Page 62 of Scorned

She was sitting in a large green upholstered recliner, holding baby Scarlet. Standing on one side of the chair was Kimber who wore a confused expression, and on the other side was someone I wasn’t expecting to see.

Laren locked her heated gaze on me, not even attempting to hide her hatred. She had been the wife of Luka’s brother, Andrei, before I staked him in an alley on my induction night.

The first time she’d met me at the Save church, I had slightly feared for my life. Ultimately, Laren had told me the only reason she wouldn’t kill me was because she wouldn’t do to Luka what I did to her. At the time, I was unsure what she meant, but I’d eventually figured it out.

When I had killed Andrei, I had unknowingly also killed their bond. After seeing the pain both Vivi and Peach carried, and learning more about the feelings that came with a bond, I felt even worse about my heinous act.

Even though she’d visited the camp every few weeks since I’d been here—why, I didn’t know—she never came within twenty feet of me. I wasn’t sure if it was because she struggled to keep the promise of not killing me and didn’t want to tempt herself, or if it was the mere fact that she couldn’t look at the person who ruined her entire life.

Either way, I didn’t blame her.

Laren drew her glaring away from me and tramped into the kitchen.

“The meeting was stopped,” I mumbled. “I don’t know what—”

The door opened, hitting me in the ass, and I quickly moved aside so the others could enter. Peach and Marcus came in first with April and Zeke right behind them.

April sucked in a slow gasp when she saw the baby. “Is that her? She’s so little.”

“Would you like to hold her?” Vivi asked.

April approached slowly, her eyes wide and curious. She reached her hands out and one set of loving hands gently passed Scarlet to another.

Pure joy took over April’s expression as she instantly became nurturing, slowly swaying her hips. “She’s the most gorgeous baby I’ve ever seen.” Her hands were slow to move, gently pulling the baby’s pink cap back before cautiously running her hand across her red hair. “Does she have a name?”

“Scarlet,” Peach answered. “I’m tending to her for a bit until we figure out what to do with her.”

April looked up, her brows pinched. “What do you mean?”

“Her parents are . . .” Peach shook her head, unable to relay the sad story.

Sadness filled April’s eyes before they went back to Scarlet. “I’ll happily help with anything this precious baby needs.”

“Vivi, can you grab the car seat?” Peach asked. “We have a private meeting at Dani’s.”

“But I just got her to sleep.”

“I can watch her,” April interjected, her eyes filling with a fierceness I’d never seen from her before. “I’ll protect her. I promise.”

Peach and Vivi locked eyes, and after a few seconds, Peach nodded and Vivi got up from the recliner. “You can sit here. She just ate, so you should be good until we get back.”

April slowly lowered herself into the chair before waving her husband over. “Come look at how beautiful she is.”

Zeke was tall, so it only took him a few strides to get to them. “Hello, little one.”

It was an amazing sight, him towering over April and the baby with more admiration in his eyes than the world could possibly hold.

And . . . at that moment, even if Scarlet wasn’t theirs, April and Zeke became the parents they’d always hoped to be.

Emotions swirled in my chest and I drew my gaze toward Lyric to keep from feeling them, but it didn’t help. She happily wore her emotions, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Are we ready, Peach?” I asked, needing to leave a room filled with too much parental love when I missed my mom . . . and even my dad.

“Yeah. Laren, are you coming?”

I held my breath as I awaited the answer, hoping to not have to ride with a vampire who hated me.

“I’ll stay here with April, in case she needs anything.”

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