Page 61 of The Last Ultimatum: Part 2

After much debate and an extra month in Australia, many things had happened.

First, we worked with local police to ensure that the Raglan facility was shut down entirely. In the process the Collectors took a huge hit. There were several very high profile arrests and the remainder scattered to the wind.

Taylor had received an encrypted email that went out to the Collector community cancelling all future auctions. It wasn’t enough of a hit to completely shut down the Collectors, but dueto the scandals they were all scared and in hiding now. We had the names of enough of them to do what was necessary to cripple them for a very long time. In some odd way it like the break we’d all been waiting for.

The Verndari had been notified of the Raglan resurgence. They genuinely seemed surprised to hear it and swore to investigate for any further concerns.

I wasn’t one that fully trusted the Verndari, but my buddy Chad from my college days was one of them now. The humans didn’t know he and his mate were actually squirrel shifters. That worked to our benefit as they kept eyes and ears from the inside.

Bravo team’s, Jake, and his mate, Alaina, were also members of the Verndari. They were both human though. She was a legacy that was recognized after she connected with her estranged father, Martin Kenston. It went a long way to ensuring the validity of the organization, but clearly not enough.

Egan Bridger was going to be behind bars for a very long time. But Helen Bridger had managed to escape. Notices were out around the world for her after her son had tried to make a plea bargain pinning the entire operation on his mother.

The odds of Helen making it out of Australia were very slim.

It hadn’t been easy dealing with all of that while mourning the loss of my parents. The boys had all fought me on selling the house. We tried living there for a few weeks, but no one was sleeping. There was too much haunting us all knowing that our parents had been taken from there so easily.

In the end, we agreed to sell the house and give the US a try. I think it surprised all the kids just how comfortable they were in San Marco. They all connected with other kids quickly. Tilly and I were cautiously optimistic that it would all work out.

And my mate had been brilliant through it all. We’d certainly been forced to get to know each other quickly. Shewas smart, down-to-Earth, kind, and seemed to have endless patience, especially when it came to the kids.

She still wasn’t much of a cook. I knew now that she had been raised with a lot of privilege, but she was determined to overcome that and learn. It was cute to watch her grow.

Tilly had been raised to be an Alpha. I could give that to her over the little Pack we’d created—our family.

Life wasn’t always easy, but it was ours to build together.

The horn blew.

“Toby!”

“I’m coming.”

We rushed out of the house to the others waiting impatiently.

“Sorry,” I said, leaning over to kiss my mate.

Hannah giggled.

Our parents had always been affectionate with one another so it wasn’t some shock to any of them that I was that way with Tilly too.

Tilly quizzed Hannah on her science vocabulary as I drove to the school to drop them off.

The boys piled out and took off in different directions to meet up with new friends.

“You’ve got this. Just relax. You know the information and are going to rock this test,” Tilly told my sister.

“Okay. Thanks Tilly.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

My heart melted at their open affection. I supposed tragedy such as we’d faced either shut people down or drew them closer. I was relieved that, for he most part, it had brought the six of us close.

We both sat there watching as Hannah ran off towards her classroom.

“She’s gonna do great,” Tilly said.

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