On the Edge (Adirondack Pack Book 3)

by K. C. Stewart

  Vince touched his fingers to the rush of red in her cheeks.

  “That’s pretty,” he said smiling at her blush.

  She opened her mouth to say something and Vince’s heart kicked up. But when nothing came out a panic so heart wrenching came across her face. Lee’s eyes pleaded with him. She was scared and couldn’t vocalize it.

  “Shhhhh,” he said pulling her to him. “Don’t rush it. It will come back to you. I don’t need your words right now, I just need you.”

  Her chest shook as tears wet his shirt. Lee held onto him, she was drowning and he was her life preserver. When she was all cried out he framed her face with his hands and wiped the tears away.

  “Feel better?”

  She nodded.

  “Do you want me to stay with you?” Cobie was waiting but the kid could find something to do until his mom was from work and could pick him up.

  She looked like she wanted to say yes but shook her head no. Lee tapped Cobie’s letter. She was thinking of him too.

  “Do you want me to come back later?”

  Lee touched his face, her fingers a mere wisp across his skin. Mouthing slowly so he could read her lips she said “Thank you but no. You are a good man, Vince.”

  “I love you,” he said kissing her once more.

  The skepticism he had come to expect wasn’t there this time. Just a soft sigh. Maybe he could finally allow himself to start hoping for the best.

  *****

  Mira woke up that morning and made a very important decision.

  Today, she would move all her things into Owen’s house.

  To be fair, she had made that decision last week but then Lee did a head dive into Feral Land and everyone had to stop what they were doing to help. Maybe that wasn’t very fair of her to say. Mira was being selfish after all. Lee truly had some issues that needed to be addressed, it wasn’t her fault that they landed at the same time Mira offhandedly agreed to move in with Owen.

  So it was all his fault.

  Yeah, she liked that better.

  Stupid Brute.

  Regardless, Mira had spent another night alone without the warm, soft purr of a cat cuddled alongside her while the other side enjoyed the large, hard male. This was unacceptable. When she agreed to move in with someone, she expected them to help her follow through, not ignore her.

  Zach helped her out. Since the restaurant had all but closed down due to Lee. Again, Mira was not trying to sound bitter about it but come on! She’s one person. Surely an entire pack wouldn’t cease functioning because she was mute in a room with round the clock security.

  Alright, even that sounded petty to Mira.

  She really needed to get over this animosity toward Lee.

  Mira hadn’t unpacked much from when she moved out there. The small room she rented didn’t have much storage space. For the most part, Zach was her pack mule. He lugged boxes down the three flights of steps to her car out back.

  Sadie had questioned them when she got there about what was going on.

  “Moving,” Mira had said with a grin.

  “Oh good. Owen could use some good news.”

  Mira stopped right and there and considered taking all her things back upstairs. Zach pushed her from behind with a box. “Leave it,” he murmured as if knowing what she was considering.

  “Yes, Sadie because I’m doing this just to cheer up the woebegone Alpha.”

  “You couldn’t just leave it alone, could you?” Zach said as he walked around her and out the door.

  “No. I didn’t mean…I’m sorry.” Sadie babbled.

  Mira waved away her apology. “Nah, I’m jumpy this morning. Owen’s been spending so much time with Lee, talking about Lee or just contemplating how he could have done differently by Lee that the subject has gotten a bit sore for me.”

  Sadie frowned. “Sorry. I’m sure from your perspective this is all just silly.”

  She sighed. “No, you care. I can’t fault you for that. We’ve just never really talked after everything. I’m not going to walk on eggshells around someone who tried to sabotage my relationship and then could not look me in the eye.”

  “You know, you two are more alike than either of you realize.”

  “Ugh, don’t say that.”

  Sadie laughed. “Too late. I’m not taking it back. But really, Owen is going to be thrilled when you show up. I’m happy for you.”

  Mira accepted an awkward hug from her sister. Awkward because she was holding a box and couldn’t hug back. Zach and Mira took another two trips before she had everything.

  “You know,” Zach began leaning against her Jeep as she stuffed the last box in. “It’s going to suck not having you right across the hall from me. How are we supposed to have impromptu bad decision Thursdays?”

  “We really need a new name for that. It’s not impromptu if we do it every Thursday.”

  “Shut up and let me whine.”

  Mira made an exaggerated deal of shutting her mouth. “Sorry. Look, it’s not like I’m moving to Buffalo again. I’m ten minutes away, seven if Owen drives.”

  “I know but you’re at the pack house,” he said as if that explained everything.

  It didn’t.

  Mira told him just that.

  “We are submissives. Not everyone believes we should be there except for the big events.”

  “Well, they will just have to learn to deal with it. Maybe this will make it easier for the submissives in the pack to take more of an active role.” In fact, Mira really liked that idea. If she was going to embrace this not so new but totally new life that she had been given, then she should make the best of it. It’s not like her pitiful excuse of a job took up much of her time. Maybe bringing awareness to the dominants about the submissives was just the kind of project she needed.

  “I really don’t like the look on your face,” Zach said as she planned.

  Mira grinned.

  “The smile isn’t helping ease my fear.”

  “I’ll call you tonight and tell you how it went.”

  “‘Kay.”

  They stood there awkwardly for a moment and then hugged. Zach and Mira had never hugged before but it was one of those times that a hug goodbye worked. However, it felt stiff and weird, like stale licorice.

  “I don’t like this,” Zach said mid hug.

  “Oh good. Neither do I.” They quickly let go. “So can we be the kind of friends who don’t hug?”

  Zach brought both of his hands to his chest and in his highest, southern debutante voice he said, “I thought you’d neva ask.”

  When she got to her new home, Mira decided that without the help of Zach there was no way she was carrying all this stuff upstairs. She chose two suitcases and would deal with the rest later when she could enlist the help of a big brutish Alpha and his minions.

  Like always, there were people milling about. Mark, a very nice older wolf who was staying there while his house was being treated for termites greeted her. He looked at the suitcases waggled his eyebrows. “It’s about damn time.”

  Mira grinned. “I thought so too. Where is the soon to be lucky man?”

  The smile fell off his face. “With Lee.”

  “Of course, he is,” she said under her breath. Her shoulders fell just a little bit. “Thanks, Mark.”

  “You need any help?” he called after her.

  “Nope, I got it.” Mira headed to Owen’s private elevator. It was private because no one knew about it. Disguised as a closet in the infirmary, Mira rolled her and her two suitcases into the small lift.

  He wasn’t in the suite. Not that she had been expecting him after finding out he was with Lee, but a girl could hope. She was elbow deep in shifting the dressers and closet around to fit her clothes when she heard the door open and close.

  Having completely missed the suitcase she left in the hallway and her purse and shoes in the front entry, Owen acted genuinely surprised to see her. Or maybe it was just surprising to see her surrounded by his
boxers and socks.

  “Rabbit, do you often reorganize my underwear when I’m not around or is this a new development?”

  Owen toed off his shoes and practically fell into bed.

  “I’m just making room,” she said casually.

  “Oh? For what,” Owen asked in a loud yawn.

  “My stuff.”

  She heard a rustling on the bed behind her as he moved around. “Why?” he asked but this time, he was closer and had a tinge of excitement in his voice.

  “Well, you don’t expect me to live out of my car, do you?”

  More movement and then he was sitting on the floor beside her. Mira looked over at him and had to laugh. He was like a dog whose owner just got home from work. She had to resist the urge to pat his head and praise “who’s a good boy?”

  It was hard work, her life.

  “For real?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, for realsies.”

  Owen tackled her to the ground, only his lumpy pile of socks separating her from the carpet. He kissed her playfully, nipping at her lips and tickling her sides as his hands roamed.

  “Why now?” he asked into the crook of her neck.

  “Well, I told you last week I was ready but then shit happened and you never mentioned it. I woke up this morning and thought ‘fuck it’ and here I am.”

  He kissed her. “I love your 'fuck it' moments.”

  She agreed, they were good moments.

  “So you are here for good?”

  “Yes. I think it’s time.”

  Owen, the big, beautiful brute looked at her with so much love that she almost turned away in embarrassment. Sometimes it still stuck her that he loved her. Like, this man was a sexual god with a body built to rival Thor and yet he worshiped her body and mind like she was the goddess he had been searching for his entire life.

  She cupped his face like he so often did to her, enjoying the scruff of his beard under her fingertips. “I love you, Owen,” she said seriously.

  “Ah Rabbit, don’t get me all worked up,” there was a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. She didn’t like it. “I might just propose.”

  Oh. Dear Lord.

  What had she gotten into now?

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  They hadn’t given her any pens or paper so she had to get creative with her message. Lee took the tube of toothpaste and began to write OWEN on the wall. It made her laugh. Some poor soul was going to have to clean it up but that’s what they got when they gave her no way of communicating.

  After a few minutes and no one coming in with an update as to if he was coming and when she drug that metal chair over to the camera and stood on it. She began tapping on the screen of the camera and then would move out of the way and point to the wall where an entire tube of toothpaste had sacrificed its life for her message.

  There was a click and a beep telling her the door was just unlocked and then Owen came running in. He looked winded.

  “What is it? Are you ok?” Fear at seeing her on the chair flashed across his face. He picked her off the chair and set her on her feet. Owen looked over her looking for any signed of distress. “Here,” he said thrusting a small white board and marker into her hands.

  Lee closed her eyes. That had been considerate of him. Although, she didn’t need it. In the shower that morning she had tested it out. Low and behold, she had a voice.

  “Owen.” Her voice was raspy and soft but he had heard it all the same.

  Owen stopped, his eyes going wide followed by his smile and then he hugged her. Lee let out an “oompf” as he pulled her to his chest.

  “Oh damn, I was so worried. It’s been days and I had begun to think you weren’t coming back to us and now you are talking.”

  He was rambling. It was cute.

  “Owen, please. You’re crushing me,” she said with a bit more confidence this time. When he did he began to ramble on more but she had to get him to stop or she would lose her nerve.

  Lee placed a hand over his mouth. “Stop. I need to talk.” She took a breath, his hands found hers and with that she found the strength. “I didn’t want to hear what you had to say earlier. I didn’t believe that…that I was worth your forgiveness.”

  His face fell. “Dammit Lee. I…”

  “No, I mean. Just stop. I get it, though. I see it. I’m starting to believe it.”

  “You’re scaring me,” he admitted with a squeeze of his hands. “You’ve been scaring me for months. For years. Lee, you are precious to me, to the pack. You are the glue for most of us here. You keep us together with your love and bandages. It kills me that you can’t see that.”

  “I’m starting too.” She smiled hesitantly. “Cobie brought me letters from the pups. I had no idea they saw me as some kind of healing wizard princess.” She smirked. “I’m not kidding either, Josh Fuller called me a wizard. That kid is awesomely nerdy.”

  Owen laughed. He looked relieved.

  “So I’m getting there,” she continued. “I see it. I’m learning to forgive myself. So please tell me some of what’s been going on because I have missed months and I’m behind on the gossip. And I am bored out of my mind in here.”

  Owen pulled her to the bed where they could sit. He told her about Ann’s secret and how Sadie and Mira were taking it. Lee wanted to know how Sadie’s wedding was coming. “She hadn’t touched it in weeks. I can’t tell you how often she would ask one of us ‘which one do you think Lee would like?'”

  “What? Why?”

  “You’re a bridesmaid. She felt horrible looking at bridesmaid dresses without you.”

  “I’m what?” she asked, shocked.

  Owen grinned. “You’ll have to talk it over with her.”

  They spent the next hour going over the highlights of the last six months. Lee couldn’t say she had many but most of them involved Vince. Owen didn’t pry, which was considerate. So either he was trying not act like an older brother or Vince had already told him.

  Lee was surprised but proud when she found out about the meeting of Alphas. “That’s really good Owen. I hope it goes well.”

  “Me too, but you know how hard it is to get anything done in a room full of people like me. I just hope we can pull our heads from our asses long enough to settle on something.”

  “I’m sorry I pulled away. It seems like you had so much on your plate and there I was being all melodramatic.” She had dropped her head, the pity beginning to seep back into her soul.

  “Hey, no.” He tilted her head up until she was looking at him. “Stop being stupid and just shut up.”

  She snorted. “I guess we are out of the coddling stage?”

  “Guess so. Now it’s tough love.”

  “I think,” she began, the corner of her mouth gathering into a hesitant smile. “I think I can handle that.”

  *****

  Vince had been coming down the hall when he heard Lee’s voice coming from the control room. Tyson was there, smiling at the screen like a madman. When he heard Vince, he turned and clapped him on the back.

  “She asked for Owen with a toothpaste message on the wall. We were all running around thinking the worst when she spoke. She hasn’t shut up yet.”

  Vince dropped himself into one of the chairs. This was good. This was…hell, he was ecstatic. Lee had chosen. She had chosen life over a feral death. She had chosen him.

  They watched for a while as Owen and Lee reconnected. There was a happiness about her he had not seen in such a long time. He was mesmerized by her smile, her laughter.

  “So I guess I can now have the ‘if you hurt her I get to cut off your balls and Owen and I will each keep one preserved on our mantels’ speech.”

  “Was that it? Because you kind of gave away the ending,” Vince said not threatened in the least.

  “Damn,” Tyson said with a frown. “I guess I did. Well, it still stands.”

  Vince nodded. “Understood.”

  “Go on then. Owen has hoarded her long enough.”

&
nbsp; Vince left the control room and made his way across the hall. In his haste, Owen had not closed the door all the way. Vince pushed it open with his palm and leaned against the doorjamb. She was laughing and playfully slapped Owen. Her skin had returned to its normal hue, the ghostly white she had been becoming just a figment of the past. Her eyes were brighter, and when they found him a smile so big spread across her face that he thought he might die right then and there.

  “Hi,” she said a bit shyly.

  Owen who had his back to the door turned and was not surprised at all to find Vince there.

  “I see your voice has returned,” he said in lieu of a greeting.

  Lee stood up. Her hands entwined together in a nervous tick. “It has. I wanted to th-”

  He cut her off, walking the rest of the way and kissing her, just a peck of his lips. “The only thing that should be coming out of your mouth right now is ‘I’d love to go on that date with you,’ or ‘I love you, Vince.’ I can see you are not ready for the latter so let’s start with the first one.”

  Her lips twitched in amusement. “I love you, Vince,” she said surprising the hell out of him.

  “Well now,” he said grinning as his stomach somersaulted. “That is a sweet thing to hear.” He pulled her into his arm and kissed her this time for real. Lee held back at first, her attention for the man sitting on the bed behind her. With a hand on her lower back and one in her hair, Vince pulled her against his body and deepened the kiss. Unable to resist she began to ignore Owen and kiss him back.

  There was a loud, deliberate cough behind them. When Vince looked up it was to find Owen glaring at him.

  “Better, but I’m going to have to work on your PDA skills. We’ll practice tonight on our date.”

  The smile that had been growing larger since he walked in fell. “I don’t know if I can leave yet.”

  “Oh I think we can spring you,” he said looking to Owen who reluctantly nodded. “Tyson already gave me the talk,” he told him. At that, Owen scowled a little less.

  “You can leave but Lee, I don’t want you at home by yourself just yet. Stay here, with Sadie, hell, stay with Vince. I don’t care. Just don’t go home alone. I’ll be leaving in the morning to meet with the New England alphas about Canidae. If you need me up until then, I’ll be here.”