“I don’t know anything about children,” I say shrilly. “I don’t have anything for them. I don’t even have ahomefor them.”
Max’s hand pauses. “You do have a home,” he says roughly. “Here.”
It’s a beautiful offer. Just for a moment, I let myself sink into that fantasy. All of us, living happily here together. My children and I being part of this family. Part of the Grey pack.
Reality is quick to sink in, though. I can’t take over their lives like that. Stone is absolutely still coming after me. How can I settle here and ask them to risk their safety? Max picks up on my feelings, and he lifts my face to his.
“Ava…,” his brows lower over his eyes. “Stop thinking you’re an inconvenience to us.”
“But Iaman inconvenience,” I insist. He shakes his head and I hold up my hand.
“You risked everything to get me out of there,” I breathe, looking into his face. “You risked your whole family for me, Max. And I’m so grateful. You saved my life.” My voice breaks on a sob.
“But I can’t put you at risk anymore. If they find you, if they find mewithyou, you will be arrested. All of you. What happens then, Max? What happens to Nash?”
Max shakes me lightly, startling me enough that I take a breath.
“Listen to me,” he says firmly. “We saved you because it was the right thing to do, sweetheart. I couldn’t leave you there. But you being here? Right now? We choose this, Ava. And we want you to choose us. Choose to be a part of our family. Choose tostay.” His voice cracks a little.
I swallow as my heart flips, that impossible future suddenly creeping back in. Does he mean…
“Max,” I say awkwardly. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to – to give you—,”
“I don’t care,” he says roughly. “None of us will ever ask you for more than you’re willing to give. I swear it, love. Give us the chance to show you that not all alphas are the same. I promise that whatever you want to give us willalwaysbe more than enough.”
My chest aches at his words.
I don’t want to go anywhere, I realize.I want to stay.
“You deserve more than a broken omega, Max.” The words are painful.
“Don’t,” he says roughly. “You’re not broken. Your soul is a little scarred, but so is everyone else here. You’re brave, Ava, so damned brave. And I would be proud to stand beside you, for as long as you’ll have me.”
I look down at my hands. “I need to take… whatever this is, slowly,” I warn him.
He pushes my hair back gently. “I’d wait forever if you needed me to.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes, as I curl up in Max’s lap. The tart sweetness of his apple scent soaks into me, warm and comforting. As I breathe in, I realize how far I’ve come since we first met. I could never have gotten this close to Max when I first arrived.
A sudden thought occurs and I stir, Max’s warm breaths huffing against my hair as he looks down, his eyes questioning. “What’s wrong?”
I lick my lips. “When you asked about me staying, did you mean… with everyone?”
I wait for the bite of panic, for the shaking at the thought of getting involved with the whole pack… but it doesn’t come.
He hesitates. “I can’t speak for the pack, love. But I know that none of us want you to leave.”
He doesn’t say anything else, and I sit quietly as I mull over his words.
I never expected to find a pack like this. But now that I have… maybe I need to give this a real chance. Because the idea of losing them, of never seeing them again…
I think that might be the thing that truly breaks me.
ChapterThirty-Seven
Bastien
Nash and I are working on his treehouse when Max rocks up.
