His phone beeped in his pocket and he pulled it out, smiling. I could tell it was from his friend Henry. They’d reconnected a few weeks ago and were texting regularly.
Kye still had mixed feelings about the guy, because of how he’d reacted to Kye’s unending need to find Carys, but he’d also helped Kye so… it wasn’t an easy thing to process. When Henry had reached out and asked how Kye was doing, he’d decided to try again. Especially with the pack settled, he felt like he had the mental capacity to try to rebuild the friendship.
“So I was thinking,” he said after putting the phone away. “Would you agree that we don’t want anything here to be destroyed by machinery?” He gestured around the lush forest around us.
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, definitely.”
“Would you also agree that we have many strong, hot werewolves who we wouldn’t mind seeing shirtless, doing manual labor?”
Laughing, I nodded. “Yes, I can agree to that as well.”
He chuckled. “Good to know. Because I have an idea.”
The wider part of the river Brodie, his sister, and cousins had used as a swimming spot in their childhood wasn’t much to talk about.
Not until we put our strong wolves to work with shovels and other tools to widen and deepen it into a proper swimming hole. It became a family project for a couple of weeks, because we wanted to get it done before it got hot.
Rian and I took on some of the digging, because we, too, had the supernatural strength to work with. The humans kept the wolves fed and hydrated, and we all helped out with clearing the immediate area, whether it was taking the scraps of roots and branches to a spot in the woods for whatever critter might appreciate it, or moving the earth to a place where it wasn’t in anyone’s way.
We also discovered that the chickens—there were six—loved it when someone brought them a bucketful of the sandy mud from the riverbed to dig around in.
Once we had completed the project, we held a full moon party at the river, and everyone was incredibly happy that the wet wolf smell went away as soon as the guys shifted, because holy hot damn.
The next week, Holden and Rian headed to a week-long vacation in Ireland. That led everyone to telling Brodie and Kye that they, too, should get away for a bit.
Of course Brodie objected, because he wanted to stay with the pack on the pack’s property, but once Holden and Rian were back, Kye dragged him to Seattle to meet up with some of Brodie’s old friends before going to do some hiking in theOlympic National Forest—something that was on Kye’s bucket list.
Carys got her break from the pack when she was invited to go with Lina’s family to their annual summer camping trip. It was also a great way for her to feel safe while being away from us for a few days.
Somehow, the last two things coincided, and one day in mid-July, Max, Ben, and I were the only ones home.
Holden was at work, and Rian was in town to meet with his friend slash former blood donor Acacia for a coffee date.
“Luca?” Max called out from inside just as I was finishing throwing the kitchen scraps to the chicken.
“Yeah, babe?”
He jogged down the stairs in his shorts and sneakers and nothing more, looking like a snack.
“You okay if Ben and I go run the property line?” He walked over and kissed me, beaming.
He was so at ease in his skin now that you could see it in everything he did.
“Of course. I’m gonna take this bucket back inside and then go work out for a bit. You’ll be back by the time I need a snack.” I smirked against his lips.
“We smooching?” Ben asked as he rounded the corner.
“Mhmmh,” I mumbled, not lifting my mouth from Max’s.
“I want some of that,” he announced and joined us.
He, too, was different now. They’d changed their last names to align with the pack, and eventually, I’d do the same. If I’d had Nonna’s last name, it would’ve been different, but since mine came from my dad, I wasn’t too keen on keeping it.
“Okay, okay. I can’t get turned on while holding a stinky bucket,” I finally said as I tore myself away from two pairs of lips, scruffy cheeks, and questing hands. “Go do your thing.”
They laughed, but started on a steady jog toward the path. I watched them go, because well, obviously.
Chuckling, I went inside and rinsed the bucket, then put it back where it belonged.
