I smile at him as he takes a step back.
“Maybe smaller, humans don’t have as large walls to fill nowadays, which is a shame, large pieces always felt more satisfying,” he gets a far-off look for a short time before looking at me,
“I’ve ordered some more wax. I plan to do three smaller ones for the show once it arrives,” he says, pleased with the answer.
He then plops down in the chair beside me, grabbing a sketch pad and watercolour pencils, and we both work in silence until we are called for dinner.
“It's been ages since I have just done it for fun rather than to teach or commission” he doesn’t seem sad, but he does seem more relaxed than he has been.
“Liam, not that I don’t enjoy your company, but do you plan to open your own house here, or are you moving in permanently?” Uncle Nic asks as we enter the dining room, and Liam turns in mock upset, ‘Ah, there is my dramatic art teacher’,
“Before Liam starts down a Shakespearean drama scene, we are closing up and opening here, but we are waiting on their schedule as we moved it forward ten years”, Nate answers, shaking his head at Liam.
CHAPTER TEN
EMBER
The next few days pass similarly, minus the guys being at school, Matt agreed to help with my art show and as I will be doing under a pseudonym for my art he takes it as a branch and claims it as two clients, him and Nate had a little tiff when Nate tries to pay him for two clients, I manage to calm things and have him get a finder’s fee then he gets a percentage of my sales that goes into a college fund for his future kids, as Liam and Nate’s companies are linked it’s easier to explain away, as Liam supplies artists to Nate on occasion.
There was a paperwork issue, so we would be technically trespassing if we went to the cabin until that’s sorted. On the fourth day, I wandered through and nearly collided with Dad and Lily, the latter in full rant mode with her arms waving in all directions and keeping out of arms reach of my dad.
“You know the kids don’t like it when mum and dad fight”, I state, and get a ‘what the hell’ look from both of them,
“When you’ve hate fucked it out, can I have a word, mother dearest? Please?”I hear some expletives leave Dad's lips as I enter the kitchen, and Lily giggles before replying,
“Just because you speak it in Russian doesn’t mean you can talk about your father like that, sweetheart”I need to hold in my laugh at Alma, the oldies and Trent all eavesdropping. I raise an eyebrow, and they attempt to scatter.
Trent looks like I’m about to cane him.
“Day off?” I say with a smile.
“No waiting on the General, we have some stuff to check out that could be linked to the lab,” he sits and eats the sandwich Almaplaces in front of him, while I sip my tea, I fill him in on what I remember of people and the companies I remember them using until a freshly showered dad walks in who grabs a to-go cup of coffee kisses my crown and heads off with Trent who is stuffing the last of his lunch in his mouth as he follows.
When the guys get home, their usual routine hits, and they all sit to do homework, well, minus Jace, who heads up to his room. I grab him some of the snacks and take them up to him, but he just mumbles a thanks and shuts the door.
The next day, I finally got the okay from the lawyers, so once the guys left for school. Bas, Timber and I head to the new property. I checked with Ren the other day if he minded that the property could be solely in my name, but he preferred it. If anyone managed to challenge and win against him for Alpha, all they would get was the pack name, and that made sense. The house is mine, not the packs.
We decide to walk through the woods, where there is an old, overgrown dirt trail, agreeing to open it enough to get a small vehicle through, like a 4-wheeler.
When Timber shifts and Bas throws what looks like a saddle bag over him, then tells me to climb on his own back, he shifts, lying down for me. I giggle; it doesn’t take long at all to get through, and where some trees have fallen to cover the trail, they easily climb over the top. As the trees seem to be more spaced, the guys shift back so we all step as humans into the clearing. I quickly snap a photo on my phone, and the untouched beauty is just amazing.
The lake is smaller than TripleMoon’s, the deck has rotted and collapsed but all the floor is covered in wild flowers like a meadow, the main cabin is also smaller and a lot older, it has what looks likes carved portions to the wood, there are five cabins and four barns between us and the main house, then three cabins and a barn on the other side of the lake. As we make our way to the main house, I take photos of some of the flowers and send them toAlma, then recommend that she come up and see if any need saving before Bas and Timber trample them.
Bas or Timber dip into each of the structures we pass and only one is beyond saving but the foundation we might be able to use, Timber leaves to check the building on the other side and Bas goes to check out the access road, when they get back they walk around the building checking everything out, most of the windows even though we will replace with better can be salvaged for something and only one is cracked where a branch has fallen against it.
“The cabins on the other side have been updated more than these, and looks like the Barn has already had some done to make it into a house, so your plan should work,” Tim tells us and Bas confirms the drive needs a huge clearing before we can look at the state of the road, we work through the house leaving Post-it notes on most of the doors, it has four floors including the basement which is only three rooms but takes up just over the full plot so we can easily split it up, I don’t even class it as a basement really as one side that’s facing the lake has a door level with the ground, I point it out, and ask if we can turn it into windows it would be a great gym.
We head back and get washed up before the guys get home from school. I’m hoping Jace is happier, or at least ready to tell me what’s upset him.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
KODIAK
When we wake up Saturday morning, a text is waiting in the pack group chat.
ANGEL: Guys, you need to be in
hiking scruffs today, Trent, Marcus,
