Page 23 of My Ruthless Alpha

I sighed. “Yeah, well, she ran away from her old pack after the new alpha killed Cyrus, and tensions started rising. I found Faye and her daughter on the run the other night, and they’ve been staying with me since.”

They both shared a look of surprise, seemingly not expecting to hear of her comeback.

“Her daughter?” Tyler questioned, brows furrowed slightly. “She had a kid?”

“A kid with someone else?” Aiden added, just as shocked to hear it.

“That’s just it…Margo’s mine.”

Miles joined in with his own wide eyes, having been left out of that part. “What?”

Aware of how heavy the topic was and how there wasn’t any easier way of telling them everything, I chuckled to diffuse the tension. “Yeah. Margo’s my daughter with Faye. She didn’t find out about the pregnancy until after we all left the pack, and she didn’t know where I ended up. She told me everything last night.”

“What are the chances of that…” Tyler murmured, mostly to himself.

“You’re a dad…” Miles added, blinking through his astonishment. Then, a surprisingly excited grin crossed his face. “That means we’ve been uncles all this time?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, well…I’m surprised you had it in you,” Tyler said with a faint smirk. “You seem to be taking it well.”

I knew he was right. Most people would’ve been losing their minds in my situation, but I couldn’t find it in me to be angry or upset. It was startling and surprising, but I felt grateful more than anything that Faye had come back to me, and I was allowed to be a dad, even if our future still seemed mostly unclear.

“I was shaken up when she confirmed it, but I already had the feeling…plus, I can’t blame her for not telling me sooner. I did leave out of the blue and didn’t think we’d see each other again. I can only assume she believed the same thing,” I murmured, watching how my line lazily swayed within thegentle current around us. “Besides, I was an asshole for what I did…even if she hadn’t wanted to tell me, I couldn’t exactly be mad at her either way.”

“You were kind of an asshole, weren’t you?” Tyler questioned, eyes ringed with mischief. “All moody and getting set off from the smallest things. Having a conversation with you during that time was like trying to diffuse a bomb.”

“Maybe it was for the best you weren’t there…she would’ve needed the patience of a saint to deal with you before figuring everything out,” Aiden murmured, tone laced with teasing of his own.

I let go of a huffed breath and shook my head. “I know…don’t remind me. There was too much going on in my head, and none of it needed to be put on Faye at the time. Hence why I left and took you rats with me.”

They chuckled lightly, all glancing out at the quiet lake around us.

“So what now, then?” Miles asked, more gentle than he initially had been.

“For now, I’m going to try and get back into Faye’s good graces. I want her to stay in the pack so the three of us can try being a family,” I answered honestly, feeling as if that desire to protect them both stirred in me again. “I broke her trust, but now I need to make up for it. I was absent for enough of Margo’s life…I don’t need to keep that trend going.”

My brothers nodded thoughtfully. Then, Aiden grinned.

“You think you can charm her again?”

As much as I didn’t want to get into any of the gritty details with them, I couldn’t help the knowing smile that crossedmy lips. “You could say I have a reason to be confident on that front.”

As the realization set in, all three wore shit-eating grins and laughed. Miles gave my shoulder a light punch.

“Atta boy!”

“Oh, shut up,” I muttered back, trying (and failing) to contain my own chuckles at their reactions, not wanting to encourage them.

Tyler pulled his line back in unhurriedly as he shook his head. “It seems your search for a mate will be over sooner than we thought.”

Even if their quips and teasing were as incessant as always, and I likely wouldn’t hear the end of it for quite some time, I didn’t mind it. Sharing it with them and receiving their opinions, regardless of whether I took them to heart or not, made the whole situation feel even more real to me.

Since Faye told me about Margo being my daughter, I felt like I was observing the situation rather than living it, but speaking it out loud helped solidify that fact for me. It was very real, and I was very much a father regardless of the unusual circumstances.

I was grateful for the chance to have Faye and Margo in my life again, and I wasn’t going to waste it.

They were a part of me, regardless of our relationship status or how we were starting from square one together.

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