of town, where the tourists gathered. The area was crowded, bustling, and had zero of the exclusive shops they normally preferred. He turned to Helena with a question in his eyes, and she stepped out of the car with a smile.
“You don’t need peace and quiet. You need to be distracted.”
She wasn’t wrong.
The city boiled in the afternoon sun. Victor found himself longing for the grass and trees of the compound.
No.
They passed a giant toy store. A huge stuffed bear sat in the front window, beckoning to all who came near. Victor could imagine Gus yelling bear and climbing all over the thing. It would take up his entire room at the cottage. He reached out to touch the glass.
“Cousin?”
No.
“I’m fine.”
Helena sighed and hooked their arms together once more. “What have they done to you?”
Victor wanted to answer. But he couldn’t. He removed his hand from the window and turned away from the bear behind the glass. “Let’s go.”
Helena’s plan should have worked. The loudness of the crowded streets, the garish signs, and tacky tourists, all should have pulled him out of his thoughts.
It didn’t. Each child he saw made him think of Gus. Each store they passed had him wanting to buy something for his—
No, not his.
“This was a bad idea,” Victor said.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
“No, love. It’s not you. I thought I needed a distraction. I think I just need to focus on work. I have too much to do.”
“Are you sure? You seem tired.”
Tired. Victor tried to hold back a bitter laugh. He succeeded, but barely.
“Would you mind if we turned around and went home? I’m afraid this isn’t going to do me any good. I need to get some things taken care of so I can get some rest. That’s all I need, really. I’ll owe you a fancy lunch next week.”
She leaned into him. “Whatever you need.”
An image of Riggs and Gus immediately popped into his head.
He blew out a breath and turned for one last glance at the giant teddy bear.
“All I need is to get back to work.”
16
Riggs
After a few days of taking it easy and having everyone hovering over him, Riggs wanted nothing more than to go back to work. So he did, much to his mother’s annoyance. Nothing but a fading scar down the center of his body remained to show that he’d almost died. Another couple of days and even that would be gone.
Funny how everything could change in the blink of an eye. Nick walked beside him as he toured the building projects and evaluated how the teams had managed in his absence. Apparently, Brooks, one of the wolves from the Jerrick pack, had stepped up and managed some of the issues while Riggs was away, but Riggs had a sneaking suspicion he’d be busy with the subcontractors for most of the day. The thought made him cringe.
Half of Riggs wanted to give the rest of the job to Brooks so he could move on and see if that helped ease the growing ache in his chest. The other half knew the truth—it wouldn’t.
Nick grabbed the back of his neck and held tight as they walked, as if sensing the dark turn to Riggs’s thoughts. Also, funny how Riggs had slipped into the role as beta to the alpha lion. His mom hadn’t even blinked at the notion, hugging him and telling him she liked his alpha before packing up and heading home. Riggs hadn’t really wrapped his head around it. They hadn’t made anything official. Hell, Nick hadn’t even mentioned it, which was a good thing because Riggs’s head was all over the place. Nick probably knew that too.
The thing was, without Gus and Victor, did he really want to spend the rest of his days here? He seemed to fit with the pack. But was it enough? Riggs honestly couldn’t say. He’d only experienced a few days without Victor and the hole in his heart kept growing bigger. How much harder would it be without Gus?
He wasn’t the only one suffering, though. Nick had said goodbye to Carson and Joy the day before. Apparently, Victor had arranged for some fancy adoption attorney to set up the paperwork for them. With many tears, the Ropers had packed them up and taken them to their new home. Everything was ironclad. Weekly check-ins. Monthly visits. Surprise hellhound inspections. Victor hadn’t missed a thing. Not that Riggs had any doubts. Victor wouldn’t have sent anyone but the best, and he’d