Chapter 10
Nova
“I’m sorry, what?” I blink as I stand there, dumbfounded.
Nick narrows his eyes at me. “I’m the new president of this MC,” he repeats.
“Just like that?” I glare at him, throwing my arms up into the air. “You didn’t think this would be a pack thing to talk about?”
“No,” his jaw grinds. “I am the head of this pack. What I say goes. I don’t need anyone's permission to do anything.”
My nostrils flare, and anger fills me as I step up to him, getting in his face. Okay, not really because I’m a lot shorter than him, but I do poke at his chest. Hard.
“Listen here, asshole. That might be how things were done before me, but newsflash, I’m your Omega now, and I expect to be part of big life decisions like this. It affects me too. You didn’t even ask if I wanted to be a part of this kind of life.”
“You’re okay with us being wanted criminals and that I’m a hired killer, but you’ll draw the line at being a part of an MC?”
“No,” I groan. “I’m not.” Honestly, being a part of an MC sounds cool. Kind of badass. Beats the boring-ass life I had before. “But that's not the point,” I continue. “The fact is, what if I was? You went and made this big decision without consulting us.”
“I talked to Will about it,” Nick grunts. “He’s joining too.”
“You were fine with Will being VP. Fine with Ian using our money to get this place fixed up. Hell, you even agreed to it. But when I say I’m taking over this place, you have an issue,” he growls, getting in my face. “You are driving me fucking crazy, woman. What more do you want?”
My chest heaves with anger. “I want you to stop making decisions for my life,” I answer back. “First, you kidnapped me, then you dragged me back here, now this?”
“If you don’t like the life we’re giving you, then leave.” He points towards the exit.
A small bit of hurt hits me.
“I don’t want to leave,” I argue back. “I want to be part of the decisions for this pack.”
“I don’t see the big deal,” he growls, running a hand through his hair.
“Fine.” I lift my chin. He wants to play this game, well, I can too. “I’m adopting all these kids.”
His lips part as he stares at me like I’m crazy. Maybe I am.
“No. You’re not. We don’t have the room for that,” Nick growls.
“We’ll get a bigger house.” I shrug.
“Nova,” Nick warns.
“Or we can build one here.”
“Nova!”
“Oh! And I want three horses, two cows, and a donkey,” I add on. Ian snorts behind me, and I try not to smile.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“Nope. Seeing how we’re just doing whatever we please, I think it’s fair. Also, I want one of those.” I point to the sleek black bikes.
“Have you even driven one before?” Will asks.
“No. But I know how to drive a car. How much harder can it be?”
“Little Doe.” Ian wraps his arms around me from behind, pulling me to his chest. “Stop while you're ahead.”
“Fine,” I sigh heavily. “Two horses, one cow, and I’ll trade the donkey out for a llama.”
“Ian,” Nick growls. “You speak her kind of crazy. Deal with her, please.” Nick pinches the bridge of his nose.
“No one’s adopting anyone.” Kane steps in. “All these kids have mothers.”
I raise a brow. “You sure?” I ask, looking around. “Where are they? Because I’ve seen hamsters better cared for than these kids.”
“Things are going to change. We’re going to be working with everyone on the compound.
The lives they were living weren't ideal. The men who ran this place,” Kane shakes his head.
“Fucking disgraceful,” he mutters, looking around.
“I can’t believe how bad this place has gotten,” he sighs.
“Anyway, we’re going to not only fix this place up, but work with the mothers to get their shit together. ”
“What if they don’t?”
“Then we will deal with that then. For now, we want to give them a chance to be better parents, and provide them with the resources to do it.”
“Fine,” I huff, looking over at the kids who have moved to the only patch of living grass, sitting and playing with the toys we brought them. It’s like Christmas morning for them and it breaks my heart because they most likely didn’t get anything this past Christmas.
Better late than never.
“What can I do to help?” I ask.
“You can be involved with the kids. Get them everything they need.”
“That I can do.” I nod.
“Alright men, gather everyone on the compound and have them come to the clubhouse. We have important matters to discuss.”
***
An hour later, everyone makes their way out of the clubhouse, except the men being escorted off the property by Kane’s crew.
Kane told everyone what the game plan was, and for the most part, everyone seemed okay with the new changes.
There were a few older members who don’t like change, and are set in the ways Killer had in place. They refused to agree, so, they’ve been kicked out.
The women look over the moon. Not because of the changes, but because of the fresh meat. If one more lady looks at my men with horny eyes, I’ll stab a bitch. I still have the blade I used to threaten Julia, no one took it away from me. I’ll do it.
My guys and a few of Kane’s men, along with Kane himself, are the last people in the clubhouse. Oh, and Julia. I hate that woman. There’s something about her that makes me want to smash her stupid face in.
She can give everyone the sob story that she’s heartbroken over losing her husband, but from the sounds of it, he was nothing but a piece of shit to her. Still, she had more than any of these other women. Her excuse of being a shitty mom because she is grieving doesn’t fly. Not with me.
Rica is family, the guy’s little sister, and I’ll be damned if this woman remains careless toward her. She either gets her shit together, or I’ll take that little girl myself.
I’ve never wanted kids before, not with the life I was living. It was hard enough to feed the mouths I had to, adding another one to my plate was too much. Plus, they would have deserved a better life than what I would have been able to give them.
But now I have a home and a potentially stable life. I mean, as stable as it can be, seeing how we’ve taken over by a damn MC.
I can’t help but worry about the stress something like this is going to put on Nick and Will. The MC is going to take up a lot of their time now. How is this going to affect the life we’re building?
Everything is so new and fresh. I hardly know them. I haven’t even gotten the time to spend with them, now this?
I want the chance to have what I have with Ian with the other two. It won’t be long until my next heat, and I’d like us to have a stronger bond before that.
Leaning against the bar, I watch Julia like a hawk. Across the room, her eyes are on my men as they huddle together talking.
Why didn’t she just leave with the rest of them? She has no reason to stick around.
She might have been their stepmother, but that’s just a title. It holds no meaning to these men.
When Julia leans back in her seat, drink in hand, while licking her lips, jealousy rises inside me.
Slipping a fake as fuck smile on my face, I head over to her, standing in her line of vision, blocking some of the guys. “Hey,” I say.
She scowls up at me. “What do you want?” I think she hates me. I mean, I did put a knife to her belly, but she was hurting her kid with the grip she had on Rica’s arms. She deserved it.
“Just wanted to see how you’re doing. Kane put me in charge of getting the kids everything they needed. What does Rica need?”
“Nothing. Erica is just fine. She has everything she needs.”
I nod my head. “Okay, sure.” I don’t believe that at all. “Where is she?”
Julia pauses, a deer in the headlights look taking over her face. Fucking hell, this woman doesn’t know where her kid is? Does she just wait for Rica to pop up and prove she’s alive?
That kid could get kidnapped, hurt, or fucking killed, and this woman wouldn’t have a clue.
She blinks. “She’s with my friend, Bonnie.”
“Really? Huh, strange, because I’m pretty sure I asked Tyler to keep an eye on the kids while we had this little meeting.”
“Then Bonnie came to get her.” Julia narrows her eyes.
“So if I go find Tyler, Rica won’t be with him?”
“Listen here, you little bitch.” Julia leans forward in her seat.
“Don’t come in here acting all fucking high and mighty.
Just because your Alphas think they can take over this club, doesn’t mean they’re a part of it.
They left; they didn’t want anything to do with this MC.
Now they came back here, throwing around demands.
You have no right to judge me or how I choose to raise my kid. ”
I pull out a chair and spin it around. “No.” I smile, crossing my arms over the top of the chair.
“You listen here. However you chose to raise—or not raise, is what I should say— your child? It’s done.
If you don’t start taking care of her like a mother should, such as providing her with clean clothes, giving her baths, feeding her, and keeping her safe, I’ll make sure someone else does.
Because that little girl is my Alpha’s sister.
She’s family, and I’m not about to let family suffer. ”
“Rica is nothing to them,” Julia huffs. “They didn’t even know about her until yesterday. So don’t come to me with that ‘family is everything’ bullshit. Where were they when they walked out on this family? The MC? I’m their family, so was their father.”
“Their father was an abusive sack of shit,” I snort. “And based on the way they talk about you, honey, you were never family, so you don’t mean shit to them.”
Oh, the anger in her eyes sends a thrill of excitement through me.
“Family isn’t just about blood or a name on a marriage licence. It has to be fucking earned. And you’ve earned nothing.”
“I won’t let you push me out of my own home,” she warns me. “Sooner or later, they will see that I’m their family. Always have been.”
My brows rise. “What kind of water have you been sipping?”
She gives me this smirk, one that makes me uneasy. “You have no idea how close we are. They just need time to remember.”