34. Lainey
“I swear, we will be fine .” My efforts to cajole Lucky into leaving the house have been less than successful, but everyone else has already left and I could use an hour to myself for once.
This will be the first time I have been completely alone in the house since I moved in months ago, and while my omega is in complete opposition, my forebrain is demanding a few minutes to be an independent bad bitch again.
My hands cradle by heavy belly, hiding the wince I feel from one of the twins kicking something vital.
“I still have six weeks to go, ball boy. I promise you, I will do absolutely nothing but sit on the couch and mope over no longer being able to see my toes.”
Lucky chuckles and takes a step forward before wrapping himself around me like a boa constrictor. “The closer we get to meeting these little bees the more my alpha wants to keep you wrapped up in a bubble and never leave your side.”
My nose roots around his shirt without conscious thought, trying to find where his sweet peppermint scent is strongest. “I know, but a little separation is good for us. After the babies are born I’ll practically never be alone again, so it will be good for me to soak up a little me time before I become someone’s mom . ”
He smiles down at me and the tenderness in his eyes leaves me breathless. “I can’t wait to see you become a mom, kitten.” His breath coasts over my face as he lets out a heavy sigh. “Alright. I guess I can go throw a ball around for a few hours.”
My bright laugh echoes around the room. “You mean football practice? The thing you will eventually be paid to do?”
He shrugs. “Semantics.”
I smirk, lightly flicking his nose. “Big word for a dumb jock.”
His head tips back as he groans. “I fucking love it when you’re mean to me, kitten.”
Another laugh, but this time I follow it with a gentle shove towards the front door. “Go before you’re late.”
As he’s grabbing his gear bag, he pauses to look at me with a surprisingly shy smile. “Hey. You know I love you, right?”
Butterflies cascade through my belly, vying for space with the babies. “I love you, too.”
He leaves with a skip in his step and I practically float up the stairs only to stop on the first landing when I hear the front door open. “Forget something? Or did you need one more kiss?” I call with a laugh.
There’s no answer, but the door slams shut.
“Lucky?” I call. Still no answer, and a hint of fear slithers through my chest. I feel four pings of concern down the pack bond, and I send worry back, because if this isn’t Lucky playing a joke…
“Hello?”
“Hello, daughter .” The words are nothing more than a hiss from behind me, and I spin around with a gasp when I see Laura standing not even three feet away.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” My voice trembles, and I hate it. The last thing I want is for her to know she still has a hold over me.
“I received a letter from our old health insurance company the other day,” she starts, completely ignoring me.
“I was understandably shocked to find my daughter had filed a restraining order against me with the help of the local sheriff’s department.
Your pack was listed in the paperwork as witnesses and point of contact. Pack Daire , if I recall correctly.”
My stomach drops when she says our pack name, but she isn’t done.
“I was even more surprised to find you had somehow weaseled your way into a wealthy pack with not one, but two athletes and a world-renowned artist.” Her muddy brown eyes scan down my body with clear derision.
“And apparently you were smart enough to trap them with your only asset.”
As soon as she describes my alphas, all of my fear melts away. My spine snaps straight, ice sliding through my veins and hardening my heart against anything she might say. Laura can come at me all she wants, but I won’t let her near my alphas.
“Believe it or not, Mom , some of us don’t have to trap men into staying. Some of us actually have redeeming qualities instead of being nothing but a miserable old bitch.”
Instead of balking like I had expected, Laura grins.
It’s a vicious, sharp thing that sends a bolt of fear straight through my chest. I shove my panic down the bond, feeling my alphas worry compounding in response.
“Oh look who decided to grow a backbone after all these years? Well too little, too late Magdalene.”
The knowing taunt in her words makes me nauseous but before I can turn to run, she grabs my arm so tight I feel her sharp nails draw blood.
“You see, I finally figured out a way to make you useful. Once I realized who your pack are, I knew I could get something out of this. A little thank you for raising you all those years.”
That ice in my veins spreads further, settling into a numbness that terrifies me.
I have to get out of this. Have to protect my babies from this psychopath that birthed me.
“I saw a recent photo of you on some fan website and realized kidnapping you for ransom wasn’t an option, so I took out a little life insurance policy on you.
To everyone else, it will just look like clumsy Lainey fell running up the stairs.
And you’ll be gone, so, no one will ever know the truth.
I’ll make off with a couple million dollars, and your pack will be able to move on and find someone better.
If you think about it, I’m doing us all a favor. ”
She lifts the hand that isn’t strangling my arm, inspecting her nails with a sigh like all of this is just one big inconvenience for her.
“You won’t get away with it.” I hiss. “My alphas know I’m not clumsy, and I would never be careless enough to fall up the stairs.”
Laura shrugs, like it doesn’t matter. “Things happen when your center of gravity has shifted.” She sneers at my belly.
“Especially when it’s such a drastic shift.
” I watch in real time as her eyes go lifeless, and that terrifies me enough that I shove all the love I can down our pack bond, emphasizing it to each alpha.
If I don’t get to tell them in person, I want them to know I love them.
“I wish I could say it was a pleasure being your mom, Mags. But that would be a lie.”
She uses her grip on me to pull my arm to my chest, and then she pushes.
I scream, but the momentum of my fall stops abruptly when I crash into a warm body.
Two muscular tattooed arms encircle my torso as he absorbs the impact of my body with little effort.
Several feral growls ring out around the room, and when I look up, I see Lawson standing behind Laura with a stun gun pointed at her back.
I watch the color drain from her face as she whirls around, arms up like she’s getting ready to play the victim.
“She went crazy! I had to stop her from attacking me, and she tripped!” She screeches the explanation and I want to correct her, but my body is shaking too hard to speak. My teeth chatter together, horror and relief overwhelming me to the point of shock.
“Don’t bother, Laura. We heard every word.
And so will the judge.” He points to the doorway of a first floor guest room, where Rhys steps out holding his phone that is clearly trained on us.
I have no idea when they got here and how I didn’t hear them come in, but my eyes fill with tears because they came .
Laura launches herself at Lawson, screaming obscenities and trying every dirty trick in her book to take him down, but it’s like watching a gnat attack a lamp for all that he moves.
I watch as he pins her arms behind her back, pulling out a set of metal handcuffs from his belt.
“Laura Ryan, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, assault, and attempted murder.” Lawson marches her down the stairs, reading her rights as they go, and I’m turned around only to be met with Lucky’s horrified expression.
There’s worry swimming in his watery eyes, and he places frantic kisses all over my face.
“Kitten,” he whispers, clutching my face in a grip that’s almost uncomfortably tight. “I am never leaving your side again.”
At least I think that’s what he says. Everything starts to sound like it’s moving underwater, and then there’s nothing but darkness.
The first thing I hear is the rhythmic sound of beeping.
Calm and eerily similar to the last time I woke up feeling like this.
Though my throat doesn’t hurt this time, and I count that as a small mercy.
“Hey, I think she’s waking up!” Calloused hands cup my cheeks as a forehead presses against mine.
“Wake up, angel. We need you to come back to us now.”
My eyes open to a blessedly dim room. Fluorescent lights likely would have aggravated the headache pounding behind my eyes and made me want to go back to sleep.
As it is, all four of my alphas are gathered around the hospital bed in various states of disarray.
Lawson is perched on the corner of the bed, and it’s his hands and forehead I’m feeling. “What happened?” I croak.
Rhys hands me a small cup of water, and I drink greedily. I catch a whiff of a familiar scent on my arm as I do, and everything hits me with sudden startling clarity as I start to cry.
The alphas rush me, touching any part of me they can reach and murmuring sweet words and reassurances.
Lawson moves back, but only enough that he can meet my eyes.
“She’s in a holding cell, Lainey. We have the whole attack on video.
Between that and the previous restraining order, she won’t be getting out for a very, very long time, if ever. You’re safe now.”
Loud, heart-wrenching sobs leave my body, and all of my alphas cuddle in closer as rumbling purrs hit me from all sides. It’s the best comfort I have ever known, and I know down to my very soul that I’m safe with my pack.
Doctor Mel walks in then, carrying a clipboard and dragging a wheeled machine behind her. “Oh, you’re awake! Excellent. I was just about to order fluids if you didn’t wake up on your own soon.”
My alphas part to let her access my bedside, but they don’t go far.
Lucky claims my left side and curls himself onto the bed beside me as he continues to purr.
It would be funny if I wasn’t so shaken.
Mel pulls a chair up to the side of the bed and sits down, placing two fingers on my wrist to check my pulse. “How are you feeling?”
I shrug. “Physically? Shaky, exhausted, and a little nauseous. Mentally? Well… my egg donor tried to kill me for a payout. So, not great.”
Mel doesn’t laugh, but she does give me a sad smile. “I am so sorry, Lainey. I won’t pretend to understand what you’re going through right now, but I see your pack is here with you and that gives me hope you’ll get through this.”
I nod, not capable of much more right now but wanting to give her some sort of acknowledgment. “Are you okay with me examining you? I would understand your reluctance to let a woman touch you right now, so if you need a male doctor, please feel free to speak up at any time.”
“No!” My heart rate spikes, the monitor going crazy behind me. The thought of anyone but Doctor Mel or my pack touching me right now is too much. In a calmer tone, I continue. “I want you to do it, please. And then I want to go home.”
She nods solemnly. “We will get you out of here as soon as we can, Lainey. Just need to make sure you and babies are healthy first and then I think being in your nest with your alphas will be the best thing for you right now.”
About an hour later, Mel gives me a clean bill of health and leaves to get the discharge paperwork started so we can go home.
Seeing the babies on the portable ultrasound machine she had dragged in set off another round of tears, and this time it wasn’t just mine.
All four alphas looked misty-eyed when those heartbeats finally sounded through the small room.
As soon as the door clicks shut behind Mel, my alphas converge on me again. Wyatt is the first to speak. “As soon as I felt your fear through the bond, I left the gym and called Lawson and Rhys. Law picked us up and used the lights and sirens to get us home faster.”
“I had already turned around to come back home by the time I felt the first tendrils of your panic through the bond, and I had this feeling… I came in through the back door and as soon as I heard a voice that wasn’t yours I texted the guys and told them to come in silently and use the back staircase. ”
I just stare at them blankly. “There’s a back staircase?”
Rhys huffs, dragging his thumb along the back of my hand. I’m not sure when he laced our fingers together, but I’m grateful for the contact. “There is, and we’ll show you later if you want. After at least twelve interrupted hours in your nest.”
Lucky beams. “Pack cuddle puddle?”
Lawson and Rhys both sigh, the sounds so eerily similar you would think they were the brothers. “Yeah.” Lawson concedes. “Pack cuddle puddle.”