I let the brush drop. “How did I forget? Are you sure the others are all right with my doing this?”
“You’re changing your name, and while we did consider having you add all three of our last names hyphenated…”
“Oh my god, that would be awful. I mean, not awful, but how would I even know who I was anymore? Talk about confusing!”
“Right, so we decided, as long as you didn’t mind, for you to have my name, as the alpha of the pack. If you like one of the others?”
“No, this is perfect.” Better than perfect. “I’m almost ready. Are just you and I going?”
“All of us.” Lev appeared beside him. “It’s a pack action.” How had I never realized he was a bear? The rest of us were all wolves and there was a certain feel and scent to us, but now that I knew, I couldn’t unsee the differences. He was the tallest with the broadest shoulders and his chest was much furrier than Rowan or Miles. Vive la differénce. Each of them had so much to recommend them. Rowan’s protectiveness, always worriedabout caring for everyone’s health. Miles, so smart and witty. And Lev…best hugs in the entire world.
We all piled into Miles’ sedan and off we went to the attorney’s office. It was just a name change because I didn’t want to do a human marriage and make one relationship more different than the others. So, legal forms and documents and I might have to appear in court but the attorney didn’t think so.
I didn’t care.
We were doing this so that my old pack couldn’t track me down as easily. They might anyway, but looking at the two alphas in the back seat and the one driving…those wimps would regret it.
At the attorney’s office, we signed all the documents and then Miles asked, “Did you put the word in regarding what we discussed?”
“Yes, and I think you can feel confident it will be handled.” We all shook hands and the lawyer congratulated me on my new name, and I didn’t say anything until we got to the car when I held up my hand.
“What did you discuss?”
Miles looked grim. The others as well, but the alpha spoke for them all. “Your other pack has been reported to the Council.”
“But they can treat an omega any way they like. They paid for me.”
“What is acceptable is bad enough, but when they filmed without your permission, they crossed a line that even those elders cannot ignore. Yes, we wanted to protect you by the name change but when I discussed it with the attorney, he suggested we could take it further.”
I hugged them all so tight, and while I didn’t have any guarantees, it felt fantastic that those who had harmed me might not be able to do the same to someone else. And who knew? Theelders were big on secrecy. This might indeed be the straw that led to their punishment.
An omega could hope.
Epilogue
Lev
“This is ridiculous.” Miles paced the floors, tapping his watch like it was broken. It wasn’t.
“Miles, this will be the last time, right?”
He curled his lip. “Yes. The last damned time.”
Harper had some classes that had to be taken at the school and one of them was an afternoon class. There was a time or two, like tonight, that she caught the bus late and, in turn, was later coming home. After dark.
But she insisted on taking the bus. Said she had to do some things by herself.
Didn’t mean we had to like it.
Besides, we had a surprise for her that would solve the problem. She was probably going to kick up a bear-sized fuss about it but we’d wear her down.
Harper was so strong now. She believed in herself again. Knew what she wanted. I didn’t think it was possible for me to love her any more than I did when we first met her, but here I was, loving her infinitely more by the day.
She didn’t have to work anymore, but our girl didn’t lie around, even though we encouraged it. A few months ago, she began taking martial arts classes and now helped one of the teachers teach self-defense to omegas at the community center.
So it only made sense that she needed proper transportation.
I’d gone over the argument in my head a dozen times.
