Everly POV
When Macey returned home, she brought dinner with her, and tucked inside her handbag was a folder
of documents.
She sets the Chinese containers on the bench, and I start pulling down some plates and start serving,
only to be scolded by Kalen.
“Everly, you’re supposed to be in bed.Do you not know what bedrest is?” he says, clicking his tongue.
“I have sat in bed all afternoon, Kal.I am fine,” he shakes his head, helping me to serve the kids dinner
who were perched in their chairs around the table.
Zoe was getting released from the hospital the next day.She rang earlier, and thankfully the nurse had
given her some makeup, so she didn’t freak Casey out.
My father was waiting with her until Marcus returned, but I wasn’t willing to tell her where it was Marcus
went and why.
Though I think she knew because there was only one reason that would make Marcus leave her side,
and that was revenge.
“You okay?” I ask Macey, touching her arm, but she pulls away from me, smiling the fakest smile I had
ever seen on her face.
I narrow my eyes at her, and she sighs.
“Sorry, I’m on edge.All this rogue stuff, the hotel, Zoe.” I swallowed, nodding and turning to flick the
kettle on.
“Tea only Everly,” Kalen scolds.
Geez, now I know where Valen gets it from.
“Yes, Dad!” Macey and I say simultaneously, and he chuckles.
“I will eat in the room with you.I need to speak to you about something anyway.Something not for kids’
ears,” she says, and I nod just as Kalen chimes in.
“Great idea!You girls get settled, and I will bring some trays in and make tea!your “he says, looking at
me before pushing us out of the kitchen.
“Hang on,”
“No.Shoo, shoo!Make her sit down.I caught her trying to bleach the damn bathroom!Watch her,” Kalen
scolds.
“She is nesting, leaving her.Besides, she cleans when she is nervous,” Macey defends me.
Besides this sitting around was annoying, and I didn’t like how everyone fussed.I get their concerned,
but I was damn near going insane from it.
“Not with my three grC?she doesn’t.She is supposed to be on bed rest.We want them babies to stay in
as long as possible,” Kalen tells Macey.
“Fine.Just let me get some Panadol, these cramps have been the worst.Stupid monthly’s!” she curses,
and I blink at her confused.
“Wait.You still get your period?” I ask her
“Ah, yeah.I am a female,” Macey says.
” What do you think?The hysterectomy turned me into a man?” she curses, shaking her head.
Kalen looks at her funny, and I look at him.
Macey retrieves her panadol from above the stove, popping two pills with a glass of water.
As she turns, she notices us staring at her.
“What?” she asks.
“You said you had a full hysterectomy?”
“No, a partial.They took all the baby carrying bits out,” Macey says as if she was tired of this
conversation already.
“But you have ovaries?” I asked.
“Well, duh!I get a period, so I assume so,” she shrugs.
“Then you’re not infertile,” Kalen says, and she pops her hip and puts her hand on her waist.
“What part of, I haven’t got the baby carrying bits, did you not understand?” she says sarcastically.
Kalen says one word.
“Surrogate!” she seems taken aback.
“Yeah, because someone would want to carry my baby?Yeah right.Besides, I need a man to kind of
fertilize the egg and all.Unless your old dust sperm is volunteering,” she says.
Kalen pulls a face.
“Pass!I am too old for babies!But, this news will make Tatum happy,”
“Would have made him happy.He dumped me,” she says, rubbing her temples.
“We are werewolves.We all know how impossible it would be to find a surrogate.Can’t have a human
carry them.And we are pack animals, it doesn’t matter if it’s not blood, you know what that would do to
a she-wolf,” she did have a point.
I have never heard of someone becoming a surrogate, yet I would do it if I wasn’t already
pregnant.Though Valen probably wouldn’t let me.
And Zoe was in no state to ask, and I am pretty sure she and Marcus were trying before all this
happened.
“Now, come on, I want to ask you something,” Macey says, grabbing her handbag and tugging me
toward my room.
I get comfortable on my bed, propping myself up with pillows and settling under the blankets.
Kalen comes in a few minutes later with dinner trays for us.
Once he has left, she retrieves the documents from her bag.
“Are you okay?” I ask her.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” I let out a breath.
“I’m talking about Tatum,”
“It is what it is,” she says, trying to deflect the conversation as she sets some papers on my legs.
“Last will and testament?” I ask, looking at her.
“I just in case something happens to me, I want to ensure Taylor will have a place to go,” she says.
“And you want to do this now?” I ask her, and she shrugs.
“Just thought, with all the rogue stuff.I just want to be sure.So I wanted to ask if you and Valen would
be willing to take her.You know I can’t leave her to mum or my brother,” she says.
“That isn’t even a question.I would move heaven and hell to keep her.You know that,” she nods.
“I know, and you and Zoe are the only ones I would trust my baby with.The only ones I know love her
just as much as I do,” I sign the document, and when Kalen comes in, I ask him to sign the witness
part, and he quickly does though he gives Macey the same odd look I gave her.
“Planning on going somewhere?” he asks.
“What?No!Of course not!I just want to ensure Zoe’s future is all,” he looks at me, and I shrug.
It was the first time she had ever brought anything like this up.
But she did have a point.
We all should have it, so I would have to speak to Valen about it later.
Though I had a will, and everything went to Valarian, I didn’t even think of what would happen if
something were to happen to Valen and me.
It gave me much to think about.
We eat our dinner, and Macey goes to help Kalen shower and bathe the kids while I get ready for bed
before we tuck them in their beds.
When Valen rings, I answer my phone quickly.
“Hey, when will you be home?”
“I am home.Where are the kids?”
“In their beds, why?”
“Make sure they don’t come out of their rooms,” he says.
With a groan, I climb back out of bed, shuffling over to the door and up the hall.
I stand between their doors, but they are all asleep.
“Yeah, they are fine,” I tell him when I hear the door click open.
I glance down the hall, hearing movement when Valen appears down the hall, and I gasp, glancing
back at their rooms to ensure they are asleep.
Valen was drenched in blood from head to toe.
Not a patch of skin wasn’t coated in the coppery substance.
He rushes into our room, and I hear the shower turn on in the ensuite.
Moving back to the room, I close and lock my door to see Valen step into the shower.I scoop up his
clothes, tossing them in the hamper.
They were sopping wet.
The shower water turns red as it swirls down the drain.
“Micah?
” I whisper, recognizing the scent, and he nods, turning to face me, rinsing the blood off his face.“
“Now I know where the name comes from, “I tell him.He says nothing, just reaches for the soap.
“Marcus?
” “Wants the other two,”
“I thought you were leaving him to Marcus,”
“Marcus revived him and wanted help.He is my best friend, and god help when we get our hands on
the other two,” he says, his eyes darkening, and a growl escapes him.
I swallowed before having to leave the bathroom from the pungent smell.
When he comes out, he is clean and retrieves his pajamas.
“My father?”
“Went to the bar.Don’t worry, I sent dad to get him.And that would be them,” Valen says, and I nod,
hearing the front door open and my father muttering up the hall.
The smell of vodka reaches my nose from under the gap in the door and makes it wrinkle.
Dad was drinking far too much, but not that I expected anything else.
His daughter was missing, and his mate was dead.
I wouldn’t want to live either if our circumstances were reversed.
“Any news from Carter or any sight of them?” he shakes his head when there is a knock on the door.
Valen tugs his shirt on before opening it, and it is Macey.
Macey tells us she found the link between Rachel and my father, and that was what she was doing all
afternoon.
Kalen leaned against the door listening but adding nothing.
But it suddenly made sense why Carter was so hellbent on ruining us.
“How do you know all this?” Kalen asks her, and her brows furrow.
“I went to the council chambers and dug through the old archives,” Macey says, though something was
off about her.
“I sent men there and found nothing,” Valen says.
“I also checked myself and couldn’t find the link on the online records,” Kalen adds, and I look at
Macey.
“There were some files buried.They were in the wrong box,” Macey says.
“What box?” Kalen asks, and I don’t understand the look on his face as he scrutinizes everything she
says, wanting to know how she knows.
“Some old newspaper clipping box, buried right up the back,” she says dismissively.
“Thanks.Well, I will ring Officer Derrick and let him know and also the council,”
“The council is still here?” Macey asks.
“Yeah, they aren’t leaving until we catch him,” Valen says, and she nods.
“At least for once, they have stepped in.But just be careful what you tell them, I feel like Micah isn’t the
only mole we have.”
“What makes you think that?” Kalen asks.
“Dad, leave her be.She is tired,” Valen defends Macey.
He puts his hands up in mock surrender and yet doesn’t take his eyes off Macey, who is chewing her
fingernail.
“Well, I am off to bed.I am beat.Wake me if anything, anything at all happens,” Macey says, making a
quick escape.
I watch her leave, and Kalen follows out after her before I turn to Valen who was dialing no doubt the
police station to let them know what we just found out.
Though tomorrow I would be questioning my father a little more.
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