Page 9 of Sasha's Wounded Wolf

I leaned in and hugged my twin, holding him tightly as I sorted through my own fears and anxieties.

“I’m going to see Easton.”

“What?” Nico barked, pushing me to arm’s length. “We already discussed this. The best thing is for me to go and you and Raine to stay here.”

“There wasn’t a discussion. There was you telling me and me not arguing until we got here.”

“Damn it, Sasha!”

“I’m not going back into hiding. That’s not the life I want for my son.”

“When the fuck did you make that monumental decision?” he demanded, a growl rising in his throat.

“On the drive here,” I admitted. “Raine deserves to know his family.”

“Now, you’re okay with him meeting Richard Byrd?”

“That man will have nothing to do with my son. Ever. But Raine should meet the aunt he was named after. They both deserve that opportunity. He’s a few months from three, Nico.”

“Think about this, Sasha. The moment you walk in there with Raine, they’ll know he’s Rowan’s son. He’s the spitting image of his father.”

“I know.”

How did he think I didn’t know that? Every time I looked at my son, I saw his father. I’d never even got to tell Rowan I was pregnant. Never had the opportunity to share one single moment of it with my mate. It had all been robbed from me. From both of us.

“At least, let me go to the meeting first,” Nico urged. “Let’s see what Easton and Lincoln have to share. Then I can arrange a private meeting with Raina and her mate.”

He pulled me close again, wrapping me in his arms and lowering his face until he rested his check against the top of my head.

“There’s still someone out there who wants you dead. Don’t put that bullseye back on you, sis. Don’t do that to me or Raine. Let me protect you like I have been. Once you and Raina talk, we can discuss what you want to do next.”

“Discussing means you listen to me, Nico.” I pushed back enough to glance up and meet his gaze. “I’m not that broken woman you fished out of the water. I’m not fragile anymore. And I’m not the enraged woman hellbent on avenging her mate. I spilled blood, and it brought me no closer to the man I love. It only left me more hollow, more broken. I’ll always be grateful you took care of me when I couldn’t take care of myself, when I didn’t have the will to. You saved my life, and I’m not just talking about the falls. You held me together and made me think of Raine when I didn’t care about anything. You reminded me that he’s a part of Rowan. That Raine is the most beautiful parts of me and my mate. I was destroyed. All I wanted to do when I found out my mate had burned to death in a fire was to join him. I wanted to curl up and go to sleep and never wake up. Until you reminded me I had something to live for. Someone who needed me.”

“Raine isn’t the only one who needs you,” Nico barked.

“I need you to,” I whispered. “I always will, but when we packed up to come here, I made a choice. I’m not going back. I’m done hiding. I’m done grieving.”

Nico stared at me for a long moment.

“What is it you want to do?”

“I want to live. I want Raine to live. I want to see him playing with other children, making friends like the ones his father had, packmates who will be together through everything. Rowan would want that. He’d want Raine here. If not a part of the Rigton Pack then a part of the pack that took them in when Rowan died.”

“You’re going to ask Bastion James to bring you into his pack?” Nico shook his head. “We don’t do packs, Sasha. Not you and me.”

“Those were mother’s rules when she snuck us out of Russia and brought us here. When our uncle was still hunting us. He’s gone, Nico. You killed him a long time ago. Those rules haven’t existed since then.”

“But—”

“Besides, did you think I wasn’t going to join Rowan’s pack when he announced me as his mate?”

“I knew you were going to join the Rigtons. Rowan even asked me to join.”

“I know,” I admitted. “I also know that you agreed.”

“That was for you. You know there’s no way I’m trusting anyone else to watch over and protect my twin.”

Nico’s lips twitched with a smile as he made that ludicrous statement. We both knew he’d respected Rowan. They’d got along from the moment they’d met. I think Nico had accepted Rowan and his friends as easily as I had. There’d been mutual respect between them. And me. They’d both loved me and known I’d never choose one over the other. Nico was my twin. My other half. Rowan had been my mate. My heart and soul. Now, I had Raine, and he was my heart and soul.

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