Chapter 20
THE DROPOFF
TYRELL
I heard them before the sun came up.
Destiny was still asleep beside me, curled on her side with one hand resting between us. For a few hours, she wasn't the Green-Eyed Warrior or the Delta Female of the Mystic Warriors. She wasn't preparing for William Lancaster or shouldering the weight of another battle.
She was simply my mate.
I'd been awake for nearly twenty minutes, listening to the compound come to life.
Carter was already outside, arguing before breakfast. Patrols shifted along the perimeter, voices drifted from the kitchens, and life moved through the compound as steadily as it always had, despite the threat waiting beyond our gates.
But my attention kept returning to Destiny.
To the slow rise and fall of her breathing.
The quiet sounds she made in her sleep.
The peace she only allowed herself when she knew she was safe.
I'd spent my life training my ears to find danger first. Footsteps. Weapons. The smallest weakness in a formation.
This morning, I found something else.
Two tiny heartbeats.
So faint, most people would've missed them.
Kai didn't.
He went completely still.
I held my breath and listened again.
There they were.
Fast.
Steady.
Two.
My hand found her stomach before I realized I'd moved.
The realization settled deep inside me, heavier than any responsibility I'd ever carried.
Our children.
I had faced rogues without flinching. I'd stood in front of Alphas twice my size and never questioned whether I could protect what mattered.
None of that prepared me for loving two lives I'd never seen.
Destiny shifted closer until her forehead rested against my shoulder. She never woke, only sighing softly as my hand stayed over her stomach.
Mine.
Ours.
For the first time in a long time, I wasn't thinking about the war.
I was thinking about the future.
The fourth Sunday cookout had become one of Sage's best ideas.
The entire compound showed up, and somehow Mama Mara and Larissa kept the food moving while everyone else laughed, argued, and made too much noise.
At six months old, the triplets already had personalities bigger than most adults. Mason hated the sun. Xavier was halfway out of his buggy every chance he got. Senya had Carter wrapped around her finger, and she knew it.
Across the lawn, Reeves was still arguing with Darius over a basketball foul and a foot crossing the line.
I wasn't watching the game. I was watching Destiny.
She sat at one of the picnic tables with the afternoon sun warming her face, looking across the compound with a softness that only appeared when she stopped carrying everyone else's burdens long enough to enjoy what we'd built together.
I sat beside her.
Before I could ask, she slid the hot sauce toward me.
I smiled. She noticed everything.
Most people saw the warrior.
I saw the woman who remembered how I liked my food, quietly made space for everyone around her, and loved without needing an audience.
She caught me staring.
"What?" she asked.
I shook my head.
"Nothing." She smiled anyway.
Kai rested quietly inside me as those two tiny heartbeats continued their steady rhythm beneath hers.
***
DESTINY
I had known since Friday.
I hadn't gone to the clinic because I didn't need confirmation. The moment I woke up that morning, Isdisa had gone completely still, and I lay there staring at the ceiling as my body quietly told me what my mind was still trying to process.
Two.
Not one.
Two.
I'd almost told Ty several times, but some truths deserved their own moment. This Sunday cookout became that moment.
Not because it was perfect. Because it was ordinary and one of my favorite ways to spend time with my family.
The second Ty sat beside me, I knew he already knew.
Kai was completely settled within him, and Ty looked at me with that quiet patience I'd fallen in love with. He wasn't waiting for an answer.
He was waiting for me.
My chest tightened.
I rested my hand over my stomach.
His eyes followed the movement immediately before lifting back to mine.
"Two," I whispered.
His smile was soft enough that no one else would've noticed.
"I know," he said. "I heard them this morning."
I laughed through the tears gathering in my eyes.
"I figured you did."
"I wanted you to tell me earlier, but I thought today would make a better memory,” I giggled.
For a moment, nothing else existed. Only our hands resting together over two tiny heartbeats that had already changed everything.
We thought we were being discreet. We were wrong.
"Oh, my Goddess!"
Carter's voice echoed across the lawn. Every conversation fell silent. He pointed at us with both hands.
"Tell me that means what I think it means."
Ty looked at me.
I nodded.
"Yes," he said.
The cookout exploded.
Sage reached me first, wrapping me in a hug so tight I laughed.
"Sissy..."
"I know."
Mom was next.
She cupped my face the way she always did.
"Two," I whispered.
Her eyes immediately filled with tears.
"I'm going to be a Nana." She turned toward Everett with a grin that lit up the whole lawn. "Ever... it's two! We are having two grandpups!” she screamed with joy.
Mama Mara started crying without the slightest embarrassment.
"I knew it!" she declared, then pulled Ty into one of her crushing hugs.
"Mama..."
"I've waited long enough for this," she laughed. “Don’t you Mama me.”
Across the yard, Carter was practically vibrating.
"Two babies!" he shouted. "Of course, it's twins. This family never does anything halfway."
He spun toward Darius.
"That makes five nieces and nephews."
"I can count," Darius replied dryly.
"That's all you've got?"
Darius looked at us and smiled.
"Congratulations."
Carter threw his hands in the air.
"I live with emotionally unavailable people."
The laughter only grew louder.
Gran never left her chair. She simply watched the family celebrate before lifting her glass toward me with a knowing smile.
I smiled back.
For the first time in a long time, the future felt bigger than the war waiting for us.
It felt full of life.
***
TYRELL
The call came just after six-thirty.
"Delta Monroe," Neal's voice came over the comms. Calm. Controlled. "We've got a situation at the gate."
I looked at Marcus.
He was already moving.
Carter was on his feet before either of us reached the porch, and Darius appeared beside us as if he'd been expecting the call all along.
Across the lawn, Destiny found my eyes.
I gave her one small shake of my head.
Stay.
She didn't like it.
She stayed anyway.
A dusty sedan waited outside the gate.
The Beta behind the wheel looked exhausted, his hands resting where we could see them.
"I need Gamma Darius Monroe," he said. "I was told to bring them here."
"Them?" Marcus asked.
The man handed Darius a worn envelope.
Then he looked toward the back seat.
So did I.
Two toddler pups, no older than two, a girl and a boy.
They watched us through the window with the kind of quiet awareness that children should never have to learn.
The little girl lifted her hand and pressed it against the glass.
I glanced at Darius.
He froze.
Not from surprise.
Recognition.
The kind that reached deeper than thought.
"Open the door," he said quietly.
Reeves did.
The little girl climbed to the edge of the seat and looked directly at Darius.
"You Dare-us?"
"Yes."
She studied him for another second before reaching for his arm.
"Mama said safe."
Her tiny fingers wrapped around him.
"Mama said you keep us safe."
The world seemed to stop.
The little boy didn't move.
He stood beside his sister, one hand gripping the doorframe, watching Darius with cautious, searching eyes.
"You are safe," Darius told them. His voice had never sounded softer. "Both of you."
The girl nodded as though she'd reached the same conclusion.
Then she took his hand.
I watched something change in my brother.
Darius had always been steady.
Always logical.
Always in control.
But the way he looked at those children...
I'd never seen him look at anyone like that.
Marcus leaned toward Reeves.
"Get Gran. Mama Mara. Medical. Quietly."
The little boy finally stepped away from the car. Not toward me.
Toward Darius, something inside him seemed to have decided he could trust him too.
We brought them through the gates.
Mama Mara only needed one look, and her eyes moved from the twins… to Darius.
"Darius Monroe."
Every one of us knew that tone.
"I KNOW DAMN WELL you didn't—"
"Mama."
His voice stopped her.
"No."
She searched his face.
"I don't know how," he admitted. "But I feel it."
Mama Mara didn't ask another question.
By sunset, the twins were eating in the kitchen.
Mama Mara had already slipped into GiGi mode. The little girl settled beside her at once, while the boy lingered by the doorway, watching everyone before deciding whether we were worth trusting.
Nobody rushed him.
Twelve minutes later, he walked to the table on his own.
That was enough.
Darius spent the rest of the evening in the east study, with the letter spread open beside every file he could find.
I took him a cup of tea. He never looked up.
I set it beside him, then walked out. That’s what you did for Darius when he was in this mode.
Some questions could wait until morning.
***
The war room the next morning was a quality unlike any before it.
Not the controlled urgency of the breach response or Gran's decoded message. Something more personal. We were all holding on to patience for something heavier than we were ready for.
Darius sat at the table with the letter in front of him. He had not slept. He had found the shape of something and needed to show it to those who needed to see it.
"I am going to read this first," he said. "Then I will walk through what I found in that order." He looked up briefly. "The letter is short. What follows is not."
He picked it up.
He read it in a precise, flat register he used to ensure the information reached the room clearly, without interference from his own reactions.