Chapter 31
Cooper
Three years later
I have shit to do, but I find myself dragging my feet. Looking inside Nina’s nest, I smile as she swings in her giant chair with our four month old baby on her chest as she softly sings.
Juliette was a surprise, even though we did decide to try. Except, as soon as Nina went off birth control, her body went into a seven day heat. I’ve never come so much in my fucking life, and I was worried I’d never recover.
Of course, I’m just as dramatic as my omega, and I’m fine. The doctor said that her body is going to always have inconsistent and very intense heats due to the trauma she went through at Weeping Willow Institute.
That’s what I need to do tonight: destroy the institute and kill the alphas who hurt Nina. I need to protect my girls and any other omegas from this ever happening again.
“Are you leaving now?” Ethan asks softly behind me.
“Yeah,” I murmur. I’m sure the all black clothing is a dead giveaway. “Juliette is going to wake up at three in the morning. Be ready to get up and change her diaper so she’ll fall back asleep. And?—”
“Dad, I promise we got this,” he says, squeezing my shoulder. “I think it helps that I’m not terrified that I’m going to drop her anymore.”
Snorting, I shake my head. Ethan was petrified of how tiny Juliette is. She has blonde curls like her mother, brilliant blue eyes, and none of us have any idea who the biological father is. It doesn’t matter to any of us, she’s simply ours.
Riley comes up behind us, his eyes glued to Nina and Juliette.
“If she asks where I am…”
“We’re going to tell her the truth,” Riley says thickly. “She can handle it.”
Nina looks up to see us, and her head tilts in question. Taking that as an invitation, I step inside of her nest to walk toward her.
“Hey, Princess,” I murmur, kissing her lips as she tips her head up to accept it. “I have to go out for a while. I won’t be back by the time you head to bed.”
“Okay,” she drawls. “I’ll bite. Where are you going?”
“Minneapolis,” I grunt, my fingers drifting over my daughter’s curls. God, they’re so soft.
“It’s snowing there,” she complains.
“I know, I’m pretty unhappy about that myself,” I admit.
“Does this have anything to do with Weeping Willow?” she asks.
I should have known that she’d ask. Nina is smart as fuck.
“Yes,” I say. “I told you I’d end that place, and I meant it. Don’t stay up too late, okay? I know you’re doing admin stuff for the newspaper tonight.”
“I am,” she says. “I can’t believe how well it’s doing.”
“I can,” I smirk. “You and Ethan together are a powerhouse. The newspaper is thriving. I bet Martin is kicking himself.”
His paper isn’t doing as well as he thought it would, and it’s because a lot of his talent came over to work with Nina. Being able to work around your own hours speaks volumes.
“Well, fuck him. When you get back, we need to talk about the book signing,” Nina says, rubbing Juliette’s back. “Please be careful.”
I can’t even begin to say how proud of her I am. Her book is finished, self published, and she’s attending her first book signing soon.
“I will. Silas is going to let me borrow his plane. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Kissing our baby’s head and inhaling her sweet scent, I leave before I find that I can’t. I hate leaving her, and we’ve found that we can communicate through our bond until we leave town. After that, we no longer can.
It’s simply too far.
I have two duffle bags waiting for me downstairs, and I pick them up as I leave. Making sure everything is locked up tight, I get into my SUV and drive to the private gate for the plane.
In my bags is a change of clothes, black gloves, and the rest are various types of torture implements and things I’ll need. Thankfully, the flight isn’t long as I fly next to two alphas from Pack Alston who will be helping me. I have a small window, and I refuse to miss it.
Dr. Kind and Dr. Brunes have a Thursday poker night together on a rotating schedule once a month. I will just make it in time to catch them at Dr. Brunes’ house.
They’re both solitary men who live alone and like it that way. This just so happens to work for me as well. I approach the house from the woods that surround the property, a ski mask in place and black gloves on.
Jumping the back fence, I creep up to the door that leads to the kitchen and pick the lock.
There’s a lot of people that I’m lucky to have that have helped me get this far.
I know the doctors’ quirks, their schedules, and all of the access codes to their homes.
I also know Dr. Brunes doesn’t have pets, which will help me here.
The back door opens silently thanks to someone coming by to grease it for me a few weeks ago, and I slip in unnoticed. It just so happens that no one likes what the doctors are doing, and they’ve hurt a lot of people in their search for the “perfect omega.”
They’re honestly just money hungry assholes that enjoy playing God.
Placing my bags next to the door, I pull out a stun gun and a tranquilizer gun that’ll allow me to incapacitate both of them while they are still able to feel everything. Walking slowly, I test the wooden floor to make sure that I won’t make any noise.
“What do you think about the Tutley girl?” Dr. King asks. “Do you think she’ll be difficult to break?”
Leaning forward I watch as they play poker at a dining room table. They both look relaxed, and each have a glass of scotch in front of them. Listening to them talk so easily about hurting one of their “patients” disgusts me.
“Easier than the Sterling girl,” Dr. Brunes snorts. “I wonder what happened to her. She was fucking difficult.”
Ice and fire flow through my veins as I watch them talk about my omega. My feet are moving before I can stop them and I shoot a dart into Dr. Kind’s throat.
“Ah!” he yells before beginning to relax. This shit works fast.
“What are you doing here?” Dr. Brunes asks. “I don’t keep valuables here.”
“I’m not here for anything you might have,” I growl, grabbing hold of his bushy brown hair and shooting a dart into his neck. “I’m here for the Sterling girl. Except, she’s mine instead now. Pack Thornefield is here for its pound of flesh on her behalf.”
His mouth tries to move, but he’s frozen. Moving around the room, I make certain the blinds are drawn, the video cameras are disarmed, and then bring in my duffle bags .
“I want to preface this by saying that as much as I would love to take my time here, I need to get home,” I say, pulling out a nail gun. “However, that doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy this.”
Pulling their chairs out so that they’re both in front of me, I nod as I aim the nail gun and begin to pull the trigger. I bought it initially for all the projects I’ve enjoyed around my home. For example, I recently built a trellis so I could plant climbing roses for Nina.
And now, I’m going to enjoy a bit of target practice. The men grunt and flinch as the nails hit them, but can’t make any words because of the tranquilizer. When I get tired of that, I pull out a branding prod and walk over to the fire that’s happily burning.
“You two are the worst kind of men,” I say conversationally as I heat up the brand. “You pretend to want to help people, but instead use what you know to torture them.”
Deciding it’s hot enough, I walk over and rip the buttons of their shirts so they hang open.
“The snow is keeping everyone inside, and this house has great insulation,” I murmur, eyes glittering madly. “Please feel free to scream.”
Pressing the brand into Dr. Kind’s skin, I watch as the layers of skin are burned away. The doctor does scream, and I grin once I’m ready to pull away the brand. On his chest is the word Quack.
There are different kinds of insanity, and no one is more dangerous than a feral alpha whose omega has been hurt.
“Quack, quack motherfucker!” I yell in Dr. Brunes’ face as he gets the same treatment.
Enjoying his pain, I hum to myself as I put the brand aside and pick up a pair of scissors. Making quick work of their pants and boxers, I begin to sing as I pull out knives and sharpen them slowly.
“Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall,” I sing as I crouch down in front of the two betas and begin to stab them.
Sometimes I hit their legs, other times the chair, but the true money shot is their ruined, sad cocks. It doesn’t matter how much they scream, or what they attempt to say to me, I continue to stab them.
I hope they feel as helpless as Nina did whenever they conducted their experiments. The blood flows onto the floor, soaking into the carpet as I work. I don’t give a shit since I’m wearing all black and I have a change of clothes for myself far away from the blood.
I have no idea how much time has passed as I find that the light has gone out of their eyes. They’re dead, but I’m not done yet.
There’s a lot of flammable wood in this room, making it easy to stoke the fireplace fire and get it spread out.
I read that there are a lot of accidents during the winter months that occur just like this.
The fire will burn hot and destroy any evidence that I was here, and a toxicology report won’t show the tranquilizer drug I used.
Packing up my shit, I let myself out the way I came in and jump the fence. Walking through the woods, I call my contact with the Alston pack.
“You good?” he asks, knowing it’s me.
“Yes, they’re out of commission,” I murmur. “I’m hiking out to where my pick up is. How is the hospital?”
“Evacuated,” he says. “Everyone is being moved due to carbon monoxide emissions. They have the fancy fire alarms that go off when the levels are too high. We insisted that they be transferred. Blowing it sky high now.”
“Good,” I say. I don’t ever want that building to be inhabitable again. “Thanks for this.”
“She’s our friend,” the alpha says. “As are you. This bullshit isn’t acceptable. We’ll see you on the plane.”
Hanging up, I pull my coat hood over my head and trudge into the night and the snow.
Ethan
Three years later
“I’m gonna get you!” I yell as I chase Juliette.
She squeals as she runs, her chubby little legs moving as fast as possible. I follow her to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself as we get lost in the greenery of the backyard, picking her up the second it looks like she’s going to trip.
Little legs can only run for so long before they get tired, after all.
I also may be kind of a helicopter dad. I’m trying really hard not to be, but I hate when she scrapes her knees. Riley is better at this shit because he knows how serious her bumps and bruises are.
Hugging Juliette to me as I blow raspberries onto her neck, I love every second of her giggles as I carry her back to where everyone else is.
“Did Dad catch you?” Nina asks, pretending to gasp.
Juliette giggles. Nina is wearing our son, Ellis, in a ring sling as she nurses him. She decided she was going to be a brat and name our son after my fake name.
I suppose I deserve it.
“I saw that you ran super fast,” Riley says, watching as I put her onto the ground so she can run to him.
“I did!” she says. “Dad always catches me.”
Since Juliette has three fathers, we keep it easy and have her call all of us “Dad.” None of us care that we’ll all answer to it when she says it. She thinks it’s hysterical when we do.
“He’ll always catch you,” my father chuckles.
Sometimes, I wonder if anyone will ever be an asshole to our kids because their dads are related. Others, I decide that our kids will be aware enough to be able to tell people off and then make them accept it .
We don’t get to choose our scent matches, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“Juliette, do you want to help me make a snack for Mommy?” Riley asks. “Ellis is eating a lot and is going to make her hungry.”
“Yes,” she says, hugging Riley’s neck as he swings her up into his arms. “I’m hungry too though.”
“Snacks for everyone,” my Dad decides. “What should we make, Juliette?”
“Cookies,” our daughter says as I chuckle.
“What about cookies and apple slices?” Nina asks as she stands. “You can make sure Mommy eats her fruit.”
“Okay,” Juliette says, drawing out the word as Dad hides a smile.
“I wonder where she gets that from?” he teases Nina as we walk inside.
“No idea,” she lies, smirking.
“Mmhmm,” Dad says, patting her ass as we head into the kitchen.
There’s nothing I’d trade this out for. Not ever.