Chapter 466

Olivia

I sat alone at our dining room table, shards of light from passing cars periodically illuminating the otherwise dark room. Nathan’s dinner plate sat untouched in front of his empty chair, the special casserole I had made for him earlier congealing into a cold mass.

My fury mounted with each minute that ticked by. Without my husband walking through the door or even bothering to text me, I began to fear that he had gotten caught up with some Alpha association matters; a text would have been nice, at least. Was that too much to ask?

As I waited, I alternated between glaring angrily at the front door and compulsively checking my irritatingly silent phone, as if willing it to finally light up with an explanation. Anything to justify why Nathan had failed to meet me at the doctor’s office today after swearing up and down that nothing could make him miss it.

Finally, after hours of waiting, the familiar creak of the front door opening made me immediately sit up straight.

Heavy footsteps sounded down the hall until Nathan appeared in the archway, looking utterly exhausted with his shirt reeking of cigar smoke. I stood, crossing the room to him, and grimaced. He smelled like alcohol.

One whiff of the offensive smells permeating his rumpled clothing raised my simmering temper even higher.

“Wow, so glad you finally decided to drag yourself home,” I bit out icily, making no effort to mask my irritation. “I hope you and your new council buddies had a nice long laugh knocking back drinks and smoking cigars on your leisurely afternoon while I dealt with the wreckage from your monumental screw up.”

Nathan visibly winced under my biting sarcasm, running a hand through his disheveled hair. “Liv, please… just let me explain everything,” he said softly, reaching for me.”

But I recoiled, putting some distance between us.

“Oh sure, do explain!” I exclaimed, grabbing the sealed gender results envelope off the table to shake at him accusingly. “Explain how you could possibly justify abandoning your pregnant wife today, of all days. For something as pointless as one of your exclusive old boys’ club mixers.”

Nathan’s face positively crumbled at the sight of the envelope, shame and remorse flashing in his bloodshot eyes. A tiny flare of vindictive satisfaction licked through me seeing that—good.

He deserved to feel terrible. I sure as hell felt terrible sitting in that exam room all by myself, once again.

“Our baby’s gender has been sitting right here,” I continued sharply, still waving the envelope in his face. “I had the doctor write it down, so we could at least experience it together. But you didn’t even get to see our baby on the ultrasound, Nathan. Doesn’t that bother you?”

Nathan reached imploringly for my rigid hands. “Olivia, you have to know how incredibly sorry I am,” he pleaded. “Truly. And yes, it does bother me.”

I sighed, allowing Nathan to hold my hands, but I didn’t loosen my stance. “Well?” I asked. “You could at least explain what happened.”

Nathan nodded. “After Alpha Dan dismissed everyone, he cornered me and made it very clear that my attendance at the post-meeting gathering tonight was non-negotiable. That if I refused and left…”

He hesitated, running a hand through his hair again. “Liv, Dan explicitly threatened to revoke my entire council seat,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “Everything we’ve worked so hard to accomplish, gone in a blink of an eye.”

I frowned at his words, sympathy working its way through my hardened anger despite how hard I tried to hold it at bay.

Jeopardizing Nathan’s seat on the association, of course, put both our pack’s and our family’s standing at risk too, in more ways than one. Our pack needed the status and funding that came with the association after all we had been through, and so I understood why he was so desperate to keep his seat.

But it didn’t fix the fact that he had, once again, missed a crucial appointment.

With a measured sigh, I softened my tone just a notch. “Look, Nathan, I get that maintaining your title on the council carries a lot of weight,” I said slowly. “But our baby deserves having their father fully present at major moments whenever humanly possible.”

As I spoke, I rested both hands protectively over my rounded belly. “That’s non-negotiable for me going forward. You can’t miss anything else.”

Nathan grasped my hands firmly once again, nodding. “Of course, Liv. You and our children come miles before anything else,” he agreed fervently. “My absence today felt like I was sawing off my own limb. Seeing our little peanut on that screen means… well, everything. Please believe me when I say abandoning you shredded every fiber of my soul.”

I mulled that over as Nathan pulled a thick packet from inside his suit jacket pocket.

“Part of why tonight was unavoidable involved securing this,” he explained quietly, handing it over.

My brows shot up in surprise as I noted the heavy, embossed paper. I nearly choked at reading the number printed on the enclosed check. Twenty-five thousand dollars, made out to our pack treasury.

“What… what is this?”

“The first installment of the funding we’ve been doing all of this for,” Nathan explained softly. “The first check of many, in fact.”

The gears in my head turned rapidly as Nathan continued. “I’m putting it immediately toward the school, Liv,” he said. “This will be more than enough not just for the new uniforms and cafeteria, but also for repairs and classroom updates.”

“Not to mention the Valentine’s Day charity gala,” I whispered.

“Exactly.” Nathan nodded. “Think of how much our pack could accomplish with regular checks like this, Liv. Think of how badly we need it.”

I glanced over the staggering check amount again as his words sunk in fully. Nathan really had taken on an utterly enormous balancing act for the greater good here… because beneath the power plays, old grudges, and politics, the people we loved suffered. They needed voices to fight for them.

How could I begrudge someone for answering a calling like that?

With a shaky exhale, I placed the gender envelope back on the table between us. “Okay,” I finally conceded. “I think I understand a bit better why you couldn’t just ignore Dan’s demands.”

I shot him a watery half smile then. “Just please, no more broken promises like this, okay? It devastates me, Nathan. I can’t have this kind of stress on me right now. On us.”

Profound relief flooded my husband’s face. He drew me into his solid chest in a fierce hug, the check envelope crinkling between us. I let myself bury my face in his chest, feeling the steady beating of his heart through his jacket. His hands tangled in my hair, his fingers cold and soothing.

“No more, Olivia,” he promised, his voice barely more than a whisper. “You and the twins and our baby come before anything from here on out.”

“You’d better promise,” I mumbled into his chest. “Or else.”

“I promise,” he said, pulling back just enough to look down at me with a stern expression on his rugged face. “And if I break that promise, I give you full permission to punish me however you see fit.”

I smirked a bit. “However I see fit.”

“Yes.” He matched my smirk, but then paused, his eyes flitting over to the baby gender envelope that was sitting on the table. “Now, should we take a peek together finally? Or I was thinking maybe I could spend the week planning an elaborate gender reveal party to help make up for things.”

Despite myself, I couldn’t help an amused snort. Even now, Nathan was searching for light and hope and joy wherever he could. It was hopelessly endearing.

“Maybe a party could be enough to make up for today…”