Page 49 of A Secret Baby By the Alpha

“Understood,” Colson responded. “Anything else?”

“There’s one other document,” Franco said.

I flipped to the last page and saw an itemized list detailing the value of the transport, supplies, and cargo from the ambushthat brought me to Colson’s pack. I winced as I read the final line.

“‘Costs associated with the deaths of allies from Moonstone pack,’” I read. “Has the alliance been formalized, then?”

“It has,” Franco confirmed. “A condition of which is that Sparkle Hollow is negotiating for the repayment of these debts on their behalf. If you want the truce between us to last, a promise of repayment must be made.”

Colson sighed deeply, looking at the hefty figure at the bottom of the page. “That’s a steep price for peace, but we will pay it,” he promised.

“Alpha Lex asked that I get a timeline from you so we can let the Moonstone pack know your intentions,” Franco continued.

Colson pinched the bridge of his nose as he did some quick calculations to see when such a sum could be paid in full.

“Two years until it is paid in full, with quarterly payments of one-eighth of the total amount until it is paid,” he said. “Will that be sufficient?”

“It should be. I’ll pass the information along to the others and get back to you.”

With an awkward nod, Franco left. I reviewed the documents in front of me and then passed them to Colson.

“How are we going to afford this?” I asked.

“We’ll figure it out,” Colson responded.

***

We had gone to sleep shortly after Franco left, both exhausted from the emotions of the day. Now that it was morning, the realities of our situation had fully sunk in. It could always be worse, of course, but we had some tough decisions to make about how we were going to pay the debt owed to Sparkle Hollow and the Moonstones. The most obvious choice was to save the money that Colson wanted to spend on a honeymoon and put that towards our repayment.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” I assured Colson for the fifth time that day. “I’m not high-maintenance. Whatever I can do to help the pack, I’m going to do.”

“I know, but I wanted to take you away from here for a little while,” Colson sighed. “You deserve a break, and we need time to ourselves, too. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t take my bride on a honeymoon?”

“The kind that can see the bigger picture,” I assured him. “We have our entire lives to spend together. Let’s not start off on the wrong path. Besides, what kind of message would it send to our pack, or Sparkle Hollow, if we left right now? Things are on the path to being settled between us, but we need to be here to make sure everything goes according to plan.”

“You’re right,” Colson sighed again.

“But just because we aren’t going on a honeymoon doesn’t mean we can’t spend time together. What do you think Jenny would say to another sleepover at her friend’s house tonight? We could lounge around in bed for twenty-four hours and forget about everything but us just for one day.”

“I can’t think of anything I’d like to do more,” Colson agreed.

Jenny, of course, was thrilled with our plan the moment we suggested it to her. “Can I go over right now? I’ll just go packmy bag really quick!” she said excitedly, running off to her room immediately to pack.

As soon as she was ready, I walked her back to the Spencer house, smiling at Mrs. Spencer when she opened the door.

“What would we do without you?” I asked. “Thank you for agreeing to do this again. We’ve had to change some of our plans around, but didn’t want to miss out on a mini-honeymoon at home.”

“It really is no trouble. Jenny is a joy, and we’re happy to have her visit any time,” Mrs. Spencer said.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, baby,” I said to Jenny, giving her a hug before she ran inside in search of her friend.

“Love you, Mom!” she shouted back at me.

I hurried back home and catapulted myself onto the bed where Colson was still lounging. He laughed as I burrowed under the blankets to snuggle up next to him.

“Miss me?” he asked as I flung one leg across his.

“I never want to be away from you again,” I declared.

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