“Remember the poetry?” she asked, wiping her tears. “They wrote them! Can you imagine them all sitting around the table together writing, ‘Roses are red, violets are blue, Westin and me together forever.’”
Henry ran his hand down her face, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Is that seriously what they said?”
“Well, they got creepier the more I got, but that was the first one. I bet Alex wrote it. He’s such a fucking idiot.”
Her shoulders shook with laughter, but then I realized her laughter turned to sobs. She buried her face in her hands as tearsstreamed down her face. Henry moved so I could sit next to her, and I pulled her into my chest.
“I can’t believe they hired someone to hurt me,” she sobbed.
I held her tight and pressed soft kisses on her hair and face. I wanted to remove this pain, remove the past few minutes from her memory, so she never had to think about it again.
A rusty purr started in my chest, my rage strangling me and making it impossible to soothe my omega how I wanted. Liam helped me out, a gentle purr rolling through him.
“They were always awful to me, but this is another level,” Westin said, her tears soaking my shirt. “I don’t know if they got worse after Cat died or if they were always like this.”
Bear leaned over the couch and pressed a kiss to the top of Westin’s head. She didn’t see how his hands shook as they clenched the back of the sofa.
“I’m sorry, darling,” Henry murmured.
“We’ll get them for this, princess,” I said. “I promise. They will pay.”
Henry caught my gaze and nodded, and I knew we would all do whatever we needed to get her uncles back for this. I wanted them to feel every ounce of suffering they had inflicted on my omega throughout the years and more.
As I held her, I made a silent promise that I would make sure the rest of her life would be happy and easy. Because she deserved it. And because I loved her more than anything in the world.
107
WESTIN
My heart was tender since finding out about my uncles. The last tendrils connecting me to my remaining family broke with their betrayal, leaving me alone in the world.
No.I wrapped my fingers around the locket Anne gave me as I put it back on after my MRI. Not alone. I had a new family now, and hopefully, I was about to receive the news that my new life was about to begin.
We made our way through the winding hospital hallways until we were in the exam room, waiting for Dr. Ash. The wait for this day had been agonizing, but now that it was here, I wasn’t sure I was ready.
The door opened and Dr. Ash entered, sitting down on her rolling chair. “Good afternoon, Westin and pack.”
My heart was pounding so loudly I was sure everyone could hear it.
She met my gaze and there was a slight tightness in her eyes, and that’s when I knew.
The treatment hadn’t worked.
Dr. Ash must have seen the realization on my face, because she gave me a sad smile.
“I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything different,” I said softly.
“What do you mean?” Bear asked, turning to face me.
“The chemotherapy did not fully eradicate the tumor,” Dr. Ash said.
Her words hung in the air like tiny bombs over the perfect life we’d imagined together.
“No,” Henry breathed.
Dr. Ash pulled up the MRI images on her computer. “You can see that the tumor is significantly smaller than before, so the chemo did have a tremendously positive effect. You should already be feeling reductions in your pain and other neurological symptoms, and I would expect that improvement to last for quite a while. We will continue monitoring with MRIs every three months to track the tumor’s growth. But I don’t think you’ll need more active treatment—meaning additional chemo—anytime in the near future.”
“But I probably will need it at some point,” I said, dread seeping into my skin like poison. I felt like I’d barely survived chemo this time around.
