Page 33 of Feral
“I think being stuffed like a turkey is the reason you got yourself knocked up in the first place,” Beckett joked. Kitten snorted a laugh, making me chuckle along with her. Soon we were all laughing, and Cooper fed the ravioli to Kitten piece by piece with his fingers instead. Not that Kitten had escaped much of the overindulgence either; they were just less inclined to make a fuss about it.
I looked over at the unexpectedly solemn face of Corvin just as he spoke. “What will you do now, Kitten? Will you stay?”
She stilled, like a prey animal caught in the trap of a bigger predator, and I hated that. “Leave it, Corvin. Let her have time to think,” I said softly.
“She isn’t going to get less attached to the idea as time goes on, Darius.” He turned back to Kitten, squatting down in front of her so she had to look down on him. An Alpha supplicating himself to his Omega. “We aren’t going to get any less attached. I love you, Kitten. I loved you years ago and that love never went away—it just dimmed to a dull ache in my chest. But if you stay, if you watch those cubs grow inside Darius,ourcubs, and then choose to leave…”
He trailed off, but he didn’t have to finish. He would be heartbroken. He would be angry. He wouldn’t be able to understand how she could walk away from this gift that we’d been given, even if it had been an accident. But he’d let her go, if she wanted to, if she went now. While the cubs were more of an idea than a reality.
She swallowed hard. “They’re ours.”
Cooper stroked a hand down her back. “Yes, Kit. Ours.” He leaned closer, kissing her cheek. “You can be ours too. We could be a Pack. A family.”
She let out a choked breath. “I want to stay. I don’t want to do to them what my parents did to me. Don’t want to throw them away like they are nothing. Left for the wolves.”
With a growl, Cooper pulled her onto his lap, his chest vibrating with a thrum so loud, I could almost feel it across the room.
Beckett reached out and held her hand too. “I swear, Kitten, that no matter what your choice is, your children will grow up happy and loved. Cherished.”
Tears sprung in her eyes, falling gently down her cheeks faster than Cooper could kiss them away. She cried, a sorrowful sound that tore at my heart. She turned her face into Cooper’s chest, and my strong Alpha held her close, even though the scent of her sadness made us all want to cry with her.
“I want to stay. I want to have a family. I want to be loved.”
We all surged toward her, and I got my arms around her, pressing her between my chest and Cooper’s. We huddled together like that for a long time, the beginning of a Pack that would last forever.
19
COOPER
Maxton had never been as shaky as it was in the aftermath of the coup. People were side-eying their neighbors, rumors flew about who’d supported Eldrige, and the trial of the Legion officer who’d shot Bonnie only exacerbated that. As he’d been operating under the orders of Eldridge—who was Legion General at the time—the other Legion Generals urged Courtland for clemency. He wasn’t inclined to give it, but I was pretty sure Radic’s careful urging about what a tinderbox the social environment currently was in Maxton pushed him to grant it.
However, he still exiled the Legion soldier from the town, sending him to fucking Mexico. I didn’t know what the hell he was going to do down there—maybe they’d just bury him in the harsh Mexican sun instead—but out of sight, out of mind.
The flip side of that was everyone had to go back to work, and dragging myself away from Darius and Kitten was… difficult. I was in construction with my cousin, Finlo, who owned the business. I didn’t mind. I liked building things, but hated paperwork.
“Just go, Cooper. You’re going to be late,” Darius urged, pushing me toward the door. “The job site is literally half a mile away from the Sanctum. You’ll be able to stick your nose out the window and catch my scent, I’m that damn close. And Kitten’s coming with me. Bonnie said Dominic will be there too, on babysitting duty.”
Surprisingly, the crazy wolf being there didn’t exactly make me feel better. It wasn’t a reflection of the man himself, since Dom had been perfectly nice every single time I met him, but him being there just made me antsy. Though I guess it was better than another Alpha.
“Okay, fine. But I’m coming down to see you guys for lunch on my break.”
He lifted up on his toes so we were nose to nose, lips to lips. “Love you, Alpha.” He kissed me softly. “Now go to work.”
“Love you too, D. I’m going, I’m going. Just have one more stop to go first.”
He smiled and shook his head. “She’s in the kitchen having breakfast with Beckett before he goes to school.”
I kissed him once more, before hurrying downstairs. I paused in the doorway to the kitchen just to watch Beckett and Kitten. She was laughing at something he was saying, her dark hair wild over her shoulders. She was wearing one of Darius’s T-shirts and some soft sleep shorts she’d grabbed when we were back at her cabin.
Beckett was spoon-feeding her yogurt and berries, his eyes intense as he watched each mouthful pass her lips. I mean, I got it. Her lips were fascinating. I was fairly sure Beckett would feed her every single meal by hand if she’d allow it.
We were waiting for her to be ready to take things to the next level. To be comfortable with the idea of living in a Pack. She didn’t say it, but sometimes I could see her struggling, especially when it was loud or busy. We tried to curb it a little, but we’d lived together so long that we didn’t even think twice about wrestling on the ground, or chasing each other around, hollering about who ate the last chocolate bar.
Darius insisted she’d adjust. We had set her up her own nest and bedroom so she could have space alone if she needed it, and we made sure to respect that space.
She finally scented me and turned, giving me a smile that made my heart happy. Her expression was full of joy, like she couldn’t imagine anyone she’d rather see more in that moment.
“I have to go to work.”
