Chapter 14 #2
“I think you might be postpartum and you might be having a crisis and…” I started to ramble, but his baby cried.
Still holding the gun, he tried to wiggle the baby under his shirt to get him to latch on.
I couldn’t stop myself. I lived too long on the Sanctuary not to help.
He might have wanted to kill me, but he was still a carrier who had just given birth. So, I helped him.
“Thanks,” he grunted, “but don’t think that saves your life.”
“Okay,” I nodded. “Do you want to sit down and rest for a minute before you kill me?”
“Okay, okay,” he nodded, panting and waddling over to a kitchen chair to sit down. He winced and I bit my lip, hoping that one of those on the outside was picking up the condition the so-called gunman was actually in. He was more of a danger to himself and his baby than he was to me.
“Friend, I don’t know where you’re from or who you are, but I think you need help.
Not because you want to kill me, but because you just had a baby and you’re waving a gun around.
Those two things don’t line up,” I said.
“I think that you need help and that you just need to take a deep breath. I’m all for being a working dad but it’s hard to be a hitman while the baby’s still suckling. ”
“I have to. My parents…” he said, but lost his breath halfway through.
“Are your parents in trouble?” I asked.
“No. Look, his sire ran off. He was a piece of shit I should’ve never fucked.
Okay, that’s on me, but I wouldn’t trade him for the world,” he said, nodding at his baby who was suckling away.
“But… if I’m going to be able to take care of him, I need money.
My parents disowned me because his sire wasn’t my true-mate.
I only called when I went into labor because I thought maybe the baby would change their mind, but it didn’t.
They said..” he panted and I got up to grab him a bottle of water from the fridge.
I opened it before handing it to him. He drank it down and thanked me before going on.
“They said if I killed you, they’d take me back into the family.
If I hurt Bennie the way that he hurt them. ”
“Bennie? Who… I..” I tripped over my words.
“If Bennie wasn’t a… If he wasn’t an asshole Chad would still be here!
” the bear snarled and big, fat tears ran down his face.
“Chad wouldn’t let them do this to me! I know my brother wasn’t a good guy, but he was all I had.
He stood between me and them and the world and me and…
. Now, it’s just me and Baby Oaklan. Me and Oakie.
” He glanced down at his baby with sad eyes.
“And me,” I said, scooting my chair closer to him.
“I don’t doubt that your brother was kind to you.
I don’t doubt it for a minute. I don’t doubt that he protected you the best he could.
Plenty of alphas who do bad things still protect their families and the people they love.
I’ve seen what happened that night over my mating link. It was bad. He was going…”
“I wasn’t mad when it happened. I knew Chad… I knew Bennie wasn’t lying. He’d never done it before but… He was such an asshole, but I can’t be all alone with a baby. So, I gotta do what I gotta do. Call of the wild and all.”
“Do you really want people like your parents around the baby?” I asked, knowing it was a shot in the dark.
“No, but I… I don’t have anyone else,” he said.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Brad. I know. How original of my parents?” he sobbed. “Chad and Brad. No, we’re not twins.”
“Shhh... Brad. Brad, look at me. You’re not alone. I’m right here and I’m going to help you.”
“I have to kill you and go because of Bennie… Raziel.. Cr..” he sobbed. “Crazy Grandpa.”
“Shhh… no one is dying today,” I said. “Not on my watch.”
“You can’t stop them,” he sobbed again. “I didn’t want his life to start like this, but no one can stop them! Don’t you see… We’re all just pawns and you can’t do anything about it.”
“Don’t tell me what I can’t do,” I squared my shoulders.
“Look, my alphas are different. There is no way Grandpa Clyde is going to look at you and think he needs to kill you. He’s going to want to give you medical care.
And Bennie? Never. Not my Bennie. Not even because of your brother.
And Raziel? Hell, Raziel would give your baby everything,” I said, hoping I was right about the latter or at least right enough that I didn’t have to fight the matchmaking dragon.
“So, now, they won’t hurt you. Now, will they kick your sire’s ass?
Maybe your carrier’s too if they’re in on it? Sure, but not you and not your baby.”
“Now!” Grandpa’s voice sounded off in my head. Had he been watching this whole time? Were they all watching through me over the family and pack links?
I snatched the gun from Brad’s limp hand before he could complain.
Grandpa Clyde made sure we all had gun training.
So, I turned the safety on, unloaded the gun, and took the bullet out of the chamber.
Then I opened the window and tossed it outside.
Bennie was back and it landed with a soft thud at his feet.
“No! No! No!” Brad roared. “I can’t… You have…
” He tried to get up from the chair but couldn’t.
The smell of blood filled the room. I twisted on my heels afraid something happened to the baby.
Only the baby was still suckling away oblivious to his carrier’s plight.
He was bleeding at his middle again. Fucking assholes.
All those fucking assholes. I wanted to shriek.
I wanted to tear them apart. I wanted to find Brad’s parents and pick up the big one and beat the smaller one to death with him.
“Give me five minutes. Maybe let Grandpa get here or Star or… It’s Brad Boston,” I said to Bennie over our mating link. “He says he had his baby six hours ago, but it may not have even been that long.”
“Fucking Chad,” Bennie swore over our mating link but I was already ignoring him again.
“When I die…” Brad started. “Take the baby and hide, okay? You’re right…. Don’t want my parents ‘round Oakie.”
“Look at me,” I said, holding his face in my hands.
“You’re not going to die, but you are about to have a lot of friends.
Medics are going to come in. It’s going to seem like so many people, but they’re all here to help you and Oakie.
They’re not going to hurt you or take the baby or anything like that.
You’re going to be okay and if you’re parents try anything, I swear by The Crow King himself that I will show them why they shouldn’t fuck with Raven Hollow Wolves, okay?
Yeah. I have that mean asshole bloodline,” I laughed.
“I try so hard to be nice and I am kind, but no more. They try to hurt you and I’ll show them why the alphas back in the day there feared the omegas so much.
” I kissed his forehead as the door opened.
Then I was whisked away by Bennie while Grandpa and other medics descended on him
It wasn’t until I was wrapped tight in my mate’s arms that I broke down into tears.
I could’ve died. Our babies might’ve died.
Brad and Oakie… All of us could’ve died.
I broke down, howling and snarling into Bennie’s chest. He held me tight.
He talked but I couldn’t wrap my head around what he was telling me.
There was too much blood. Brad would need blood and the hospital and his baby needed him!
I yelled all of my anger into Bennie’s chest until I found myself being held against his chest on the floor, a furry creature of anger and pain.
My parents had fought against this shit!
My grandparents had fought against it! A whole half of my family had fought against it over and over and no matter how many assholes we killed they kept coming!
Lightning pain tore through my back like my babies were crawling out of the spaces between the vertebra in my spine. Feathers rustled somewhere overhead and a shadow loomed around me. What was happening? What was going on?
“Clyde!” Bennie called for Grandpa. Were the birds attacking now?
“No,” my wolf growled at me. “We are the bird. We are the pack of the Crow King and now we avenge this baby and his carrier!”
I flew. I flew without thinking about it because I wasn’t in the driver’s seat of my own body or destiny anymore.
My wolf was. We flew right out of the open back door and up and up until we were in the sky and Bennie was a speck on the ground.
We flew in a direction that I couldn’t discern.
My wolf wasn’t following his eyes or even his nose.
Something in him knew where Brad’s parents were and he’d had all he was going to take.
We didn’t care if they wanted us dead. Grief fucked you up, but sending their son and grandson out with a gun mere hours after…
After Brad had given birth was too much.
Too cruel to blame on grief alone. No, they wanted him to die trying to prove he loved his family so that they could be rid of him and how he ‘embarrassed’ them with a baby out of mateship.
Brad loved his baby and I loved his baby because he was a baby.
I loved his baby because of my own babies and all the babies I heard about over the years who love couldn’t save.
Was this generational trauma?
“No, this is generational rage. This is for every omega who has been treated like they’re nothing. This is for every kid who has been cast aside for stupid reasons. I’ve had enough. I think our ancestors have had enough. Now we end them.”
We landed on the front lawn of a big fancy manor house. Whoever the Bostons were, they had money and well-manicured lawn that smelled like blood. My wolf put his nose into the grass, inhaling the scent as our wings flapped gently above us, prepared to move at the drop of a dime.
“Not Brad’s blood,” he said. “Was fight here.”