Chapter 60
Chapter
Sixty
The kitchen turned quiet for a moment, and Dad pinched the bridge of his nose.
While I had gotten the rundown of what happened, I couldn’t believe Keith had actually done that.
I knew it was something Queen would do and something I figured she’d do behind his back, but I couldn’t believe that he went along with it. Not after everything.
Colton worried it was him, but I knew it wasn’t.
Keith still carried a lot of anger and resentment toward me.
I knew we had tried to move past it, but it came up sometimes.
It hurt to think that he was willing to tear my happiness from me, but it seemed more plausible than actually believing Colton would be better off with Alpha Genesis.
They had been under house arrest for weeks, and I didn’t know what Dad planned to do.
I didn’t think he really knew either. He also had his hands full with taking back control of the flight.
He said the flight didn’t oppose his takeover, given that Dad had led as Alpha for over a century, but they were confused.
“I think this is the first time I’ve ever been at a loss for what to do.” Dad rubbed his eyes. “Usually I know; I just never expected this. Your brother knew what Colt means to us. Means to you. I can’t wrap my head around what he was thinking.”
Colton took Kayla from Peter. She was trying to chomp on his chest, and Peter yelped when she finally found what she was looking for through his shirt. Laila roared, laughing so hard that she nearly fell out of the chair. Colton snickered, holding her back so she wouldn’t fall.
“I told you. He’s going to be great when he gets pregnant. You’ll be ready to take care of him.”
I smiled as Dad and Mom joined in the chuckles. Peter pouted, though still rubbing his nipple. Colton actually had a shirt that zipped across the front, and he let it fall open before allowing Kayla at what she wanted.
“Would it be wrong if I chimed in with what I thought?”
My eyebrow rose as I looked at my Omega. He was looking down at Kayla, but his face was serious. Dad nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Do we know what they got from Dylan?”
Dad’s eyebrows rose into the air. “Do you believe they received payment?”
“I wouldn’t see why Queen would go through it otherwise. She’s been a mess since her company went down. She looked far too put together for her still being upset about that. Maybe the simple thought of getting to leave might have been enough, but I don’t know if she wouldn’t capitalize on it.”
“What would you do if she did?”
He snorted. “Strip it away again. Remove her ability to recover. Take the Alford name away. She’s no longer Luna, at least, and not allowing her to be again would be a demotion, even if you hand the flight over to Keith. I know she was the mastermind behind it.”
Dad nodded again. “I’ll look into it. What about Keith?”
“I mean, stripping him of Alpha is already a lot,” Colton frowned. “I’m not sure if more is required. Just that he earned the right back. His betrayal is mostly to me. I’m not really a part of the flight…so…I don’t think there should be too much…”
I put my hands on his shoulders. “Colt, it wasn’t just you. It was me. It was the family. You are family.”
Colton snorted. “Need I remind you, you aren’t part of the flight either, my mate.”
“You could always rejoin the flight.” Mom was quiet. “We would love to have both of you. Have the whole family back.”
I’d actually been thinking about it. It would be more protection for Colton. It had crossed my mind when we were living at the house, but so much was going on, I didn’t want Colton to hop from one pack to another. Especially with Keith being the Alpha.
“I can’t.”
Before I could say anything, Colton spoke. He was smiling as he shook his head. Mom looked crestfallen. I was confused, though.
“Why? I’d been thinking about it, actually. It would be good to have the support of the flight. I wanted to talk to you about it. I know it wouldn’t be an immediate yes, but I thought we could take some time to think about it.”
“I’ve been working on something with Mike and Selene.” I saw the smirk on Laila’s face and narrowed my eyes. “They are helping me with it. I won’t be able to join another pack or flight though, if I do.”
My eyes narrowed. “What are you doing?”
“It’s a surprise.” Colton smiled up at me. “Just know that if it fails and I can’t do it, I will consider joining the flight.”
I wasn’t happy with not knowing what was going on, but I’d have to let it go for now. “If you’re willing to consider it at least, that’s enough.”
Mom smiled brightly. “I’ll take what I can get. I would love to have all my kids back home.”
“I don’t think I would be ready for everyone having access to my head all the time.” I frowned. “That was something I did not miss.”
“Well, it’s not Keith for the moment. So there is that.” Dad chuckled. “Unless you want to take over as Alpha.”
I barked out a laugh. “No, thank you.”
Colton put his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it. “We could always make our own pack. That was the plan all along.”
“It’s true. A hodgepodge of people.”
“Ooo, can I join?” Laila asked, looking up at Peter. “I don’t think Pete would mind. He would still work in the family business, but our property is already off territory as it is.”
Colton let go of my hand to slap her chest. “Don’t just shout that out! Have some sense!”
Laila grumbled, but let it go as Mom served lunch. We ate together, and I helped Colton while Kayla was breastfeeding. She ended up drinking both sides of the entire time we ate. He didn’t eat nearly enough, but I let it go.
After lunch, I snuck Kayla from Colton and burped her before taking her to the living room. Sitting on the floor, I had her and helped hold her. She pushed up with her legs, which were more rolls than legs. Still, she was so strong that she easily stayed standing for a good amount of time.
Colton dropped onto the couch behind me, putting a few toys down for her. She immediately brightened and grabbed one of them, sticking it in her mouth to chew on. I chuckled as she lost all strength in her legs and just sat down on the rug. Leaning back, I looked up at my little wolf.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m just tired.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry about last night.”
“Don’t apologize. We thought it might happen. I’m glad that you don’t just remember it completely. I hate thinking about what you went through when they had you. If I can help soothe you just a little, I don’t mind.”
Looking back down at Kayla, who had moved on to chewing the edge of a book, I smiled. “Do you want to take a nap? I slept enough that I’m good to watch her.”
He hummed for a moment. “Maybe.”
We were quiet, and I enjoyed being near him like this.
It felt normal. Kayla wanted to crawl and try to push herself forward, only to push herself back into me.
Chuckling, I let her try to work out the logistics of what she was doing.
A couple of times she cried out in frustration, but she was two months too early.
Hopefully. My lips pursed. Keith and I had been about a month early, and Mom said it was the end of everything.
Colton sucked in a breath, and I looked back at him. His brow scrunched together, and I reached out to him, but he shook his head.
“Don’t. Don’t touch me.”
My eyes widened, and I panicked. “Are you having an episode?”
He nodded slowly. “I’m okay. Just don’t touch me for a bit.”
Swallowing, I realized how horrible it was watching him suffer.
He usually kept his episodes to himself, even if they weren’t as frequent as before.
Now, seeing it, all I wanted to do was gather him up in my arms. Kayla took my attention as she pushed back into me and grabbed the toy she had been chewing on before.
Lifting her up, I helped her sit back down as she explored the toy again. I kept looking back at Colton, watching as he curled up sometimes, his eyes squeezed shut. His phone rang, and I grabbed it off the couch. It didn’t surprise me in the least that it was Mike.
“Hello, Mike.”
“Marcus, is Colt there?”
I looked back at my mate, sweat clinging to his forehead now. “Yeah. He’s on the couch behind me. He’s having an episode.”
“Yeah, Selene texted me.”
My brow furrowed. “Why is Selene texting you?”
“Did he say how bad it is or when it started? Did you touch him?” Mike completely ignored my question.
I rolled my eyes. “It started about ten minutes ago now. I’m not sure about the pain level. He hasn’t said anything. Only just not to touch him.”
Reaching out quickly, I caught Kayla before she fell forward and smacked her face into the couch. Picking her up, I held her against me. He hummed over the line, though.
“Colt, I want Marcus to touch you.”
My eyes widened. “Absolutely not.”
Colton chuckled, sounding slightly breathless. “You and your experiments.”
“I mean, we need to know. It would be good for the data. Plus, if we can continue to work through what we were talking about, judging to see if an Alpha can touch you would be a good baseline for it.”
“I’m not doing it.” I growled again. “I’m not causing him more pain. It’s not happening.”
Colton took a deep breath. “Could you for me?”
“No.”
He held his hand out over the edge of the couch. “Just on the top of my hand. I’ll heal, Marcus. It’s not bad. It just doesn’t look pretty.”
“Absolutely not! No!”
I glared at him, unaware that Kayla was reaching out to him from my arms. Her little hand touched the top of his hand.
My eyes widened in horror as I tried to pull her away.
It was too late. The skin on his hand peeled open as though you had just run a knife through it. He hissed, and I wanted to yell at him.
“Kayla did it.” Colton chuckled. “It’s not nearly as bad, though. Not like before.”
Mike hummed over the line, and now I wanted to shout at him. “Alright. Well, it might take a few months, maybe. I’ll mark it down. Thank Kayla for me.”
Colton chuckled, and I wanted to yell at both of them. “Also, it’s only peaking at about a nine.”
“Really? Well that’s good!”
How was that good? In what world was a level nine pain good? Any pain was bad, but a level nine was a lot. My jaw locked as I stared at his hand. It was already stitching back together.
“Mar, it’s okay. I’m fine. We’ve been doing this for a long time. Mike doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s helping.”
“It doesn’t sound like it.”
He laughed. “He is. The more information we collect, the more chances that we can help our future pups.”
My breath caught. “If they are Omegas…”
Colton nodded. “If we can figure this out, then maybe we can stop them from needing an Alpha right when they have their first heat. Stop them from going through what I went through after all these years.”
I didn’t feel better about him going through this himself, but I knew where his heart was. I could understand it. Gods, I wanted to pull him to me and nuzzle him. The need made me hold Kayla tighter.
His eyes closed, and I watched him curl up again. “How can I help, little wolf?”
“Just your scent. That always helps.”
I took off my glasses and set them down next to me. “I can help with that.”
He hummed and smiled when I heard him inhale deeply. Kayla leaned heavily against me and nuzzled my chest as I held her. She went down minutes later, and I chuckled. Maybe my scent was more calming than I thought, if it put everyone to sleep.
My eyes closed, and I leaned my head back against the couch. I don’t know when, but I managed to fall asleep with Kayla, still holding her tight to me. The sound of Colton breathing softly in my ear. Our bond hummed with contentment.