Royce laughs. “Aye, that’s what I like to hear. The real Snow White took on seven men. Keep her ridin’, baby on board or not.”

Maddoc wraps him in a quick headlock, one Royce escapes just as fast and the two mock box for a second before laughing.

“I’m out,” I announce. “Mac giving you guys a ride home?”

“Yup,” Maddoc says.

I nod and start toward my SUV as Royce moves over to Mac and Chloe’s group of friends, and Maddoc drops on the blanket behind Raven, pulling her to his chest so she can relax against him.

I head to the zoo to spend the rest of my Saturday with my daughter.

Zoey passed out the second we got on the freeway, like I knew she would.

Once I confirmed I was on my way, my dad gave his driver the rest of the night off, so it’s the four of us in my SUV for the hour ride home.

Maybell being Maybell, uses the time to her advantage.

“She reminds me of you, you know,” she says from the back seat as she runs a hand across Zoey’s head. “So lively, always smiling and the first to share.”

I scoff a small laugh and my dad chuckles beside me.

“Now don’t you go thinkin’ nasty with me in this car, boy.”

I laugh a little louder and my dad shifts his smile to Maybell.

“I’m pretty sure none of my boys are the sharing kind nowadays,” he teases.

This time it’s Maybell who scoffs. “Go on and ask your other son.”

I grin, switching lanes. “Yeah. Royce is all for shares.”

“Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that, for now anyway. Give him time, he’ll find someone he won’t...” Maybell trails off, making sure to catch my eyes in the mirror. “Takes a lot for a Brayshaw to get to that point.”

“You sure about that?” I frown at the road.

“I’m not saying it’s easy, I’m saying the second it clicks, it’s over, instant and eternal. Endless.”

“Real reassuring, Miss Maybell,” I grumble.

My dad laughs and while I glare at him, Maybell reaches forward to smack his arm.

“Now none of that. You know the story of the raven and the wolf,” she says.

Of course I do, we all do.

One mate, one mission: love and honor and protect your home. The raven will lead the wolf, the wolf will destroy all who threaten. A solid, everlasting team.

I thought it was fate for my brother and Raven, but clearly, she thinks more.

“We Brayshaws,” Maybell begins again. “We’re wolves. When we decide we want something, that makes it ours. There is no going back, no changing our minds. It’s sealed in the heavens and etched along the walls of hell.”

“I’ve made no decision,” I tell her.

She nods, but nothing is said the remainder of the drive, and thirty minutes later, I’m pulling up at the Bray house.

My dad climbs out, opens Maybell’s door, and helps her to her feet.

She comes around, stepping up to my window, and levels me with a stern expression. “You might not have made a decision, but that girl has.”

“Why’s that matter to me?”

She eyes me a long moment before saying, “I said what a Brayshaw wants, a Brayshaw gets.”

I frown. “Victoria is no Brayshaw.”

Miss Maybell smirks, pats me on the cheek and walks away.

“Why does she do that?”

“You mean, make you think, force you to step back and consider what you haven’t?” He raises a dark brow. “It’s what mothers, or grandmothers do.”

I nod, looking away.

She’s the closest we’ve ever had to either.

Chapter 9

Captain

The knock on my door has my muscles stiffening, but Raven’s laugh floats from behind me in the next second, and my body relaxes the tiniest bit.

“Yikes.” She slides farther in.

I glance over my shoulder, my head following as she moves around me, sitting on the edge of my bed.

“Tense, Pacman?” she teases.

I scoff. “Let’s go with that.”

She smirks. “Zoey still sleeping?”

“Yeah.” I sigh. “Can’t decide if I should be waking her up to say bye before we leave or let her sleep in. She’s gotten used to having me every morning. Think she’ll be confused or something when she gets up and only my dad and Maybell are here?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Cap.” She laughs, but there’s a nervousness to it.

I reach out, and she slips her hand in to grasp mine, tension surrounding her.

“Stop,” I reassure her. “We’re gonna figure this parenting shit out. Me and Zo, you, Maddoc, and the baby.”

“And Royce, and Rolland, and Maybell,” she ticks off each name.

I chuckle. “And them.”

“Pretty sure Royce thinks Zoey and the mini basketball I’m carrying around are as equally his.”

“Pretty sure that’s exactly what he thinks.”

She smiles, looking around my room. “I think it’s good for him, he’s been a little out of it ever since we got back from the cabins. Glued to his phone and shit.”

Agreed.

Out of the three of us, I’d say Royce is the hardest shell to crack, but Zoey slipped by his shield in an instant, and with his soft spot for Raven, hers and our brother’s baby earned his love by existing.

I think it’s the innocence of a kid he prefers. He can trust their little souls and doesn’t feel he has to be on high alert as he is with everyone else.

Raven pulls her hand away, leaning back on her elbows. “I say let her sleep. She’s little, can’t hurt, right? I’m sure Maybell knows what to do about naps and stuff. Wait, is she too big for naps?”

I laugh. “No, I have the full schedule Maria had her on, so I’ve been trying to stick to it, but she’s been sleeping longer than Maria said was her normal since the day she came home.”

“Maybe that’s because she is home when before she wasn’t.”

I nod and Raven looks off, the shadowed mood she found me in now creeping over us both.

Before, as in when Zoey was being cared for by Maria and kept from me while my family fought for its place against Graven and the assholes surrounding them.

I can’t fucking believe Victoria never even let on that she knew I had a kid, let alone that she’d met her. She hid it until she was forced to admit it, even after we put faith in her to stand with us.

That’s the shittiest part. She could have come clean along the way but chose not to.

Raven asks me the exact question I’ve been rolling around in my head since the decision was made to keep Victoria here ten days ago. “What are we doing, Pacman?”

I sigh, glancing around as Maddoc steps in, dropping beside her.

She leans her head on his shoulder, eyeing me.

“No fuckin’ clue,” I admit. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“Nope.” Royce bounds in next, flopping on the other side of the bed and reaching out to put his hand on Raven’s little belly.

Maddoc slaps him away while Raven smiles.

I pull my computer chair up and sit in front of them.