Page 57 of Vegas Baby!

“Ava, I didn’t raise you to behave this way.”

“What way?”

“To ignore your own mother. To throw away a secure future. I told Nathan everything.”

I looked skyward and bit down a sigh. “I was only ignoring you because you’re not listening. And I’m not throwing away a secure future.”

“Andrew has a good job and his wife wants you to be part of their pack. She already has experience raising babies. You need support.”

“And I have it,” I argued.

“Youdon’t,” she insisted. “Your child should have their father.”

My phone disappeared out of my hand and I turned to see Luke, fury etched on his features. “Mrs. Malone, that’s not going to happen.”

“Luke?” she squawked.

“Ava is perfectly fine where she is.”

“Honey, I gave you grace when you were a child, but you’re a grown man now. You know you can’t offer Ava what the father of her child can. Why would you even want to? You ran off the second you turned eighteen like your ass was on fire. I cannot believe you would condone my daughter being around such a violent alpha either.”

“Andrew deserved that punch to the face.”

“Luke!”

“Mrs. M, I promise I’m always grateful for how you treated me as a kid, but I’m not letting you walk all over Ava about this. Micah isn’t dangerous to her, and the other alphas aren’t either. Do you really think I would put the sister of my best friend in the whole fucking world in danger?”

Something about that statement lanced right through me. The sister of his best friend. Was that the only reason he had been taking care of me? The reason he hadn’t brought up being together romantically? Sure, not everyone in a pack needed to be involved with their central omega in that way, but it was whathappened most of the time. If Luke was only here out of some obligation to my brother, I wasn’t sure I could stand it.

“You’re all still forgetting that Ava’s pregnant.”

“Trust me, that hasn’t escaped the notice of anyone in the pack. Andrew doesn’t have any legal claim over her baby. She bonded into the pack before she gave birth.”

There was abject silence on the other end of the line and I could picture my mother gaping like a fish.

“We’ll take care of her,” Luke promised. “You don’t have to worry.”

“I’m always going to worry. She’s my baby.”

I stole the phone back. “I’m a grown woman. I need you to respect my choices. I’m staying with my pack; I don’t want to be part of Andrew’s life anymore, and if you can’t accept that, I guess we’re done too.”

“Ava! Don’t be stu?—”

Luke hit the button to end the call. “I remember your mom being a lot nicer.”

“Me too. Kind of.”

“I meant what I said, you know.” Luke sat down next to me. “We’re all going to take care of you.”

I turned away, unable to look him in the eye. “I don’t need you to defend me against my mom.”

“I know. Just nice to have backup when people are being unreasonable.”

I pursed my lips, turning to glare at him. “And I don’t need you to take care of me either.”

His expression faltered, his brow furrowing. “I know you don’tneedme to, but I want to.”

“Why? Some ridiculous obligation you feel because we were kids together? Because I’m Nathan’s sister? I don’twantany of that.”

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