Samara
I’m dreading talking to Sloane and Slade. Slade is too young to understand, but I feel like Sloane already knew what was
coming
Roman knocks on the door before we step inside. Sloane is sitting on the floor with Aria in one arm and Slade beside her. She’s got her other arm wrapped around him while they cry.
“Are you going to kill us too?” she asks.
“No, sweetheart,” I say, dropping to the floor to make myself less intimidating Roman crouches down beside me, watching
them.
“Why? Why did you kill them?” Sloane asks, her voice quivering
“She and your father betrayed our family and our pack. I’m so sorry sweetheart. She betrayed her wolf, Gillian, too. Gillian begged me to end her life, to let her find her fated mate, the one your mother rejected,” I say as her tears come faster. I’m unwilling to tell her that her mother killed her fated mate.
Aria begins sliding out of her arms and I reach out to catch her but Sloane snatches her away.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Slade, or Aria. If you don’t trust me to hold her yet, put her back in the bassinet while we talk”
She looks at me, then at Roman, before she stands and puts Aria in the bassinet beside her.
“My mommy is dead?” Slade asks, his lips quivering as he looks at Roman…
“Yes, Slade. I’m sorry, but your mother is gone,” Roman says honestly.
He begins sobbing and I feel like my heart is breaking all over again.
“Will you let me hold you?” Roman asks him.
He nods and before Sloane can grab him, he rushes into Roman’s arms.
Roman stands, beginning to walk around the room, rubbing Slade’s back. T’ve got you. I’ve got you,” he murmurs to him
Sloane watches them for a moment then turns back to me.
“Are you sure? Are you sure they betrayed everyone? Maybe you made a mistake,” she says.
“Both your father and mother told us what they did, sweet girl. They admitted it and so did Gillian,” I say as she begins to sob
again
…ww to her.
Slowly, I slide across the floor, making my way
“Why?” she screams as she looks back up at me. The grief I see in her eyes and on her face is so familiar to mine nine years ago that I feel my own tears streaking down my cheeks.
“Your mother wanted to be a Luna. Her fated mate was a warrior and that wasn’t good enough for her. Your father was a
second son, and he wanted to be an Alpha,” I say gently
She covers her face with her hands and as her grief overtakes her, she collapses. I catch her and pull her into my lap. She begins pounding her fists on my chest, screaming her pain that is so gut wrenching that Ayla begins howling in my head
When Roman takes a step in our direction, I shake my pain. I’ve lived with this level of pain for half my life
head at him. He’s barely gotten Slade settled. I can handle Sloane’s
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I begin rocking Sloane, letting Ayla purr at her as her punches slowly lesson and she collapses against me, exhausted
“What happens to us now?” she asks.
“You come home with us. I know it will be an adjustment, but Roman and I will raise you as if you are our own. We love you. You are not responsible for what your parents did ”
She fists my shirt in her hands, holding on to me as I rock her.
I’m scared,” she whispers.
“I know, sweet girl. I know more than most how scared you must be right now. But you are not alone. Roman and I will be here for you, no matter what,” I tell her,
I look up at Roman who has a now–sleeping Slade in his arms. He’s watching us, still Pierce purrs at Slade helping him to sleep.
Sloane looks up at me. “You promise you aren’t going to kill us.”
moving his body in a rocking motion as
“I promise. My word as a white wolf,” I say to her, Ayla pushing forward so Sloane can feel the force of our promise.
She nods and leans her head against me again. I already miss them,” she says and I feel her tears soaking my shirt again
“I know, sweet girl, I say and continue rocking her until she’s asleep. Then I look over at Roman
“She’s going to hate us,” I say softly.
“Hopefully not She’s old enough to understand. Slade probably won’t understand and Aria, thankfully, will never know the difference We’ll raise them as if they are our own, if they’ll let us,” he says.
I nod and continue to rock Sloane until Aria begins to fuss.
“Да
you
know anything about taking care of a newborn?” I ask him.
“Nothing, but thankfully, Mom has arrived. She’ll know,” he says before his eyes go unfocused
A few minutes later, there’s a knock at the door. Roman lets his mother in and she looks at the three pups in the room.
“Oh, the sweet dears What a horrible day for them and for you,” she says, coming over to hug me where I’m still sitting on the floor.
“One of my worst,” I tell her.
She goes over and picks up
up Aria, patting her b
her back and cooing to her.
“I need to go check on the pack,” Roman says.
“Yes. Your father is waiting for you. Samara and I can handle the pups. Let’s put little Slade in his room, in his bed, so he’s comfortable. Fll look around for baby monitors because you’ll need to listen for these two tonight. Your father and I can help with that…” she begins.
“No. They’re ours now. We need to take care of them,” I say, looking at Roman.
He nods. “Yes, we’ll look after them Mom, although we may need your help with Aria.”
“We definitely need your help with her. I have no idea how to care for a newborn,” I say.
“How about I take Aria into our room tonight and the two of you worry about these two. Tomorrow, I can begin showing you how to care for Aria. She’ll need formula to replace her mother’s milk, but the omegas already have that handled”
“Thank you so much, Luna Devi,” I say.
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j
“Of course. I hate that all of this has happened. But I’m glad that it’s finally over,” she says.
“Me too,” I say as Roman goes to put Slade into his bed.
I push myself off the floor still holding Sloane, “I’ll go put Sloane to bed and then you can show me how to feed and change Aria,” I say, just as Roman comes back in.
I’ve got her,” he says.
He takes her out of my arms and she curls into him in her sleep. I kiss her forehead, hoping that somewhere deep inside her she feels my love for her, then I turn to Luna Devi
“Okay, what do I need to know?”
A diaper change and a bottle later, Roman returns with me in the rocking chair, rocking Aria as she sleeps. He stops when he walks in and his eyes go nearly black.
He looks at me and I feel the intense desire inside him that I’ve been feeling since we walked into this room.
“If I haven’t already, I’ll be putting a pup in you very soon,‘ he says in the mind link.
I look down at Aria in my arms.
I hope you already have. I can’t wait to have a little pup that looks like one of us, I tell him.
“We have a lot we still have to deal with,” he says out loud.
“Which is why your father and I aren’t going anywhere,” Luna Devi says from where she’s folding baby clothes across the
TOOD.
I smile at her. “Thank you, Luna,” I say to her.
“You’re the Luna now, Samara. And these may not be my grandchildren by blood, but they are my grandchildren. Just as you will raise them as if they are your children, Sterling and I will raise them as if they are our grandchildren.”
“Thank you, mother,” Roman n says, b
before coming over to me and taking Aria out of my arms.
to bed, Samara. Tomorrow will be a long day,” he says, putting Aria back into her bassinet just as Alpha
us to go to
“It’s time for us t Sterling walks in.
There’s something that I feel in the bond letting me know that something is wrong.
Roman looks at me but doesn’t say anything, so I wait to ask. I get the baby monitors that are in Sloane’s and Slade’s rooms
and then Roman and I say goodnight to Alpha Sterling and Luna Devi. I know they’ll take Aria with them to their room and
I’m thankful that tonight, at least, I don’t have to worry about being up every couple of hours with a newborn
When we get to our room, I set the baby monitors down and turn to Roman
“What’s wrong?”
He walks over to me and pulls my hips against his, sliding his hand in my hair. His eyes are troubled as he looks at me
Just say i
it,” I whisper.
went into the secret passageway. I found the bones of a person hidden inside.”
