Chapter 158: Adopt Me, Daddy

Strength makes an Alpha. Wisdom makes a king. When an Alpha extends his hand to an enemy of yesterday and means it, he proves he understands that dominance is inherited, but leadership is earned.

Alpha Thunderfang held his hand out. Maverick took it. The handshake was brief, firm, and carried the mutual understanding of two Alphas who had been on opposite ends of a blade the other day and were choosing to move forward.

"Thank you for traveling across Helix to bail out my future Beta Luna and my brother’s mate," Alpha Thunderfang said. "You will be reimbursed in full before you leave Thunderfang. I want to apologize personally for the situation. It should have never gotten to that point and I take responsibility for the fact that it did." He paused long enough to take a breath, which Nova appreciated because she needed one too. "I have informed the correctional center that Nova had zero involvement in what happened to my brother. All charges have been dropped. Every single one. On both of them."

Maria and Nova had identical jaw drops because that was more words than either of them had heard Alpha Thunderfang speak in the entire time they had known him combined, which, granted, was a week. But the man who communicated in grunts and single-syllable directives had just delivered a full paragraph with eye contact and inflection. Their Lightning Nectar must have been the hallucinogenic kind.

Maverick gave a nod, the kind that carried respect without performance. "I appreciate that, Alpha. And I appreciate you handling it directly."

"I am also taking Nova to see Derek tomorrow. Personally."

Nova’s lips parted. She looked up at Alpha Thunderfang, searching his face for the catch, the caveat, the fine print. There was none. He had just volunteered to escort her to the hospital himself, which meant she would actually get through the door this time without a tactical unit treating her like a fugitive.

"Thank you, Alpha." Her voice cracked on the second word and she swallowed before it could travel any further because this man had just given her the only thing she wanted and she was going to hold it together if it killed her.

She wanted to ask about Derek’s condition. The question was sitting right there, loaded, ready. But the medical details had been sealed for a reason and Alpha Thunderfang had already given her more tonight than she had expected from him in a lifetime. If they were keeping it private, she was going to respect that.

Maria tipped her Lightning Nectar glass to him. "Don’t worry about it, Alpha. I hope those gentlemen think twice before they SWAT a hospital room."

Tavian choked on his whiskey. Maverick’s mouth twitched. Alpha Thunderfang’s jaw moved once, which for him was a standing ovation.

They migrated to the sitting area beside the fire. Nova sank into an armchair and the cushion accepted her with the unconditional warmth of furniture that had zero opinions about her criminal record.

Tavian stretched his legs towards the hearth, drink balanced on his knee, oxygen clip still glowing on his collar. "So, outside of the arrests and the bail and the SWAT team and the correctional center, did anything else interesting happen today? Any weddings or—"

Alpha Thunderfang shot him a look so sharp it could have cut glass. Tavian received the look, processed it, and took a very deliberate sip of his whiskey without finishing the sentence.

Maverick read the room. His eyes moved from Alpha Thunderfang to Tavian, then landed on Nova. Whatever calculation he ran behind those eyes completed in under a second.

"I forgot to tell you something, Nova." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "I gave you the Emberclaw house name and Maria’s level of clearance at the correctional center."

Nova blinked a few times, stunned. Her brain rewound the sentence and played it back slower in case she had misheard it.

"Otherwise they were going to detain you until you received a proper surname. That process takes five business days and you would have been sitting in a holding cell for all of them," Maverick added, watching her reaction.

Her good hand flew to her chest. It was genuine. It was also delayed. The gesture was involuntary, the physical response of a woman whose brain was still catching up to the generosity being aimed at her from multiple directions tonight.

The thought of five days in a cell while Derek was in a hospital made her stomach turn. And Maverick Emberclaw had paid her bail and claimed her. He was only a few years older than her and he still claimed her as his daughter so that she would be protected. She had never heard of that and was genuinely touched.

"That is one of the most generous things anyone has ever done for me. I am genuinely at a loss for how to thank you properly," she managed.

Maverick’s chest expanded by a full inch. The subtle expansion of a man who had just put his name on something and was very pleased with where it landed.

"I’m glad I could help."

A growling noise came from somewhere at the same moment Maria started clapping her hands loud enough that the sound echoed off the stone ceiling.

"Oh, this is so exciting. Nova is adopted. She is officially an Emberclaw. Welcome to the family."

Tavian looked at Maverick. Then at Nova. Then back at Maverick.

"That’s one word for—"

Alpha Thunderfang shot him a second look. Tavian closed his mouth, took another sip, and stared into the fire like it was the most interesting thing he had seen all day.

Nova didn’t notice this because Maria had opened her mouth with the specific intake of breath that preceded announcements. Nova recognized it immediately.

"Maria. No."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were about to."

"I was going to share what we learned tonight."

"Please don’t."

"Nova, they’re going to find out eventually. Can I hint?"

"No."

"Can I hint vaguely?"

"That is still hinting."

"Can I make a face that communicates the general energy of what I want to say?"

"You’re already making that face, Maria."

Tavian was watching this exchange like a tennis match. "Tell us what?"

"Nothing," Nova said.

"Everything," Maria said at the same time.

They looked at each other.

"Maria."

"Okay, now I have to know. Let’s hear it." Alpha Thunderfang looked at Maria and didn’t look away, which was an invitation.

Nova blinked at him, surprised he had been listening and would be interested to know whatever it was because it was clearly about her.

Nova opened her mouth to intervene. Maria was already airborne.

"Nova is Alpha Starborne’s daughter. That makes her a princess," she announced.