Page 12 of How to Hide Your Angel Kid

Wren came in a few moments later, scurrying over to Pinks. “Will you be okay?”

Pinks narrowed his eyes. “You literally just made me live with him.”

Wren winced. “Sorry. It’s just... Fang and the rest trust him. And there’s a lot more dangerous people out there than Galent. We ran into thirty people hunting a Naira, Pinks.Thirty.And there were another thirty after us because of Steffie.”

“I can’t lose my baby,” Pinks growled.

Wren stood straighter and met his eyes. “If anything goes wrong because of Galent, I’ll fix it myself.”

Pinks swallowed.IfGalent could be trusted, Pinks and Zarrie would have a greater chance of surviving a thirty-person attack with him here. “Fine.”

“It might help if you’re friends with him.”

Pinks wrinkled his nose. “We’ll see.”

Wren gave him a quick hug. Slowly, the rescuers filed into their cars and drove off.

Galent lumbered around outside, his large feet crunching on dried leaves and grass. Pinks focused, listening to the neighborshe recognized, the cars along the surrounding roads. There wasn’t anyone else that he could hear—which meant he had to feed Zarrie now, and scramble back into his bedroom.

He wrapped her in her food-catching bib, sat her in her high chair, and scooped out tiny portions of boiled egg, mashed potatoes, and boiled pasta, before handing her a spoon.

Zarrie smiled. And threw the spoon onto the floor, as hard as she could. Pinks sighed.

“One of those days, huh?” He sat on the floor and placed the spoon back on her tray, because bending down to grab the spoon countless times was just too exhausting.

Zarrie smeared food into her mouth and dropped more food onto her bib. She threw the spoon several more times, even after Pinks had showed her how to feed herself.

By the time she was done eating, the food had migrated from her plate to the high chair tray, bib, and floor. Pinks sighed and handed over her sippy cup, slumping against the table leg.

The thought of cleaning up felt soul-sucking.

“I’ll clean,” Galent rumbled.

Pinks jumped. Galent was standing on the other side of the room. How long had he been watching?

The giant raised his eyebrow, looking unfairly hot.

Pinks scowled. “I’ll clean. It’s my mess, anyway.”

“You look like you’re about to fall over. And you have dark circles under your eyes.” Galent wandered closer, watching Pinks—not Zarrie. “Do you sleep?”

“Not enough,” Pinks muttered.

“Why not?”

“Well,youtry being kidnapped and having your baby snatched away,” Pinks snapped. “And your friends are all still captured with their status unknown.”

Not to mention, having no more family. No more pack.

Pinks swallowed roughly, his eyes burning.

Galent froze. For a moment, Pinks thought he would turn into a statue again. Except Galent walked over and knelt in front of him, carefully grasping Pinks’ shoulder. “I’m sorry,” Galent said quietly. “I didn’t know.”

“So no, I’m not lending you my baby because I have nightmares every night thinking someone’s going to take her away from me again,” Pinks growled.

Galent winced. “I won’t try to borrow her again, I promise.”

“Really?”

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