solve the riddle of what the glowing was. Was that worth putting us all in potential danger again?
On the other hand, could I live with making decisions out of fear, especially at the expense of truth and knowledge? Did I want to live like that?
Four
The morning of my nineteenth birthday, I wasn’t entirely sure how to feel. I’d found the answers to questions I’d been living with for years. I had my Bond, and we were getting stronger every day. For the first time in my life, I was introducing myself as Evelyn Maynard. I was even starting to feel as if I was part of a family.
Yet the first thing I thought about was the fact that it had been two years since I lost my mom.
I missed her so much.
I wanted to remember all the good things about her, not the gut-wrenching way her hand had been yanked out of mine as she fell to her death. That was the visual my brain kept replaying in vivid detail.
Regardless of all the positives in my life, bad things always happened around my birthday. Why should that change now?
Shit could go horribly wrong in so many different ways. Maybe this was the day Davis ordered another attack by Variant Valor. Maybe Zara would come for me with Rick’s lightning ability. Maybe some other horrific thing would happen—something my mind couldn’t even fathom. I was tempted to stay in bed with the curtains drawn.
But I also had people to spend my birthday with now. I knew my guys would have something planned, despite my telling them how I felt about birthdays. They would all be downstairs, waiting for me. Tyler and Alec would’ve taken the day off work. Ethan would be planning an elaborate feast. Josh had probably put an insane amount of thought into a present. I couldn’t pass that up.
Ignoring the whispering what-ifs in the back of my head, I got out of bed. I brushed my teeth, stuffed my feet into my astronaut boot slippers, and headed downstairs.
As soon as I reached the bottom, Lucian came out of the corridor leading to the west wing.
“Good morning, Evie.” He rolled to a stop in front of me and smiled. “Happy birthday.”
I smiled back, but it didn’t reach my eyes. “Thank you.”
Before I could continue to the kitchen, he spoke again. “I know this day is incredibly difficult for you.” He took my hand. I was expecting it to be awkward, but it was comforting. “I was hoping you would let me take you out for breakfast.”
“Oh.” My eyebrows rose in surprise. “Like, all of us or . . . ?” I could hear the espresso machine working in the kitchen, several male voices chatting.
“Uh, that’s not what I had in mind, no. But if that’s what you’d prefer . . .” He dropped my hand, gripped the wheels of his chair, and cleared his throat. “When the boys came to live with me, we kind of started a new tradition. On their birthdays I take them out, and we spend some one-on-one time together. Sometimes it’s just a meal or a coffee. Other times it’s a movie or an entire day. The idea is to have some quality time that’s just theirs. You’re a part of this family, and I’d very much like to include you in this tradition. Of course you should spend the day with your Bond, but I’d love to at least take you for coffee.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “I’d really like that.”
I gave him my first genuine smile of the morning. I had a feeling Lucian would’ve been a great father. Then I realized that’s exactly what he was. He was a father to the four orphaned men in the next room.
He was being a father to me.
It was the best birthday present I’d ever received.
“I’ll just go get dressed.” I turned for the stairs just as Ethan burst out of the kitchen.
“You’re up!” He headed straight for me as he yelled over his shoulder, “Guys! She’s up!”
Ethan lifted me off the ground with a firm grip around my waist and planted a dramatic kiss on my lips. “Happy birthday, sugarplum.” He flashed me his dimples.
“Thanks, honey bear.”
He set me back on my feet. Tyler wrapped his arms around me from behind and gave me the sweetest kiss on the cheek, whispering “Happy birthday” in my ear. I melted into his embrace, closing my eyes.