Violet
I’m not hungry, and I want my bunny , I signed as Reed handed me a bottle of orange juice from my fridge.
He took it anyway, pressed it into my hands like it wasn’t optional. “Sip,” he said gently. “Just a little. Please.”
I sighed through my nose and took a small swallow to appease him. The cold citrus made my stomach roll, not enough to make me sick, just enough to remind me how tired I was.
I signed again, slower this time. I accidentally left my bunny in the car. I want my bunny.
“I know,” Reed said immediately. “I promised. I’ll get her the second you’re settled.”
I nodded and let myself slide into the chair at the kitchen island, elbows on the counter, forehead resting in my hands. My whole body felt heavy, like gravity had decided to double just for me.
The doctor’s voice replayed in my head whether I wanted it to or not.
The babies are healthy.
The heartbeats are strong.
Relief had barely had time to settle before she hit me with the big news.
You’re having twins.
Joy. Shock. Fear. All at once. Then she continued speaking, and the relief I felt just before vanished.
This makes the pregnancy high-risk.
Unmarked pregnancies are manageable when the alpha isn’t present. But consistent exposure to the father’s scent and pheromones without a mark can make an omega sick.
Over time, it can cause bond rot.
I swallowed hard, fingers curling the sleeves of my cardigan.
It wasn’t that being unmarked was dangerous on its own. Plenty of omegas carried healthy pregnancies without a mark—as long as the alpha wasn’t around.
But Vinny was around. Always. His scent soaked into the house, into the walls, into me. And I had no intention of letting him mark me, no matter how much I liked him, no matter how safe he tried to make me feel.
But bond rot could kill.
And I had no idea what I was supposed to do.
Reed set two warm muffins in front of me, they were peanut butter and oat, I'd recognize Benji's cooking anywhere. Obviously, they’d be delicious, but the idea of eating them made me sick.
“Sis,” he started carefully, “if you want to come home, we can—”
I shook my head before he could finish, because I didn’t know what I wanted. The first time I’d gotten pregnant, I’d barely been eighteen. I hadn’t liked Logan, but I’d thought I wanted the baby. I’d thought that was how it worked.
Omegas were nurturing. It was supposed to be in our DNA.
I’d spent years mourning pregnancies that never made it to a successful ultrasound, but now that it was real, now that I was carrying two, now that I was doing the impossible, I felt… hollow.
Like my body was here, but I wasn’t fully inside it anymore.
The kitchen door creaked softly.
I lifted my head just in time to see a man pause in the doorway, tall, broad-shouldered, hair dark with the slightest speckling of grey at the temple. His scent hit me a second later, he was herbal, but not in a good way. And, while he wasn’t as vile as Logan, some part of me recognized the scent.
Stellar.
My shoulders tensed.
“Oh—” he said quickly, hands lifting a fraction like he hadn’t meant to startle us. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to corner you.”
Reed turned immediately, body angling between me and the doorway. “Kitchen’s occupied.”
“I know,” the man said calmly. “I just—I’m Pierce. I just wanted to talk, it’ll be quick.”
My eyes burned, all I’d wanted was my bunny and a nap, and now I was face to face with a Stellar.
My heart kicked hard in my chest, instincts screaming louder than logic. Stellars didn’t talk. They took. They collected. They decided where omegas went and what they were worth. I curled in on myself without thinking, hands fisting in my cardigan as my scent spiked with fear.
“Back up,” Reed warned.
And Pierce did.
“I don’t think you guys remember me, the last time I saw you, you were just kids.”
“Get to the point, grandpa.” Reed snarled.
Pierce nodded.
“Your mom and dad used to come over daily to paint for us,” he continued. “Murals, portraits, anything the family commissioned. You kids always smelled like oil paint and linseed oil by the end of the day.”
My breath hitched, because that was too specific to be a guess.
Pierce glanced at me, then deliberately looked away again, keeping his body angled toward Reed instead.
“You used to sit under the tables with sketchbooks while the adults talked money. Violet never liked the loud rooms. Reed always did the talking for both of you.”
Reed stilled.
“I…” Pierce paused like he wasn’t sure what to say. “Logan was obsessed with you, and—well, I don’t smell him on you, at all.”
My stomach dropped.
“What I’m trying to say is—did he get to you?” Pierce sounded somewhat sheepish.
I pulled my hands closer to my body without thinking, fingers brushing the ring on my left hand.
The metal felt cold against my skin, grounding and awful all at once.
The mark sat hidden beneath it, faint but permanent, pressed into a place no one ever thought to look.
No neck. No wrist. No claiming bite that announced itself to the world.
He wanted me pretty and flawless. And, while he had bitten me, I’d never consented, so our bond was only half complete.
“That’s not your business,” Reed said flatly.
Pierce’s eyes drifted to the ring on my left hand as his face fell slightly.
“…Oh,” he said quietly.
He didn’t look at me after that, not that he had to.
“Look, I’m sure you know Vinny’s a Rossi, and I’m not gonna tell him his new omega is technically a Stellar. That’s not why I’m here.”
“Then why are you here?” Reed pressed.
Pierce hesitated, jaw tightening like he hated every word he was about to say.
“Because Logan is looking for her.”
My eyes widened as I forgot how to breathe.
“He’s tearing through the city and asking questions he shouldn’t know how to ask. He knows you ran, and that you're still out here.”
Reed swore under his breath.
“And before you ask,” Pierce continued, “no, he doesn’t know where she is. Not yet. But Logan’s just like his dad, and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants.”
My hands trembled. I pressed them into my lap to still them.
Pierce took another step back
“I understand if you don’t trust me, and I’m not here to scare you, Violet.”
I really didn’t like that he had my name.
“Then why are you here?” Reed growled.
“I’m here because I know how Logan treated his omega, and I don’t want you to go back, you don’t deserve that.” Pierce shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “But, you need to tell Vinny if you haven’t already.”
I looked up at Reed to see if he had any thoughts on the situation. He remained stone faced.
“Why does that prick need to know anything?” He finally said.
“Because, Rossi territory is the one place Logan won’t cross without thinking twice, and Vinny needs to be prepared if Logan decides to pull some dumb shit.”
The words settled heavy in the air.
Prepared.
That meant guards and plans and losing the freedom I’d barely rediscovered.
“And if we don’t tell him?” Reed asked.
“Then Logan shows up when you’re not ready. And he won’t knock.”
I swallowed hard, eyes drifting to the window, to the sunlight slanting across the counter.
Reed glanced down at me, but he didn’t speak.
“I’ve said what I needed to say,” Pierce murmured. “I won’t push. But, I needed to make sure you knew.”
He took a step back, then another, giving space even as he left it behind. The door closed softly behind him, leaving the kitchen to fall silent.
I stared at the light on the counter until my eyes burned, one hand drifting instinctively to my stomach.
Twins.
Healthy twins.
Ones that didn’t belong to Logan.
I thought that chapter of my life was done, but here I was, still at Logan’s mercy. And, what if being a Stellar, even by marriage, made my new pack not want me anymore.
“Hey, we don’t need to worry about this right now,” Reed whispered, placing a hand on my back.
I nodded, because it was easier than trying to explain the mess of fear and doubt tightening my throat. I leaned into him and hugged my brother, clinging like I’d done when we were kids and the world felt too loud.
I had no idea what the fuck I was going to do.
But for the moment, Reed’s arms were solid and warm, and the kitchen was quiet, and my bunny was coming back.
And that would have to be enough.