We were sitting in the meeting room of the pack house. Levi was pacing with the picture of me holding the teddy bear in his hand, saying he was disturbed was the understatement of the century. Neither he or Lander had a clue as to how Dominic got those pictures–no one did.
Evangeline was sitting next to me, rubbing my arm while Liam eyed stuffed teddy bear in his hand. He turned around as Jaxon waved him over to where he, Ethan, and Lander were talking. He set the bear down, and walked to the group. The bear that looked innocent, but I knew that to be far from the truth.
Derek was furious, as was Elliot. Derek had talked to Barrett for hours; grilling him over and over and over again. Barrett didn't know though, and neither did Evie. If they were lying Ethan I would know. The cut still pink on my palm was proof of that.
Lyanna pulled up Ajax and Deryl on Skype, then walked over to me while Evan stood firm next to Ethan. He was eying the vampires, suspicion starting to cloud his eyes–Evan didn't believe them. When we told them yesterday when we got home, Evan wasn't convinced that they had no idea. While I don't think the four sitting in the room with us had any idea, I had a feeling the ones coming did.
"What are we waiting for?" Evangeline asked.
"Leo, Alex, Vincent, and Helen," Lyanna answered.
"How's Cora?" I asked.
"Sam has a dialysis machine coming in today. She said it needs some work, but she and Bernard think they can separate the blood."
"Good," I breathed out. "Hopefully that helps. What about the children? Can we make some bundles of those herbs at the schools with them this week?"
Lyanna nodded. "Yes, Coleen surprisingly loved the idea. We need more anyways, and I am sure they will love getting out of schoolwork to do this."
"Wonderful, thank you Lyanna," I said with a smile.
Lyanna opened her mouth when Evan called to her. "Be right back."
I watched her long blond hair sway as she trotted over to Evan, who kissed her for a long moment before he whispered something in her ear. "I don't know how you do it," Evangeline murmured to me, her eyes focused on Lyanna.
"Do what?" I asked.
"All of this–the pack, your relationship," she replied.
I looked at her to see her green eyes staring back at me, uncertainty heavy in them. "I don't know what you see, but believe me when I say that I'm not holding it together as well as you think. Honestly, without Ethan, I don't think I could do all of this–I know I couldn't."
"I don't know if I can," Evangeline mumbled out.
"What do you mean?"
She looked at Liam who was standing next to Ethan. He had filled out so much since I had last seen him–he always seemed to be maturing more into the role he would one day take. There was still a boyish charm about him, but he was starting to look more and more like Lander does when he's standing with Levi–cool, collected, and calculating eyes.
"Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to squeeze into a glove that's too tight."
"What? Evangeline, what are you talking about?"
She shook her head. "It's so much. I just–" she sighed and looked back up at Liam. "I love him, but even I question whether or not he can do what Levi wants him to do. Claire–" Evangeline paused and shook her head. "We've just been butting heads. I just–there are days when my beast and I feel like she should be below us and there are days when we have no idea how we could fill that role."
"Evangeline," I said while pushing a red curl back. "Levi wouldn't have chosen Liam if he didn't think Liam could do it. You know that."
"Levi didn't have a choice, Charlotte," she rushed out in a tense whisper. "Who else was there? There was no one else, the line would die with him and Lander. There's Lyle, but he's so young. "
"That's not true, you know Levi would have figured something else out if he thought Liam couldn't," I whispered back.
"Stop fooling yourself Char," she replied back, her voice starting to grow angry. "He was never meant for that position, and neither was I."
"You can't know that," I said. "Just because they died, that doesn't mean that this isn't what was supposed to happen. Ethan wasn't supposed to be where he is, but he is now. Who's to say that this wasn't in the moon's plan?"
She shook her head. "I hope you're right."
"It's hard Evangeline," I softly said. "Even without everything, it's hard. You're going to screw up, but we all do. That doesn't mean that you can't do it. Levi believes in Liam and you, and you should too. They're just pushing you hard because they know you have it in you to push back just as hard."
"I'm not like you an Andrea Charlotte, not at all," she said as Andrea walked in with Caden laughing next to her.
"If you keep telling yourself that, then you won't be," I said. "Besides, why would you want to be like us? We're both pig headed assholes who probably drink too much wine," I added with a coy smile.
Evangeline's frown broke into a small smile. "Well, that is true–"
"Hey!" I squatted her arm playfully. "You're supposed to say, 'No Char, that's not true at all!.'"
She shook her head with a wry smile. "Friends don't lie to each other Char."
"Asshole," Andrea called out to Evangeline as she walked over to us with a sly smile.
Evangeline rolled her eyes while Andrea rubbed her cheek against mine. "How's Lusa?"
Andrea rubbed her cheek against Evangeline's. "Alright, busy and tense, but it could be worse."
Ethan walked over to me with Jaxon. He kissed my crown while Jaxon pulled Andrea to his side. "Saying nice things about me sweet thing?"
Andrea rolled her eyes. "Nice things my ass," she grumbled.
Jaxon shook his head and looked over at us. "She thinks I'm the ass and she steals all my undershirts..."
Ethan nodded. "Charlotte steals my socks."
I was about to open my mouth when the doors opened. Leo walked through with Alex, Helen, and a dusty brunette male with him–who I assumed was Vincent. Ethan took a subtle step forward and angled himself so I was slightly behind him as they filed into the room.
Derek zipped over to the front of the room with Barrett. "Long time Vincent."
Vincent shrugged off his black blazer. "Miss my pretty face?"
Helen caught my eye. She zipped over to us, the wind from her trail blowing my hair. Levi stared at her for a long moment before she looked at me. "I swear Charlotte, I didn't know."
I looked at her for a pregnant moment, and all I saw was sincerity. "Thank you."
"Well, one of you three want to tell me why the hell Dominic has photos of my daughter in his apartment?" Levi asked, the hair on the back of his neck slightly raising.
Leo cocked a brow and looked at Derek. "Show me."
Derek waved his hand to the table where the box was. Leo zipped over with Alex next to him, his finger quickly flipping through the pictures while Vincent looked over Alex's shoulder. Leo looked up at Alex, his eyes hard. "Well?"
Alex hissed and looked over at Leo. "You know as well as I do that I have no idea. I don't know have the shit that Dominic chooses to spend his free time doing."
"This wasn't a hobby," Vincent said. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other that was covered in dark jeans as he looked over Leo's shoulder–eying the photos. "He was keeping tabs on her." Vincent paused to look at Alex. "Why would he keep tabs on a human?"
"I don't know Vincent," he slowly said, annunciating every word. "Maybe she was a potential bondmate?"
Ethan growled lowly and pulled me closer to him. Jaxon looked up at Alex. "A bondmate he never chose to pursue? That doesn't mate sense."
"And he's been with Wynona longer than Charlotte's been alive," Barrett said. "It was in a box under his bed Alex. He has the teddy bear from one of those pictures."
"I don't know dammit," Alex replied. "I don't know, but when I find his ass I will," he said, the contents not the tables slightly shaking.
I stilled and met Evie's eyes that grew a little bigger. "He's telekinetic."
Ethan and I both looked at each other while Leo eyed Alex. "Calm down brother, it won't do us any good."
"Do you know where he is?" Lander asked.
"No," Alex replied. He let out a long breath and looked back up at Lander. "I've looked almost everywhere that he could be–homes, friends, even old flings of his. I think they have him."
"They do," Caleb said as he and Bernard walked into the room.
Bernard sighed and looked up at me. He had a brown paper bag in his hand. He walked down to the middle of the room and set the bag down. "Caleb and I got a message this morning," he said while he slowly rubbed his fingers together.
The bag opened and slowly a black snake floated out of it. It was limp–dead, it floated in the air in front of Bernard who had his forefingers extended towards it.
Caleb eyed the snake then looked back at us. "This snake slithered up to our porch and threw up a letter."
"Was it–"
"Sent from The Snake?" Bernard injected. "Yes, Goldilocks it was. The rebel brand with a snake instead of a circle was on the letter."
"What did it say?" Levi asked.
"Told us to jump ship and do the right thing, otherwise they would show my coven no mercy. They said they had Dominic and his bondmate–that they would take my light just as easily as they took one of the vampires," Caleb said. He eyed the snake, his eyes hard and his jaw clenching. "This snake will kill you in less than thirty seconds. Its bite is more dangerous than a lot of poisons we know of. It's been used to kill a coven member of Callista's before."
Something crackled around Bernard. He moved his hands in a circle then whispered something out before his fingers flung a gray cloud towards the snake. The cloud wrapped around it, almost like it was crunching the snake, but it wasn't crunched up, just made into dust. There was just black dust on the ground as the cloud dissipated.
"You three have a lot of explaining to do," I said. My wolf standing up and shaking her fur out. "And we expect your full cooperation."
"Do not order me around wolf, it would not be wise," Alex hissed out.
Leo snarled at his brother while he crossed the room to look at the contents of the box again. "Oh shut your trap Alex, I've had quite enough of it."
"Leo–"
Vincent hissed at him. "Push some more and it will be me haunting your dreams tonight."
Alex rolled his eyes while Helen stood up. "This isn't helping–love, you need to work with them. We need to work with them. Getting angry will do nothing, we're all here on the same team just wanting to help."
"There's nothing to excuse our actions, but we will help you fix things," Leo said while he eyed the picture of me in the blue polka dot dress.
"It won't matter unless we can fix things–ensure this treaty is being followed," Ethan said.
"You want to renegotiate it?" Alex asked incredulously.
"I don't want to get through a war that does nothing to solve anything," Ethan replied, his beast shaking his fur out as he held Alex's gaze. "It won't solve anything if cannot be honest with one another and ensure that we are following the laws. No one is above those laws."
"He's right brother," Leo said. Leo sighed and looked over at Ethan. "Let's get through this first, then you have my word that we will start the talks for change."
Levi nodded then looked back up at everyone. "Alright, let's figure this out. What do we know?"
"There's been rogue movement," Jaxon said. "My scouts spotted northern wolf scouts trailing close to my borders."
"What did you do with them," Vincent asked.
"Hung them up on the fence to dry," Jaxon replied, pulling Andrea closer to him.
"Have they been testing any of your borders?" Leo asked.
"No," Ajax answered.
"No," Deryl echoed.
"It's been quiet around here," Levi said while Ethan and Jaxon nodded in agreement.
"What of your trip Bernard?" Derek asked.
"We think they are either looking or have one of The Forbidden Ones," Bernard answered.
"Which one?" Alex asked.
"We're not sure," Caleb said. "We think the one about the realms, but we don't know for certain. Either way, the fact that the have those texts is not good for anyone in this damn room."
"Any idea what they want?" Vincent asked.
"Charlotte and I think they were looking for something to destroy the treaty with," Lyanna said. "Something that could prove that you, or a vampire, deliberately broke the treaty. Besides the incident reports they had logged, we don't know what they were looking for in the books."
"We think they know and are just holding out until they have certain proof," Evan added.
"War," Vincent breathed out before he pinched his brow. "Alright, what else?"
"They're using cursed blood," Caleb sighed out. He looked up at Alex and Leo who eyed him with horrified looks on their faces. "When Charlotte was kidnapped, there was a girl that came down from the mountains. She was given the cursed blood–a rogue."
"Fully rogue?" Leo asked.
Caleb shook his head. "No, she's going back and forth. I don't think they were able to either give her enough or finish the transition."
"There's no way," Alex breathed out. "Anyone with that blood was and has been destroyed. I saw to it myself."
"Well," Bernard said wryly. "Obviously not. It's the same blood we saw during the world wars Alex, there's no denying what it is."
"So obviously the bloodline continued," Levi said. "And they have a descendant."
Alex sat down in a chair and tugged at his hair. "Their like cockroaches that we can't get rid of."
Leo sighed then looked back up at Ethan. "Can we see the girl?"
Ethan eyed Leo then slowly nodded. "She is the mate of my Master of Arms, so you will have to seek his permission."
"We can do that," Leo said. "What else."
"Well," Lander said. "Levi and I took a fun trip to the basement–"
"You mean I took a fun trip the basement," Liam grumbled.
Lander chuckled and picked up a box then carried it over to a table. "We found some things but neither Levi and I could figure out what they were. There are all these pages that look like they were ripped out of something bound together."
He pulled out a book, leather wrapped around it that held the loose parchment together. Lander unwrapped it while Caleb and Bernard walked to it.
They started to flip through the pages until they got to one where there was a sketch of a tree. Caleb stopped and looked up at Lander who shrugged. "There's more in there. Apparently, we had a tree like Ethan's, but they burned it down. We always thought that the tree with the initials was it for us–"
"No one ever said anything," Levi cut in. "Never heard my father or grandaddy say anything about it, but Lander and I went out to where those papers said it was and dug around. Sure enough, under the dirt there is a damn stump that is mostly burned."
"Did you cover it back up?" Caleb asked.
Levi shook his head. "No, we haven't yet."
"We need to look at it," Caleb said. "We need to look at it, your tree Ethan, and Jaxon's rock."
Ethan eyed Jaxon who nodded before he looked back at Caleb. "Come to the border and we can escort you there. Why do you think they burned it down?"
Lander shrugged. "No idea. All those pages in that book are like scratch paper, couldn't make sense of much."
"Well, they are scratch paper," Bernard said. "But a lot of it comes from texts–our texts, but it's all from different places."
"How do you know?" Evan asked.
"Well here for example," Bernard said while holding the book up, his finger pointing to a set of swirls. "This is from an old book–it says 'Stones of Death and Life.' It's referring to bloodstones, which to us were always a myth. Here he's talking about how they work–in order for them to hold life you have to suck life out of someone–or their blood."
"It's all connected somehow," Liam said. "Dominic, the cursed blood, the rogue, these texts, and now Charlotte."
"I don't think Dominic's obsession with Char has much to do with this," Evangeline replied with a raised brow.
"Or it does." Caleb looked at the photo with me and the teddy bear. He picked it up and eyed it for a while, smelling it, before he looked over at Levi. He licked his thumb then rubbed it all over the back of the photo before he murmured something under his breath. Slowly but surely, the rebel symbol appeared in black in–the circle a snake instead of a line.
Both Ethan and Levi growled lowly while my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. I shook my head, my eyes not wanting to believe the sight they were seeing. "No–" I breathed out.
Caleb sighed. "I'm sorry dear girl, truly I am."
Levi clenched his eyes shut while Ethan pulled me close to him, his beast reaching out to mine that was still with shock in my mind. Evangeline was staring in shock at the picture while Andrea bit back a growl. She turned and looked over at Alex. "We need to find Dominic."
"No shit," Evan breathed out.
"He can't be far," Vincent mused. "If they intend to start a war in this area, and they have him, they won't take him too far from ground zero."
"We'll look," Leo said. "If he's in this state, he will be found. I'll take Derek and Elliot with me. Alex? I need Barrett and Evie took."
"I'm coming with you, he's my responsibility," Alex said.
Leo nodded. "Yes but you need to go speak with Camille and Callista. Your relations are better than Caleb and mine with her. We need to know which one has their hands in this."
Alex sighed then nodded. "Alright, Helen and I will go."
"Bernard, Daphne, Dagny and I will be coming around to each of your packs. We need to make sure your borders are air tight. I have some coven members coming to help, I know there are rules about visitors, but I need you all to ease them slightly for us," Caleb said.
"Just say when," Ajax replied from the computer.
"Same here," Deryl added.
"Everything that anyone has on the bloodlines, original seven wolves, cursed blood–you need to bring it forward. We need to find The Snake," Levi stated, looking into the eyes of everyone around him. "Cora, the girl from the mountains talked a lot about a 'Hayden,' anyone know him?"
"No," Leo breathed out while the rest of the room echoed him.
"We could go to the tree?" I mused. "We could see if we could get Leland?"
Jaxon looked at me then back up at Ethan, who raised a brow at him. "What did you see when you touched your rock?"
Jaxon's eyes swirled darkly. "The dead."
I shivered while Helen turned back to me. "Charlotte, would any family you have known anything? Maybe they knew or saw Dominic?"
"I don't know. There's just my aunt, but we were never close. I only lived with her for a little over two years."
"Where are they now?" Alex asked.
"Maybe in Oregon still? I honestly don't know."
"We should find them," Helen said. "I can get Sylvia and go?"
Leo eyed her then nodded. "Charlotte, can you give us the address you last had for them?"
"Sure," I breathed out.
Levi looked over at me and let out a long breath. "Ok, I think that's good. Check in daily," he finished, eying everyone again before Ethan stood up, pulling me up with him.
"Do you mind if we swing by later?" Leo asked.
Ethan looked at me. "Char?"
I nodded with a tiny smile. "That's fine, sure."
"Charlotte?" Ethan was eying me, worry in his eyes but I gave him a smile that was slightly forced.
"I need some air," I said before I pulled away, walking quickly out of the room like there was something chasing me.
Shaking. My skin was shaking and my heart was beating wildly in my chest. I felt like I couldn't breathe–like I couldn't get enough air.
I think Ethan was calling for me, but my beast was barking wildly and every image of those pictures was running through my brain. My fur came forward and my wolf sped forward while I curled into a ball in the back of my mind.
The image of the blue polka dot dress kept plaguing me while the image of the teddy bear felt like a demon hanging over me. My beast reached out to me, nudging me and trying to help but she couldn't. She couldn't because I was afraid–I was terrified.
How had I not seen him before?
My beast carried me to a creek–my favorite creek. The creek at the end of the trail that used to be a favorite of Billy's. She trotted us quickly into the cool water, the water that seemed to shock me back into reality. Wading into deeper water, she let the current flow over her, flow over me while I tried to calm myself down.
I could feel him coming; I could hear him whining.
He walked out from the bushes and trotted to the edge of the creek, looking at me with big blue-green eyes that felt the pain I was feeling over the bond. Ethan crept closer, pawing at the ground at the edge of the creek.
I couldn't move though. I felt glued in my place, a place that if I moved from I felt that I may very well fall apart.
My beast nudged me forward, nudged me to my skin. Crawling forward I felt my paws turn into arms and legs, legs that collapsed as the cold water rolled over my skin. A trepid breath, sharp and almost painful, came out of my mouth.
Something was splashing in behind me–Ethan was wading quickly out to me. I sucked in another breath while my throat painfully tightened. It was like the air was becoming thinner and not as fulfilling to me.
"Charlotte!" Ethan called out before he closed the distance between us. He pulled me to him then scooped me up, carrying me to the edge of the creek where he sat down in the shallows. "Baby, look at me," his voice gently ordered.
He held my face in his hands, pushing my hair back while I sucked in another painful breath. "Baby, look at me. Just breathe baby, I'm right here."
I held his gaze while he reached out across our bond, caressing it gently as my breath started to normalize. It was once it did normalize, that I heard myself choke back a sob. A sob that turned into another sob.
Ethan pulled me closer and let me rest my head against his shoulder. He rubbed my back and kissed my forehead, murmuring soothing things to me while I sobbed on his shoulder. Eventually, my sobbing quieted. It quieted and my heart settled a bit more, but I still felt sick with the image of my baby picture with the rebel brand inked on it in my mind.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he murmured to me.
"The brand is on my baby picture," I breathed out. "And Dominic is gone. My baby pictures–"
"I know sunshine," he replied with a small smile. "We're going to get through this. Mostly so I can beat the living shit out of Dominic, but also so we can grow old and fat with an army of children."
"An army?" I raised my brow and shook my head. "I don't think so."
"Well sunshine, if that's what we're blessed with–"
"You don't have to carry them!" I splashed some water around me and narrowed my gaze at him. "You're going to be wrapping it up, Everette."
Ethan barked out a laugh. "Only if we can have ten."
"Ten?" I shook my head quickly "Three."
"Seven."
"Three," I replied back.
"Five," Ethan said with a wry smile tugging at is lips.
"Four–"
"Deal," Ethan breathed out before a shit eating grin spread over his lips.
"Only if you tell Levi that we got married," I added in.
Ethan opened his mouth then closed it, then opened it again and closed it. He held my smug gaze for a while before he groaned. "Fine."
Laughter poured out of my lips while Ethan hissed out a string of curses. He looked back down at me and pushed a wet tendril of hair back. "I love you."
"I love you too," I replied back as Ethan dipped down to kiss me.
We sat in the creek a little longer before Ethan decided it was time we headed home, mostly because Levi was already there since Derek decided to invite himself over to make dinner. Dinner, which was spaghetti that made my stomach growl out as Ethan and I walked in the house.
Levi quickly walked to me and hugged me while Vincent pulled out two more glasses. "We'll figure this out Charlie Girl."
Derek quickly zipped to me, hugging me while Elliot opened up another bottle of wine. "I'm sorry Charlotte."
"You didn't do anything wrong," I breathed out.
"I should have kept a better eye on him," Leo said. He walked slowly over to me with a half smile. "I'm sorry you're mixed up in all this."
Levi squeezed my shoulder and nodded to Leo. "Let's get you some wine girl."
"Here Charlotte," Vincent said before he handed me a glass. "Sorry, we were not properly introduced earlier."
"Not like you're missing much," Derek said under his breath as he was back to stir the big pot of spaghetti.
Vincent narrowed his honey colored eyes then rolled them. "Derek's always so dramatic."
"You both are dramatic," Leo added.
I bit back a smile while Ethan took a long sip of wine. Levi slid onto a stool next to me while Leo took a seat across from us.
"Be honest, why do you think they are so interested in our tree? In those books?"
Leo shook his head. "I don't know. I fear that they are looking for magic that is much more powerful than they even understand. Talking of the realms is a dangerous thing, we're not meant to cross them."
"Do you think they are trying to, though?" Levi asked.
Leo shrugged. "Why? What's over there that they need to be successful now? Like we said before, they have the hard power, they are just waiting on getting the evidence they need. I don't see a benefit to them in doing that."
"He has a point," Elliot said. "And if that's what they wanted, then why did they not try before? Like when all this mess was going on during the treaty?"
"What about the descendants, who do you think it is?" I asked.
"It could be anyone," Elliot mused.
"No, it would have to be a direct descendant of the witch who first created it. If it was a rogue, well, they would have died without creating a child," Vincent said.
"Well, did she have any children?" Ethan asked.
"Who was she?" I added. "She mated with a wolf, maybe they had a child?"
"If they did, then they did a great job hiding it," Derek said. "A very good job."
"Well, that has to be it unless someone has figured out how to recast that spell..." I sat back a little and looked at my wine, the wheels in my mind turning. "How did she come up with that spell? The one for the cursed blood?"
Leo shrugged. "To be honest I'm not sure, why?"
"Would it be in one of the texts or book that were stolen?" I asked. "Maybe that's what they were looking for? That original text? It could be that they had that spell instead of a descendant."
Levi nodded and looked up at Leo. "What do you think?"
"I think that is a possibility, we should definitely ask Caleb."
Elliot sighed and eyed Leo. "Why do you think the brand was on her picture?"
"I have no damn idea," he breathed out. "A warning maybe? They already did try to kill you."
Ethan moved over to stand behind me; I leaned against his chest while he rested his arm around my waist. "That's true, but when Charlotte and I found it, it was hidden under a floorboard that had a hex over it. It shocked the shit out of me the first time I tried to touch it."
"How did you get it then?" Derek asked while he put on some oven mitts.
"Blood payment. I gave it some blood," I said.
"That doesn't mean that they didn't get to it first," Leo said. "If they had a smart witch, they could have opened it and re-cast the hex."
"Bernard did find a box that was empty," I thought out loud.
"Bloody Dominic," Vincent grumbled. "I swear to God Leo, when we renegotiate that treaty, we should write in that I personally get to see to punishing him accordingly."
"Easy V," Leo breathed out. "Remember last time you two went at each other?"
Vincent snarled, his fist clenching before he got up and walked over to Derek. Elliot sighed and looked over at me while Leo kept a watchful eye on his progeny. "He compelled Vincent's bondmate to, well, you know with him..."
"What? That's awful!"
"He's always been jealous and petty," Vincent added.
Leo took a long sip of wine and nodded in agreement. "I can't really argue with him there."
"Do you think Camille knows anything?" Levi asked.
Vincent scoffed out a laugh. "I wish I was going to see her, of course that fruit cake does. Her, and her whole damn coven are cooky as hell."
"Dagny's not so bad," I inserted softly.
"Who?" Vincent asked.
"Dagny," I replied. "She used to be in Camille's coven. She was with Ragna and Melinda, our regional witches before we, well, fired them and got Bernard and Caleb. She's been helping Bernard, I think Caleb is letting her join his coven."
"Hmmm," Vincent hummed.
Levi took a long sip of his wine before he let out a tired breath. "Getting those damn bats out of here is about the best news we've gotten so far."
"Speaking of news, Ethan, don't you have something to tell Levi?"
Ethan stilled behind me and shot a scowl at me. Levi turned quickly while Derek paused, holding his oven mitt over his mouth that was leaking a laugh. "What is she talking about Ethan?"
"Yes Ethan, do tell us?" Elliot added with a coy smile.
"Barrett already told us," Derek whispered into my mind while he pulled the garlic bread out of the over.
I bit my bottom lip while Levi grew more and more annoyed. He turned more to Ethan and cocked his head. He eyed my stomach before he looked back at Ethan. "You know, I think Levi is a great name for a kid, real strong name–"
"Christ Levi I'm not pregnant!" I hissed out quickly.
He eyed me with a raised brow then looked back at Ethan. "The hell she talking' bout Ethan?"
"We got married."
"You what?!"
"We got married," Ethan repeated.
"You got married and you didn't even tell me?! You didn't even ask me, her damn father!"
"Levi I–"
"Outside now," Levi growled out.
Ethan groaned then tossed me a glare before he stormed outside with Levi on his tail. The door slammed shut, breaking our silence with fits of uncontrolled laughter.
Leo clinked his glass with mine. "Well done Charlotte, I haven't seen a reaction like that in ages. Very good work."
"That was fantastic Char," Elliot added, clinking his glass with mine.
"But really, you could have told us," Derek said with a slight pout.
"Well, it was really more for legal purposes. Riley thought it would be good, and really we didn't have to do anything. He's doing everything so I mean, it's really more of a name change than anything."
"It's alright Charlotte," Vincent said. "Elliot and Derek did the same thing. Leo about lost his shit too."
"I did not!" Leo replied back.
"Uh, ya you did," Vincent said before he strolled over to us. "Sylvia was so upset because there was no wedding to plan, and you almost killed both of them for not telling you."
Leo held Vincent's gaze then looked at me. "I suppose I can sympathize with Levi."
Soon the backdoor slammed again. We all quieted while Levi walked in with a smug smile; Ethan was trailing behind him, a fresh bruise on his eye that would probably turn black.
"Here," Elliot said as he quickly opened the freezer. He tossed Ethan a package of frozen green beens.
Ethan caught it and held it to his eye before he moved to stand next to me, eyeing with an unamused brow while I bit back a smile. I sighed and rubbed his arm. "Sorry?"
"I would have done the same," Ethan said. "But you are so getting it later."
I rolled my eyes. "Dramatic much?"
Ethan eyed me while Derek started to scoop out spaghetti. "Five. I want five."
"We compromised at four."
"Five."
"What if we don't have that many chances? I mean, it's not like I can control when I get my heat."
"Well baby, I am a patient man. Besides, maybe we'll get lucky and have twins."
I almost spit out my wine while Ethan chuckled into his glass. Derek just rolled his eyes as Levi shook his head. "Still not finished with you Ethan."
"Come on Levi, at least you didn't have to pay for a wedding."
Levi nodded. "True. Only real good thing about weddings is the open bar. Cake usually sucks."
"See, and besides, I kept Thorne. It's Thorne-Everette, now."
Levi nodded approvingly. "Alright, Ethan I won't beat your ass again as long as I get a kid named after me."
"What?!" I eyed both of them while Ethan mused.
"That's fine with me," Ethan replied.
"Come on Charlie girl, Levi is a great name. Actually, I think you should throw Luca in there too."
"God you two are impossible," I groaned out.