Chapter 77

#Chapter 76 – Home again “Boys,” Evelyn cries the moment she stumbles into the house. She’s still wearing her cotton nightgown, now splattered with mud and blood and grass stains, but she doesn’t seem to care. “Mama?” Alvin’s tired little face appears above the back of the couch. He blinks and rubs his eyes. “Mama!” he cries again when he sees her, true worry in his voice. Alvin throws himself over the back of the couch and mother and son run to each other, colliding in the kitchen. Evelyn falls to her knees, crying as she holds her boy close to her chest. “Mommy!” Ian calls, coming around the couch and running to the kitchen. “I’m sorry, mommy,” he says, sniffing and hugging her from behind. “I fell asleep – I was so tired waiting for you.” “It’s okay, baby,” Evelyn murmurs, turning to wrap him in a hug as well. “You did right – you need your rest –“ The three sit together on the floor, holding each other close, talking softly, and Victor smiles, watching them. He looks up, hearing his bedroom door creek.

Amelia appears at the top of the stairs in her own nightgown – pristine, untarnished silk. Amelia walks calmly down the stairs and over to Victor’s side. “Did everything go okay?” she asks, wrapping her arms around him while she looks at Evelyn and her children sitting on the floor. “Geeze, Evelyn looks…

rough.” “Well, it was a rough night,” Victor confirms. He looks around and notices Beta Stephen standing guard at his post in the corner, smiling at everyone, clearly pleased to see that the mission was a success. “Report, Beta?” Victor calls to him. Stephen snaps into a salute. “All is well, sir. The boys had a relatively easy night – I don’t think they got much sleep, but no disturbances. When we got word that you were on your way home, Beta Edgar left to set up a stronger perimeter around the house. In case here is any…retaliation.” Victor nods, confirming. “That’s precisely correct, Beta. I’m pleased that the right actions were performed in my absence.” Stephen nods, proud. Victor continues.

“If you don’t need the sleep, Beta, I’d be pleased to have you stay on guard throughout the night. I’d like to give Evelyn and the boys a chance to rest, undisturbed, no matter what happens.” Amelia scoffs slightly next to him and Victor looks down at her, frowning. Seeing his disapproving look Amelia shrugs and rolls her eyes. “Well, wouldn’t Evelyn be more comfortable in her own home?” she asks. “With Edgar to take care of her?” Victor shakes his head, immediately dismissing the idea and moving a step away from Amelia. “Safety is the priority, and they’re safter here, with me. We need to give her the time to rest.” With this, Stephen returns to his post and Victor returns his eyes to the woman sitting on his kitchen floor, his children gathered in her lap. A smile grows on his face, seeing her reunited with the two people he knows he loves most in the world. But still, he has worries – he can see the exhaustion on her face, in her limbs. “Come on, boys,” Victor says, moving forward and taking each one by their hands. “Time for bed.” “Oh no, Victor,” Evelyn says, trying to hold on to them. “Don’t take them away from me, I just got them back –“ “I’m not taking them away,” he says softly, calmly. “They’re just going upstairs to their room to sleep. Look at them, they’re exhausted.” Evelyn does look at them, biting her lip, taking in their drowsy red eyes and mussy hair. She nods. “We’ll get you cleaned up,” Victor says softly, lifting the boys off her and setting them on their way upstairs. “And then you can go up to sleep too.” “I’ll be up in a minute,” Evelyn calls after the boys. Amelia tsks her tongue and both Evelyn and Victor turn to look at her, standing there, when – if they had to admit it to themselves – they had both completley forgotten she was there. And Amelia knows it. “Thank you, Amelia,” Evelyn says, a little awkward. “For taking care of them tonight.” Amelia rolls her eyes and heads for the stairs. “You’re welcome. It was nothing. Glad you’re not dead, or whatever.” Evelyn and Victor watch Amelia make her graceful way up the stairs. When the bedroom door slams shut, Evelyn chuckles a little. “Well, that was…sincere.” Victor shakes his head and puts out a hand to help Evelyn off the floor. “Just ignore her.

She’s had a long day too. Come on.” He hoists Evelyn up, seating her on a stool and then searching under the sink for the first-aid kit. Bringing it back over, Victor looks down at Evelyn and smirks.

Looking up at him, Evelyn narrows his eyes. “What are you laughing at?” He reaches out a gentle finger to hold under her chin, gently turning her face side to side. “You’re a mess, is all.” Evelyn laughs out loud at this, thinking, for the first time, about what she must look like sitting here in Victor’s perfect marble kitchen in her torn, muddy nightgown, covered in blood. “Oh my god,” she says, looking down at herself. “Am I a disaster?” Victor smirks and says nothing, running some gauze under the tap and then gently wiping the skin under her nose. The dried blood comes off in flakes. “What, Victor,” Evelyn says, laughing lightly and looking away, a embarrassed. “Is my nose terribly disfigured? Am I no longer a great beauty?” Victor’s fingers tighten on her chin at this and, surprised, Evelyn stops laughing, her eyes snapping back to him. “No,” Victor says, grown still. “You haven’t lost your beauty, Evelyn. There’s no risk of that.” The two stare at each other for a moment, and then Victor blinks, clearing his throat. He begins to brush her face again with the gauze, studying her nose. “I don’t think that it’s broken,” he murmurs. “Good,” she whispers back, studying him as he assesses her injuries. “I don’t know what I would do if it was broken. If it couldn’t turn my nose up at you anymore, and all your Alpha nonsense.”

Victor smirks, her only reward from this too-serious man. Then, he snaps the first-aid kit shut and stores it back under the sink. “Okay, I think you’ll make it through the night.” Victor says, and then gestures towards the stairs. “Up to bed.” Evelyn hops down from her stool and smiles up at him. “Good, I’m exhausted. I’m going to sleep in the boys’ room, okay? I want to be close to them.” She takes a few steps up the stairs and then turns, slowly. “Thank you, Victor. For everything.” He stands at the base of the stairs, looking up at her, and nods once. Evelyn turns and hurries up the stairs, eager to see her boys again. Victor watches her every step. When she disappears around the corner, he heaves a sigh, slumping down on the bottom step and putting his head in his hand. Beta Stephen, standing at his post in the corner, hesitates. Then, he takes one step forward. “Sir? Are you all right?” Victor angles his face upward to look silently at Stephen, sliding his hand across his face so that it settles over his mouth.

Slowly, he shakes his head back and forth, indicating that no, he is not okay. He is far, far from okay.

Stephen looks up the stairs, first left towards Amelias’ room, and then right, to where Evelyn has gone.

He returns his gaze to meet his Alpha’s and nods sympathetically. He understands. After a moment of silence, Stephen ventures a question. “What are you going to do, Sir?” “Stephen,” Victor whispers. “I have absolutely no idea.