Free Fated Redemption [Kindred of Arkadia 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Alanea Alder

quipped.
    “I don’t see that working.” Emmett shook his head.
    Peyton frowned.
    “Why not? We do it here.” Everyone stopped and thought about it.
    “You’re right, Peyton. We do, don’t we?” Rian smiled.
    “I think that they are modeling themselves after Arkadia and what our Alpha Mother has created,”
    Cecelia offered.
    “They don’t have a Rebecca though,” Damian said.
    “Thank god for that. Can you imagine two of them?” Rian laughed.
    The bar door opened and two unfamiliar women walked in. They looked around hesitantly before
    walking up to Rian and Damian.
    “Oh my goodness, you haven’t changed at all.” The dark-haired girl covered her mouth with both
    hands, her eyes watering as she stared at Rian. The other young woman bore a striking resemblance to
    Damian. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
    Rian and Damian just stared at the two women.
    “Rian, I didn’t know you swung that way,” David said.
    “Rian, are you the baby daddy?” Peyton asked, staring at him. Rian turned to Peyton, his mouth
    dropping.
    “What? No!” he turned back around to the woman.
    “Do I know you?” he demanded.
    “Ri?” she whispered.
    “Oh my god, Asling?” Rhys watched as dawning recognition filled Rian’s eyes before he jumped down
    and swung the woman in his arms.
    “Bethany?” Damian whispered. The auburn-haired girl collapsed against Damian, crying her eyes out.
    “Are you two okay? Are you hurt? What are you doing here?” Rian ran his hands over the woman’s
    hair.
    Everyone stood around dumbfounded.
    “Okay, boys, let’s get these pretty girls a seat. It looks like they need it.” Moe’s warm voice carried over
    the sound of the girl’s tears. Almost relieved with a clear direction in which to follow, Duncan, Emmett,
    David and Daniel helped move the four of them to a table. The girls clung desperately to Rian and Damian.
    “Why are you here? Is everything okay?” Damian asked. He had pulled the woman onto his lap and was
    rubbing her back soothingly.
    “We saw the council newsletter, w–w–we hoped we could come home.” The woman Damian had called
    Bethany sobbed.
    “We’ve been driving since yesterday. We went to the pride house first and they told us you were here.
    We had a huge fight with Mom and Dad. They lied to us, Riri, they told all the kids that you didn’t want us
    here, that we weren’t welcome because you, Damian, and Liam wanted a carefree life.” The dark-haired girl
    wiped her eyes dry and she sniffled loudly. She took a deep breath and looked up at Rian, whose eyes were
    still streaming tears. She used her sleeve to dry his eyes.
    “I’ve missed you so much, big brother,” she whispered. Rian just pulled her into his arms and started
    rocking them side to side.
    “I waited. Every year I waited for you all to come home.” Rian cried.
    “We know now. We saw our stockings, those silly stockings you helped us to make. I knew the second
    that I saw them that Mom and Dad had lied. You never forgot about us. I knew you wouldn’t, I just knew
    you wouldn’t.” Asling buried her face into her brother’s chest.
    “They are your sisters?” Rhys asked, though now looking at the women, he could clearly see the family
    resemblance.
    “Welcome home, Bethy,” Gina said, wiping her eyes. Cecelia’s eyes were bright with unshed tears.
    “We can stay can’t we? We can’t go back, we can’t!” Bethy said, sounding close to hysterical.
    “What happened, Bethy?” Damian’s voice was gentle but his eyes had hardened.
    “When we confronted Mom and Dad, the car was still packed from coming home from school. We both
    graduated from LSU this December. We didn’t really want to move back into the family home and was
    debating getting our own apartment, so we hadn’t unpacked yet. Mr. Prescott tried to keep Bethy from
    returning. There was talk about an arranged marriage. He may get use of his arm back. Eventually.” Asling
    sniffed.
    “That’s my