#Chapter 134 – Family is Everything

The ride home that afternoon, with everyone packed into the van is…awkward.

I grimace, leaning back against Victor as I survey the variety of emotions that I see on everyone’s faces.

Rafe looks just plain ill, leaning his head back against his headrest, gritting his teeth against the pain that runs through his body every time the packed van hits a bump or a pothole. His chest is wrapped tightly with bandages, the Beta medic recommending he be checked immediately for broken ribs. Next to him, Bridgette is anxious, worried, miserable. She stares at Rafe, eager to help his every need, but no knowing, precisely, how.

My heart goes out to her, then. I wonder if Rafe chose her as his luna not only for her beauty and simplicity, but because he knew he could control her. As a beta-born girl posing as alpha-born, he would certainly have the upper hand in the relationship.

But in moments like this, when Bridgette’s knowledge of the life and rights of a Luna could have helped him, his choice may have backfired. Unfortunately, I know that Bridgette will likely be the one to bear the consequences of this. Rafe will make her pay for it, rather than admit his own mistake.

Frankly, I consider, I had just been lucky yesterday. I hadn’t run into that forest knowing I would be considered a legal participant as Victor’s “other half” – I had just known, instinctually, that something was wrong with him, that I had to go to him.

But also, perhaps there was something in my upbringing that had made me confident in that choice, which hadn’t checked my impulse to be at his side in that moment. Perhaps there was something in the privileges of being Alpha-born that made me know that it was the right choice.

I shrug, knowing that it can’t truly matter anymore and that I’ll never really now.

But despite my dismissal of the thought, I recall moments from the night with unease.

When I had run into the woods, I hadn’t thought about where to go. I had just run, run until my lungs burned with the effort. I hadn’t felt the cold, hadn’t stopped to think about where Victor might be. I had just…known.

Suddenly, I had found myself in that grove, had seen Victor in front of me dangling in the air, had seen Rafe in front of him – Rafe, with that knife in his hand – and had grabbed the closest object I could find.

In retrospect, I know, in my heart, that I shouldn’t have been able to lift that tree limb, let alone swing it. I’m not a big person and I certainly don’t lift weights to make my arms strong. But in that moment, I just…did it.

I frown as I consider the mystery of it all. How did I lift that limb? How did I know where Victor was? How did I know, even, that he was hurt and needed my help? Uneasy at the thought of it all, I bite my lip and clean closer to Victor, who sits at my back.

brushing against my hair as

my thoughts to myself, for now at least. The whole family doesn’t need to hear my musings. “Make a note, though,” I say, “that next time we take a family trip, you need

turning his attention back to the

back against him. I’ll think

person he is texting now is his

are still problems we have to address, things

resources. I know he wants to tear us to pieces

fight. If Victor wants to make me his Luna, he has a

going to flip out about this. Buzz about Victor’s dramatic rejection of Amelia has died down, but this is going to ignite some serious paparazzi flames. Victor’s “play thing,” which he kept in his little “doll house” out back during his

the press was going

game. I had forgotten, I admit, her arrival in the back garden, her promise to destroy us. I shouldn’t underestimate her

my lip, anxious, suddenly, at everything that we have before us. At everything that’s coming with

to see him staring at me, his eyes only inches from mine. “What’s wrong with

frown at him.

raises his little fingers to my cheek, pushing at the frown growing deeper there. “You’re all wrinky,” he

hand away and pulling him close against me. “You worry about your own face, baby,” I

me and raising his hands to his own cheeks, prodding there. “Is it

I say seriously, looking

“It’s growing even more handsome every day,” I say, giving him a big kiss on the head

I stop tickling him and gather him close. “It’s not changing,” he says, determined, “tell me you

wrapping him up close again. “You’re growing up, and all of our lives are changing a little bit. You’ll be seven soon,” I shake my head as I consider it, resting my chin

the idea, suddenly, of change, of growing

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