Page 75 of Saved By The King's Gamma

“Line up and settle down. You will wake the entire town,” she yells out at them. They all immediately line up into four rows. I shake my head and sigh, some things remain the same, yet the kids listen, and when Clarice claps her hands loudly, they straighten up.

“Now we have breakfast cooked and ready for you in your new room, but everyone has to be quiet and use your inside voices,” Clarice says. The kids all remain quiet before she turns on her heel.

“Now follow me. Quietly!” she calls out to the kids, and they file in after her. I follow behind them. When I spot Gannon, I blink down at Tyson. He won’t win if he tries to make me; I won’t choose. I’m not letting him go now that I have him back. He will not take him from me. As I go to pass him where he stands at the doors, he stops me with a hand on my arm.

“Who is this?” he asks, shucking Tyson under the chin to look up at him. Tyson sniffs the air, and he must be able to smell my scent on him because he then waves and grins at him.

“This is Tyson. And Tyson, this is Gannon,” I introduce them, smiling down at Tyson when he pats my cheek with his tiny hand. Tyson makes one of his noises, and Gannon smirks.

“Hello, Tyson,” Gannon tells him softly before placing his hand on my lower back. I follow Clarice, my heart thudding in my chest as I try to keep up, yet as I see Clarice taking the kids to the ballroom, I know I will be expected to leave him there. I wasn’t losing him again.

I will die before I allow someone to take him from me again. He is mine, and Gannon either accepts that, or we call it quits. Tyson isn’t up for discussion. Clarice walks through the double door past the kitchens, and I glance at Gannon before staring back ahead. However, instead of heading toward the ballroom. I stop at the stairs, heading toward our quarters.

“Abbie?” Gannon asks as I climb the stairs. I don’t answer. Instead, I just keep climbing the stairs, and I know Azalea is following me. She knows I want Tyson. She knows I love this boy as if he were my own. Gannon races up the steps behind me, but I keep walking to our room. “Abbie!” he calls out.

“Abbie, where are you going?” he yells.

“Tyson is mine. I want him,” is all I say. I wasn’t asking permission. He either accepts it or loses both of us. Gannon scoffs, but I ignore him and continue walking.

34

“Is she being serious?” I whisper to Azalea behind me.

“Now she got him back. She won’t let him go. And if you make her choose, you won’t win,” she tells me, and my lips part. I glance down the corridor. She has already disappeared. Is this why she had been in a strange mood?

“What do you mean, now she has him back?” I ask, turning my attention to Azalea.

“Abbie was his primary carer. She raised him since he was newborn,” she tells me. Fuck! I never gave much thought to kids, but damn, this was abrupt. I sigh, and Kyson comes up the steps.

“What’s wrong?” Kyson asks, and I look at him.

“Looks like I have a son,” I say. I am not sure how to feel about this, but I won’t refuse her if this is what Abbie wants and needs. Without looking back, I turn on my heel and jog after her.

“Abbie is pregnant?” I hear the king ask Azalea behind me, and I roll my eyes. That would require us mating, and that definitely hasn’t happened yet. And I also don’t see it happening anytime in the near future. It is only a couple of times that she has let me sleep next to her, and each time I woke to find her on the couch. It upset me but I know she struggles with touch, scents, and everything in general when it comes to men. However, having her in my room, I am thankful for. It means she somewhat trusts me, despite what she has been through.

“No, Tyson!” Azalea tells him.

“Ah, wait. You both know we can’t keep them all, right? Clarice has the two boys already, and now Abbie has Tyson. You’re pregnant. I am not running a boarding school here!” Kyson tells her, just as I turn the corner to our quarters.

I rush to my room and open the door, but she isn’t here. I furrow my brows as I check the bathroom, wondering where she went when I hear a babbling noise from out in the hallway.

Turning around, I follow the noise to her old room. Knocking on the door, the room falls quiet, and I grip the handle pushing the door open to find her sitting on the bed.

Tyson is still attached to her hip and eating a candy cloud she has pinched between her fingers, his little lips sucking the sugar off while she holds it, watching him.

“I am keeping him. And I understand if you don’t want kids. And I know he is a special needs child, so if you aren’t comfortable with it, I understand. I will ask Azalea to move me elsewhere if it bothers you,” she says dismissively as if she thinks I will toss her away over him.

“It would have been nice to be asked,” I tell her.

“I’m done asking. I’m done begging. It gets me nothing, Gannon. I won’t lose him, and I won’t give him up,” she tells me, hugging him tighter. She sniffs his hair and kisses his cheek.

“What do you mean? I’ve never denied you anything, Abbie, nor would I,” I tell her, and she looks up at me before peering down at him.

“Kade promised. He promised, so I stayed. I stayed quiet. I stayed on the promise I would get Tyson back. Everything was going to be okay when I got him back,” Abbie says before whispering, “Only he never kept that promise.” Tears slip down her face and her lips quiver, making me realize then a lot of what she was willing to endure was based on the promise of having this boy returned to her. She held out hope the mate bond would not only make Kade love her but also return her to the boy she raised. Tyson is why she never said anything, why she remained. It wasn’t just the bond, she wanted Tyson, and Kade dangled him on a string in front of her.

“Tyson you get no say over, just like Azzy, Gannon, I would die for both. Don’t make me choose. You won’t like the answer,” she whispers.

“Like Azzy?” I ask her, and she nods, her eyes softening as she stares at him through her tears.

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