Chapter Thirty One
Soren
I held Talia against my chest until well into the morning. She slept so deeply, and I didn’t want to wake her. Around lunchtime, she moved herself over and curled up with her face buried in my pillow. I took this as an opportunity to shower, so I’ve been in here for at least an hour now.
I’m reflecting on everything that has happened in the last week.
It has been a roller coaster of emotions and feelings.
I’ve gone from feeling hopeless and terrified to the proudest I have ever been.
I knew that Talia was incredible, but I’m pleasantly surprised to find out that she is not only ruthless, but deadly.
Rage led her to me, and set us both free.
When I step out of the shower, Talia is rubbing her eyes as she steps close and lays her head on my chest.
“Hey, baby,” I say, hugging her to my chest and kissing her head. “Going to shower?”
“Are you telling me I stink?” she mumbles.
“You still smell like him,” I remind her.
“Ew,” she says, leaning back and curling her face up. I laugh and kiss her, making her smile.
“Take a shower. Relax. I’ll go fix you something to eat,” I tell her.
“Are you people trying to make me fat? Every time I turn around, someone is shoving food in my face,” she laughs sleepily. “Okay. I’m hungry anyway.”
“Good,” I say. “Any requests?”
“Enough waffles to kill someone,” she says. “With chocolate chips… and strawberries…”
“Done,” I laugh.
“I love you, Soren,” she says, and I realize that she’s worried.
“I love you, too, Talia. What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry I… I didn’t have a choice but to pretend with Micah. I know you could feel it… I’m just really sorry,” she says. I won’t tell her, but it’s probably the most excruciating pain I’ve ever been in, but I understood what she was doing.
“Barely felt it,” I lie with a smile.
“Fucking liar,” she frowns. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I promise her with a gentle kiss. “I am going to have a lot of fun reminding you of who owns that pretty pussy of yours.”
“The next motherfucker who calls my pussy pretty, I’m going to chop their dick off,” she declares, and I laugh. “How do we handle the guys?”
“Honestly?” he asks, and I grin. “I’m going to trick them into marking you.”
“You are evil,” she laughs. “Vaughn will cry.”
“Oh, I know he will,” I laugh. “But the only way they will accept it is if they’re thrown headfirst into it.”
“Sounds familiar,” she says, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, yeah,” I say. “But they will panic. They will start apologizing. I will tell them to shut the fuck up and fuck you already. Sound good to you?”
“Uh,” she laughs.
“You can say no, my love,” I say.
“I… don’t want to say no,” she admits. “Can you share, Soren?”
“I can learn,” I tell her.
“You can say no, too,” she tells me.
“Who am I to deny you of the bonds you create?” I ask.
“I accepted they are a major part of your life the moment I felt them comforting you. It gave me the reassurance that I needed that if anything ever happens to me, there is still someone taking care of you. You will never be alone, and that is more important to me than my desire to be possessive.”
“I want it,” she admits. “But there are five of you and one of me.”
“You have three holes. That’s two rounds,” I say with a shrug. She gasps and smacks my chest, making me laugh. “We will work it out in time. Don’t stress over it.”
“Okay. I’m going to shower the mortal off me now,” she says with a proud grin.
“I’m going to make an obscene amount of waffles,” I say, kissing her again.
When I leave the bathroom, I step into the bedroom to get dressed. About the time she’s stepping into the shower, there’s a light knock on the door.
“Come in,” I grunt. Vaughn, Caine, Diego, and Laurent carefully walk into the room and look around. “Looking for Talia? She just got in the shower.”
“How is she?” Vaughn asks as I pull a shirt on.
“I think we underestimated her. She might be a little psychotic,” I say, and Caine snorts. “She’s okay. She was mentally drained by the time I stopped feeding.”
“I bet. What happened?” Diego asks as we walk out of the room.
“Well… She played them the whole time. Made Julie think that she was broken and didn’t want me,” I say. “It’s hard to comprehend that she is also Talia’s mother.”
“Does that make you like a stepdad?” Pierce says as we walk into the kitchen.
“You son of a bitch,” I laugh. “Why didn’t you tell me that Talia was your kid?”
“Because you would have ripped my head off for giving her to Henry,” he says.
“Fair,” I shrug. “So Micah is mortal now. Our badass little lady up there scared Julie away before telling Henry and Micah to run. I suspect she wants to hunt them as much as I do now.”
“Sounds like a fun game of cat and mouse,” Laurent laughs.
“What are you making her?” Vaughn asks.
“She asked for lots of waffles, chocolate chips, and strawberries,” I say. “Y’all wanna help make them?”
“What gives?” Caine asks. “Where is the anger?”
“Right now,” I say, grabbing a bowl from the cabinet. “I am thankful to be home. I’m proud of Talia. I’m proud of you four, too.”
“Us? What the fuck did we do?” Vaughn asks.
“You comforted my mate when I couldn’t,” I say. “When she was undoubtedly screaming in pain, you four were there for her.”
“We couldn’t just stand there and watch her be in pain,” Vaughn argues.
“I know. Thank you for making her accept your help. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for her to accept help,” I say. “God knows she is stubborn as fuck. Which also reminds me…”
“We all hated the idea,” Laurent says quickly.
“She does what she wants,” Caine agrees.
“Why are you all so damn defensive?” I laugh. “I think I knew the whole time she’d pull some dumb shit like that, but it saved us. I don’t think I’d be here right now if she hadn’t intervened.”
“She’s great,” Vaughn says, staring off as though he’s thinking.
I don’t think he even realizes how deeply affected by her he is.
I think one of the main reasons I’m okay with it is because he doesn’t even realize it.
He is falling so hard for the same woman that I am, for the same reason.
He’s not looking for it, and he’s actively pushing it away, I’m sure.
But you just can’t help but fucking fall for that amazing woman.
“You think so?” I ask, and the room falls silent. I turn and smirk at Vaughn. The panic in his eyes is almost impressive.
“Uh…” he says, and I grin.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing…”
“It didn’t sound like nothing,” I say. “Looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Laurent coughs and nearly chokes on his coffee. Caine just shakes his head, and Diego looks like he is deciding if he should escape or not. Vaughn just stares at me, and I am loving being a menace to these men.
“Soren,” Vaughn says slowly, like he is about to confess something.
“Vaughn.”
“Don’t,” he pleads.
“Don’t what?”
“You know exactly what,” Vaughn says with a frown.
“I don’t. I need more information than that, buddy,” I laugh.
“You’re an asshole,” he deadpans.
“Recovery has been good for me,” I say innocently. Diego snorts out a laugh when Vaughn huffs and points his finger at me.
“This is why no one tells you anything,” he says.
“Tells me what?” I ask.
“Nothing.”
“Glad we cleared that up,” I laugh, but then casually add. “You should probably stop staring at my mate like she’s the last sunrise you’ll ever see.”
The room falls silent, and I can almost hear Vaughn’s heart rate double. Just when I think he might actually die of embarrassment, Talia walks into the room.
“What’s up?” Talia says, kissing me.
“I have somewhere else to be,” Vaughn says grumpily.
“Why?” she asks Vaughn. She looks at me, and I just smile.
“Oh, we were just talking about you,” I say.
“Well, if he is leaving without breakfast, I get to as well,” she says.
“No,” Vaughn, Caine, Diego, and Laurent say sternly, making her giggle.
“Good. So you’re staying. Sit,” she says, going to the fridge.
I am going to have way too much fun teasing them, but Talia is going to be living the bratty little dream over there, picking on them.