Chapter 20 Reign
REIGN
After Calloway died, there was a whole lot to clean up.
There was not only the death scene to figure out, but there was dealing with the security guard who we all feared would identify me.
That was, until we discovered that he was a shifter, one that didn’t need bribing to keep quiet.
He was a crow shifter that had his job because Calloway held something over him. He was glad to be rid of the man.
We all were.
I assumed that after all of that mess was cleaned up, my life was going to become normal and boring. I quickly discovered that life with Ezra was neither normal nor boring. It was so much better.
When the dust setted we spent some time, just the two of us, no interruptions.
There was a lot that happened in our lives in a very short period of time, and it needed some unpacking.
Never was our relationship in doubt. He loved me, and I loved him.
But we needed to lay everything out on the table.
“Do you want to go back to school?”
We were in bed and I was snuggled into his side. And wasn’t that the question? I’d been using school as a way to avoid my father’s bullshit. I’d never done it out of a need to get more education. Even so, it was hard letting go so close to the finish line.
“I’d rather be here with you.” It was the truth. My current plans for life revolved around being with my mate. It was a recipe for a toxic relationship in humans, but with my mate? Yeah, it felt right.
“That’s not an answer. It’s not one or the other. You can be with me, and I can be anywhere.”
“That’s not how jobs work.”
And honestly, I wasn’t exactly sure what his job was, and I planned to keep it that way. Having a vague idea was good enough for me. My mate was a good guy, a great mate, and a fabulous brother and son. That was what mattered, not the family business.
“Mine does.” He kissed the top of my head. “If you could do anything you want what would it be?”
I wasn’t going to rush the answer. “Let me get back to you on that.”
There was an idea brewing in the back of my mind, one that had flitted in and out over the years.
I’d always assumed it was impossible. That was no longer the case.
Did I really want to open up my own archery training center?
Teach the next generation to use both the new advanced bow and more traditional varieties?
That was something I needed to figure out before broaching it with my mate, because I knew that the second those words left my lips, he’d make it happen, and his family would be there to help.
“As long as you promise not to keep it from me, like you are keeping your current burdens.”
That one sentence opened up the conversation we both needed.
I’d been holding on to and hiding my residual guilt over not accomplishing my goal and putting everyone in danger.
Ezra had been doing the same over putting me in that position in the first place.
And once we realized that, we both allowed our guilt to flutter away.
I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it was good… for both of us and this family.
It was weird to think about. We got rid of the “bad guy” together. Only wasn’t I part of a family of bad guys? At least most people would consider us that.
There was still a lot of shit to figure out with Viktor.
He appreciated Calloway’s demise, and by appreciate, I meant he was thrilled.
His existence had been hanging over the Alpha so heavily that now that he no longer was, Viktor looked younger.
Best of all, Viktor considered my debt paid, not that it should ever have been mine to begin with.
I was free and clear.
My mate had met me while trying to get Viktor to sign a treaty.
He’d been reluctant then, or rather adamantly against it.
But now, he signed it without conditions.
It was a fair treaty after we’d worked through the warehouse access.
It wasn’t as if anyone was attempting to take advantage of him or his pack.
We had a meeting with him today about what to do with my father, and I was dreading it. And looking forward to it. My feelings were all over the place. As long as I could completely put that chapter of my life behind me, I was happy.
I had news I needed to share with my mate. Amazing, wonderful, fabulous news that I didn’t want to throw at him right before we went into what I knew was going to be a stressful meeting.
The past couple mornings, I’d woken up not feeling myself.
I wouldn’t say I was nauseous but my stomach wasn’t right either.
I was tired… more than I should be for what I’d been doing.
But what really had me thinking there was more to it was that not one but two people on my trip through the grocery store told me I was glowing.
One even asked me what my skincare routine was and then looked flabbergasted when I said, “Soap.”
So as I walked through the health and beauty aisle, I grabbed a pregnancy test from the wall, figuring if I took it and I wasn’t pregnant, then I wouldn’t get my mate’s hopes up for nothing. But if I took it and I was, it would give me time to plan… and I had planned.
I planned a whole meal for us. I was going to cook little baby corn and carrots, and I don’t know, whatever little baby things I could find.
I was going to give him a present, and inside would be a baby’s first birthday frame for when our child was here.
I was going to give him an invitation to a first ultrasound, and every little cute thing I’d ever seen on Pinterest, I was planning on doing.
But as I looked at the two pink lines, joy filling my heart, my phone buzzed. It was my mate, telling us we had this meeting with the Alpha. That had to come first.
My mate picked me up and we drove to the meeting spot. It was neutral territory, and when they said neutral territory, I had no idea we were going to meet at a food truck with picnic tables. But there we were.
It put me at ease to see the Alpha grabbing his cheese fries from the window. I wasn’t hungry, and even if I was, I didn’t want to wait long enough to get food. I wanted this meeting to move quickly and be done.
My mate and I joined him at the table.
“I’d expected more people here,” I said. “Are we waiting for anybody else?”
“No. This is between the three of us.” He looked directly at me.
“I want to give you the respect you deserve and let you know I’m not going to bleed your father, not in the wolf way.
I plan to take every single cent from him, to cripple all of his connections, to leave him homeless. But I’m not going to kill him.”
“That’s fine. I will,” my mate growled on the side.
“Please don’t.” My father didn’t deserve mercy, but it wasn’t only about him.
“Why? He’s not worthy of breath.” My mate wasn’t wrong.
My father was willing to trade the person he should’ve been protecting with everything he had to someone for money.
“That may be, but I don’t want to start our life together with guilt hanging over it.
I’ve had enough of that. I’ve already lost one parent; losing another because I gave the okay, as deserving as he is for that, that would crush me.
He’ll pay his price. He’ll learn his lesson.
Viktor is stripping him of everything he loves. ”
“But what if he comes after you again?”
“Then you bleed him dry.”
That seemed to settle my mate. The Alpha across from us was looking at this with such curiosity.
“Do you forgive him?” Viktor asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know if forgiveness is the right word, but I can’t hold on to the bitterness. If I do, he’ll win every single day, time and time again.”
He popped a cheese fry in his mouth. It seemed so out of place for this man of power.
“Humans will always perplex me. But you, Reign, you’re a good one.”
Ezra’s hand came around me, and he pulled me close to his side. Not gonna lie, I liked this jealous side of him.
We talked about details, and he let me know which things he protected for me and how I could have access to them. I didn’t want any of it, but I appreciated it.
And then, as quickly as it started, we parted ways.
I was so excited to get home, to tell my mate about the baby. So excited that he noticed I was a nervous wreck, and pulled over into a random parking lot, turned the car off, and looked me straight in the eye.
“You need to tell me what’s going on, because my wolf can’t stand it. He’s sure something’s wrong and we need to fix it, but I don’t know how to fix it, so tell me how to fix it.”
“There’s nothing to fix, mate.” I took his hand. “Nothing at all. I’m not nervous in the negative sense. I’m excited. Excited because I—”
He brought my hand up to his cheek and held it there, his eyes never leaving mine.
“I was gonna do this all fancy-like, but here we are. I’m pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” He lowered our joined hands to my middle. “We’re going to have a pup.”
“Yes, my love, we are. But there’s something we need to take care of first.”
“You want to get married? Yes. Let’s do that.” His offer was so sweet. He knew the importance of human marriage to so many.
“Not marriage.” I tapped my shoulder where he’d promised to one day mark me.
He kissed me… hard, raw, powerful, and filled with passion, and when our kiss broke, he turned the car back on and brought us all the way home.
I was taking that as a yes.