Chapter 22
Kitchen, Peacock and Dragon Estate
Three months later…
“Then Princess Peacockcrept closer to the dragon’s cave…” I say, theatrically.
This is the third time that I’ve narrated the story tonight, but Millie’s eyes are wide with fear like she doesn’t know what’s going to happen next.
She’s dressed in soft violet pajamas. A ribbon pulls back her long, curly black hair.
It still feels like such a blessing to have her here and safe.
She completes our pack.
I hadn’t realized just how heavily Lark’s grief as a single dad who’d been separated from his daughter weighed through the bond, until he’d been reunited with Millie.
Now, he’s no longer a single dad. He has an entire pack to support him.
Being thrown together like this with a lively three year old, who has her own trauma, has been a crash course in parenting.
But I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Moonlight streams through the high kitchen windows in our new home, which is a safehouse in a forest close to the town of Sanctum.
Kai suggested the name for the ultra-modern mansion: Peacock and Dragon.
The look that he gave Gabriel and me made me shiver. I will forever be grateful that we found each other again.
It feels fated.
What can’t we achieve now?
This new mansion in the woods has slowly begun to feel like our home over the last three months.
Now, the mansion smells deliciously like the entire Devils pack.
I’ve caught both Alphas nuzzling the cushions and piles of pillows in each room, scenting them. At the same time, Lark has been shamelessly putting his hand out for the men’s clothes each night to add to our bed.
We’re no longer using separate bedrooms anymore.
There’s only one thing better than sleeping tangled together. And that’s waking up together in the morning in a sleepy pile of Alpha, Beta, and Omega.
These are my men.
This is my pack.
I have a proper role here both to help raise Millie but also, as a full-time worker in the resistance.
I always wanted an important role in life.
Now, I have one.
Millie takes the opportunity to snuggle closer to Lark. She’s seated on his lap at the central kitchen island next to me. Lark and I perch on red, vinyl stools.
There are three calendars of the Omega band, Empty Cage, stuck with magnets on the fridge, which belong to Lark.
He truly is a calendar-holic.
The counters are crimson, and the walls are a beautiful iridescent blue. The room is filled with the delicious, sweet smell of chocolate from the muffins that Kai has been baking.
The muffins are displayed on a wire rack on the side, cooling down.
I lick my lips.
He’s always making chocolate treats, since he knows that I’m a chocoholic.
Not that the chocolate ice cream ever lasts long around me.
But then, I did warn Lark about that.
I’ve got used to the fact that even when Kai bakes, he wears his brown, designer suits with stag cuff links.
Perhaps, it breaks royal etiquette to dress in jeans.
He’s been relaxed and contented over these last months, however, baking and cooking for all of us.
I’ve never felt so cared for.
Kai loves Gabriel.
In fact, their love for each other burns bright.
It’s scorching.
Yet it’s also founded on a strong desire for social justice and a searing intelligence. They’ve both started training Lark and me in different sides of their missions.
Antonio is like a wild whirlwind. He has more of a skill for disruption, than calm planning.
Yet he has a serious skill set from hacker to martial arts. He hadn’t been lying about that.
He’s a devastatingly powerful player in this battle of ours.
In the end, this will be a war, one way or another.
It’s not going to be a short one because already Raylan and his cronies are rebuilding. They’ve adjusted the chokers and the bracelets, so that once again, they can’t be removed.
We’ll take the victories as they come, however, and keep on fighting.
Fletcher has disappeared.
Has he been killed? Sent to the Alpha Center for a taste of his own conditioning medicine?
My heart clenches at that thought because I don’t want anyone to suffer that.
But he chose his side.
And karma’s a bitch.
The kitchen island is covered with glitter, which is left over from the glitter painting that Lark and I were doing with Millie earlier.
My hands and fingernails are still sparkling too. It’s probably plastered across my nose and cheeks as well.
I can see gold flecks in Lark’s long black hair and on the sleeves of his jade suit.
Millie doesn’t loosen her hold on her large peacock stuffie.
“Daddy rescue Pee-pee!” Millie shoves the stuffie hard into Lark’s chest.
To make her point, she makes Pee-pee peck Lark.
I try not to laugh at the name that she’s given her toy because she can’t say the full name.
“Gentle with Daddy, honey.” Lark rubs his chest. “Some of us aren’t as young as we once were.”
“You said it, old man,” Antonio jokes.
He’s standing at the Belfast sink in the corner next to Gabriel.
Antonio has slung his navy blazer over the counter and rolled up his sleeves. He’s washing up with a breezy gusto that’s sloshing as many bubbles over his shirt as the plate in his hand.
Gabriel is leaning casually next to him in a black polo neck and jeans. He’s smiling at Antonio’s antics in a way that reminds me — almost — of the way that he used to look.
He’s been smiling more and more frequently over the last three months.
It makes my heart sing with hope.
“Did you say something?” Lark quirks his brow. “Finish your chores before bed, pup.”
“Don’t worry, I know that you’re too tired to help. It’s late for someone of your age.” Antonio keeps his head over the sink to try and hide his grin.
Gabriel snorts.
Millie giggles.
Lark arches his brow. “Oh, like that is it? Traitor. Perhaps, I’m the dragon.”
Lark roars in an impressive impression of a dragon.
Millie only giggles louder.
Antonio laughs too.
Lark rolls his eyes.
“So, the dragon,” I point at Lark, and he plays along, roaring again, “comes charging out of the cave.”
“Bad, bad, dragon. Time out.” She scowls at Lark, pretending that Pee-pee is scolding him.
Now, I’m trying not to laugh. I almost change the story just to see if Lark would go along with it.
It’d be worth it to see him facing the corner.
“But the brave Princess Peacock,” I finish the story, as it’s meant to be told (at least in my own invented version), “doesn’t run, even though she’s scared. She tells the dragon, “The knight said that you’ve been misbehaving by attacking all the villagers. Please stop.””
“Dragon sad?” Millie raises hand to stroke Lark’s cheek, and he appears startled. “Knight mean. Said bad. Dragon bad.”
Lark and I exchange a glance.
We’ve been piecing together what happened in the Companion wing of the Institute.
Millie didn’t appear to have been hurt. In fact, on a basic level, she was better looked after than she’d been in the Brok Cell because she’d been treated as a Reject Companion and not a Brok.
Yet we knew that she’d heard others talking about her dad.
She’s too young to understand everything, but at the same time, kids understand more than you think.
“Do you think he’s sad?” I ask, carefully.
Millie cocks her head to the side, sucking her thumb for a moment.
Then she turns her stuffie to face Lark like he’s the dragon and makes the peacock say, “Sorry. People mean. Hate them. Love you. We be friends?”
She’s gone off script but that’s good.
Because I don’t think that this is about the peacock and dragon anymore.
There are tears in Lark’s eyes, which he’s struggling not to let fall. So, I know that he doesn’t think so either.
Instead, he presses a soft kiss to his daughter’s head, before meeting her eye, solemnly. “Always, honey.”
I rest my hand on Lark’s shoulder, reassuringly.
When I look up, Kai pours a glass of milk and slips a muffin onto a plate like he knows exactly the right thing to break the tension.
He’s rubbing his head to ease the migraines that still plague him.
To be fair, our enthusiastic glitter play may not have helped…or Lark’s dragon impression.
Kai slides the plate and glass across the counter to Millie, whose eyes light up. “The muffin’s still warm. Eat up, then bed. I think three bedtime stories is enough.”
“My savior.” I smile at Kai.
It may be his head that he’s saving, which is understandable.
Millie snatches up the muffin and stuffs it in her mouth like it’s going to be taken away from her.
Was that a danger with food, when Millie was alone in Companion House?
The chocolate smears around her mouth.
“Can you get me a cloth?” Lark asks.
Kai waves his hand. “In a moment. Let her enjoy it.”
“You spoil her.” Lark’s eyes dance with amusement.
What he means is: She has you wrapped around her little finger.
See, Omega power.
Kai crosses his arms. “Aye, I do. She’s our pack’s wee Omega. She should be cherished, and I swear, she will be. I’m going to bring her up with everything that she wants and needs.”
Millie perks up, preening.
Lark groans. “I may need to give you some parenting tips, which start with not saying things like that in front of her. You’re not the one who’ll be dealing with the inevitable tantrums, when you don’t buy her the sports car she wants for her sweet sixteenth.”
Kai looks confused. “Why wouldn’t I buy her a sports car?”
Millie peers at him over her milk glass.
If she’s smart, she’ll be running this pack one day.
“Fine,” Lark says, dryly, “enjoy being the fun uncle.”
“Hey, no fair.” Antonio shoves a plate that’s not rinsed off and is still covered in foam onto the drying rack. I really need to show him how to do that properly again. But then, I love watching him try to act domestic and epically failing. “I’m the fun uncle.”
When Millie nods vigorously, Antonio looks smug.
“How about Uncle Toni shows you the coin trick?” Antonio swaggers to the island.
Millie bounces on Lark’s lap in excitement, almost knocking over her milk.
“Your coin trick,” Lark says with a huff. “This never gets old.”
Yet his cool tone is masking the bright burst of happiness that’s shining through the bond.
I know that the rest of the pack feel it too.
We’re a family.
I squeeze Lark’s shoulder, and he meets my eye.
We smile at each other.
“Look, nothing in my hands.” Antonio shows Millie his empty palms with a flourish. “And I don’t even have sleeves. They’re rolled up.”
Then so fast that I don’t see how it happens, a shiny dime suddenly appears on his palm…as if by magic.
Millie squeals and claps her hands.
Antonio looks at me and then Lark, as if for our approval as well.
We both clap.
“Very clever.” Lark’s smile is warm. “I genuinely don’t know how you do that.”
“How I do it? Magic.” Antonio winks at Millie, passing her the dime. “Here’s your magic coin.”
Millie gasps, showing the coin to her stuffie in excitement.
Lark sighs. “What have I told you?”
Antonio shrugs. “You’re never too young to start saving, right? Talking about that, are you sure that she’s too young for my karate lessons?”
Lark’s expression hardens. “Let’s hold off on that until she can at least read.”
“You can volunteer with the older Omegas, Toni, who we haven’t been able to place in packs yet. They need to learn skills and keep healthy with exercise.” Gabriel runs his hand through his hair, looking tired.
He’s been working non-stop on both trying to settle a safe community in the mountains for the younger Omegas and Betas who were freed from the Institute, which Kai funded, at the same time as letting the Omega Society find good matches for all the Omegas.
Except, unlike the Institute, now the Omegas are in charge of these matches and whether they want to accept a pack.
It’s going to take a long time to find suitable packs for all of them.
Antonio rocks on his heels. “I could set up a hacker masterclass.”
“You couldn’t,” Gabriel says, firmly. Then his coldness thaws, as he looks at me. “Have you heard from Tom this week?”
I can’t help the sadness that forms in my stomach because Thomas isn’t here with me.
He’d love it in the Devil pack.
His sacrifice, however, is what’s keeping us safe.
I realize now that he’s wearing a mask with Dad to protect my secrets and possibly, the resistance’s as well.
How many other secrets is he hiding?
We found a way to communicate via an encrypted email. I’m still careful to talk in code and not to give away anything that could be used against the resistance.
I know what it’s like to be controlled and used like a puppet.
I don’t want to put my twin in that position.
“Something’s wrong, I’m sure of it.” The dread increases in my stomach, as I say it. “Tom doesn’t sound like himself. He can’t say it, but I think that he’s scared. Dad has him working fourteen hour days. He doesn’t trust him since…” I glance at Millie. She appears to be busy drinking her milk, but I can’t say it in front of her. “What if he’s sent to that place again?”
They all know that I mean the Alpha Center.
Gabriel stiffens, paling. “I’ll get him out. I’d burn the world down for your brother, you know that.”
“The tough thing is that he doesn’t want us to.” I look down, as my hands wring my dress in my lap.
“Aye, the best ones are like that,” Kai agrees.
“Why don’t we do it anyway?” Lark tilts his head. I glance up at him in surprise. “Simply because he’s a good Alpha, your brother, and that makes him pack.”
My eyes burn with gratitude.
“But we’ll treat it like any other mission because Tom deserves us to trust him as well,” Gabriel adds. “He’s risking himself to protect you. We should honor it, if he wants us to hang on and wait.”
“And before any of that,” Lark wraps his arms around Millie and stands with her, adjusting her on his hip, “I have a tired little Omega to get to bed because she’s been rubbing her eyes for the last half an hour and hoping that I won’t notice.”
“Have not,” Millie protests, yawning.
“It must have been some other Omega with a violet ribbon in her hair and a milk mustache then.” Lark makes a grab for Millie’s stuffie, before she can accidentally drop her. “Careful. You don’t want Pee-Pee to go on the floor, do you?”
Antonio snickers.
Lark glares at him. “How old are you?”
“Younger than you.”
“Okay, enough.” Gabriel exchanges a glance with Kai.
I call it the plotting look that those two have perfected.
What are they up to?
I’ve felt like they’ve been scheming all day.
I saw them whispering together in the study in the morning, before Antonio joined them practically bouncing in excitement.
I assumed that it was about some kinky idea that they’d finally agreed to. Something possibly involving edge play like the fantasy that Antonio described about being captured by a rival mafia family and slowly having his clothes sliced away with a knife…
I have a feeling that he’d be able to come from that alone.
Now, I think that the conversation was about something else entirely.
Gabriel slips a phone out of pocket.
It’s new and not his usual one.
He marches to Lark, and his expression is soft in the way that it often is now, whenever he’s with Lark.
“This is for you.” He holds the phone up to Lark’s ear, since Lark already has his arms full with Millie. “It only has one number programmed into it. Don’t use it for calling anyone else. This is the only way that we can keep both of you safe but at the same time, allow you to keep in contact. We know how important this is to you.”
My heart’s beating faster.
Who’s he talking about?
Lark’s gaze is questioning.
Faint tremors are running through him but as always, he’s trying to remain strong for Millie.
I rush to join Lark, nuzzling his neck. I take happy breaths of his zesty plum scent.
Finally, the phone is picked up.
I listen hard.
There’s a long moment of silence.
“Hello?” A sweet, male voice says.
“Uncle Cygnus!” Millie squeals.
“It’s me.” Lark’s voice is raspy with tears. “I can’t…I never…I’ll explain as much as I can but…I have a new pack now. You won’t believe this, but I’m happy and loved.” It’s heartbreaking, as if Lark never thought that’d happen and is brimming with such joy to be able to tell his only friend and once brother-in-law his news. “Finally, just like you, I’m free.”