don’t think that’s fear,” I said.
Jordan bent down to press his lips against my ear. “What do you think it is, fluffy? Anxiety? Excitement? Arousal?”
My insides tingled. “All of the above, and don’t you start in on me, either.”
“What?” His tone was full of amusement.
“You know what. You keep that bedroom voice tucked away until we’re actually in the bedroom. Which will be soon.”
“Oh really? You ready to start giving my mother all the grandbabies she wants?”
I glared at him. “I’m ready to practice making grandbabies. Let’s hold off on the actual making of them until William is a little older.”
Jordan dropped his voice into that gravelly tone again. “Whatever you want, fluffy.”
Yep. This party was going to be wrapping up real soon.
But when we got home, it wasn’t a quick sprint to put William down in his bed and get to business. There was a stranger standing outside our house. A hulking stranger in a leather jacket with a mean scowl.
“Fluffy, why don’t you stay in the car with William. And lock the doors.”
I nodded, slinking down in my seat. It was probably just a delivery guy. But we hadn’t ordered anything. A delivery guy who had the wrong address. Who wasn’t wearing a uniform. He did have a messenger bag strapped across his chest, though.
Jordan approached the man like he meant business. The stranger eyed him warily, but he didn’t return Jordan’s aggression or back down. After a minute, the two men walked over to the car, stopping several feet away, and Jordan signaled for me to roll the window down.
“Wyatt, this guy says he’s a cousin of yours.”
I peered at the stranger in apprehension and curiosity. Artem was the only cousin I had any interest in contacting me directly, and we weren’t close.
“He asked for Wasyl.”
My eyebrows shot up. None of the Chicago Stanislavs would ask for me with my old name.
“Do you not remember me, cousin?” The man turned his head and traced a wide scar that bisected his jaw line.
“Fedir?”
He smiled and nodded.
I launched from the car and embraced my childhood friend and cousin, the one who had survived with me. “You’re alive!”
“And so are you, malenÊıkyy brat.”
I turned to Jordan. “This is Fedir! The cousin who protected me after our family was... well.” I clung to my cousin’s arm. “What happened to you?”
“I should ask what happened to you, but I got the short story from Roman, which was enough. It’s a good thing those piss stains are already dead.” His eyes were murderous, but I knew it wasn’t directed toward me.
“Since you already know what happened to me, tell me what happened to you!”
“It’s a long and not very interesting story. Uriel dropped me in the middle of the pack and promptly forgot about me. I tried to ask about you, and no one would help me. About two years ago, I ran away, and no one came looking. I kept searching for you. I managed to stow away on a cargo ship to Europe and made my way back to Ukraine. To think, you were so close that whole time... And then I heard rumors about how things had shaken down, and I came back.”
“You were looking for me?”
William squeaked his displeasure at being left in the car.
“Wait, just a moment.” I pulled the baby out, and Fedir watched, wide-eyed. “I’m a dad.” Jordan came next to me and laid an arm over my shoulders. “This is my mate. My true mate.”
Fedir smiled widely. “It heals my heart to see you doing so well. And I hope I can heal yours a little with these.” He reached into the messenger bag and pulled out two boxes. He handed me the larger, flatter one. “This was your mother’s, I believe.”
I opened it to find an elegant pearl necklace. “It was,” I whispered. “She always wore it on special occasions.”
He handed me the other box. “And this was your father’s.”
It was a pocket watch. One that had belonged to his father and grandfather before him. “How did you find these? I would have thought Uriel—”
He pulled out one last gift. “He did. I stole them when I ran away. But this I found in your old house. It’s an Airbnb now, but most of the old photos are still on the wall. It’s kind of a selling point that the house is haunted by our family.”
“Is it actually haunted?”
Fedir snorted. “The hack of a medium they hired to thump on a table and pretend to talk to your dad would say yes, but it’s all fake bullshit to drum up business.”
I looked down at the last item, a gold-framed photo of my parents... and me. The photo was probably about seven years old, taken a year or so before they died.
William grabbed at their faces. What would they have thought about being grandparents? Would they have expected William to follow along in the family business?
As much as I missed my family and the life I’d had... the life I could have had... I was grateful I didn’t have to choose whether William would grow up in the shadows of the world.
But he would at least know what his grandparents were like.
“Do you want to come in for a drink?” Jordan offered to fill the silence.
Fedir shuffled his feet. “I don’t want to intrude.”
Sniffling, I handed the presents to Jordan so I could hoist William up on my shoulder. “Nonsense. You’re family. Not just because we were born that way, but because we were forged that way, in the streets of Odessa. You kept looking for me, Fedir, when I thought the world had forgotten me. You will always be welcome in my home.”
A relieved smile filled Fedir’s face, morphing him from a dangerous man to the mischievous boy I’d once known. “I appreciate that, Wasyl. I wouldn’t have blamed you for hating me for abandoning you.”
“And do you think I abandoned you? Then no more of that nonsense. And please, call me Wyatt. Let’s let the past stay in the past.”
It felt strange, my past literally entering my present as we walked into the house, but it also felt right. As if so much had come full circle. I couldn’t change what had happened, the good or the bad.
Jordan held the door for me, grabbing me for a quick kiss until William protested at being squished between us. Then he swatted my butt lightly and closed the door.
Why would I want to change the past? Without it, I would never have found the utter joy of my present.
Evan and Luis come from completely different worlds. Fated or not, it’s not going to be a very knotty path for them.
Find their story here!
Susi Hawke and Crista Crown
Team A.L.P.H.A.
Grabbed
Taken
Struck
Hacked
Stolen
Hidden
Decked
Epilogues
Alphabits
Rescued
Abduction
Conversion
Chained
Twisted
Silenced
Fraught
Epilogues
The Family Novak
Family Ties
Ties That Bind
Trivial Ties
Sticky Ties
Crossing Ties
Tied and Laced
STAHP
Don’t STAHP Believing
Also by Crista Crown
The Outcast Chronicles
Freedom For His Omega
Acceptance For His Omega
Healing For His Omega
Rebirth of His Omega
Waking His Omega
Reaching For His Omega
Epilogues
The New Ancients
Dark Wind
Blood Fall
Pride and Pregnancy
Also by Susi Hawke
Assassin’s Claws Series
Northern Lodge Pack Series
Northern Pines Den Series
Blood Legacy Chronicles
Legacy Warriors Series
The Hollydale Omegas
Three Hearts Collection (with Harper B. Cole)
Waking The Dragons (with Piper Scott)
MacIntosh Meadows
Lone Star Brothers
Rent-A-Dom (with Piper Scott)
Lovestrong Series (Susan Hawke Contemporary MM)
Choose Your Fate
Crista Crown
Crista Crown is from upstate NY, but she is a self-described vagabond, finding it difficult to live in any one place for longer than a year. Thankfully, she carries her home with her, in her family.
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Susi Hawke
I've been a fan of Mpreg Paranormal Romance for so very long! I'm excited to share my own omegaverse(s) with you. What's not to love about adorable Omegas and the Alpha men who love them? If I'm not writing about men sporting baby bumps, I'm probably reading about them!
I'm a native of Las Vegas, NV, so I'm pre-wired to love everything weird ~ Join me on my search for fated mates in the exciting world of paranormal romance.
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