Page 126 of Talk About… Dramay

The more we talked, the more I realized that I didn’t want to do something elaborate, just something cute and simple.

“There’s a small baby boutique. Do you think one of you could give me a ride over there so I can get supplies, and then we can come back here so I can call Roman to pick me up and he won’t suspect a thing?”

“Count us all in!” Grace said with a grin.

Avery was the only one who didn’t chime in. She was frowning down on her phone. She almost jumped out of her skin when Sidney nudged her.

“Sorry,” she muttered, tucking her phone away and shaking it off. She tried to smile again and join back in, but I could tell something was off.

“No, tell us what it is,” I said. “This is girls’ night. I’m not overtaking it with just my news. Tell us what’s going on.”

She sighed, a big, heavy one that seemed to come from her soul.

“So, we all know by now what happened with my past pack,” she said, looking around to make sure we all agreed. I’d heard it from her and Cameron already, so I nodded in agreement. “Well, when I first walked into the apartment, it was to find them withmy one of my city besties. I was too upset and hurt to really think about the fact that if they had no issues drugging me through heats and pheromone sprays, that the same thing could have happened to her.”

“No,” Sidney said, eyes widening on a gasp.

“Yeah. The trial just concluded, and my lawyer just sent me a rundown of what happened. I guess Wren was one of the biggest witness statements against them. They had no idea she had security cameras inside her house. She caught quite a bit of damning evidence. Including them using ‘planning something for me’ as an excuse, then conspiring boldly while she was out of the room, to test the drugs on her so they could keep me under their thumb.”

Her face paled as she spoke and I felt my own stomach churning as the words sunk in.

This pack was made of monsters.

“What the fuck?” Hailey managed to choke out. “So, she was their guinea pig?”

“Apparently. I guess they didn’t expect me home right away that night. They planned to conclude our anniversary with those same drugs. She… had no idea what was going on and was in pure instinct mode out of her mind. I feel so fucking guilty about it.”

Avery looked like she was about to puke. I reached over and took her hand in mine.

“Hey, don’t be hard on yourself. Don’t let that guilt take you over. You reacted how you could with what information was presented.”

She nodded, taking a shaky breath. “I know you’re right,” she promised. “It’s just going to take some time to wrap my head around, you know.” She tucked her dark hair behind her ear and looked so sad that I wanted to hug her.

Then, in true Avery fashion, she shook her head and stood up, putting down some money for a tip since we’d already paid.

“Let’s not do this. I don’t want to let it get to me. I will reach out to her soon and handle it on my own. For now, we have some celebrating to do and a secret baby mission.”

We all agreed, letting her deflect if she needed it. Though, I had a feeling we’d have several check in calls and recovery girls’ nights in our future.

Then we were heading across town, the mood lifting again.

How we thought it was a good idea to let loose five omegas in a baby store was beyond me. After melting over the cute baby things, I finally settled on a dog toy that said “Big Brother” and a “Big Brother” t-shirt that I fully intended to put on our dog.

Maybe it was silly and not as elaborate as some of the ideas we discussed, but the news was killing me, and I really needed to tell my pack. So, this was going to work.

I was a nervous wreck the entire way back to the restaurant, then waiting on Roman and heading back to our house.

Thankfully, Henry was outside when I got home, and no one questioned me as I rushed outside to greet him like I usually did. Though this time I had my purse on me.

Henry was a champ, letting me squeeze him into the shirt with little fight. He looked hilarious and gave me a look that said he wasnota fan.

However, when I showed him the toy, he was more than happy to march himself inside and show it off.

I didn’t say a word as I came in after him, closing the door and dropping my bag on the table.

Then I waited.

Tate was the first one to notice him. The book he was reading fell to the ground as he whipped around to look at me. His eyes were asking the question, and I nodded, once, biting my lip as I waited for his reaction.