Revolting
Chapter 89 -

Chapter Fifty One Lucky Man William

Raine had her diapered bottom sitting on the top of my foot, and her arms and legs wrapped tightly around my calf so that I was dragging her along the floor with every difficult step I took. Her peals of laughter echoed through the hallway as I slowly made my way toward the kitchen.

Nina and Daisy were working side by side assembling blueberry pies from the fresh picked blueberries from the garden. My mouth was watering already at the prospect of dessert after dinner. Daisy crimped the edges of the dough with her fingers and smiled at my antics with the toddler. It was good to see her smile again, even if the smile didn't quite reach her blue eyes. I believe that when she had her own baby in her arms, her light would come back. She would have that little piece of Gabe to hold on to. We had already decided that the baby would be called Gabriel, or Gabriella, in memory of Daisy's lost mate.

"Hey sweety," Nina smiled down at Raine's dark head. Her hands were covered in flour and dough, and her apron was spattered with purple blueberry stains. "Whatcha doing?"

The little girl unwrapped herself from my leg, and pushed herself to her feet. She brushed her dark curls out of her face impatiently. "Playin' with Uncle Weeyum," she said matter-of-factly. "Whatcha doing Momma?" "Making a mess,” Nina laughed. She met my eyes and winked. "Where is uncle Heath?"

I scooped up Raine and perched a hip on the kitchen stool by the counter. "He is meeting with Bradley," I said, balancing the baby on my lap. "They are putting together a business plan," I said proudly. Since working on our little house, Heath had decided he liked building things. He and our packmate Bradley had put their heads together to start a handy-man and light construction business. Heath was so excited and animated over it, and over the prospect of having his own steady income.

Everything was perfect, except for his missing sister. He had been somewhat comforted by knowing she was alive... but also it also increased his anxiety that she was acting so far out of character. "What is she thinking? Right in the middle of the city?" He had raked his hands through his auburn hair until it stood up all over his head like an orangutan's.

I pulled my attention back to Nina and Daisy. "I uh..." I swallowed. "I bought a ring."

Both of them froze and looked at me wide-eyed. Daisy stopped the rolling pin mid-roll across a sheet of dough. "You did?" Nina squealed. "Where? I want to see!"

I sheepishly fished the velvet lined box out of my pocket and opened the lid for them to see. It was a simple wide white-gold ring, which wrapped around itself in an infinity symbol. And in the center of the figure 8 was a small, modest diamond. "Oh wow!" Nina breathed, bending close to look at the ring, "Its perfect Will! Elegant, but not too much, you know?"

I nodded and slipped the box back in my pocket. "That's exactly what I was going for," I admitted. "Heath wouldn't like anything too flashy." I wasn't even sure how he would feel about making our union official. We hadn't really talked about it, but it was something I was feeling strongly about. I wanted him to be mine in every way. I wanted the whole world to know that we belonged together, forever. I wanted him to be my husband. And I wanted to be his. Officially, unofficially, in every way. I just wasn't sure if he would be overwhelmed by all that.

"When are you going to propose?" Daisy asked, looking away to hide the slight sheen of tears in her blue eyes. But I saw them, and felt my heart squeeze in sympathy for her.

I bounced Raine on my knee, making her giggle. "I haven't decided yet. I was hoping that... well I know he would feel better about everything if Hannah was home." Nina sighed. "What if she doesn't come home, William?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. He'll be heartbroken." That was a fear of mine. If something happened to Hannah, or if she simply disappeared forever, I was afraid that Heath might retreat back into his solitary rogue existence and shut me out. All the gains he'd made in the last month or so would slip away. But I had to believe that our love was strong enough to get us through it.

Nina put her hand on mine, not caring that she was getting flour and blueberry juice all over me. "Don't wait too long," she advised with a serious look. "We never know how long we have." She cut her eyes at Daisy and then went back to the pie she was filling.

"Weeyum!" Raine caught my face in her chubby little hands and directed me to look at her. She stared at me hard for a moment, her grey-blue eyes so serious, it almost made me squirm. It was like she was looking straight into my soul. Then she poked my nose. "Play!"

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I laughed and swung her up on to my shoulders. Daisy watched me, a small wistful smile playing around her lips. "You are going to be such a good dad, William."

I held Raine by her chunky thighs and felt my heart knock against my ribs. I was going to be a dad. How freaking amazing was that? I still couldn't wrap my mind around it. We had already decided that we would turn the extra room in our little cottage into a nursery for the baby, with an extra bed for Daisy when she wanted to sleep over. And Heath was as excited as anyone. He had already picked out a crib, and spent hours painstakingly screwing the parts and pieces together. I guess he already had a lot of experience raising kids, since he had pretty much raised his sister himself.

I felt the bulge of the jeweler's box in my pocket. I was a damn lucky man.

Book 2 Epilogue

Epilogue

Hannah

I crouched on a nearby rooftop and watched the building burn. The smoke burned my nose and stung my eyes. My throat felt raw and scratchy. I think I breathed in some of the chemicals as they burned.

It had been easy, even easier than I thought. Once I got the fire started, there were so many flammable and combustible materials inside the laboratory, that the place went up like a roman candle. Mini-explosions had busted out all the windows. I had disabled the sprinkler systems, and by the time the fire department had arrived, the fire was burning so hot that the water practically evaporated before it could douse the flames. I watched from above as the firemen scrambled with their hoses, feeling satisfied.

It wasn't a permanent solution, of course. Somewhere out there some scientist still had the formulation to the poison. It was on a flash drive, or a computer, or in someone's head. But for the moment, I had done what I could to stop the manufacturing process. I hoped it would take a long time for Ryborg to recover, rebuild, and reopen their operations. In the meantime, Michael would have no supplier. And no one else would get their hands on the vile stuff that had nearly cost me my brother.

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Michael. I gritted my teeth. It had been weeks now... I don't even know how much time had passed, as time was becoming kind of irrelevant. No matter, every time I thought of him, it was like a dull ache in my core. I could close my eyes and still remember every single detail of his eyes, his face, his body. I even remember what he tasted like in my mouth. I also remembered the look in his eyes when he had first seen me. The revulsion. The acid tone when he had said, "What happened to your face?"

I balled my hands into fists. He tried to kill my brother. He WOULD have killed my brother. And he had killed my best and only friend's mate. I rubbed at my eyes and backed away from the sight of the burning building. I made my way over to the fire escape and started down.

Once my bare feet hit the pavement I looked around in confusion. My thoughts were getting muddy. It was harder and harder to think reasonably. I struggled to remember where I was, who I was, where I was going.

I had been alone too long. I felt the panic rising in my throat like burning bile.

I had to get back to Heath, and to Daisy.

Daisy... my dear friend... the first one to welcome me. I could still picture her face, the blame and pain of betrayal in her eyes when her mate died. I didn't know if she would ever forgive me for bringing Michael into her life. But I was going to redeem myself, to her, to the Rebel Moon pack. I was going to solve all of our problems.

I latched on to the solution with everything in me... it was the one thing that kept my mind focused and intent. The one thing that was saving me from losing myself to my wolf and going completely feral. I still had a purpose to accomplish. Instinctively my feet started moving me southwards. I crouched low and ran through the shadows of back streets and quiet alleys. There was something inside of me, an invisible pull, like an internal compass leading me where I needed to go. I have one last thing to do.

I am going to kill Michael Bishop.