“But Muuuuum….”
“Everly Rowan McGregor, get your butt out here now or there’ll be no shakes at all in your near future.”
Silence reigned for once as my voice cracked through the small room, silencing everyone but the person I needed to. I yanked my eyes away from the men, some primitive part of myself not liking that at all, screaming at me to run, run, run. But I walked over to where my daughter stood at Colt’s side, her arms crossed, a fierce scowl on her face.
“Darling,” I said, softening my voice as much as I dared. “We need to go now, but we’re going to be coming back here on a regular basis. You’ll be able to hang out with Colt and a whole lot of other people just like you. It’ll be fun, much more fun than it’s been today, but our time is over. Other people need to see Colt now.”
Evie’s head jerked up and she looked Colt square in the eye.
“Do they?”
“That’s right, little cub, but once Mum gets those forms signed and we can fit you into the schedule, you’ll be able to come back a couple of times a week, sometimes during school time,” he replied with a wink.
My daughter wasn’t entirely placated, but she shoved her hand at me, her indication that we could go now, and I took it gratefully, leading her out of the room like a sapper would through a field of landmines.
“She smells like you,” the dark-haired man said, his voice rising. “Why does she smell like pack, Ben?”
“Shut up, Logan,” the red-haired man said, giving his brother a shove. “Don’t make a fucking scene.”
“Is this why we’re here? Because of her?” the man, Logan, said, completely undeterred. “Jesus fucking Christ, what the hell did you do?”
“Stop swearing in front of the kid!” Ben snapped, and then his head swung back to face me. Those blue eyes creased with pain, his gaze burning into mine. He inspected me, Evie, and the way I held her hand with an increasingly hopeless expression. “Don’t scare my—”
“Don’t say it,” I growled at him, thrusting myself between my daughter and these men. “Don’t you fucking say it.”
“Mum!” Evie positively vibrated then, her eyes wide, too wide, her mouth open. “You told me to never say that word.”
“I know and I’m sorry, so sorry, sweetheart. Let’s get out of here and get that—”
“Who are you?” Evie demanded as she pushed herself in front of me, staring up at Ben while he looked at her like she was the second coming or something.
“Ben, don’t!”
He dropped down to one knee then and looked her in the eye.
“Darling, I’m your daddy.”
Part II
Chapter 10
“Evie, we have to go,” I snapped, grabbing her hand way too roughly and going to wrench her away. Of course, that’s when she planted her feet with her signature style, just staring at the man in front of her, becoming a little rock of strength in all this swirling drama. My arm muscles quivered as I tried to pull her away, but she wasn’t relenting.
“You’re not going anywhere!” Logan said, poking his finger at me.
“Jesus, Logan!” the red-haired guy hissed.
“Jasper—”
“Don’t Jasper me,” he retorted. Those cool grey eyes met mine and, for a second, I felt like I had an ally in the room. One from the opposing team, apparently, but I would take anything I could get right now. “Everyone needs to calm the f—, uh, needs to calm down.” When his eyes dropped, it was as though he saw Evie for the first time. He looked at her, soaking up everything my daughter was in one look and that’s when my feeling of connection with him fell apart. I shoved myself in front of Evie, forcing both Jasper and Ben to back up.
“This is the reason why we haven’t been able to find a mate for all these years…?” Logan’s voice broke and, while he remained a scary motherfucker, now he was a broken-hearted one as well. “Ben?”
“I didn’t know.” My ex-lover – of one night – flexed his hands, and he stared down at them as he did so. “I knew I had a connection with Lils…”
His eyes slid to me just for a moment, but that was more than enough. If I could’ve backed up, I would’ve. All the hurt, all the pain, and the need there. I didn’t want to bear witness to it, not one little bit.
“But not that much,” I said, keeping my voice even and calm despite the fire that raged inside me. “I told myself if you got in contact, that if you reached out for me, I’d let you know about Evie, but you didn’t.” I glanced over at Riley and her mates, flushing beet red as I did so, at the sheer embarrassment. Somehow, we were conducting an impromptu rehearsal of a daytime soap, right in their waiting room. “I need to go.”