Twice Tempted: Between Two Alphas (Mia and Cameron)

Chapter 67

Chapter Sixty-Seven

MIA

“Cameron, are you okay?”

He’s standing at the entrance of the twin’s bedroom. His expression is wistful.

“We have reason to believe the samples that were taken from the lab are compromised.”

“Oh no!”

I look at my kids.

I can’t imagine anything worse than something happening to one of them. There’s no pain greater than

watching a child suffer.

“I’m so sorry.” Merilee is my niece and my mate’s daughter. If she was a stranger’s child my heart

would still hurt. Every child deserves a life free of strife and suffering. “What can I do?”

He shrugs.

Then he pushes into the room and comes to stand beside me. He tucks the blanket around Aaron.

“Can you…see anything?” he asks.

Being told you have a gift and being able to use it are two separate things.

“No.”

His lips press thin.

“It’s one of the reasons I need to go, Cam.”

He doesn’t say anything. After a while, he gives the slightest nod.

His hand takes mine and I rest my head against his arm.

We stand there, silently looking at the children we created.

I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

I lead him out of the room and into his suite.

His brows draw together. He’s uncertain. After New Orleans and the aftermath, he’s wary around me.

“We don’t have to,” he says.

I chuckle.

He smiles crookedly. “I didn’t say I don’t want to.”

“Kiss me.”

He sweeps me up, his arms holding me in an embrace that is as sweet as it is strong. His lips are

gentle. Insistent, but he holds back, letting me set the pace.

The last days have taught me how precious life is. How each moment should be cherished because

there is no telling how long it will last.

Maybe I will be like my mother and someday see my own demise. Is such vision a blessing or a curse?

I throw my arms around Cam’s neck.

I don’t want to think. I need to feel.

To feel loved.

To feel alive.

I straddle his waist and rock my hips against his, knowing it’s all the permission Cam will need. A

second later, I’m spun around and pressed against the wall.

I don’t think my feet hit the ground, and yet somehow my clothes are cast aside and in moments, he’s

joining our bodies. He rocks against me. The position and my own weight has me sinking down on his

cock with each thrust.

For the longest time, he keeps the rhythm, angling his hips up, while lifting me almost all the way off

him, then letting gravity drag be down his body while he thrusts upward again. It’s slow and steady and

exquisite. The perfect kind of torment that keeps me teetering on the edge of release.

We make love for hours.

And in that time, I don’t think, I only feel.

But when it’s over, and I lay beside him, counting his heartbeats as he sleeps, I can’t shake the dread

that overcomes me.

Tomorrow I will leave Cam and my children. I don’t know what the future holds–not yet anyway–but

when I channel my thoughts and try to envision the path ahead, I see only death and war and

suffering…

I don’t allow the goodbyes to be painful. I smile and hug my kids and tease them that they better

behave themselves. My father and Cam’s family, his sister especially, they crowd the kids and are

already talking about all the things they’ll do and how much fun they’ll have.

There will be no living with the kids after this.

I’m pretty lenient, but this is next-level spoiling.

The pack takes their cue from Cam and everyone smiles and wishes me safe travels on the way to the

airstrip. I’m sure some of them actually mean the words of encouragement. The others…I think they’re

just happy to see me go.

Jace is noticeably absent, and my soul hurts knowing what Cam did to him. I understand ‘why’ and I

can even agree that Cam made the best decision for Jace overall, but from one rejected wolf to

another, the cruelty of being banished, betrayed by those closest to you…those pains don’t ever really

heal.

Wherever Jace is I hope he’s happy.

Cam insists on sending Michail, which is just stupid. Michail’s barely healed. His neck and chest are a

mottled mess of burns that come up the left side of his face. I’m also not so sure about setting him on a

plane with the same she-wolf that tried to tear his throat out.

But that was another decree of Cam’s.

The wolf and vamps would be set free.

Just not on Healmsworth property.

Since they came from California, Cam was shipping them back there.

As the time approaches for me to leave, Cam draws me close. His lips brush my head, my eyes, my

cheeks.

“Why does this feel like goodbye?” he asks me.

I’m not leaving my kids. “I’ll be back.”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Aaron and Jacelyn haven’t asked when I’ll be back and I really need to leave before they do. They’re

distracted–thankfully–with all the attention, but now that I’m about to take off, I know it’s going to get

real for them.

I kneel to hug and kiss them.

Aaron squeezes my neck tight. “Be careful, mommy.”

Jacelyn’s trying not to cry. Her little body is shaking with how hard she’s holding back her tears.

Cam sweeps her up and kisses her cheek. “Hey pumpkin, momma’s coming back.”

Jacelyn cries and buries her face in his shoulder.

Aaron’s lower lip trembles but he doesn’t let himself cry. My father stands behind him, his hands on my

son’s shoulders. I know he’s proud of Aaron, but I just want my kids to be kids. They don’t need to

bottle up their emotions around me.

“Hey guys! I’m coming back. And I’ll bring extra presents when I do.”

Jacelyn shakes her head. “That’s not true, mommy.”

“Sure it is. It’ll be a special surprise for you and your brother. And you’ll get double the presents if you

behave nicely.”

“You’re lying, Mommy.” Jacelyn shakes her head vehemently.

“Sweetie, I will–”

“You won’t come back,” she tells me. And my blood runs cold because she says it with absolute

certainty.