This… this is good. We can work on building our pack, our family, and on getting Sienna’s Denied status revoked.
Everything else isn’t even a blip on the radar in comparison.
38
SIENNA
Placing the last of my candles into the box, I stare down at the things I’ve accumulated during my stay and blow out a breath.
Here we go.
I can’t believe I’m actually going home. In a few hours, I’ll see my family again. It feels a little surreal, like it might not actually happen.
My hands twist into the cotton of my top, tugging at it.
I still don’t know if Jess is coming with me. Even now, I can hear Jess and Emmett’s voices from down the hall, going back and forth as they debate their options.
Everything feels so…unsettled. I don’t know what we’re going to walk back into. And even though I’m making progress with my Soul Bonds, I’m still keeping them at bay. Going back into that house, into the same space where they broke me into pieces and where Alicia played her games… I don’t know what that’ll do to the tentative relationship we’re starting to build as a pack.
It might be the making of us – or it might break us completely.
As I move to lift the final box, arms slip around my waist and gently tug me away.
“I’ve got this.” Logan grabs the box and lifts it, and I frown at him. He’s done the same with every box I’ve packed.
“I’m not entirely useless, you know. I can carry a box.”
He shrugs, his hands full. “I know. But I want to carry them for you, Bonded. Indulge me.”
I take a last look around the little room that’s been my haven. It looks as empty now as it did when I arrived. The bed has been stripped, the fairy lights untangled and packed away along with the blankets and pillows, all placed carefully on the truck for me to take home. My little wooden figures from Gray are safe in my pocket, along with the notes from my pack.
Logan is watching me when I turn around, his brown eyes soft. “You okay?”
“Nervous,” I force myself to admit through the dryness in my throat. “There’s a lot to work out, Logan. So much that can go wrong.”
“Hey, now.” Logan sets the box back down and approaches me slowly, pulling me into him into my face is pressed into his chest, his heartbeat reassuringly steady in my ear. The tightness in my bones relaxes as I take greedy inhales of his scent, filling my head with fresh lemon until I’m loose against him.
“That’s it,” he whispers, his hand stroking over my hair. “It’s going to be okay, Sienna. We’re going to lean on each other, and whatever happens, we stick together.”
I nod against the warmth of his shirt, my fingers tangling in the material.
Whatever happens, we stick together.
When I step back, Logan gives me a small smile. “You ready?”
Nodding, I take a final look around. It’s time for the next step, whatever it may bring.
Following him downstairs, my feet come to a stop as I take in the wall we started decorating a few days ago, my head swiveling to Logan.
He grins at me. “What do you think?”
“It’s amazing,” I breathe, taking a step forward. Logan moves with me as I approach the mural. Hundreds of music notes spread across the wall, the backdrop to a bright, varied selection of instruments. A guitar, drums, bass, all spread out as if they’re waiting for someone to come and play them. A microphone sits front and center, even the wire trailing from the stand disappearing behind the tables. It looks soreal.
“Take a closer look,” Logan coaxes, placing the box on the table. “You might have to go right up to it.”
Glancing at him, I do as he says, until I’m within touching distance. Squinting, I bend down to take a closer look, and my eyes fly wide as I see it.
At first glance, the swirls of paint between the instruments look random. But they’re not.
