Page 207 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

He threw his arms around me, and my heart swelled with the knowledge that someday soon, my own little boy would be hugging me just like this.

I rubbed his back and smiled. “Hey, buddy. How’s it going?”

“Great. It’s so much better here now. I love Flynn. He’s awesome.”

The backs of my eyes burned, and I swallowed hard to keep from letting my emotions show. I wasn’t sure if it was the hormones or just pure happiness to see the boy looking so strong and healthy. Whatever it was, it punched deep into my soul.

“Ma’am?”

I looked up to see Carter’s mother approaching me. She looked nervous.

“Hi there,” I said. “We didn’t really get a chance to properly introduce ourselves the first time we met. It was a little, uh, hectic. I’m Kirsten. You’re Donna, right?” I said, extending my hand.

“Yeah, that’s right,” she said, shaking my hand. “And I’ve heard all about you.” She rubbed Carter’s hair. “You were about all talked about for a while.” She chuckled and looked over her shoulder. “Now it’s all about Flynn.”

“I’m glad Carter’s doing better,” I said. “I’m happy I was able to help him.”

Donna’s eyes shimmered with tears. “Can I hug you?” she asked, her voice cracking. “For saving my boy? Can I hug you?”

“Of course,” I said. “Yeah, of course.”

She threw her arms around me. Emotion got the better of her, and within a second, she was sobbing into my shoulder.

“Thank you,” she whispered through the tears. “Thank you, thank you.”

“It’s all right,” I said, doing my best to hold back my own tears. “I’m just glad he’s safe now.”

Donna stepped back, wiping her eyes and face. “I wanted you to know that, no matter what, you’ll always have an ally in Scottsdale. You and Jace, well, you two have sort of become legendary already. We’re here for you whenever you need us. We’ll never be able to thank you properly, but I thought you should know.”

She and Carter took each other’s hands and walked a few paces from the house before shifting. The mother and son wolves looked back at me before running back to town.

“I think some of my people like you better than me,” Flynn said with a smile. “Probably warranted, honestly. It’s pretty goddamn impressive what the two of you did.”

“We only did what was necessary,” Jace said.

“You did more than that,” Byron said. “Y’all had the guts to do what all of us were scared to do. For that, I thank you.”

As the man shook our hands, Flynn nodded toward him. “I was just discussing with Byron here about joining my council as my enforcer. I need someone, and he’s agreed.”

“I think you made a great choice,” I said, smiling at Byron as I recalled the danger the man had put himself in to help us.

Byron’s cheeks reddened slightly as he nodded, stepping out of the way so Jace and I could follow Flynn inside.

Stephanie was sitting at the small kitchen table. I froze when my eyes fell on her neck. The claiming mark was fresh.

I shared a look with Jace, who looked like he was holding back giggles. “Damn, Flynn,” Jace finally said. “Didn’t waste any time, did you? You’re smarter than I was with Kirsten.”

Stephanie’s face went bright red as she grinned and touched the mark.

“No time to waste these days,” Flynn said as he sat in a chair next to Stephanie, collapsing into it like he was exhausted. “Lots to do, and lots of messes to clean up.”

Jace pulled a chair out for me before taking a seat himself. “How were the finances?” Jace asked. “Last time I was here, you said you were going to dig into those.”

Flynn chuckled ruefully. “Awful as expected. Looks like the pack was damn near bankrupt, like Steph thought. Eren was bleeding money. He used the pack finances on bad investments and doled out tons of cash to the lone wolves he recruited. He was desperate. The bank was gonna come calling soon. It’s all starting to make sense why he was so erratic and short-sighted. No one in their right mind could think a pack would survive the bullshit he was doing, but he was too blinded by fear to think about it. That, along with being a world-class asshole, was his undoing.”

“I’m sorry,” Jace said. “I wish I could have done something sooner. Everyone knew Eren had been acting even stranger than usual the last few years, but we just chalked it up to him being a dick. I had no clue the circumstances in the pack were so bad.”

“This isn’t on you, Jace. I’ll figure this out.” Flynn reached over and took Stephanie’s hand. “We’ve got a few ideas to work with. Plus, I’ll be negotiating with the bank first thing Monday morning. Try to work out a payment plan. Quite a few members have told Byron they want to start paying pack dues or something to help pay off the debt,” Flynn added. “I didn’t even mention that. The members came up with it all on their own. It’ll work itself out.”

---