Chapter Three

Dakota

I plopped down on the bed next to Scott. He was half-sitting up with his hands resting on his full moon of a belly. It was hard to believe four little lives were growing inside of him. I'd been in Heartville all of twenty minutes, and I was more than ready for a nap. My stuff wouldn't arrive by drone until the next day, but I'd make do. I was too tired to unpack anyway. My backpack from the long walk through the Other World sat by the front door along with my boots.

Cade had brought me directly to Scott and Terrick's house. He was in a rush to get back to his mate and triplets, but he was nice enough about it. Terrick had been on the porch arguing with someone over the phone.

"Hey," Scott yawned. "Was Terrick still out on the porch arguing with his mom?"

"He was arguing with someone," I said. "I didn't stick around to listen. Felt rude."

"She's sending a guard early," Scott said.

"I thought we already knew that."

"We did," he nodded, "but we didn't know it was one of Terrick's older siblings."

"One he doesn't get along with?"

"Not exactly," Scott said. "He's not close to any of them anymore except Salta. My mate has neatly divided his life into the first fifteen years until his carrier died and then the rest of his life. I asked him if he liked Cardian before that and he said he thought he did, but wasn't really sure. That was too long ago."

"How do you feel about all this?" I asked him, stifling a yawn.

"I'm thankful for the guard. It'll stop my parents from sending one," he laughed. "I think it might be best if it's someone related to one of us too. That way he's not exactly a stranger."

"Any word from Trista?" I asked.

"I don't think she's going to reach out. She's mad about being cut off by the dads until she pulls her head out of her ass. She blames me. She helped a bit or tried to when Terrick didn't have his memories, but she left in a huff and told everyone she helped me, but I still wouldn't tell our parents to uncut her off."

"That's not selfish at all," I rolled my eyes.

"Knock, knock," Terrick said, walking into the room.

I made to push myself up, but he shook his head.

"You're fine. I'm not laying down. I just need to grab my shoes. Will you be okay, Scott, while I go over and talk to Bobby about Cardian?"

"Yeah. I think we're going to take a nap," Scott said, eyes glued to his mate. "Are you okay?"

"I can step out if you two need to talk," I offered.

"I'm okay and you don't have to," Terrick said. "Cardian is coming. Probably at sunset tonight."

He rolled his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair.

"He's not staying here. That was part of the agreement. Well, he's not staying here as long as Bobby and Liam will give him somewhere else to stay."

"I bet Liam already knows he's coming," I said.

"Probably," Terrick sighed. "Hi, Dakota. It's nice to meet you. Sorry I have to dash out."

"It's okay. It's nice to meet you too."

Neither of us spoke until we heard Terrick leave and shut and lock the door behind himself.

"He really isn't keen on this idea," I said.

"No, he's not. In a way it does make more work for him. Sure, Cardian is an Alpha who can probably take care of himself, but emotional work. Sometimes I think, outside of Salta, he just wants to pretend everything that happened before we met never happened."

"Do you blame him? If I could forget my parents dying I would too," I frowned. "I love my grandparents. I even call them my dads, but sometimes it still aches."

"Would you really want to forget them, though?" Scott asked.

"Probably not, but when it first happened I'd do anything to feel better. Since his dad just left a few weeks ago, Terrick's probably still in that state of mind."

"I forgot that you were too insightful," Scott chuckled and tried but failed to stifle a yawn.

"How about that nap?" I laughed.

"Yeah. Then we can tell the others you're here later," he nodded.