Page 241 of Deadly Sweet

“She’s the gift that keeps on fucking giving.” I laugh. Because this is beyond fucked up.

Looking around the room, I nearly break when I remember my men. I want to drag this out, to make her pay, to hear her cry and beg and plead. But they need me. My pack comes first.

Grabbing the gun that Duchess holds out, I take a step back and fire off a few rounds into her stomach.

She screams and sobs as blood pours from her mouth. She’s coughing and gagging as she begs for mercy.

“You won’t find mercy here,” I spit in her face. “Thor...” I look down at my little buddy waiting nearby. “Finish her off.”

Thor lets out a rabid growl and launches himself at her.

Turning around, I ignore the sounds behind me and go over to Jake. “Come on, baby.” I hold out my shaking hand. He looks up at me with big, broken eyes, and my knees threaten to give out. He lets me pull him to his feet, then wraps his arms around me before breaking into deep sobs.

One by one, my pack forms a circle around me, wrapping their arms around one another. We stand there for a moment, taking comfort from each other before leaving the room and the woman who played a big part in ruining our lives.

Only... our lives aren’t ruined. We have each other, we have Athena. We will be okay. We won’t let them win.

We stumble our way upstairs to my room. When Lucy sees us, she gets up and quickly leaves, giving my shoulder a squeeze as she goes.

Carefully, I pick Athena up in my arms and lie back on my pillows, placing her on my chest.

The guys join us, lying down next to me, creating a protective huddle around us.

A sob gets clogged in my throat when they each place a hand on the baby, as they cuddle into me.

This won’t break us. I won’t let it. They were the thing that held me together when I needed them the most.

This is what a pack does, we feed off each other's strength as well as give it back.

And it’s my time to do that for them.

I’ll be by their side, do what I can, be what they need.

They’re not alone. We will get through this together.

The past few weekshave been hell.

After everything came out, the guys were broken and lost. I think they’re going to be like that for a little while. I know I was. Right up until that night I found out the truth, every day I woke up with an ache in my heart. So I know exactly what they’re feeling. And my heart hurts for them because of that. I’d never wish that pain on anyone.

Daphne suggested going to see a therapist, one who works for her, so we’re able to talk freely about everything.

I think it’s working? It’s a start at least.

My heart breaks for them because I can relate. I’ve felt the pain they feel.

It took a few days before they could talk about it. To talk about what happened to their daughter and what everything meant now.

I fell in love with my men all over again when they told me that this changed nothing towards how they felt about Athena. They loved her, she was theirs. We were a family and we will always be one.

Even though they’re grieving for their lost child, they all told me how happy they were that I got my baby back.

I needed time alone to break down over that. I felt guilt over the joy I felt while they were in pain.

Everyone took time off of work, no one was in the right headspace to be going into their 9-to-5’s right now.

The need to do something, anything to help them has been eating at me every day.

Last time we saw the therapist, I asked her what we could do to help them heal. She mentioned getting closure could help them.

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