Pierce shakes that thought away. He isn’t even angry with Vinny.
He is justconcerned, worriedthat this has been too much for Xenia.
He focuses on the omega in his arms.
My Omega.
“I’m pregnant,” is all she manages to choke out.
Wren in his periphery sets up the couch, gathering all of her favorite cushions while Luther rinses up in the kitchen sink, dims the lights, and puts on soft music in the background. Making their living area as tranquil as it can be.
Pierce limps as he leads Xenia to the couch, wrapping her around him; he sits them down and allows her to continue to fall apart. Luther takes up the space next to him, holding a pack of frozen peas to his swollen eye, but Wren settles on the floor.
Wren offers soothing caresses up and down her legs as Luther rubs her back, and Pierce simply acts as the vessel for her to pour every piece of her pain into.
“Shhh, it’s okay. You’re pregnant. Is that why you came here to find me?” Luther’s question is soft, but Pierce can hear there is hurt buried within it.
“Not only. It was just the excuse. But I couldn’t”—she hiccups—“I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I would have ended up here eventually either way, that just pushed me along.”
Luther hums his happiness. “I love you, Nia. Everything is going to be okay. We have you and will keep you safe, Little Omega.”
“Didn’t you hear him? I’m a killer! I killed a man!” Xenia cries into Pierce’s shirt. Her small hands squeezing cute fists into the material. “And I washappyto. He hurt me so badly it was areliefwhen he died.”
“So have I,” Pierce admits. “It was why my family kicked me out. I walked in on my uncle doing horrible things to a girl I went to school with. I saw red and when I came back, he was dead.” He had never spoken to the girl before, never knew her name but later he found out she was a Rossi.Winter Rossi.It had been the nail in his proverbial coffin. Choosing a Rossi over his own family. But he doesn’t regret it. And after that, he began to look for the signs. To illuminate the victims and thepredators.
It was why it was so easy for him to spot that Xenia was avictim.
Pierce expects his words to shock Xenia. “You understand then,” is what she says instead.
A deep vibration comes from his chest as he purrs his contentment, as his urges ride him to make her his. Something has flipped. Her acceptance of his darkest crime has caused a surge ofobsession.
“What about Charles?” she murmurs.
Charles. I nearly forgot about my own son in this chaos.
"We will make contact. Even so, it will take time. But he is safe now, and that’s thanks to you, Nia.” Luther hums. “You have our eternal gratitude.”
Pierce tempers his emotions, stomps on the obsession building in his heart. “I love you, Xenia. And we willneverpressure you. But you are ours whenever you are ready to be. Your past does not define who you are. If anything, it is justanother reason for us to dote on you. To give and show you what it means to be loved.”
Xenia snuggles further into him, her addictive scent perfuming around them as her worries ease.
“I’m sorry.” Pierce is surprised by Wren’s words.
But then he remembers how they were missing. How Wren must have tried to leave with her.
“I betrayed the trust of our pack. I thought I knew what was best. I thought I was keeping us all protected. But I made a mistake. Xenia is ours. It is my duty to protect her, just as it is to protect you two and Charles. She is our family. And I can only hope you all will forgive me.” Wren looks up from the floor, his eyes landing on Xenia’s. “I love you. You are ours. Will you have us? Will you be our omega? Will you become the heart of Pack Bentley?”
Xenia stills in Pierce’s arms. Pushing off, she looks between the three of them. Her nose is red, her eyes glassy, the freckles painting her face are exceptionally cute and clear. But it is her piercing clear eyes that freeze Pierce, that take his breath.
They arefilledwith joy. With love. With happiness.
She is healing. One slow step at a time.
“Yes. I will be your Omega.”
thirty-one
Xenia
