‘I’m not locking my sister up,’ she growled in her head.

‘Just until everyone feels comfortable and we tell Brit—’

“I said no,” she said loudly.

Brit stopped mid-step and looked back at her.

“I’m... I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll explain everything.”

Shit. She got so used to doing that that she’d forgotten that she’d need to tone things down a little until she could explain things to Brit. Brit was nineteen, but she had been a lot younger and still in school when weird things started happening to her. Thinking she was having a mental breakdown hadn’t been easy, but she had already grown accustomed to it when Jackson brought her to the packhouse.

Brit was going all in. It was going to be a baptism of fire. Her sister was naturally curious and would probably figure things out herself anyway. But she wasn’t going to lie to Brit. Shewouldn’t lock her up so the pack could accept her first. She wouldn’t hide things and make her believe she was going crazy.

She urged Brit to keep walking and took note of her increased anxiety.

“There’s something wrong with you, too, isn't there?” Brit whispered.

“There’s nothing wrong with us, Brit,” she answered. “But we’ll speak tonight. There’s a little girl who’s been waiting for you all day; she even refused to nap.”

The corners of Brit’s mouth lifted. As much as she had been unhappy when she’d turned up to see her with a newborn baby in tow, the two girls became fast friends. It reaffirmed her belief that Brit was meant to be there with everyone else.

One big, happy family at last.

She opened the door to the room Jax locked her up in during her first few nights at the packhouse, and immediately the little red-haired bundle of energy jumped off the bed and ran to the door.

“Bitty!”

And just like that, Brit’s anxieties melted as she picked up the little girl and laughed.

One big, happy family, indeed.