Page 80 of Out of Peril

I hadn't wanted to like Grant. Didn't particularly want to like any of them, but he especially had snuck under my radar, and I found I really trusted him.

Trust had never come easy for me, so that was a big deal and said a lot about his character.

Before we detoured to Westin Force headquarters, he swung into a hole-in-the-wall sort of dive called The Crate. He didn't even get out of the car just rolled the window down as a man ran out and passed off two brown paper bags to him.

“Thanks, Jesse,” Walker said. He handed one bag to me. “I wasn't sure how you liked your burgers, so I had him just put the toppings on the side. These are the little details I will learn soon.”

The food smelled heavenly and made my stomach growl. I dug in excitedly and moaned my delight as I sank my teeth into the burger.

“Careful, or the only other place you're gonna see today is the inside of this car. With moans like that, I'm not sure I could even make inside the house.”

I licked my lips and relished in how transfixed he seemed to be on them as his pupils dilated, letting me know he was turned on.

It was definitely those little details that drew me even closer to my mate. Plus these moments alone together to actually get to know more about one another.

“I feel guilty that I'm so happy to have you all to myself today. We should be including Maya and Dante in our happiness.”

“We will, but there's no reason we should feel guilty about a little alone time, either. We may have only been mated a few hours, but I've watched almost all my closest friends fall. And I've learned a few things, like the importance of me spending time with the triplets to allow Ben and Shelby their date nights, which is every other Saturday night, by the way. Maybe we can bargain with them to take our kids on the other Saturday nights for our own date nights. They don't always stay over at my house. Sometimes it's just a few hours so they can go to dinner or drive down the mountain to catch a movie. But they prioritize each other, and I think that's a great example for my godkids too.”

“I like that. You know, I never planned to be a mother of sorts.”

“Not of sorts. You are a mother, Lindsey. Those kids adore you.”

I shrugged. “They were tiny and malnourished when I got to their collection. I was never left in any one collection long and I made it a point never to get attached to anyone. I was a novelty. I'm not even an actual witch. I have no powers that weren't genetically engineered into me. I'm not special and the Collectors would come to realize that pretty quickly. The novelty of owning a beast would wear off and I'd be sold off to the next Collector.”

He started to protest, but I shut him down.

“Just listen. This is my story. When I got to this particular Collection, they had lumped a group of orphaned kids together in one cell. Most were well off, but Maya and Dante were so tiny and often bullied. I think it reminded me a lot of myself as a kid. So one time I interceded on their behalf. It was just a punk kid, but with my beast, I was no longer afraid to stand up to bullies, especially on behalf of someone else. The kids were so grateful for what I'd done that they'd latched on to me. And the guards seemed to think they somehow calmed me down so they insisted I keep them. I took them back to my room to rest up with every intention of tossing them back out there as soon as I could get away with it, but it was too late. At first, it was to keep the peace and not draw attention to myself. Then they just wouldn't leave me alone, and eventually I found that I didn't want them to. I don't really know who or how it happened, but we became a small, completely dysfunctional family.”

“You are amazing for doing that for them. It's no wonder they are so protective of you. But they don't need to be anymore. They should be allowed to just be kids.”

I swallowed the tears threatening to spill from my eyes. “You're already starting to give them that. It wasn't long ago they would have never consented to someone else taking them places, or me dropping them off somewhere.”

“Like school?”

“Exactly like school. You seem to be able to offer them a safe space to grow and thrive.”

“I love those kids. We're a family now. Just the four of us.”

I rolled my eyes. “And Shelby, Ben, and the triplets.”

He shrugged. “Kids need aunts, uncles, and cousins in their lives.”

“And all of Delta team, plus their mates. Do any of them have kids?”

“Several,” he confessed.

“Of course they do.”

“And you and the kids have the safety of this Pack, if you want it. We can stop by Kyle and Kelsey's house for you to officially meet them right now if you're up for it.”

My bubble of happiness burst.

“When he learns I was banished from my Pack, he'll be forced to banish me from Westin territory too.”

“Trust me on this. Please?”

I didn't know what to say or do, so I just nodded.

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