“I have no clue, but I hope she gets here soon to explain it all, whatever it is.” Cal sighed, and then relayed him the information Anna had given him.
Nico wandered back out of the house and Derek gave him the phone back. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“Well it was her burner phone I think, she has one for emergencies. She rarely calls me from it and I bet that if I try to call it right now, it won’t connect.” Nico shrugged. “She’s crafty.”
“Yeah, and she’s coming here,” Cal told him.
“I guessed as much. She said she’d be traveling, and knowing my grandpa and the rest of those old guys, if she leaves, she’s not welcome back.” Then he grinned. “At least she’ll finally get rid of her horrible boyfriend in the process.”
“Oh, she had one of those?” Derek smiled slightly. Then they just sat there, listening to Nico’s explanation of the situation that had resulted into him coming to live in Finland with his dad.
The waiting became something that put them all on the edge. Every day, from early morning to the moment they fell asleep were spent with tension grinding them down, little by little.
They went through the motions each day, but every time Cal checked his email and there was nothing there or one of them jumped at a text or call, it all got worse and worse.
Several days after Anna’s call, they’d been summoned to Mikael’s house for a late lunch. Cal thought it was Kit’s doing. Dallas had been experimenting with something fancy, potentially for Christmas, and there was plenty to go around.
It was some sort of a bone marrow dish with extra steak and all sorts of other things, and it was delicious.
“I may have bingedMasterChef Australiaagain,” Dallas confessed, flushing a little when he got the praise from everyone around the table.
“Well you can use us as guinea pigs anytime, honey,” Noah said and kissed his mate’s cheek.
Derek and Kit wanted to help with cleaning up and Noah, Dallas, Maxim, and Cal were pushed into the living room so they were out of the way while Mikael and Anton helped Cal’s family.
They chatted for a while, until Cal needed the bathroom and he excused himself.
He washed his hands after and decided that he’d made a mistake wearing one of Derek’s thick sweaters. The house was warm and while the nights were getting chilly, it still didn’t warrant anything like Derek’s Henley for sure.
Cal walked through the house and out to the porch to cool off.
As he looked over the yard and toward the lake, he wondered how much longer his happiness would last. He hadn’t felt happiness like this before. Sure, he’d dated in his early twenties when he’d yet to be made an enforcer. It was just… he loved Derek. Derek was his mate, no matter what someone might say.
He was done killing and almost being killed to keep shifters safe. He’d done his part and then some, he’d done horrible things in the name of the Council because they’d taken him in when his family hadn’t wanted him anymore.
Fuck the Council, like Kit would say.Fuck them.
He’d heard something from the kitchen and then Noah talking a bit louder, but nothing seemed alarming, so he stayed outside for a while longer.
Something about the calm quiet of these woods was making him feel like he’d never really felt before: he washome. Of course, he suspected that with Derek by his side, he’d always feel that way.
There would come a time when Kit would have to make decisions on what to do about his future. Maybe he’d find a mate of his own. Hell, the life where all the teens and kids of this little community were growing up was so much different from the one Cal and Derek had grown up in.
Maybe, eventually, when the oldest shifters of the Council would bow out and be replaced, some more progressive people would step in and change things. Find new ways.
Maybe someday, nobody else had to watch children be murdered in the name of—Cal opened the door to go back inside.
When he turned to make sure the door closed, he noticed that the large cabinet in the front hall of the house was open.
Medical supplies of all sorts, both human and animal, were neatly stored. There were all sorts of meds there, including… morphine.
He looked at the vials and for a few horrible moments, his brain went there.
If he had to go back, then morphine would help him deal with it. It would numb him enough that he could keep his cat at bay. If he reached out and took a couple of vials and some syringes, nobody would notice, right? Just in case? It would help so much and—
“You don’t need it.”
When Cal jerked with surprise, he saw Dallas standing there, his pale eyes kind as ever.
