Page 65 of Broken Chains

“Nothing’s going to happen to Eve. I swear it, Pey,” he told me as I nodded, still trying desperately not to cry. “We’ll meet you back at the house in a bit. I’ll give you guys a few minutes alone first, then I want to hear everything. We’ll find a way to fix this.”

I was mostly silent on the short drive home. Oliver seemed more concerned about me than everything that happened. When we walked inside, we went to the playroom and sat on the couch. I pulled Eve from her carrier and just held her close to me, despite her squirming protests to get down and play.

“Can she take her from us?” I finally asked.

Oliver shook his head. “I’ll never let that happen, babe.”

“I mean legally. Does she have a leg to stand on?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. If she has a case, we’ll fight it in court. She abandoned her daughter, signed her right away to her parents, and is trying to take a child from a loving two-parent household. We’ll win,” he said with more assurance than he felt, forgetting I could now feel his emotions as clearly as my own.

“What if we don’t?”

Before he could answer that, the front door opened. I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Oliver sniffed the air and gave a confused look. “Wait here,” he said as he left the room to investigate, returning a few minutes later with Thomas, Wyatt, Luke Larson, and some other guy I didn’t know. The boys followed closely behind them. I hugged Eve a little tighter to my heart.

“Relax, we’re all here to help, Pey,” Thomas said, and I breathed a small sigh of relief.

Oliver

Chapter 22

It was surreal seeing everything that was unfolding before my eyes. Thomas and Wyatt alongside Luke and Cruz. By all rights, a war should be raging in my house, but once again they were putting their differences aside and coming together for the good of my family. How was I ever supposed to choose between the packs when they both continued to support us like this?

It wasn’t long before Kate and Lily showed up and it was decided that everyone was staying the night to help keep watch and calm Peyton down. We gave Thomas and Lily my old room, which Peyton informed me was always meant to be the guestroom. The boys volunteered to give up their rooms and take the air mattresses downstairs for the night. That gave Wyatt and Kate Tim’s room since it was closest to where Thomas was sleeping, and Luke and Cruz took the other two beds.

Once that was settled, we all convened in the living room to talk. Peyton had bathed and changed Eve. She should have already put the baby to bed, but I realized quickly that my mate was not about to let my daughter out of her sight.

I loved how much Peyton loved Eve and I knew that feeling was mutual. It was easy to see how much Eve adored her, too. It filled my heart with pride and happiness.

“Okay,” Luke said. “Now start from the beginning. What happened?”

Peyton quickly went through everything that Melina had said when she’d unexpectedly showed up. We stayed up well into the early morning hours hashing out a plan. I needed to be at work the next day despite Wyatt and Thomas’s protests against it. Peyton had been right. I needed this job and I couldn’t show weakness for even a second while working in enemy territory, even if the line between enemy and ally had become seriously skewed.

Everyone was still asleep the next morning as I grabbed breakfast then a quick shower. I stood there next to the bed smiling down at the sight. Peyton had insisted on having Eve sleep with us and even in sleep she cradled and protected my child. Not mine, I realized suddenly. Our child. I wasn’t sure when it had happened but there was no doubt in my heart that Eve was as much Peyton’s daughter as she was mine now.

I leaned down and kissed the top of my mate’s head before heading off to work.

It was a Sunday, and there were very few people working, but the animals couldn’t just fend for themselves, so taking a weekend off wasn’t a thing at the ranch. Everyone worked five days a week, it just depended on what day your five-day rotation started.

Thomas had been extremely considerate when setting my schedule. He knew that Peyton worked weekends, and only took off Mondays. Since she only worked the breakfast shift on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, he had set those as my off days. Because she worked evenings only on Thursday and Friday, it actually worked perfectly to eliminate child care needs altogether. Between the two of us, with the occasional help from our siblings, we could easily cover care for Eve. That alone saved me several hundred dollars a month in child care.

Yesterday had mostly just been a tour of the place and Wyatt showed me around and talked me through the different jobs. Everyone worked on job rotation, too. While I would eventually be assigned to the dairy, I was expected to also learn every aspect of the ranch first.

To my surprise Ruby's mate, Bran, was waiting for me this morning. I had met Bran a few times but didn't really know the guy.

"Good morning, Oliver. I heard you were going to be stubborn and show up today. Why aren't you home taking care of your family?"

"Can't live in fear, and my girls are surrounded with protection. I do have to take a long lunch to sort out a few more things, but otherwise I'm here. I need this job and I'm not one to slack off my responsibilities."

He nodded. "I can appreciate that. Why don't we double time it and I'll see that you're off by lunchtime, then. Let's start with a quick tour of the dairy bar. I actually don't work a ton in the dairy, but I know Thomas ultimately plans to put you here instead of rotation. Ruby and Clay are looking to expand production and are going to need the extra hands."

I nodded. I hadn't heard that was the plan, but it made sense. "So teach me the ways of the dairy then," I said.

We spent the next several hours walking around and learning far more than I'd ever cared to know about cows and milk. It made me give even more consideration to Peyton's idea of me opening my own business. It wasn't that I was ungrateful for the opportunity Thomas was giving me here, it was just obvious to me this was not how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I found no pleasure in anything around the ranch. At least in construction I was creating things with my hands, and that was what had always excited me most.

"You seem about as interested in all this as watching paint dry," Bran finally observed.

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