Chapter 273

“I can’t believe they talked us into this,” Victor murmurs, anxiously massaging his temple with two fingers and glancing at me in the rearview mirror. I’m sitting in the back seat with one twin in my lap, the other pressed tight against my side. Rafe, seated next to Victor in the driver’s seat, likewise looks back at me dubiously.

“It will be fine,” I murmur, ignoring both of them to kiss Ian’s head and stroke his hair. “They’ve had a hard day – it makes sense that they want to be close to us.”

“Yeah, dad!” Alvin says, smiling towards the front seat. “Plus, Ian already got to see the jail, and I want to see it too –“

“Only fair,” Ian murmurs, still staring out the window. “There, Alvin! Did you see that white sign? That means we’re close!”

Alvin, excited, starts to chitter to his brother, which gives me time to sort my thoughts. Perhaps predictably, I’m torn – half of my mind is now on my pregnancy, now suddenly real when for weeks it had just been…half real? A little fantasy all my own that I very much hoped was true?

And the other half is, of course, on my father.

Victor offered to do it all himself – to deliver the news, to take him home, to arrange it all. But…I just didn’t feel right about it. Since the decision was mine, I should be the one to deliver the blow. Still…I sigh, wondering if the stress is worth it. Especially now that I know that I’m pregnant.

My time for thinking it over is done, though, when Victor swings the car up to an intimidating gate, rolling down his window to gain entrance. I take a deep breath and Ian senses my dour mood, turning to me. “Don’t worry, mama,” he whispers, “it’s not as scary as you think it will be.”

“Thank you, baby,” I murmur in reply. “I’m glad I have you to lean on if I get scared.”

“And me,” Alvin whispers, looking up at me with bright eyes. I nod to him seriously, letting him know that I appreciate him as well.

When we finally park in Victor’s spot outside the jail, we all spill out of the car, the kids running excited for the door, Rafe going with them to speak to the Betas guarding it. Victor comes to me, though, taking my hand and walking close. I smile as he does this – he’s always been attentive but…I am noticing that he’s been pinned to my side all day since we got the news. And frankly, I kind of like it.

“Do you think this is…normal?” he asks quietly as we walk towards the door to the jail.

“Well, no,” I say, looking up at him. “I don’t know what you’re asking yet, but considering that you’re asking about our family, I don’t think the answer is ever yes to that question.”

He smirks down at me but presses forward. “I mean, do you think it’s normal that we…brought our kids to the jail. To tell their grandfather he’s going to be living on house arrest and their uncle that he’s going to be locked up for the rest of his life. Is that…okay? Is it healthy? Should they be home?”

“Well,” I say, running a hand through my hair, “it’s…Sunday, so they don’t have school. But as to whether it’s healthy…”

I stop, wanting to have this conversation with my mate, not wanting him distracted by his duties when he enters the jail. He stops as well, looking seriously down into my face.

“Victor, they’re not normal kids,” I say. “They’re…Alphas, the heirs to two gigantic packs and a great deal of power. And as much as I want them to have normal, happy childhoods, I think that that ship has sailed. Do I think it’s weird that they begged to go to a jail as a field trip and we said yes? Sure.” I shrug, admitting it.

Victor laughs a little, shaking his head.

“But,” I continue, “do I think it’s really going to benefit them to stay home watching Paw Patrol? No, I don’t.” I shake my head, really meaning it. “I think we have to walk a fine line, Victor, of keeping them safe and happy while showing them the realities of the world to which we’re raising them. I think it will be better for them to be raised within it, rather than sheltered from it, so that they really understand what they’re getting into.”

Victor sighs, glancing at them. “They’ve only got twelve years until they inherit the Walsh pack, that’s true. And…insane…”

“Eleven,” I say softly. “Their birthday is only two months away.”

Victor groans, putting his head in his hand, realizing that I’m right. “God, I really need to invest in some technology to stop time. It’s moving too fast.”

“Only gonna get faster,” I say, pressing myself to his side and grinning up at him. He moves his hand away from his face and smiles down at me.

“Can you two move it?” Rafe calls to us, clearly a little frustrated. “God, what’s going on with you two today…”

I just purse my lips at him and give a little glare, but I tug Victor’s hand. We both move forward, ready to get this over with. As we reach the doors, we each take one of the twins’ hands, ushering them forward with us.

“All right, boys,” Victor says seriously, looking between them. “Alpha faces on. We have work to do.”

They book look at him and, simultaneous, give a deep nod. I smile to see it.

This is their world now, after all. It is perhaps not what I wanted for them to begin with, but now that I see them in it…

Well, I wouldn’t want anyone else to inherit this power besides them. As the woman in the forest said, the children of astral mates are special. They will bring much joy to the world.

Slowly, my hand drifts to my stomach and I realize that’s my daughters’ destiny as well. That they, too, have a role to play in the future. And I can’t wait to raise them to it.

__________________ Two hours later, we leave the jail. I admit, I’m shaken by the experience. It was not easy to face by ex-

husband, to deliver the verdict to him with a straight face and steady voice. Victor, luckily, was with me at all times, standing behind me steadily as Joyce lost his mind at the news, first pounding on the glass and screaming and then falling to the ground in agony.

I flinched backwards when I saw him do that, but, finished and feeling a little cold, I simply flicked the switch that turned the wall between us from clear glass to an opaque fog, cutting off his cries. Victor had placed a warm hand between my shoulder blades then, letting me know that I had done well.

It was different with my father, who just stared at me while I delivered the news. He didn’t move at all, his face ashen and older than I’d ever seen it as I told him that he’d be returning home today, that he’d be guarded and limited for the rest of his life. That the only reason that he was getting out was because of his wife’s mercy. That if it had been up to me, he’d be in here forever, alone.

My father continues in silence now as we walk ahead of him out of the jail, a man completely defeated by his circumstances. My heart sinks as I watch him, as I realize that even though he’s going to be the grandfather of my twin girls…

They will never, ever meet him. I won’t give him that pleasure, not even once.

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