Chapter 136

#Chapter 136 – Making a New Home “You invited my brother to stay with us? Here?” He hisses, his face suddenly red with exhaustion and anger.

“I had to!” I protest, keeping my voice low and glancing to the living room, where I know our two little spies are surely listening.

“Evelyn,” he says, exhasperated. “Rafe just betrayed me – betrayed us! Tried to take everything we have –“

“I know!” I say, spreading my hands in protest, “but what else could I do! We can’t leave her alone with him right now – don’t you see that he’ll take it out on her?!”

“Have you considered,” he growls, moving closer to me, “that perhaps he picked her precisely because she’s the kind of girl we won’t be able to help wanting to save? That she’s another pawn in his game?”

I bite my lip. Actually, I hadn’t thought of this. But it changes nothing. I raise my eyes to his. “Victor, it doesn’t matter. Even if she’s part of his plan, she’s still a person. She needs us.”

He rolls his eyes and heaves a deep sigh, looking up at the ceiling. “Evelyn…”

“Please,” I say, putting my hand on his. “Just…don’t kick them out, for a few days, at least. Until he’s at full strength.”

“I want him gone,” he growls, “as soon as he can stand. Otherwise, I might rip him apart myself.”

“Just two days,” I say, begging. “Please.”

He returns his gaze to mine, shaking his head. “Fine, Evelyn,” he says, giving in. “But if they burn this house to the ground while they’re here, it’s on your head.”

I purse my lips as I stand up straight, coming close to him and raising my chin for a kiss. “No, baby,” I murmur. “You have insurance for that.”

He growls again, in no mood for my jokes, but he gives me the requested kiss. A light one, but with promise.

“Mom?” Ian’s voice comes sleepily over the couch. “Can we go home now?”

“Food first!” I say, glad for the interruption. Then I head to the fridge, where the chef had left a casserole for us to heat up upon our return. “Then we can go down to the cottage.”

I take the casserole out and start to spoon big portions onto plates for my sons and I. Then I raise an eyebrow at Victor, silently inquiring if he wants some.

He ignores the food and considers me. “Why don’t the boys just stay here tonight? If they’re tired, why make them hike down to the cottage?”

I shrug, taking the first two plates and putting them in the microwave, stacking one slightly on top of the other so the boys can have their food at the same time. “They need more consistency in their life, Victor. If that’s where their tutor comes to teach them, then that’s where they should sleep. They need a steady schedule.”

He nods, understanding, and then moves closer to me. “Well, why don’t we move that steady schedule…here.”

I frown at him, not getting it. “You want them to sleep here? All the time?”

He nods. “And take their lessons, and all their meals. I want them to live here, Evelyn.”

I feel an old anger and fear flare up at him and I turn fully to him, angry now. “Victor, you cannot just take the boys –“

He laughs at me then and takes my hands. I feel my anger instantly quailed, realizing that I’ve misunderstood something.

“No, Evelyn,” he says, smiling. “I want you all to move her. Up to the house, with me. It’s…right, now.

Don’t you think? An Alpha needs his Luna by his side.”

I blink up at him, slowly putting the pieces together. “Did you…did you just ask me to move in with you?”

He laughs at me again, in a sweet way, and takes another step forward, wrapping a hand around my back to pull me to him. “Yes, Evelyn. Are you so surprised?”

I blink up at him, honestly shocked.

I mean, yes, obviously I knew things were headed in this direction – he declared me officially his Luna this morning – in front of witnesses – and I had accepted –

But still –

Suddenly, I feel my stomach roil with anxiety. Victor’s face changes as he sees the new expression on my face as worry and unhappiness floods me.

Instead of letting me go, though, Victor holds me closer. “What, Evie?” he asks, searching my face as if he can find the answer there. “What’s wrong? You don’t want to move in?”

I look at him for a steady moment and then let my eyes rove over the house.

It’s beautiful, of course. Modern and sleek, full of sunlight. But…

Every piece of it, every choice in furniture and décor, in fabric – hell, even the silverware –

It all has Amelia written all over it.

“Um,” I say, wondering how to express this to him without hurting his feelings. Victor waits patiently.

“Um, did you and Amelia…decorate this place? Together?”

Victor pauses for a moment and then sighs, starting to understand. He loosens his grip on me. “We didn’t just decorate it together. We designed it.” He drops his hands from me and leans against the counter, studying me. “Actually, to be frank, she designed it. I had this house built according to her plans.”

“Oh,” I say, considering. I hadn’t really known that.

“When we bought the land,” he continues, “the only thing on it was the cottage. But she wanted the space for the view.” With that, he nods out the western window, which indeed has a beautiful view of the setting sun.

“Victor,” I say, biting my lip and closing the distance between us. “Amelia is…everywhere in this house.

And it’s so soon since you ended your relationship with her. I know we forget that – probably because things are so…intense with us. That I think it wipes that distance away.”

I look up into his eyes and he nods, agreeing. It feels the same to him.

“But she’s all over this house, Victor. I can’t live here with you, in the home that she built for the two of you, for your future. I can’t sleep in…her bed. On the sheets that she picked, where you…”

“Okay,” he says quickly, interrupting before I go into more detail. He nods, understanding. “I get it, Evelyn. I get it, and I understand. If things were flipped…I would feel the same.”

I smile up at him, glad for his support.

He signs and puts his arms around my shoulders, pulling me close again so that my head is tucked under his chin. “I guess I’m just going to have to get used to living small,” he says.

Frowning, I push away from him a little so that I can study his face. “What do you mean.”

He shrugs. “I’m just going to have to get used to living without all these amenities,” he says, looking around at his state-of-the-art kitchen, “when I move down to the cottage with you.”

My mouth falls open at this. He smiles at me, raising a hand to my face, stroking my cheek softly with his thumb. “Come on, Evelyn, it’s obvious. You’re the only thing that matters to me anymore.”

He shoots a quick glance at the living room. “Well, they’re okay too, I guess,” he says, and I laugh and look towards our kids as well. But then he looks me in the eye. “I’ve finally found you, Evie,” he says, his whole heart in his voice. “And I’m not going to live without you anymore, not for a minute if I can help it.”

“So,” he says, shrugging and giving me a wry smile, “bring on the drafty rooms and ancient plumbing.

I’ll take it all if it means I can have you too.”

I laugh up at him. “The plumbing isn’t so bad,” I murmur, wrapping my arms around his waist. “But the mice…” I grimace.

“Mice?” He says, frowning. “I’ll have an exterminator out first thing tomorrow.”

“NO!” Alvin shouts, his head popping immediately over the couch. I grin up at Victor, knowing what’s coming, wanting to see his face and he hears what’s coming next.

“Papa,” Alvin continues, true fear on his face, “if you move in, you can’t kill the mice!”

“DAD!” Ian’s face appears next to Alvin’s likewise appalled. “You want to kill Pinky and Bluey!? And all of their babies?!”

The boys look at their father as if he’s a monster. My grin widens as I see Victor’s face turn from confusion, to comprehension, to disbelief. Slowly, he turns his head to me. “You let them name the mice?” He says, just as horrified as the boys now.

“You sure you’re ready for this?” I laugh up at him. “You’re in our world now.”

“Your madhouse, more like,” he murmurs, pulling him roughly against him, pretending to be more disgruntled than he is. “At least I know you three will keep it interesting.”

“Oh, we promise,” I murmur, and then I stand on my toes and kiss him. Kiss him truly, a vow on my lips.

He returns it, every bit of it.

“Geeeeeze,” I hear Alvin sigh and then there’s a thump as he sinks back onto the couch. “Can we at least get some dinner over here, if you’re gonna keep kissing?”