“It still hurts, Rayla, that you would choose to hand over your life so easily.” Avery’s voice sounded next to me, and I turned. He ran a hand over my hair and cupped my chin as he whispered, “That you would leave us so easily.”
I bit back my ire and took a calming breath. “It was not easy to come to that decision. I’m a fighter, always have been, but when I couldn’t figure a way out, I just thought... I wanted my life to count for something, not just Vincent’s way to get back at Lex and the bosses. I refused to let Vincent take anything more from me.”
Falcon came up to me, his all-seeing eyes found mine in understanding. “We know how you feel because we also feel the same way, and that includes you.”
I took a deep breath, letting that sink in, and realized what I was trying to do was a little selfish and made my heart break at how hurt my mates would’ve been, but I still would’ve done it, even if it meant saving them from his knife. I was smart enough to not say it and nod my head like the good girl I was pretending to be in that moment. If I didn’t, who knew how long this sex ban would take, and I was already having withdrawals.
“Rayla, darling, will you come in?” Syris was at the door, holding his arm out for me, and winked at my mates, letting them know everything would be okay.
I hooked my arm into his, and he closed the door, whispering in my ear, “You would think that I was taking you to death row with how grim they’re all being. You got yourself a handful.”
Smiling, I patted his arm. “Yes. Yes, I do, but they’re worth it.”
“Rayla, sit down,” my dad called out from the head of the table, motioning at me to sit at the opposite end. The massive conference table was no longer in the center of the room, the leaflets that extended it were taken out so it was much smaller, but the bosses were on one side, and I was on the other.
I pulled out my chair and complied with my dad. He looked on edge, with his hair a mess and his eyes with dark circles but an unshakable determination. The other bosses had more of a serious tone with their faces all relaxed into frowns and accusing eyes.
My dad pulled out a pad of paper and berated me with questions. “How many of them are your mates?”
I answered, “All of them.” When my dad lifted a brow, I clarified, “Ax, Avery, Falcon, Lex, and... Cosmo.”
There was a crack, and the pen in my dad’s hand broke into two pieces. “Cosmo? Really?” I just nodded, seeing my dad lost in thought for a second.
Syris pulled out a pen from his suit jacket and slid it over with a smirk. My dad continued. “Do they all have your marks?”
“Yes. Avery’s wings have also changed colors.” Syris smiled wide as his eyes watered. “Ax’s wolf has accepted me,”—Manic nodded—“and Falcon’s magic doesn’t work on me.” Easton looked at his hands, clenching them together when he looked up at me with a sad smile.
“Lex and Cosmo?” my dad bit out.
“Lex’s horns will grow for me, and Cosmo’s mark is on my sternum.” All of them nodded, looking at my dad who gulped, still having a hard time with it all.
Manic rumbled out, “Look, Rayla, we are not mad about this, but we do have some concerns as the Syndicate. With all of them being your mates, how is it going to work? Are they all in charge of everything? With you at the converging center, are you now a soul leader? When you have kids, what will the Syndicate look like then?”
Easton piped up, “The treaty with the humans requires us to always have our lineage tied to this group. If you only have kids together, how is that going to cover all the branches? How will we always have a Winstale, Devil, Rossey, Glovefox, and Desmond involved?”
I thought about it for a second, letting it stew in my mind, and I could only come up with one conclusion. “How about I just have a kid with each of them?”
The whole table froze as they all looked at me like I was a crazy person, but I kept going. “While I will be the mother of all of them, I’m sure we could come up with a way to ensure that each of your lines is still present. As for last names, we could keep them under each of their bloodline’s name, but I would like to say that I don’t like putting my future children in a box.” I shook my finger at them, knowing that any of my children would immediately rebel from being put in a box of “have to’s.”
I tapped my finger against my chin while thinking out loud. “My question to you guys would be, if my child with Falcon wants to go into the skins trade, I would want to cultivate that. The same goes for any of them, as long as one of them takes responsibility for each clan, then I don’t see what the problem is.”
Manic tried to make it seem impossible. “Are you saying that the child between you and Avery could run the Rossey clan? Do you think a clan that is mostly run by werewolves will listen to a faerie?” He scoffed, but I kept myself firm, liking this idea more and more.
“Sure, they will. If this fae child could fight better than all of them, proving their passion and their worth, I know that the clan would learn to respect them.” I let out a big breath. “I’m not saying just hand it over to each kid, I am talking about if they are good at it, interested, have a natural knack for the trade, that they should be given a fair shot at whatever they’re good at, not just placed in it just because of their last name and species.”
Manic tilted his head in thought, genuinely thinking about my proposal. Easton was the first one to ask, “And how would you ensure that each bloodline gets a child?”
My dad smacked his hands on the table. “Do not answer that, Rayla. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear what these feral boys are doing to my daughter.” I almost laughed out loud when the other bosses glared at him.
“Feral, Ternin... really?” Manic growled out.
I smiled. “Oh, you should be more worried about what I’m doing to your sons.” Syris was the only one that cracked up at that, while the other two looked genuinely concerned. I shrugged. “Don’t worry about that. I have some ideas, maybe a rotation? I mean it’s only one hole that makes you preg—”
My dad glared at me as he yelled, “Rayla Mina Desmond, don’t you dare finish that sentence. You’re going to scar me for life!”
That was the moment all my mates busted through the door and converged behind me. Lex was the first one to ask me, “Are you okay? What are they doing to you?”
Ax stuck his finger out, pointing at all the bosses. “Why don’t you guys back off from her. We’re her mates, and there is no changing that, so just sit down and get on board.”
