“You know what I think we should do?” Theo asked, the slightest hint of mischief reaching me through the bond.
I raised my eyebrows.
“Go for a drive,” he said with a grin.
I held my breath. Was he suggesting what I thought he was?
Theo pulled the car keys from his back pocket with a flourish and presented them to me.
I squealed, plucking them from his hand before he changed his mind and held them close to my chest. Ben threw his fist in the air with a whoop, and Cam just groaned, pressing his face into my hair. I giggled, tugging down Cam’s shirt so I could place a kiss on his bond mark before hopping off the counter and running to the door to put my shoes on.
“Let’s go!” I shouted, looking back at my alphas. They stood close to each other, watching me with tenderness. A surge of love met me in the bond so strong it almost buckled my knees.
We held each other’s gazes for a moment that seemed to stretch to eternity, the silence holding everything we couldn’t put into words. But in all of it, there was love. So much love, I wasn’t sure my heart could handle it.
And then the spell was broken. Ben bounded over to me, twirling me around in the air. Cam wrapped me up in a jacket, muttering about it being too cold out, and Theo held the driver’s side door open for me.
The air was cold and crisp, and the gravel road stretching from the cabin felt like possibility as I turned the key.
Three Months Later
ChapterSixty
Josie
“Josie,” Theo said, shaking me gently.
I buried myself deeper in the nest, dread seizing my chest. Today was the first day of Glen’s trial. I had been subpoenaed to testify against him, and the idea of recounting years of trauma and suffering in front of an audience had haunted my nightmares for weeks.
“Sweetheart, wake up,” Cam said, tugging me into his arms.
It took me a few moments to wake fully, but as I did, my guys’ glee reached me through the bond. I peeled my eyes open, scrunching my nose.
“Why are you all so happy?”
Ben’s hand snaked under the blankets and squeezed my thigh. “Watch this,” he said, kissing my cheek.
Theo held up his phone and pressed play on a news clip.
“We have received confirmation that earlier this morning, an ambulance was called to Tansy Prison for former Governor Glen Jacoby, whose trial was supposed to start later today. Medics reported that Mr. Jacoby was dead upon arrival.”
I shot up in bed, taking the phone out of Theo’s hands and gripping it tightly. My heart felt like it was about to explode.
“An autopsy will be performed, but one prison guard reported that they suspected Mr. Jacoby had been poisoned. While no guards reported any suspicious activity, police found a single flower petal in the cell, and prison surveillance cameras caught this image of a cloaked individual leaving through a service entrance at around two o’clock in the morning.”
“Oh my god,” I gasped, pausing the video on the grainy black-and-white picture. It was too dark to make anything out, but I was certain who it was.
“It’s Genevieve,” I said, looking up from the phone.
Theo’s wide eyes reached mine. “How do you know?”
Before I could respond, my phone vibrated on the nightstand, and I lunged for it. Cam’s arms tightened around my waist, keeping me from tumbling off the bed.
My hands shook as I opened the text from an unknown number.
Be free of him and live.
A couple of stray tears trickled down my cheeks as gratitude towards my former friend filled me. She had done this for me, for herself, for all of us who Glen had harmed. And now it was over.
