by CJ Cooke
My wolf was practically purring in happiness as the three kids all sat at the table with Calli, River and Tanner, passing food out and listening to them excitedly chatter about some movie they were watching. This is what we’d wanted to build the pack into—a real family—and Calli had given that to us. I didn’t want to pressure her to move into the packhouse, but I also couldn’t think of anything I wanted more at this moment.
“Jacob, do you want to go over to the packhouse for an explore later today?” Calli asked him.
The kids just carried on eating and chatting, but the adults at the table fell into nervous silence, waiting to see what he was going to say.
“Can Abby come too?”
“Of course she can, bud,” Tanner grinned. We should’ve known that was going to be the first question.
“Sure,” Jacob shrugged, turning back to Abby to talk with her.
Tanner just shook his head, and a breath of relief whooshed out of me unbidden. The fear of Jacob being afraid of the packhouse was still there after fucking Wallace traumatised the poor kid there. I didn’t want him to link the pack with bad experiences, but the only time he’d been there had been pretty fucking horrifying.
3
Calli
Watching the kids sitting around the table eating, laughing and joking with my mates settled something inside me. I’d felt on edge since we’d returned to the house. I suppose it was to be expected. And yet, I almost felt like I should be curled up in a ball in the corner, a quivering wreck of nerves. There was something about just going on with life as normal that didn’t feel right. I’d seen the side glances from the guys, and I knew they were worried about me, but I honestly felt fine.
Looking at Jacob and seeing him happy and healthy as he played with the others helped more than I ever would have imagined. It just made the shadows in Abby’s eyes seem even darker in comparison. She played with the others, albeit a little quieter, but I could see that deep down, what had happened lingered with her. Obviously, it did. I was pretty sure she’d lost her whole family in that hellhole. I couldn’t even imagine the things she must’ve seen. What she went through when she was sitting in that cell. We didn’t even know how long they’d held her for. Judging from her body, it had been a while, sufficient time for her to lose enough weight that her ribs showed prominently underneath her skin.
Shoving my thoughts aside, I went into the kitchen and started making another cup of tea. It was an addiction, but it was also a nervous habit. The motions of making it soothed me. I felt Tanner move behind me before he spoke. His hands gripped my hips as he gently pulled me back against him. As he nuzzled his face against my neck, a shiver ran down the entire length of my spine, and I felt him grin against my skin.
“I love it when I have that effect on you.” Tanner turned me around to face him, and I leant back against the countertop while he fixed me with his gaze. “How are you holding up, Cal?”
“I feel like I should be worse,” I told him, not quite knowing how to put my feelings into words. “Is it wrong that I just want to get on with my life and put it behind me?”
“In some respects, no. But don’t just bury it inside you. Shit like that tends to blow back on you when you least expect it.”
“Ommmmm, Tanner said a bad word,” Jacob chimed from over at the table.
Peering around Tanner, I saw we had an audience to our chat. The downside of open plan living, I suppose.
“If everyone’s finished eating, shall we go and run around the packhouse, causing chaos wherever we go?” I happily suggested, brushing past what they must have heard.
I needed to have a long think, though, because maybe Tanner was right. Was I just pushing this down? Was I slowly creeping close to the edge, without even realising it? I couldn’t afford to have a breakdown when we had so many problems still sitting on the horizon waiting for us to take the next step forward.
The kids jumped up from the table, and while the boys started rushing about pulling on coats and shoes, Abby just stared awkwardly down at her bare feet. We really needed to go out and get her some of her own things. The poor kid didn’t even have shoes! Jacob passed her one of his hoodies and helped her pull it on. It was a sweet gesture, but from the wobble of her lip and the watery glaze in her eyes, it didn’t appear to be making her feel any better.
“We’ll walk through the woods to the packhouse, burn off some of this energy you kids seem to have going on,” Grey said, striding over to them and then grabbing Abby under the arms and swinging her up to sit on his shoulders. “You get to ride up top, little bit.”
The giggle that burst out of Abby as she flew through the air and landed on the big alpha’s shoulders seemed to immediately erase her sadness, and we all sighed in relief. This little girl needed to be pampered and spoiled rotten, and from the looks of it, I wasn’t the only one who thought it.
Jacob passed River a pair of his socks, not being able to reach Abby now she was so high up, and River gently slipped them on her feet, all the while tickling her toes and filling the house with more of her adorable giggles.
“Since the boys are back at school tomorrow, you and I should have a girly shopping day tomorrow, Abby.” Her little eyes lit up with delight at the suggestion and more of her laughter burst free as Grey did his best pony impersonation and trotted out of the sliding doors.
It didn’t take long for us to walk through the woods to the packhouse. We were all at home outside, and the kids seemed to settle as soon as we were within the shade of the trees. It was in our nature to crave the outdoors.
When we broke out of the trees on the other side, my eyes were firmly fixed on Jacob, watching for any signs of hesitancy or fear. Given that he was currently engaged in a game of tag with Coby, though, I wasn’t sure if he was okay with being back at the packhouse or just too distracted to notice.
“You know,” Tanner said slyly, immediately catching the attention of every child. “If you’re going to move in here, then I suppose you need to pick which bedroom you want.”
Grey gently set Abby down on the soft grass just in time for Tanner to shout, “Race ya,” and took off toward the front door with both boys hot on his heels. I wasn’t quite sure what Coby was racing for because he’d already moved into the packhouse a week before. It was probably just for the joy of running.
Abby shuffled uneasily on her feet, not chasing after the boys like we’d all thought she would.
“What’s wrong, little bit?” Grey asked, dropping down to his knees beside her so he wasn’t towering over her. It was the little things like this that proved to me the type of man he was.
She looked up at him and then the rest of us with watery eyes, and River immediately dropped to his knees beside Grey, too. This little girl would have all of them wrapped around her finger, and she didn’t even realise it yet.
I gently ran my fingers through her messy curls when she hesitated, and she leaned into me for comfort, clutching onto my jeans with both her little hands.
“Where am I going to live?” she asked quietly, and my heart broke for her.
“You’re going to live with us, little bit,” Grey told her. “You’re part of our pack now, if you’ll have us, that is.”
She looked up at me in question, and I picked her up in my arms. Her legs immediately wrapped around me as I sat her on one hip, and she snuggled against me.
“You’ve been through something pretty scary, Abby. Something a lot of adults would be too scared to do. But you never have to be afraid with us. We want you to live with us, to be part of our pack, our family. But only if you want to be. If you want to go and live somewhere else, with someone else you can think of, we will make that happen for you.” She clung to me tighter as I tried to explain to her that not only was she wanted, but that we would love her every single day.
“I can stay with you? And Jacob?” Her quiet voice came out, muffled against my shirt, where she had her face pressed.
“Oh, little bit, I don’t think
you could get rid of Jacob now even if you wanted to,” Grey laughed, standing beside us and running his fingers through her curls. They were seriously addictive, but I was going to have to learn how to tame them soon because they’d started to take on a life of their own.
“Shall we go and pick you a bedroom? Then tomorrow we can go shopping and fill it with all of the things you want?” I suggested.
She nodded slowly, not quite sure if she believed us. But that didn’t matter. Even if it took us years, we would prove it to her every day.
We walked across the grass towards the house, and as soon as we drew closer to the doors, I felt like my stomach was about to drop out of me. I’d been so worried about how Jacob would feel coming back here that I didn’t even think about myself. My eyes flicked to the small basement window I’d climbed out of and my mind threw me back to the day Wallace had beaten me for information I didn’t even have. The look of complete and utter rage on his face as he landed blow after blow. I was lucky to make it out of that room, I knew I was. If Wallace had his way, I wouldn’t have. It had been too close a call. I needed to get more serious about learning to protect myself—physically and magically.
Two tiny hands bracketed my face, and when I focused my eyes, Abby was looking at me in concern.
“Don’t look at the monsters,” she whispered to me.
I nodded my head, not really knowing what to say. I suppose I should tell her that there was no such thing as monsters, but the thing was, there were. Wallace was a monster, and he was definitely real.
From the outside, the packhouse had a very homey feel, even if it was massive. Four steps lead up to the porch, which ran across the entire front of the house and had a few seating areas and even a porch swing. It had a very classic look with its grey and white painted trim.
We followed the others into the house, and I set Abby down on the polished hardwood floor. The packhouse was a beautiful place. I hadn’t really taken the time to look at it before, given the circumstances, and then we’d been so busy we hadn’t come back here. It seemed so much bigger than it had the first time I’d been here. The work they’d put into restoring the interior was just astounding. If the guys didn’t have a successful garage as a business, they could’ve easily gone in to restoring old buildings like this.
“Abby!” Jacob bellowed from upstairs before appearing at the top of the staircase. He excitedly shuffled from one foot to the other like he just couldn’t contain all the feelings he had. The grin on his face was bigger than any I’d seen on him since our parents had died. It was kind of bittersweet to see. I was glad he was recovering some part of himself, but it brought back the memories of the times we’d had together as a family, and it was the happy memories that hurt the most. Maybe I was a little more messed up than I’d realised.
“Come and see the bedrooms I picked for us,” Jacob happily bellowed down the stairs. And with that, he took off at a run heading deeper into the upstairs of the house.
Abby looked up at Grey, and I saw on his face a flicker of the pain he felt at her reluctance. She still didn’t believe this would be her home, but it didn’t matter. We’d convince her eventually.
Grey smiled and held out a hand to her, which she took without hesitation. “Let’s check it out, little bit. You can pick any room you want. You don’t have to go with the one Jacob chose.”
They both trailed up the stairs, and I watched the big alpha holding hands with a little girl while he chatted away to put her at ease. A calming wave of his alpha power brushed against my senses, and I saw some of the tension ease out of Abby’s shoulders.
“It will take time, but she’ll find her place here,” River told me, coming to stand beside me. “We don’t know what she’s been through, and it’s going to take her time to learn to trust us.”
“I know. It hurts to think about what they must've done to her while she was there.”
“I know, sweetheart. I feel it too. Come on, let’s go check out Jacob’s new room.” River wrapped an arm around my waist, and I took a moment to lean against him, soaking up the strength all my mates seemed to give me before we set off after the others.
The stairs opened out into a massive hallway which branched into two corridors, each running in opposite directions to either end of the house.
“How many bedrooms does this place have anyway?” I asked, looking around in wonder. It must have cost them a fortune to renovate this place.
“Ten at the moment, there’s more space in the attic, but we haven’t gotten around to converting it yet.”
River headed off to the left where Jacob had disappeared, and it didn’t take long for us to find him from the excited voices carrying through the house.
“We can share if you want,” I heard Jacob happily suggest and realised I needed to intervene.
The suggestion was innocent. Of course it was, he was only five. But he wouldn’t be five forever, and we had no idea what the bond between the two of them was, or how deep it ran. Besides, Abby needed her own space. Space where she could be a little girl, a place where she could be just Abby, and not Abby and Jacob.
“Everybody gets their own rooms,” I announced as I walked into the room.
I saw Jacob deflate at the statement and heard Tanner’s amused chuckle—sure, let me be the bad guy.
“You can be right next door, but Abby needs her own space where she can play and put all her things. She doesn’t want all your stinky boy smell in her room,” I laughed, scooping Jacob up off the ground and blowing a raspberry on his neck.
“Promise,” Jacob asked, blinking his big eyes up at me.
“I promise.”
Jacob’s giggle let me know there were no hard feelings, and when I set him down, all the kids went to go and look at Coby’s room which happened to be just across the hall.
Looking around, I could understand why Jacob picked this room, it was awesome. It was currently empty and painted a soft cream, better than the harshness of white but still a blank canvas. There was an enormous bay window, opposite the door, flooding the room with light and, I’d bet, the two extra doors led to a closet and a bathroom.
“Girl, you just got played,” Tanner laughed, hooking a thumb at the closed door on the left.
With one eyebrow twitching up in confusion, I walked over and opened the door. The chuckle burst out of me as I took in the shared bathroom, joining the two rooms together. Shaking my head in amusement, I shrugged it off. It wasn’t much different than the doors for their rooms opening up on the same hallway anyway when you thought about it. And if it was going to make them happier. Maybe the guys weren’t the only ones being wrapped around little fingers.
“Did someone say cheesecake?” Aidan’s voice echoed through the house from somewhere downstairs, and there was a stampede of little feet followed by the blurs of three kids as they tore past the doorway. There was only a breath between before Tanner tore out after them.
We followed them downstairs, but by the time we reached the kitchen, the kids were already sitting around the table eating what I had no doubt was going to be their first of hopefully not too many slices.
Grey got all misty-eyed as he took in the scene, and I leant against him, offering him comfort like he had done for me so many times before.
“This was always the aim, you know. To grow the pack, kids running around.” He slipped an arm around my shoulder and drew me impossibly closer to him. “There was a point when it didn’t feel like it was going to happen. And then along you came, my beautiful mate. I can never thank you enough for everything you’ve brought into my life.”
Grey was the typical alpha wolf. He needed his pack just as much as we needed him. The anxiety to keep everyone safe twined beautifully with a deep sense of calm when the pack was happy and whole. I could see how that was a double-edged sword for smaller packs like Grey’s. Because even though he’d gained three members, he’d also lost two.
My eyes cast across to Coby as I considered the significance o
f those missing two. Something was troubling me about the whole situation—either he had one hell of a poker face, or he was almost glad to see them gone. Suspicion crept in at the edges of my mind, and I prayed I was wrong. Because if I wasn’t, it was one more thing that was going to push Grey towards the sadness I caught in his eyes when he thought no one was looking.
4
Tanner
The kids were finally asleep; Abby was curled up on Jacob’s bed, and Jacob was with Coby on camp beds on the floor of his bedroom. We all came back to Calli’s house to put the kids down because the three kids were inseparable and it was actually easier having them all together. Watching them reminded me of the times when Grey, River and I had been growing up in the pack.
Calli and Grey were already talking quietly in the living room and I sank onto the couch with a sigh of exhaustion and an ache in my back, making me question if I was getting old.
We hadn’t seen Hunter since he left to help Cassia move to a room in the pack house. The corner of my mouth pulled up in a smirk at the realisation. That guy was smitten, he just didn’t see it yet. At least we had them to keep us entertained because I had no doubt that Cassia wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
River walked over and handed Calli a cup of tea before dropping down beside me.
“You look exhausted,” he laughed when I just rolled my head to look at him, the effort of lifting my head just too much.
“They’re like those tiny dinosaurs in Jurassic Park when they realise they have you outnumbered.”
