Epilogue
Remington
Five and a half months later
“C ome on. There has to be something we can do.” I dig my hands into my scalp, frustration rolling through me.
I hate this so fucking much. I hate feeling useless.
I need to fix this, and I don’t know how.
“I’m sorry, Remington. I know this isn’t what you want to hear,” Ana Reyes’s voice filters through the speaker. “But what he’s doing is completely legal.”
“That makes no sense,” I spit out, trying my best not to yell. I don’t want to upset Emilia—she’s been through enough. Plus, my nephews are in the next room. “How can someone assault her, be convicted, and still sue for custody from jail?”
“This is a law I’ve been working on getting changed,” Chase Lewitt says softly, and I glance up to see genuine despair in his eyes through the video screen. “Emilia, you’re not the first one to get fucked over by this asinine law. But it’s so hard trying to get omega laws changed when people are still so worried about how few of us there are. It doesn’t help that Sophia is about to pop. Things are hectic around here. A lot of my work has been pushed to the side.”
“Thank you, Chase. I know you do a lot for omegas in our country,” Emilia says with a soft smile. “But the laws aren’t going to change overnight. I just don’t know what to do. I’m not letting him anywhere near my baby. If he could do that to me, then what could he do to my children?”
Carter grabs my hand, forcing me back into my seat at the conference table. Tessa and Bree had my pack bring my sister in so we could figure out what the hell we could do for her. Right now, it’s looking like a whole lot of nothing.
“My boss let me review the case against him since it’s already closed.” Carter shakes his head. “You did everything right. You immediately went to the hospital and had the kit run. The case was open and shut. He received the usual punishment for a case like this. Two months in alpha rehab, followed by six months in jail. The reason he was able to file the suit against you is because he’ll be out by the time the baby comes.”
Emilia was sexually assaulted back in May by her COO. She got a bad batch of suppressants and ended up going into heat. She was only in the office to get a few things wrapped up. No one was supposed to be there, but he knew she would be there. He planned it—I know he did. Even if the judge said there wasn’t enough proof to move his crime from a misdemeanor to a felony. While it was clear he had assaulted her, his lawyers spun it to say she sent him into a rut, and he couldn’t help himself.
It’s all a bunch of bullshit and just proves how alpha-leaning our justice system really is.
“Emilia, there is a way out of this, but I don’t think you’re going to like it,” Ana tells her pointedly. “The only way you’re going to be able to win this case is to be part of a pack. I know it isn’t fair, but our current laws will always favor an alpha parent over an omega parent—citing your heats to make you appear as an unfit parent. Because you’ll be incapacitated during that time and won’t be able to take care of your children. Yes, you can take suppressants, but you’re all the proof they need to say they’re not foolproof.”
“No.” Emilia shakes her head. “I don’t want a pack. I already had a pack and lost them.”
Ana sighs. “I’m sympathetic to your situation, Emilia, but as your stand-in attorney, I’m telling you this is the only way for you to keep custody of that baby. And remember, it’s not just your unborn child that’s at stake here. If you’re ruled as an unfit parent, they’ll take your boys away, too.”
Fuck. I can’t let that happen.
“Where are we going to find you a pack in what? Five months?” I curse. There has to be a way.
“I just told you, I don’t want a pack, Remy. I need to do this on my own.”
“Emilia.” Chase waits until my sister is looking at the screen again. “Ana is right. I’ve done a lot of research on cases like yours, and the only time an omega has won is if they’re part of a pack. The judicial system will not rule in an omega’s favor if they’re single. I’m sorry, but if you want to keep your children, you’re going to have to find a new pack.”
Silence falls in the room as Emilia lays her hands on her still-flat stomach, a tear slipping down her cheek. “I really don’t want to fucking do this, but fine. I’ll do what I have to in order to keep my children safe. But like Remy asked, how the hell am I going to do that with so little time?”
Tessa clears her throat. “That’s where we come in. We could have you come on Heated as our season five omega. It’s already been cleared through all the channels for us to move forward with it, if that’s what you decide. Instead of doing eight weeks until your heat, we’ll do eight weeks until you give birth. That’ll put us with a start date at the beginning of December. By then, Lillian, Bree, and Evangeline will have all given birth.”
“We won’t have time to vet new suitors,” Bree says, rubbing her hands on her very round belly. Her baby is due any day now, as is Lillian’s. “But we can bring back suitors from the first four seasons. They’re good men, and they’ll treat you well.”
“You’ve already picked them out?” she asks, and Bree shrugs.
“We have a list of suitors we’d feel comfortable inviting back. Obviously, we haven’t reached out to any of them yet. We may not be able to get to a full twenty suitors, but that might be better for you,” Tessa answers.
Emilia looks unsure, so I take her hands in mine. “I know it’s not ideal, Em, but I can’t think of any other options. Can you?”
She shakes her head, wiping away more stray tears. “How many men do you think you’ll be able to find who are willing to take on a pregnant omega who already has two kids? No one is going to want to be a suitor for me.”
“You’re wrong,” Bree says as she stands. “Many of these men are desperate for families of their own. They’re searching for their pack. Did your pack love either of your boys less because they weren’t their biological children?”
“Of course not!” Emilia looks like she’s about to jump out of her seat to attack Bree before she freezes. “Ah. I see what you did there. Children being biologically yours doesn’t matter as much when you’re part of a pack. Okay, yeah. Let’s do this, I guess.”
Thank the fates.
Not only is it what’s going to keep her kids with her, but I think finding someone new to love will be good for my sister. She can’t spend the rest of her life pining after her lost mates. She’s much too young for that.
Plus, it’ll be cool when we tell people we both found our packs on a reality dating show, right?
We wrap up not too much later after Bree and Tessa have gone over the plan with Emilia. I walk her to her car before returning to my pack. I grin as I kiss Victoria and then duck down to kiss her stomach.
“You hear that, little one? We figured out how to help your auntie keep your cousin safe. I bet the two of you are going to be so close since you’ll only be a month apart. I can’t wait to meet you.”
She sighs when I stand back up, shaking her head. “I don’t know how you expect to keep this pregnancy a secret if you’re going to insist on kissing my belly and talking to the baby while we’re in public.”
“I wasn’t the one who wanted to keep it a secret,” I tell her with a shrug. “But I promise to limit those interactions to home from now on.”
“Thank you.” She kisses me once more before I help her into the front seat.
We confirmed Victoria’s pregnancy with the doctor about a month and a half ago. I say confirmed because I knew within days that she was pregnant. Of course, we were dealing with Emilia’s situation at the time, and announcing that Victoria was pregnant just didn’t seem like a good idea. Now that there’s a plan in place, hopefully we can tell our families soon.
I’m terrible at keeping secrets, and I don’t know how much longer I can keep this one.
“Love you, alpha,” I tell her before climbing into the backseat.
“I love you, too,” she says over her shoulder as I cuddle into Aubrey’s side, happy and content surrounded by my pack.
Everything was going to be okay for my sister, and in six months, we’ll have a baby of our own.
Fates above, I can’t wait.