Chapter 87


    Chapter Eighty-Seven: Family


    Ryan


    I followed Jason and Tillie into the formal dining hall. It was the same space that we had talked to her


    father in earlier. I could tell that being in here made Tillie nervous from the way that she kept looking


    around the room, her shoulders down slightly like she was waiting for the boogyman to jump out at her.


    Tillie left the room, making the excuse of fixing up our tes. Jason had followed with Gideon hot on his


    heels.


    When he had all entered the kitchen earlier, it had been pretty obvious that the table in there would have


    been a tight fit for all of us. Jason had suggesteding in here, but I wished that we could stay in the


    kitchen. There was just something about the space that felt right, like it was made for those moments


    together that the other roomcked.


    The table, though, wasn’t big enough.


    It was a small wooden table that looked well used and would be the perfect size for intimate dinners


    between Tillie and her parents. But not for all of us. We would have been crowded close together and


    though we wouldn’t mind it, if her parents showed up there would be no ce to join us. Thest thing


    we wanted to do was make them feel like we didn’t want them


    around.


    I was looking forward to the day when Tillie’s dad thought of us as part of his family. I knew that Travis


    wanted that, too. That it was all that he had ever wanted.


    He and Maddison weren’t close and I couldn’t me him. She didn’t seem like she would be easy to


    love, much less like. It was his sister though, so I knew I was going to need to learn to get along with her


    for him. His parents weren’t around and family was something that he craved.


    Tillie, Jason, Gideon, and I, we could give that to him. It wasn’t a traditional family but that didn’t bother


    me and from how he acted; I knew that he already thought of Tillie and me as family. I had seen it in the


    way that he had protected her today, the way that he had protected me and Gideon.


    With me, I knew it was because he was mated. Gideon though, I knew it was because he was Tillie’s. It


    had been hard for him to ept that he was going to have to share, but once he did, he was all in and


    nothing was going to change that. It was just how Travis was and it was something that I loved about


    him. :


    Còntens bel0ngs to N?(v)elDr/a/ma.Org


    It was harder for me to ept that she was taking another mate. I hadn’t wanted her to. I was already


    sharing her with my best friend and Travis. It had felt like too much, but when I had seen that spark of fire


    in her eyes when she talked about him.


    How she had said she knew that she was his mate. I knew that I couldn’t tell her no, just like I couldn’t


    tell Travis and Jason that they couldn’t be with Tillie.


    The only other option would have been death. He was an omega and when I’d heard that; I had known


    that I was going to suck up my feelings about it and I was going to make sure that he was safe. Because


    he was Tillie’s and at the end of the day, if he got hurt it would hurt her.


    That was thest thing that I wanted and looking at him now, I understood why she felt so drawn to him.


    He wasn’t like us. This man was delicate, his wolf had been just as gentle when I had seen him in the


    woods. The caregiver in me had known in that moment that he needed someone to take care of him. He


    wouldn’t have made it on his own, not with that beast on his trail. He was too soft and I knew that he


    wouldn’t have survived the mating and iming with Jamison.


    That beast had been too close to going feral when I’d put myself in front of him. Blocking the smaller wolf


    from the tawny wolf who was out for.blood. Travis told me of how he had. turned feral on them.


    How he and Jason had taken him down like they had so many others, my heart hurt for him. I couldn’t


    imagine what it was like to turn feral, but I was d that they hadn’t let him hurt the omega. My family


    was safe.


    Travis helped me sit down at the big formal table and I nodded my head in thanks. I hated that I was


    having to lean on him so much, but my body ached so much that even my bones hurt.


    Travis was an alpha, but he was mine. He called me daddy and while I knew he meant it to tease me.


    I was going to look after him and take care of him. Because it’s who I was and he was mine, just like


    Tillie. Just like Jason and now Gideon. The rtionships were all different, but that didn’t matter. They


    were mine and I was going to do everything that I


    could to keep them safe.


    We were endgame. We were family.


    I had meant it when I said it earlier, but I’d been worried that seeing Tillie with Gideon would be too much


    for my beast. When we found them in the shower together, I had let out a sigh of relief.


    My beast didn’t want to hurt him for touching her. I just hoped he would be okay with his brother touching


    her if that’s what was going to happen, because I knew that I couldn’t tell her no. She was my baby girl,


    and everything in me wanted to spoil her.


    Next Chapter