Page 165 of The Heat of Us

“I started my business course today,” I explained.

“Business course…” Yelena turned to Aleks, a string of fast-paced Russian flooding out, growing more stern as she continued.

I stared at them after she was done. “What did she say?” I asked Aleks.

He had a smile tucked away. “That you’re too good for me and I have to do my best to keep you.”

That’s it? Yelena had spoken for a good…minute and a half. “Somehow I feel like your summary left a lot out,” I huffed.

Aleks shrugged. But his pride and affection for me glowed in our bond, like the perfect ray of sunlight igniting sparkles across a lake.

“We’re bonded, babulya,” I told her warmly. Aleks took my hand, tracing over where his mother’s ring glinted from my finger. “He’s mine forever.”

It surprised her every time we mentioned it.

“Alyosha,” she said wondrously. “That is just—”

She reached over and pinched his cheeks aggressively. Aleks could do nothing except tolerate it.

“I love these catch-ups,” Remy sighed.

After we dropped Yelena back at Willowbrook, we returned home to 101 Riverside. Remy and Ben didn’t resign their leases and had officially moved in last week.

On paper, that is. In real life, they had never slept anywhere but my nest since we bonded.

“Welcome home, Pack Maren,” Jesse greeted us cheerfully.

Aleks had been the one to suggest the name. After the beach he took me to that fateful winter’s day. None of our surnames felt right so taking on an entirely new one suited us perfectly.

The group chat remained Pack BRAH though. To Ben’s dismay.

I still had all my plants and we never did get around to painting. But there were touches of all them throughout the apartment now. Ben and Aleks’ medical texts on the shelves. Remy’s funny light-up boxing pad on the wall. Two of the exact same gaming console courtesy of the alphas. We bickered over the single bathroom a lot and I couldn’t remember the last time I showered alone.

What was previously my old office/Aleks’ temporary bedroom now had acoustic insulation installed. It’s where Remy and I made our recordings. We read off scripts now but we also got carried away regularly.

If you didn’t love what you did, what was the point — right?

“How are you feeling about tomorrow?” Ben asked, hugging me from behind and kissing his bondmark.

Tomorrow. The sentencing.

I sighed heavily. My mother and Damien had been fighting the charges tooth and nail. They tried their best to get something to stick to Ben and Remy too, for assaulting them in the house. I still wasn’t sure how they managed to convince a lawyer to take their civil case. He was a blithering idiot compared to the lawyer Isaac had recommended. The lawsuit failed miserably — Ben and Remy’s devotion to me left no question they were simply doing what was required to defend their omega.

I thought I would relish my mother’s comeuppance. But a few months ago when Investigator Morgan informed us that she was about to be arrested for kidnapping and assault, I didn’t rub my hands and ask if it could be somewhere public. Instead, it just made me sad.

Isaac informed us that her mugshot mysteriously made the rounds amongst the gossipy church ladies. He also noted that the pastor was horrified once the details of what my mother had done came to light and the congregation donated a not insignificant amount to the National Omega Commission on my behalf.

I couldn’t paint all religious people with the tar of my mother’s actions.

But it would never be something I wanted to be part of again.

It had been a long, difficult process but it was coming to an end tomorrow. She was likely going to jail for years. I thought back to when I’d taken the stand in court and told everyone what she’d done to me.

I didn’t think she was even a little bit remorseful.

“I’m glad it will be over soon,” I said, my voice reserved. “I should probably check in and see how my dad is doing though.”

I had seen my dad a few times since. It was awkward, neither of us really knowing what we wanted from our relationship.

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