44. Lilah
44
Lilah
It was a Tuesday when everything almost went to shit all over again.
I’d been working around the house, trying to clean and make things a little homier for myself. I was steadfastly ignoring my nest, because I had made it just about as perfect as could be, and everything that smelled like my alphas was making me inexplicably horny.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I absentmindedly answered, only to find that nobody was there. There was a letter on the ground in front of the door with my name written on the envelope, though.
Admittedly, that should have made alarm bells ring in my head, but I was distracted with plans for a charity event gala Oliver’s work was throwing—an event that Oliver had convinced me to attend with them despite the fact we still hadn’t formalized my place in the pack.
I flushed a little, thinking of how he had “convinced” me of that, and picked up the letter to bring it inside without thinking twice about it.
“What’s that, princess?” Oliver came down the stairs, adjusting the cuffs of his sleeve and straightening his suit jacket. He’d gotten a bit of a later start that morning, and the reason why had me blushing even as I shrugged.
“Not sure. It was left outside.”
“That’s weird.” Killian walked into the foyer from the kitchen, holding his cup of coffee. He cocked his head to the side as he looked at the letter and then up at Oliver before looking back down.
Again, the apprehension in his eyes should have concerned me, but I was so caught up in the bubble of bliss we’d all been enjoying for over a week that the odd look barely registered.
“Let me see.” Oliver held out his hand, and I handed it over without hesitating. Oliver’s eyes widened slightly as he looked down at the writing, and the way that his entire body suddenly tensed and his throat bobbed was my first indication that something was wrong .
“Oliver?” I asked hesitantly.
Killian was suddenly at my side, laying his hand on my forearm as he angled his body in front of mine. “Baby girl...” Killian said, his voice a soft warning.
Oliver swallowed again and then passed the letter back to me, his eyes a little dull as he handed it over. “It’s for you, princess.”
His voice was hollow, and my stomach swooped as I turned the envelope over to open it with shaking fingers. I had the feeling that I knew what was inside, and a tiny voice in the back of my mind screamed that I needed to leave it be—that I needed to pretend like this hadn’t shown up and that everything was still fine.
This was going to change everything, I could tell.
And I was fucking tired of everything being changed.
“You don’t have to open it, baby girl,” Killian urged, his grip on my arm tightening.
Still, I ignored him. My hands seemed to work independently from the panic that was screaming in my mind, and if Oliver and I had been competing for an award for who was more tense, it would have been an even draw.
The paper inside the envelope was folded haphazardly, as if the person who’d sent the letter had done so in a hurry—or a fury—and I let out a shaky sigh as I unfolded the paper and read the letter.
Lilah,
Do you think that you can just ignore me? I went to the trouble of tracking you down, reaching out, and trying to create a connection between us, and you think you can ignore me?
How dare you?
I understand you’ve never met me and think you might not owe me anything, but I am your father . At the very least, I am owed the courtesy of a response.
That pack you’ve been gallivanting around with is to blame for your disloyalty; I just know it.
Don’t worry, darling daughter. You and your alphas will understand exactly what it means to get on my bad side sooner rather than later.
See you soon.
The letter wasn’t signed, but it didn’t need to be. The paper fluttered out of my slack fingers the moment I finished reading. I barely heard Killian’s cry of alarm as my knees collapsed underneath me, but he managed to catch me just before I hit the floor.
I watched numbly as Oliver bent down to pick up the letter. He scanned over the words written in sharp, jagged handwriting.
My father’s handwriting.
I hadn’t read the first letter, so I couldn’t know what it had said. This time, I was well aware not only of what the letter said, but also of what it meant for the pack.
A part of me, cowering at the back of my head, was waiting for the other shoe to drop—for Oliver to get triggered by the blatant threat on the page, kick me out, and reject me all over again.
Even with Killian standing there with me, holding me up with his strong arms, that part of me was expecting rejection. My head spun, my entire body tensing, and I could hear my blood rushing in my ears, pounding, roaring...
“Ollie?” I heard Killian’s voice through the loudness in my ears, and the whimper that escaped me was involuntary. I crumbled even more, my knees weakening, as I watched Oliver tear the paper viciously in half and let the pieces fall to the floor.
Then he looked up at me, and the abject pain in his eyes made another whine fall from my lips.
“Alpha,” I whispered.
I wanted to reach for him but didn’t know if I was allowed. I needed the contact and the comfort. My head pounded, and if it weren’t for Killian’s firm grip on me, I would have collapsed entirely.
Oliver’s eyes were unseeing and blank for a long second, but when I whined again, he seemed to come back to himself. His blue eyes sharpened, and his lips parted as he looked at me.
I braced myself, ready for his rejection.
But then he made a soft sound and stepped over the torn pieces of paper from the letter, taking me gently from Killian’s arms and wrapping his arms firmly around me. “Lilah,” he breathed. “Princess. It’s okay.”
For a moment, I froze, and the whine that escaped me was high-pitched and tense. My body couldn’t decide what it wanted—for Oliver to keep holding me or keep me at arms’ length. His hands rubbed up and down my back, and then he started to rumble with a soft purr that rattled all the way down to my bones.
Then I gasped and clutched at his shirt as tears started to streak down my face.
“He...threatened...Oliver, he...” My voice was choked, and my thoughts were scattered. My body was half caught up in the trauma of Bond Rejection Syndrome and half melting into my Prime Alpha, absolutely terrified of what the letter had said.
“He’s going to come for me. For the pack. Because I didn’t respond. Because he feels ignored .” The words fell from my lips in an increasingly irrational babble, and I clutched tighter to Oliver, pressing my cheek against his chest and feeling the thud of his heart against my skin. His scent surrounded me, and the longer he held me without rejecting me, the more I could relax.
“He’s not going to do jack shit.” Killian’s words were a low, aggressive growl, and when I peeked over my shoulder at my other alpha, he looked down at the letter on the floor with anger simmering in his green eyes.
I reached out for him with one hand, and after a moment, he took my offering and stepped up behind me. He wrapped his arms around Oliver and me, sealing me between my two alphas and comforting me.
I wished Emmett were here too, but he had left for his office early that morning.
“We won’t let him take anything else from us,” Oliver finally said, his voice rough and scratchy. “He made a mistake by sending that. If the goal was to scare us—”
“All he’s done is piss us the fuck off,” Killian growled, pressing his face into my neck. He breathed in my scent, and his lips were soft when he brushed them against my pulse. “I promise, baby girl. You’re safe with us. You’re safe in this house.”
“And we’re not going to let anyone take you away from us,” Oliver finished, reaching up and brushing his fingers through my hair.
I swallowed, then let out a shaky breath as I nodded. “Okay,” I whispered. I looked up and met Oliver’s solemn gaze. “Thank you. For...”
Doing things differently this time.
Oliver’s understanding eyes told me I didn’t need to explain what I meant, and he leaned down to press a sweet, tender kiss to my lips.
That was all I needed.