“And if you have a dozen children, we are happy.” Cash kissed the top of her head.
“If we have a dozen, I won’t be happy,” I teased, although now that they put it out there, it didn’t sound so bad. “Whatever the Goddess has for our future, as long as you are there, we couldn’t ask for anything more.”
The Goddess put that to the test an hour later when a delivery truck showed up asking us to sign for a package. The package ended up being a single envelope, and inside was an acceptance of our bid for the mansion work.
“Fuck that noise.” Cash wasn’t having any of it.
None of us were. He shot them an email telling them they could piss off and die, only in business-appropriate language. We couldn’t risk putting into print something that could come back and bite us in the court of public opinion. This was our livelihood, and it was bad enough we used all of our savings to buy our omega from her mate and had nothing left set aside. We couldn’t have him take our ability to do business away too.
He was the type to do that.
We got a reply only a few minutes later telling us it wasn’t a request.
Fuck that noise.
We should’ve bled that bastard dry when we had the chance.
Chapter Twenty-One
Isabella
I loved my life here with my three bears, but after so much time had passed, I still hadn’t mated with Lyon. The third bear was on my list, to put it totally unromantically, when everything blew up with my past. The bears had explained to me about mates and how I was destined for them, but I still woke up some days wondering why they didn’t just put me out with the trash. Or hand me back to Mark to do whatever he wanted with. Because being with me? Not easy.
Oh, not because I was rude or unpleasant, but my past just kept rolling over us. The bitch I was now grateful he preferred to me was pregnant. Like I cared. Let them fill the house with misbegotten brats. With the genetics on both sides, they were sure to be part demon. Or hellhounds. Something evil and horrible who would make their lives worse.
But since I spent that wonderful afternoon with York outside on the lounger, there had not been a perfect moment to spend with Lyon. All of us were so stressed. Oh, the guys tried to hide it, but I’d spent a lot of years monitoring the emotions of a male, and I wasn’t anywhere near as close to him as I was to these three bears. And that was without making love to Lyon.
It was unfair to him, to me…to our whole little family. We needed to be on an even footing, but that wasn’t the biggest part. No. Every time I reached past him for a mug in the coffee/tea station he’d set up for me, I wanted to fling myself at him.
But it wasn’t time for that. It was time to try to figure out how to completely separate ourselves from Mark and all of his crime family. So, not only was I not sleeping with Lyon, I wasn’t sleeping with any of them. It didn’t seem like the time. Or maybe I thought I needed to be with each of them once before revisitingthe others. I was so confused about what I should be doing or could be doing or needed to do.
I had no experience at being a mate, at living my dream with my three bears. And I was fairly certain I was screwing it up badly. One night, lying in bed, I reached a breaking point. I hadn’t slept much for days, couldn’t eat, and while I recognized that something had to change, going back to Millie’s just endangered her family.
Pulling on my robe and tucking my phone in the pocket, I started for the backyard, needing fresh air. Every muscle ached from the tension I’d borne for years and thought I’d never face again. Pushing open the door, I stepped outside into the cool night. My mates were adamant that we could make things work, end the barrage of negativity sent in our direction. But was it right for me to allow them to put themselves in danger that way? For the same reason I’d said no to Millie’s home as an option, I should pack my things and get on a random bus to somewhere my presence didn’t put anyone at risk.
The lounger where I’d made love with York stood nearby, and I tiptoed over to it as if my bare footfalls might disturb my mates sleeping in the house. Ridiculous, but lack of sleep and warring emotions were not my friends. I stroked the cushion where we’d had such an incredible afternoon.
It was going to be so hard to leave, but as I perched on the edge of the chair, I saw no other solution that would protect the ones I loved. Mark would spend his energy trying to track me down so he could marry his whore and live happily ever after. My mates and friends would not know where I’d gone, and hopefully Mark and his goons would accept that and leave them alone.
With that decision made, I allowed myself a few more minutes of moonlight while I composed my goodbye note on my phone.
“Mate?”
I jerked in surprise. “Lyon, I didn’t hear you come out.”
“Right.” He waved to the chair. “Join you?”
“Oh, sure. I was about to go back in, though.”
He sat next to me, thighs touching and reminding me how much I’d wanted him and for so long. “What are you writing?”
Crap. “Nothing, just a note.”
“Omega? It’s two in the morning.”
So few words, yet my quietest mate managed to convey so much. He wasn’t going to accept that I had gone outside in the early morning hours to make a grocery list or a reminder to empty the dishwasher. And with his gaze boring into mine, I didn’t even try to lie. “A goodbye note. I can’t stay here and risk those criminals harming you all.”
“Isabella.” He stood up and reached for my hand, drawing me up with him. “It’s cold out here. Let’s go inside and talk.”
