“Fair. But also, no. You can be my sous chef. That’s the best you’re getting.”
I wanted to argue, but if my mate was going to eat the best food, it was not going to be mine. I helped cut up vegetables for omelets, set the table, and made a fruit salad while he put muffins in the oven.
Justice joined us shortly after, looking better than he had since she’d arrived. He’d been working long nights, helping her discover her past and other things that may or may not have to do with her. Not all of his work was something he could talk about, so we never pushed. We trusted him to tell us anything we needed to know.
They both noticed my mark but neither said anything, just gave me a warm smile.
So much had changed last night. It was a lot to process.
I wondered how Justice was feeling about it, if he was happy for her, hurt for himself, or some mix in between. If he was like I was when she mated Archer, he was happy for her, but I didn’t want to ask and have it feel like salt rubbed in a wound.
“Is she okay?” he asked.
We’d all seen each other naked often enough for him to know that I was a little larger than most, and I was happy thathe was caring enough to check on her. Of course he was. She was his, too.
“She’s still sleeping,” I said. “I didn’t want to leave, but I had to pee, and really, she has to eat.”
Just then, her door opened, and Archer turned the skillet on, warming it up so it would be ready.
“What smells so good in here?” she asked.
“Don’t blame me,” I said, my hands up. “This is on Archer. He’s the one who makes the good food.”
“I had a copilot today,” he said and shoulder-bumped me.
“Good morning,” she said. She finished crossing the room and gave a kiss on the cheek to me, then Archer, then Justice. Was this what morning was going to be like from now on? Goddess, I hoped so.
I took the muffins out of the oven and with Justice’s help, placed everything on the table as Archer dished the omelets to order. It was nice like this, all of us eating together. It wasn’t the first time, but each one mattered.
“There’s something we need to talk to you about,” Archer said, reaching across the table to put his hand on hers. We’d discussed it the day before, but hadn’t gotten around to the conversation yet. “It’s about your family. Your birth family, I mean. If you want your birthright, your money, the assets, and all that entails, we can work on helping you get that back.”
She looked at us like we had six heads and then shook her head vehemently. “No. Absolutely not.”
“We’ll protect you from them,” I said.
“That’s not what I mean. I don’t want anything from them. They…they killed my sister.”
We didn’t know that for sure, but I wasn’t going to correct her, because her sense of loss was real, whether they’d done it or not. And the odds were, they had.
“Okay,” I said, tapping the table. “That’s the end of it. If you change your mind, you can bring it up with us, but we will never push. We are happy to support you, omega ours, in all ways.”
Justice scratched right under his ear, the way he did when he was nervous.
“Out with it,” I snapped, probably a little too forcefully. I got annoyed when he held things in. It wasn’t often, and never long. It was always something that he didn’t need to worry about, either. Silly alpha.
“I was able to do something for you,” he said. He got up, went to the drawer, and pulled out an envelope, placing it in front of her. She opened it up carefully and pulled everything out, looking at the documents one at a time. There was an ID, a birth certificate, school records, and checking account paperwork.
“How did you get these?” she asked.
“Bonnie, there’s one thing we probably should’ve told you about Justice,” Archer said. “We don’t ask his methods. He works in cybersecurity because he can do things others can’t. We just accept them and smile.”
“I will tell you one thing,” Justice said. “I used your birth sister’s name for your last name.”
She opened up the birth certificate. Bonnie River. “Her name was River.”
“I can change it if you want, but it seemed fitting.”
“And these documents won’t get me in trouble?”
