The sun was warm on my face as I watched the kids run across the grass.
Rowan and Thea were chasing after Greyson and Cress, all four of them shrieking with laughter as they played some game that seemed to involve a lot of running and very little rules. Greyson was Jasmine and Ryder’s son, one year older than the twins, and Cress belonged to Mick, Ryder’s sister. Both families had come down from Moonfang for the celebration.
It had been a week since that night at the cabin.
Someone had set up long tables in the yard behind the pack house, covered in white cloth and decorated with wildflowers that Thea had insisted on picking herself. She’d dragged Rowan out that morning to help her, and they’d come back with fistfuls of dandelions and clover and some purple flowers Icouldn’t identify. The arrangement was chaotic and uneven and absolutely perfect.
The smell of roasting meat drifted from where Noah and Sawyer were finishing up the food, both of them hovering over the grill like it might explode if they looked away, moving between the kitchen and the grill like they didn’t know what to watch first.
Sarah and Serena sat at one end of the table, their heads bent close as they chatted. They’d been discharged from the hospital the day after the rescue, groggy but unharmed from whatever drugs Lucio had given them. They were still thick as thieves, trading stories about their grandchildren like they’d known each other for decades instead of months.
Marcus sat beside them, one hand pressed against his side where the worst of his injuries had been. He’d lost a lot of blood that afternoon, and the doctors had kept him for almost a week before finally letting him go yesterday. He still moved carefully, but he was here. He was laughing at something Sarah said, his face creased with amusement.
Knox and Hunt were standing near the grill, arguing with Noah about something that involved a lot of hand gestures and what sounded like increasingly creative insults. Both Knox and Hunt had casts on their hands, thick white plaster covering the bones they had shattered to escape their restraints. They were mostly healed, but I’d insisted for them to wear protection at least for a few days. They couldn’t deny me. I was that awesome.
I grimaced at the thought. The doctors had been amazed they’d managed to do it at all, breaking their own bones and tearing through their own flesh to slip free. Knox had shrugged it off likeit was nothing, but I’d seen the pain in his eyes when he thought I wasn’t looking.
Brave. Stupid and reckless, but brave.
Knox caught me staring and grinned, raising his casted hand in a wave. The motion made him wince, but he tried to hide it behind that cocky smile of his. I shook my head at him, fighting back my own smile.
Across the yard, Vivi was chatting with Jasmine and Mick, the three of them laughing about something I couldn’t hear. Vivi had come down from Pine Valley this morning with Mika, both of them refusing to miss the celebration. Mika stood nearby holding Blake, bouncing her gently while she talked to Cole.
My friend was mostly healed by now, though we were all keeping an eye on her. It was funny to me, at times, that we were all so injured and healing, all at the same time. Talk about bonding through injuries and trauma.
Cole had Thomas pressed against his chest, one hand supporting the baby’s head, the other wrapped protectively around his small body. He hadn’t let Thomas out of his sight since we got back from the cabin. Even now, surrounded by pack and allies, he kept the baby close.
I understood the feeling.
“Mommy! Mommy, watch!”
I turned to see Thea attempting some kind of cartwheel that ended with her tumbling into the grass. She popped back up immediately, grinning like she’d meant to do that.
“Very impressive, baby!”
“I can do better,” Rowan announced, and promptly threw himself into a somersault that was somehow even messier than his sister’s cartwheel.
Greyson, ever the older kid, demonstrated a proper cartwheel that made the twins stare in awe. Cress clapped for him, then tried her own, landing somewhere between Greyson’s grace and the twins’ chaos.
“Show-off,” Thea muttered, but she was already trying to copy Greyson’s technique.
The back door opened and Noah emerged carrying a massive platter of meat, steam rising from the perfectly cooked cuts.
“Food’s ready! Everyone grab a seat!”
The kids came running immediately, Rowan and Thea leading the charge with Greyson and Cress close behind. They were flushed and sweaty from playing, their hair messy, their clothes grass-stained. Serena tutted at the state of them, but she was smiling as she said it.
Warm arms wrapped around me from behind before I could move toward the table. Knox’s chest pressed against my back, his chin coming to rest on my shoulder.
“I love you,” he murmured against my ear, his breath warm on my skin.
I leaned back into him, letting myself sink into his embrace for just a moment. “I love you too.”
“You happy?”
“Yeah.” I turned my head to press a kiss to his jaw. “I really am.”
He kissed my neck, soft and lingering, then pulled back with a sigh. “Come on. Let’s eat before Noah starts threatening people.”
