Page 103 of Embracing Sky
He shook his head slowly. “I don’t regret it. Tank was a dangerous Alpha, one who preyed on Omegas like us. He tried to kill my mate. I reacted accordingly. The courts agreed with mydecision and ruled in self-defense, and I walked free. We moved to Greymercy shortly after that.”
“Who was he?” Sky asked, turning to me.
I tilted my head so he could get a better look at the scar that was now a pale slash across my throat. Sky reached out, tentative, his fingers brushing over the ridge of flesh.
“His name was Tank. He was our boyfriend for awhile, and the last partner we shared. The last partner we vowed to ever share.”
“Until you,” Fletcher said, running his fingers through Sky’s hair. “He doesn’t matter. What matters is that he’s gone, just like Dr. Thompson. They can’t hurt us anymore. We’re safe now.” He smiled gently.
“Safe…” Sky repeated before nodding. He drew a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “I don’t…feel safe yet, to be honest.”
“It will take time,” I told him. “I didn’t feel safe for months afterwards, even though I knew he was gone. And even then, my foundation was shaken, because there was always that chance I could lose Fletcher to prison.”
“But everything worked out the way it was meant to,” Fletcher said. “We moved to Greymercy and joined Gracie’s pack…and then we met you. The rest is history. I love you, Sky DuPree. When I heard that voicemail, I thought my entire world was falling apart. I blamed myself, because maybe if I’d had my phone on me, maybe if I’d answered that call…”
I shook my head. “We would have never gotten there in time, Fletcher. You know that. And without that voicemail, we wouldn’t have even known where to turn. You did well, Sky. You left us a trail.”
Sky sort of laughed. “I… I didn’t even mean to. I didn’t know the phone was still recording. I locked up the moment he came out of the woods. It was like everything I’d ever feared came back to haunt me, and I knew I couldn’t run away.”
“No more running,” I murmured, kissing the bend of his neck. “For any of us. Let’s lay the past to rest for our future. For our baby’s future. Just a couple more months and she’ll be here.”
I touched the swell of his stomach, rubbing in gentle circles. Sky’s hand came to cover mine, and Fletcher’s hand joined it. “Our little miracle,” he whispered.
Sky bit his lip and tried to sniff back tears, but they were already falling. “I-I love you guys so much.” He wrapped one arm around Fletcher’s neck and the other around mine, and drew us both in. Then he let out a breath, as if he’d been holding it a long, long time.
“Let’s go back to sleep. All of a sudden, my nightmares feel a little farther away.”
I leaned in and kissed his temple. “You know we’ll be here to chase them away again, if they come back.”
Sky smiled. “I know.”
60
SKY
I fidgeted allthe way over to Gracie Howell's house. I sat in the back seat and fussed with my safety belt, tugging at threads that had long-since come loose. Twirling them between my fingers, I focused on breathing.
I was nervous. Nervous to face Gracie, sure, but more than anything else? I was scared to see River. It was my fault he'd been shot. It was my fault he was there at all. If it hadn't been for my desperate attempt to save my unborn child, he would be unharmed. The likelihood of Dr. Thompson being able to kidnap him while living in such close quarters with the pack Alpha was slim.
I was just unlucky—and a damn fool. I'd ignored the warning signs my body had been screaming at me, and I'd gone out, anyway. A sitting duck. A very pregnant sitting duck.
"Sky?" Fletcher called out to me, his voice breaking through the static in my head. "Everything okay?"
"Sure," I lied. "Peachy. Just feel like I'm gonna throw up, no big deal."
"Oh, Sky. His voice oozed sympathy, and suddenly I wished he was sitting back here with me. I wanted a hug.
"Almost there," Adam said, which did little to ease the churning in my gut.
"Great."
"It's going to be fine," he assured me. "Deep breaths."
I did my best.
By the time we pulled into the gravel drive of the pack-house, my stomach was doing somersaults…or maybe that was the baby, I wasn't sure anymore.
Adam pulled up next to a red Toyota and killed the engine. They both looked back at me, like they were asking if I was ready, to which the answer was no. I sighed and got out of the car anyway.
