Page 124 of In Control

We’ve been told the mayor’s trial won’t take place for at least six months, but we’re trying our best to keep Sophia’s mind off that.

I’m already working less than I used to and even Esra is too. We’re all keen to be home together as much as we can.

Where will life take us? What will it bring? It’s impossible to predict. Maybe that’s what I love about it most.

Who would have known this woman, this beta, would have changed our lives so fundamentally? Would have given us the things we were craving so desperately. Yes, children, sure. But love and stability too. And we’ve given her those things in return.

“You want another decaf coffee, sweetheart?” Esra asks Sophia, kissing the knuckles of her hand.

“You know what, I’m going to have one of those strawberry milkshakes with cream, marshmallows and sprinkles – the candy kind not the chocolate ones. And it needs to be really cold, not lukewarm.”

“Got it,” Esra says, grinning.

“I’m eating for three now, after all.”

I think pregnancy suits her well. She was already fucking stunning but now she seems even more so – her skin glowing, her eyes brighter and her belly getting rounder by the day.

When Esra returns with fresh drinks for us all, we all watch anxiously as Sophia inspects her milkshake and takes a sip through her straw.

“Is it OK, sweetheart?” Esra asks, still on his feet, ready to change it if she asks him to.

“Hmmmm,” we wait, “perfect.”

“Thank fuck,” Esra mutters, sinking into a seat.

“I was serious, about a pack surname,” Gabe says after a moment’s silence, “I want the world to know we belong together. I want the world to know that when our children arrive, they belong to this pack too.”

“I like that idea,” Sophia says, hooking out a marshmallow from the cream floating on top of her shake. “What were you thinking?”

“Me? No idea! Obviously I’m rather fond of Manchetti but …”

“It should be a combination of all our names,” I say.

“That would be one fucking long mouthful.” Esra chuckles.

“No, we combine them somehow.” I pinch a sweet from the top of Sophia’s drink and pop it into my mouth. “Because that would be symbolic too.”

“How?” Sophia asks, swiping at my fingers when I try to take a second sweet.

“This pack is formed by each one of us. Without one, the entire thing falls apart. And we are all needed, all special, all have our part to play, whether we’re an alpha, omega, or,” I hold Sophia’s gaze, “beta. We all belong. Don’t you see?”

“You were a pack before me.” Sophia whispers.

“An incomplete one.”

“Then we should take Sophia’s surname,” Esra says.

“Mine?” she asks.

“Yes, we never did that whole naming our pack thing. But Gabe is right. We should. And while I understand what Ro’s saying, I think our pack should be named after the member who brought us together.”

“Pack Valentine,” Sophia says. The name has a ring to it and as she says it out loud an electricity hums in the bonds connecting the five of us together.

I smile as I gaze around my packmates, the people I love most in the world, the people who mean the most to me. “Pack Valentine. Yeah, I like the sound of that.”

31

Epilogue - Five years later

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