Chapter 163: Rhys
I stared at my mate. She couldn’t possibly be serious, but the determined look on her face told me she was. She wanted a kid to be a spy for us? He was 16. I understood that he thought he was protecting his family. I didn’t like it, but I got it. I couldn’t say what I would do in his situation. I didn’t really want to think about it if I was being honest. And Grace said he only gave partial truths... She seemed to think that mattered. I’m not sure it did. But I needed to know exactly what she meant.
“What?” I asked finally, but she wasn’t looking at me now. She was looking at Michael.
“Your plan is to use me?” Michael asked, his voice breaking slightly. I almost felt pity for him, but then I remembered what he had cost me, and I shut it down.
Grace though had no issue with showing her emotions, and her face immediately softened. “You will not be required to do anything that you don’t want to do.” She told him, and I wished she hadn’t. If I liked her plan, then we would be using it, no matter what the boy said.
“Well, what is your plan, Grace?” I asked tiredly.
“We would control the information he gives. He’s been giving information that’s true, but also wrong. Like he said the Luna Ceremony had a date but gave the wrong date. In order to protect Michael’s siblings, we have to give some truths. But I think we set up a trap. We give some true things, so they really trust us, well, Michael, but it’s all leading to a trap that we set up when we’re ready.”
I stared at my mate, this time in total awe. How could someone so smart have kept her mouth shut for so much of her life?
“Michael, your thoughts?” I asked despite myself.
“I mean, it makes sense, I guess.” Michael said hesitantly. “But I need to get my siblings out of there... I can’t risk their wrath... If I get caught, they’ll kill them.”
I shared a look with Grace, and I knew we were on the same page.
“I know. And we’ll make sure that is a part of our plan.” Grace told him gently.
“So, you aren’t going to kill me?” The young kid asked, his eyes wide and terrified, so different from the kid I usually saw.
“No.” I answered before awkwardly clearing my throat.
Michael looked at me in confusion, Grace and I had talked about it. We wanted to invite him into our family. Him betraying us put a damper on it for me, but I knew whatever had happened before they came to me, had not dampened any of her ideas of it.
“Uh, how many siblings do you have Michael?” I asked.
“I’m the oldest of 5, sir,” Michael answered uneasily.
“Names and ages, please, so we have a reference?”
“You aren’t going to kill them, right?” He asked hesitantly.
“No, son. I just want to make sure as we start to plan, we have all the information we need.”
“Aaron and Iris are 14. Mark is 12. And Claire is 7...” He answered.
Oh lord. 5 kids. 5 kids all at once. We didn’t even have 1. I mean, we had Michael, I guess, but that didn’t count yet, did it? We weren’t actively raising him. We weren’t actively raising anyone. This was huge. And yet, it was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? My gut was telling me it had to be... I hope Grace wanted a big family because I’m not sure she was prepared to be a part of one or had even thought that far in advance.
“Well, that’s good to know, we’ll have to probably kick Sawyer out of the Alpha unit,” I said, making eye contact with Grace. “Maybe even add on to it somehow.”
Her eyes lit up. I knew she understood what I was hinting at by her reaction, even if she hadn’t expected it to happen.
“What?” Michael frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“Well, you know how we were trying to find homes for everyone?” Grace asked.
“Yea...” Michael said hesitantly. I could tell he was still confused at why he wasn’t dead.
“Well, we were thinking that you, and I guess, when your siblings come, that you would all continue to stay with us and join our family.”
Michael blinked as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You mean, even though I betrayed your trust, you’re not only not going to throw me out, but you’re asking me to be a part of your family?”
“That’s exactly what we’re asking.” I responded.
Grace reached for the kid’s hand, and pulled it into her lap, and he looked at her with wide eyes. “We’re not asking you to think of us as your parents. You have those. As bad and complicated as they may be. And to be quite honest, your dad isn’t going to make it out of this alive, but I think you knew that already. What we want is to be a place where you can feel safe. A place that you can call home and not worry about anything other than normal kid stuff. We want to be that for you, if you’ll let us.”
He turned toward me, and I felt my heart pull a little. He was just a scared kid. And Grace was right to ask questions first.
“And all is forgiven?” He asked nervously.
“I still want to know everything you’ve already told them, but yes, you’re a kid Michael. You deserve a place to call yours.”
To my ultimate surprise, Michael threw himself at Grace. She opened her arms just in time as he flew into her. For the first time, the cool, calm, and collected, Michael shed tears. I couldn’t imagine the weight we had just lifted off his shoulders. For the first time in my life, I felt like I had truly done the right thing. If I never got anything else in life, this moment would be enough because for one moment, I got to play a real hero, and I didn’t have to use violence to do it. It was the day I started my family with Grace and the rest of our forever, we would never walk this life alone again.
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