Axel winces at the sting of my words. He’s not one to run from a fight or abandon his friends. Rider doesn’t give anything away, he’s retreated to himself. His face is a blank slate. Remaining stoic is his automatic protective stance. A survival mechanism he learned the hard way. I know this. But it doesn’t stop me from lashing out.
“Don’t you fucking care? Our friends are dead. Our President is dead. Donna is dead!” I yell, getting in his face.
“You know I do,” he replies calmly.
“Knox…” Jace interjects. A warning, perhaps, that I shouldn’t blame them. I ignore him.
“You cowards left them to die!” I scream, twisting around to face Axel again. I can see that my words are hurting him, but I want to lash out, for others to feel the same pain I do.
“Do you think we wanted to leave them?” Axel snarls. “We had no choice.”
“Oh, yeah, because you had to save Leah,” I reply sarcastically, finally looking at her. “What’s so fucking special about this chick that you’ll abandon your friends and Prez to die? Cos she’s hot and you wanna stick your dick in her?”
“It was an order, Knox,” Rider explains again calmly.
“So you fucking ignore it!” I snap.
I turn my attention to Leah, who shrinks under my furious gaze. Normally, I’d feel bad for scaring her. I’ve grown fond of Leah, not just because she’s easy on the eye and is forbidden, I’m dying to break the rules with, but also because she seems like a genuinely nice woman. The kind of person I could picture being my old lady, if I ever wanted to settle down, that is. But right now, I don’t care if I upset her. In my grief, all I can see is that she’s the reason the last of my family is dead.
“What’s so fucking special about you that you get to live and they had to die?” I snarl.
“Nothing,” she replies, her voice a frightened whisper. Tears fall down her face. She’s so beautiful and vulnerable that I have to look away.
“Knox, that’s enough,” Jace says softly.
“No. It’s not. I need answers!”
“She’s pregnant, Knox,” Axel says quietly.
That knocks some of the wind out of my sails. It makes sense now why she moved in and why Axel said she was off-limits. Clearly, he wants to do right by the kid, and there’sdefinitely something between them that he seems to be trying to work out.
“She’s carrying your child. Why didn’t you just tell us, Axel?”
I can’t read Axel’s expression as he takes in my words.
“Knox. It’s not my child. Leah is a surrogate for Zeus and Donna. She’s carrying Levi and April’s baby.”
His words sink in, and I look over at Leah, who doesn’t seem to realize she’s placed a protective hand on her stomach.
“How’s that even possible? Levi and April have been dead for months,” I say with a disbelieving shake of my head.
As Axel explains the whole story, how they had frozen embryos and went in search of the perfect surrogate, all of my anger is knocked out of me, leaving me confused and remorseful. I know that Zeus and Donna would gladly have died to save their unborn grandchild.
I also feel an overwhelming sense of hurt and confusion that I’m only finding this out now.
“Why didn’t they tell me?” I ask. A rejected and lonely boy again.
“They didn’t want to get your hopes up until they knew for sure that Leah was pregnant. They knew that this baby would mean more to you than anyone else, maybe even them. You were their son, Levi’s adopted brother. They wanted to bring back a piece of what was taken from you all,” Axel explains gently.
“And now this baby’s lost all of its family…”
“You, of all people, should know family isn’t just blood relatives. Zeus and Donna treated you as their own for your whole life, even before making it official and adopting you. We’re your brothers, your family, too,” Jace replies.
“And we’ll be this baby’s family,” Axel insists.
I look over at Leah, who’s evidently in shock. It’s clear that the fact of the surrogate parents being gone and the question of who will now care for the child is only just dawning on her. Like it or not, Leah is part of this family now. There’s no way that I won’t be a part of this child’s life. I’m not letting her out of my sight until the baby is born. After that, she can decide if she wants to stay or go, but the baby won’t be going with her if I have any say in it.
Chapter 9