25. Havoc
Havoc
After cake, Justin and Wreck start cleaning up while Gia announces that she has a movie, popcorn, enough junk food to give a six-year-old a sugar coma, and an entire pillow fort set up in her cabin for her and Matteo to have an auntie and uncle sleepover.
I stare at her. Wreck stares at her. Gabby looks like she doesn’t know whether to laugh or panic.
As for Matteo? The kid loses his fucking mind in the best possible way.
“A PILLOW FORT?”
“A huge one,” Gia tells him.
“With blankets?”
“Obviously.”
“Can I bring Rex?”
She glances at the stuffed dinosaur tucked beneath his arm. “Rex is invited.”
“Yes!”
He pumps one little fist in the air. Wreck looks at his pregnant mate like she’s lost her damn mind.
“An auntie and uncle sleepover?”
“What?” Gia shrugs innocently. “I need you to get used to having a kid around.”
Wreck’s mismatched eyes narrow.
“You’re using somebody else’s kid as a training exercise?”
“I prefer practice run.”
Justin snorts.
“Same thing.”
“Shut up, Sparky.”
The Dragon gives her a dark look. Gia smiles sweetly. Gabby blushes, and I catch her eye across the table.
I know what Gia is doing. So does she.
Giving us time.
I give Gia a short nod.
Thank you.
Her smile softens before she turns her attention back to Matteo. They’re talking logistics and snacks. And I grin as I do my fair share of straightening up while Gabby goes over to inspect Gia’s setup and, I imagine, smothers her boy with hugs and kisses and about seventeen warnings.
Lucky kid.
By the time Justin disappears toward his cabin, and Wreck follows Gia inside carrying enough bowls of popcorn to feed a fucking movie theater, the clearing goes quiet.
Then it’s just me and her.
Finally.
She excuses herself a minute and I head around the back of my cabin and sit in one of the Adirondack chairs I built a couple years ago.
The woods stretch dark and thick behind the cabin, the mountain night settling around me. Wind moves through the pines. Somewhere farther down the slope, something small rustles through the underbrush.
Normally, this is where I come when Monster’s riding me too hard. Tonight, he’s already pacing. My heart pounds. The bastard knows.
Something’s coming.
Something big.
But underneath Monster’s agitation is something else.
The matebond.
Honey Girl.
I feel her before I hear her. Then her scent reaches me and my inner beast purrs.
Woodsmoke.
Crisp autumn air.
And that warm sweetness that is entirely fucking hers.
My Omega.
Monster surges.
Mate.
Claim.
My jaw locks.
Yeah. I know.
The need has been sitting in the back of my mind since last night.
We knotted.
We bonded.
But I didn’t bite her.
Didn’t give her the claiming mark that would tell every supernatural creature who got close enough exactly what she is to me.
What I am to her.
And fuck if I don’t want to.
I want my teeth in her skin. Want my scent embedded so deeply in hers that no male alive could mistake it. Want the matebond fully opened between us.
But not right now.
Because right now my Honey Girl is walking toward me carrying something heavy enough that I can feel the weight of it through our connection.
She deserves my attention more than Monster deserves his claim.
More than I need it.
So I breathe. And I wait.
She steps around the cabin, comes into view. And my entire being freezes.
Jesus Christ.
She’s beautiful.
She’s still wearing those little black shorts she changed into earlier, but sometime during the evening, she swapped her shirt for one of my flannels.
My fucking flannel.
It hangs loose around her curves, sleeves rolled up, the hem falling almost to the bottom of her shorts.
Mine.
My clothes. My scent. My woman.
And yeah, my cock goes hard so fast it fucking hurts.
Her amber eyes flick downward.
Yeah. She notices.
Her cheeks turn pink.
“So...” She bites that full lower lip. “We should talk.”
I nod.
That’s it.
No smart-ass comment. No questions.
I promised myself I’d let her do this her way.
She turns toward the empty chair beside me.
Fuck that.
I catch her hand.
“Rowan—”
I pull. She gives a startled little gasp as I bring her down onto my lap.
“Rowan, I’ll crush you—”
“Crush me?”
I wrap both arms around her.
Fuck, she feels so good here. Perfect.
“Crush me? Honey Girl, being beneath all these gorgeous curves of yours is a particular fantasy of mine.”
Her mouth falls open.
“But before we get into all the reasons you couldn’t crush me if you tried, I think we better talk.”
“Did you really have to add the first part?”
“Absolutely.”
Despite everything rolling through the matebond, her mouth twitches.
Good.
I want that. Want her remembering she’s safe with me even if whatever she has to say hurts.
Her amber eyes widen when I adjust her on my lap, and her scent immediately changes.
Fuck.
Arousal blossoms. It’s sweet and rich—and so fucking heady I could get drunk on it. On her.
Monster growls.
Claim mate.
Not. Fucking. Now.
Still, I kiss her.
Deep.
Quick.
Firm.
Enough to remind her who I am. Enough to remind myself too.
Then I lean back and settle her against me, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other hand resting on her thigh.
“Okay.”
She swallows.
“Okay?”
“I’m here. I’m listening. Talk to me, Gabby.”
Her fingers find mine.
For a second, she just plays with them. Then she takes a breath.
“I... I don’t know who my parents are.”
My hand stills.
“They abandoned me when I was an infant. The local Wake took me in.”
“Wake?”
“It’s what you call a group of certain Avian Shifters. In this case, Bearded Vultures.”
I blink.
“Shit. I didn’t even know those existed.”
“They prefer it that way.” She shrugs, but the movement is too stiff to be casual. “They keep to themselves. A lot of supernatural communities don’t know much about them.”
“Okay.”
I keep my voice level. She glances at me like she expected something more.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Honey Girl, you tell me you were raised by Vulture Shifters, I'm gonna have questions, but they can wait. Keep going.”
Something in her expression softens. Then disappears.
“The thing is, in their society, females are few and far between.”
I don't like where this is going. Monster doesn't either.
“They're treated like prizes. Trophies. And some...”
Her voice catches.
Every muscle in my body locks. Monster too.
And I hate that she’s upset. But I know she has to get through this, so I wait. Gabby tries again.
“Some are used for breeders.”
Monster fucking explodes.
Kill.
The word slams through my skull.
My claws threaten beneath my fingertips.
I force them back.
Not because those motherfuckers don't deserve them. Because Gabby's sitting on my lap. Because she needs Rowan right now. Not Havoc. Not Monster.
Me.
My arms tighten around her.
“Did they hurt you?”
Her silence is enough. Red bleeds across my vision.
Kill them all.
Yeah. We're gonna come back to that.
“I-I suppose some would say I was lucky because I got matched to their Alpha. Their King.”
My stomach turns.
“His name?”
Her whole body jerks.
“It’s Ethan,” she tells me after a beat.
I tuck that bit of info away.
“He's Matteo's father.”
It isn't a question, and Gabby nods in response.
Monster's growl gets so loud it vibrates through my chest.
She feels it and stiffens. Immediately, I press my lips to her temple.
“That’s not aimed at you, Honey Girl.”
Her breath leaves her.
“Rowan?”
“I swear. Never at you, Gabby. Please, keep talking to me.”
“Well, he—he was sweet at first,” she whispers. “Or I thought he was.”
My hand moves slowly up and down her back.
“Then he wasn't.”
Of course he fucking wasn't.
“I didn't want to sleep with him. I was younger and afraid, and for a while he left me alone. Said we were mates. Was kind with his words. Didn’t make me do manual labor like the others.”
Her fingers tighten around mine.
“Then his other mates started losing their young, and he became... brutal.”
Other mates.
Plural.
Jesus fucking Christ.
“I watched him toss them out.”
“What do you mean, toss them out?”
“He banished them. Said they were broken. I—I don't know where they were sent.”
Her voice gets smaller.
“And I was afraid that would happen to me too.”
She stops. I wait. Every instinct I possess is screaming at me to ask questions.
Who?
Where?
How many?
What did he do?
Where the fuck can I find him?
But this isn't an interrogation.
It's her story.
So I shut the fuck up. God, it takes all my damn strength, but I do it.
Eventually, she whispers, “Eventually, I gave in.”
My eyes close.
Fuck.
“I agreed to be with him.”
A shudder runs through her.
“Once.”
I hold her tighter.
“And I got pregnant.”
Matteo.
My pup.
The thought comes instantly.
No hesitation. No qualifier.
Ethan might have contributed genetic material, but that doesn't make him a fucking father.
“When he found out I was pregnant, everything changed.”
“How?”
“He started the bidding.”
I go completely still.
“The what?”
Her scent turns bitter with fear.
“The bidding.”
My voice comes out so quiet Monster barely recognizes it.
“Explain that to me.”
“After I gave birth, Ethan declared me a good breeder. Pregnant on the first try. And he said he was going to give me to the next male who could afford it.”
I stare at the dark woods because if I look at her face right now, I'm going to lose control.
“He held auctions for the right to mate with a female. After I gave birth, he would hold one for me, and I would go to the highest bidder,” she continues. “I’d go to whatever male that won and I would be bred for him. And after that...”
Her voice breaks.
My claws punch through.
Fuck.
I curl my hand into a fist beside the chair where she can't see it.
“...someone else. Until I stopped being able to reproduce.”
“Fuck,” I snarl.
My chest feels tight.
There isn't enough air on this fucking mountain.
“They—they do this to all their females,” she whispers. “It's how they increase their numbers.”
Kill.
Monster isn't roaring anymore.
And that might be worse.
The Wolf has gone deadly fucking quiet.
I understand him perfectly.
Not rage.
Purpose.
I need names. Faces. Locations.
Later.
Right now, Gabby needs me.
“So, I panicked.”