THE SOUND OF THE PHONEringing made Nico jump.He’d been dozing off in his chair in his father’s office, something he shouldn’t have done and had expected his father to point out.His father hadn’t said anything, though.
He’d been softer since Nico had told him about the pregnancy.He’d always cared about Nico, but he made it more obvious now.He kept asking Nico if he wanted something to drink or eat, and like today, he let him rest when he needed to.
Nico hadn’t expected the pregnancy to be as hard as it was.He’d thought he’d feel sick for a bit, and that was pretty much it.When he’d told his mother that, she’d laughed in his face and had patted his shoulder.He understood why now.
He was exhausted.He wasn’t doing anything weird or that he wasn’t used to doing, but it was like his body couldn’t get enough sleep, even though he slept like the dead every night.He was also eating more, and while that made sense, some days, he had to stop himself from eating everything he could get his hands on.He’d even resorted to stealing his mother’s gummy bears, for fuck’s sake.She’d been amused when she’d found him eating them in the pantry, and he hadn’t missed how she’d started buying more food she knew he liked and leaving it around the house for him.
“Yes,” Nico’s father said when he answered, his voice barely higher than a whisper.He was clearly trying not to wake up Nico.
Nico blinked his eyes open.If there was work to be done, he wanted to do it.He’d told his father he wouldn’t slack, and he’d meant it.He knew that things would get harder as the pregnancy progressed, which meant that he had to do a lot of work now, even though his father wasn’t pushing him as hard anymore.
His father straightened in his chair.“Harvey iswhat?”he asked.
Nico’s eyes widened, and he leaned forward.His father put his phone on the desk and put it on speaker so that Nico could hear, and while he didn’t recognize the voice on the other side of the phone, the words were enough.
“He and Silas attacked Morris.”
Nico had expected Silas to try attacking his son again, but he wasn’t surprised to find out that he’d attacked another alpha.He’d chosen the worst.Morris was a bear shifter, much bigger and stronger than a skunk shifter, and even more than that, he had an incredible support system.The bears and the badgers had grown close over the past few years.
“What happened?”Nico’s father asked.
“I don’t have many details yet, but Morris is okay.Harvey is dead, and Silas is wounded.From the way Morris is telling it, he almost tore Silas’s arm off, so it’s fair to say that he won’t be bothering anyone anytime soon.If it’s as bad as Morris said, I’d be surprised if Silas survived.”
Nico leaned back against his chair.He wanted to hope that Silas would die, but that man was like a cockroach.He always managed to survive somehow.Nico wouldn’t believe he was dead until he saw his body, and even then, he’d probably wonder if Silas could somehow come back to life.
“Thank you for telling me,” Nico’s father said.“Keep me updated, please.”
“I will, but I believe we can all start to relax.”
Nico waited until his father had hung up to speak up.“I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to relax just yet.”
“I agree.We still need to find Silas’s body to be sure he’s gone.”
“That means we can’t let our guard down yet.”
“Unfortunately, no.Silas is dangerous.I won’t risk it.”
Nico knew that his father had been anxious about him driving to fox territory as often as he was.He hadn’t said anything, though.He was letting Nico do what he wanted with his life.Nico wondered if his pregnancy had made his father realize that he was more than just his heir.He didn’t want his father to worry, but he also wasn’t going to stop seeing Mackenzie.Still, the sooner Mackenzie moved, the better it would be for everyone.
“We should keep our guard up, but it doesn’t mean we can’t be happy about what happened today,” Nico’s father said.“At the very least, I don’t think Silas is going to try to attack any of us anytime soon.He won’t risk it if he’s wounded.It’s almost over.”
Nico smiled.Itwasalmost over.It would take a little while longer for everything to truly settle down, but things were looking up.
* * * *
DEAN WAS EATING A SANDWICHwhen he opened the door.He barely even looked at Mackenzie, who smiled, amused.His brother was more focused on his food than on his brother.
“It’s good to see you, too,” Mackenzie teased him.
Dean glanced up from his sandwich.“Yes, yes, it’s good to see you.Now get to the point.I know you have something to tell me.You wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“What, I don’t have the right to see my brother?”
“Oh, you have the right to see me.I’m just sure there’s something more to it.”Dean squinted and chewed as he stared at Mackenzie.“There’sdefinitelysomething.”
“Maybe he’d tell you if you’d let him inside the house,” Jasper said as he appeared behind Dean.He squeezed Dean’s shoulder and smiled at Mackenzie.“Come in.”
“It’s good to see that at least one of you has manners,” Mackenzie said as he obeyed and closed the door behind himself.
