Page 47 of The Alpha's Broken Oath

I know he’s seen them, and despite what I’ve told him, he’s not going to back down from wanting to prove he’s the father. For that reason alone, I have to get away from Deacon as soon as I can.

“Adrian needs rest, and my mansion’s closer,” Deacon replies.

He might be right, but I’m not prepared to back down from my decision. “Is that the reason why you told them you have a pool? To use them against me?”

To take them away from me?

“Fuck, Winter. I’m offering you guys a place to stay for just one night. Nothing more, baby. A lot’s happened tonight, and the last thing I want is to fight, so let me help. You and the boys can come stay with me tonight.”

Telling Deacon “no” to his offer is easy enough, considering it only took a few minutes getting stuck in the elevator with him for me to give in to him enough to let him fuck me. No matter how much I dislike him, staying at his house would make it hard to resist him.

I remain assertive with my decision, but when Adrian looks at me, his eyes on the verge of spewing tears, I falter in my decision.

“Mommy, I’m scared of going back to the house.”

Asher, who has the same well of unshed tears in his eyes, nods at his brother’s words.

“Nothing’s going to hurt you back home, babies. Mommy will protect you. There’s nothing to be scared of.”

I know I’m losing the battle when Adrian sobs, whispering, “Please don’t make me go there. I’m scared of falling sick and listening to Mommy scream for me to wake up.”

He heard me screaming his name?

I can’t say no to Deacon's offer right now. I know I can’t.

Going home would be traumatizing for my babies, so I say yes to Deacon’s offer, albeit begrudgingly.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

DEACON

Winter and her kids have stayed in my mansion for two days. I thought Winter would take them away as soon as Adrian started feeling better, but to my shock and my utter surprise, she stayed, and I’ve tried to keep my distance so she won’t be uncomfortable.

But keeping my distance doesn’t mean I won’t try to change Winter’s mind a little so that she and the kids can stay longer in my mansion. Secretly, I’ve been ordering clothes for Winter and the kids and sneaking them into their closet when they are asleep. I figure that the more I make this place more like their home, the more they’ll never want to leave.

She and the boys have slept in my guest room for two days straight, and I can’t lie. I've been itching to head to their room and sleep with them on the same bed.

I’ve been itching to cross the distance between my room and theirs and give them the affection I couldn’t have showered them with the minute their mother fell pregnant.

Goddess. How could I have been so stupid?

How could I have rejected her, not knowing she was pregnant?

I let her leave to the outside world, knowing she was carrying grief and the torment of my rejection, and then learn she was pregnant, too?

She had no money. So, the jobs she took…she was working while she was pregnant with Adrian and Asher?

Fuck, Winter. I failed you big time. I really failed as a mate and as a father.

The truth of it all hits me like a wrecking ball to the chest, and every time I breathe, my lungs constrict painfully, and the organ in my chest feels like it wants to tear itself out of my fucking chest.

“Uncle Deacon?” Adrian, who has the most expressive dark eyes I’ve ever seen, tugs at my shorts, pulling me from the wave of despair that’s become one with my skin.

I kneel on the marble floor, my hand patting Adrian’s head.

He has the same shade of dark hair, just like mine.

He has the same dark, slightly brown eyes, just like mine.

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