Page 133 of Packed in the Fire house

He chuckled. “I’m not even going to refute that, sunshine.”

I had a visitor.

A very pissed-off-looking one.

“You and I need to talk. Right now,” Storm grumbled as he dragged me into the living room, displeasure rolling off him in waves.

At the appearance of my brother, Walker had merely smiled at me and told me I was on my own before scooping Luka up and taking him upstairs to the playroom with the others.

“Hello to you too, twin,” I grumbled. “Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning?”

Storm crossed his arms, glowering at me. “Well, finding out my sister was dating an abusive cunt who hurt her and never told me did put a dampener on my day!”

I stilled, eyes widening. “H-how?”

“How do you think? Walker called me as soon as Luka was taken. I had to admit that I didn’t even know who this Gregory douche canoe was!” He raked a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry,” I sighed, deflating, all defensiveness gone. “How the hell did you stop yourself from coming here the moment you found out?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Storm sighed. “Kennedy was sick, and your guys insisted almost forcefully that they were watching over you. My own pack mates may have also convinced me to take a few days to digest the information because I have a tendency to fly off the handle…”

I snorted lightly. “It’s like they know you.”

“How did this happen?” he asked.

I chuckled lightly. “I feel like we need to go to a bar and have a round, or ten, of drinks to tell that story, but I'm not leaving my baby anytime soon. So, how does chocolate milk sound?” I asked, pointing toward the kitchen.

Storm laughed, shaking his head. When we were kids, chocolate milk had solved everything.

“Is it normal chocolate milk or that organic crap your alphas keep buying for Luka?”

“We have plenty of the organic stuff, but I have a carton of cheap, chemically enhanced goodness in the back of the fridge,” I declared as I grabbed his forearm, dragging him toward the kitchen.

Two minutes later, we were both holding glasses, and I had to start talking. “Look, I never meant to keep any of it from you. It happened so quickly. I didn't want to drag you into my mess.”

“Sunny, we are family. We share the mess! How did you even meet this asshole?”

“At college. He was charming, and it all happened really quickly. Before I even realized what was going on, he was isolating me more and more from my friends, and in a matter of weeks, he took advantage of me. Our relationship wasn't longer than two months.”

Storm shook his head with a grimace. “All those times I asked you about who the father was?”

I winced. “Yeah, that was a complete lie.”

When I had finally told my brother I was pregnant, I said it was a random hookup at a party, and I couldn't get a hold of the guy or even remember what he looked like, because I'd been drinking. Storm hadn't liked that, but he’d quickly gotten over it and focused on helping me with Luka instead of tracking down this imaginary mysterious party-going baby daddy.

“But why?”

I tapped my fingers on the side of my glass. “Honestly, I was scared. It's been you and me against the world for so long, Storm, and he had power and connections, and I didn't want to drag you down by one stupid decision of mine.”

“Trusting someone who came across as a decent guy is not a mistake. It is not your fault he ended up being an asshole. I just hate that you felt like you couldn't talk to me about it. Just like you didn't tell me when your apartment building burned down.”

“Kennedy had just given birth to Samuel. You missed out on so much when Charlotte was a baby, and I didn’t want to distract you from that time with him.”

“Still, we would have loved to have had you with us.”

I glanced around the kitchen, a smile gracing my face as I took in the chaos of my new home. “I think going to the firehouse worked out rather well for me.”

Storm chuckled, raising his glass. “I'm going to have to agree with you there, twin. Your guys are almost painfully good. None of them have given me an excuse to punch them yet, and I'm actually semi disappointed about that.”

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