Madison plugged her address into my phone, each turn announced across the speakers. She fidgeted and I reached for her on instinct. Madison locked both her hands around mine, giving me a grateful half smile. “Sorry. I get twitchy when I’m nervous.”
“Totally fair to be nervous,” I assured her. “But that house is still your home, even if Tyler kicked you out. He can’t change the locks with all your things inside.”
“But what if he did?”
Nathan beamed. “Then I’ll break a few windows and we’ll have to move really fucking fast. Should we have a plan? What are we taking besides cats?”
“Cats are priority,” said Madison, swiveling her head to look at Nathan and Jude. “I wouldn’t mind grabbing some of my personal things, but only after we get Poppy and Pepper out.”
“Roger dodger,” Nathan said with a nod. “Jude, how’s your cardio?”
“Um, good? Why?”
“You can be the runner with the cats. I’ll have Ava leave her door unlocked and you can basically sprint straight inside with them while we grab more stuff.”
“Sure, I can do that.”
“Leo,” Nathan asked, “What skills are you rocking?”
“Man, I don’t know. What skills do we need in a situation like this?”
Nathan twisted, rummaging around the contents of the cargo section. “A valid question. We can probably use these duffel bags, get a shit ton of Madison’s things in them. You do the horse thing, right?”
I let out a sharp laugh. “That’s one way of describing it, but yes.”
“Okay, I’m going to designate you as the second runner. Jude is on cats, you’re on stuff, I’ll be in charge of less essential things and making sure Madison gets the fuck out of there.”
“Why are you so good at this? It’s a little unnerving.” Was I about to pack up with a secret supervillain?
“I have that effect on people. My brain goes a million miles a second once it gets onto something, and right now, that something is getting Madison what she needs, however that happens to look.”
“What do you do for work?” I had no idea what sort of job would make his particular personality useful.
“Architecture.”
“I guess that makes sense. You have to look at things from a lot of angles.”
“Exactly. Now pull into this garage up here. Let’s go rescue some cats.”
What had I gotten myself into?
Even amid the sadness, and the rampant anxiety, I feltalive. Part of me figured I’d be curled into the fetal position if Tyler ever ended things…andtechnically, that had been pretty close to my initial reaction, but a lot of that had been the loss of everything else, rather than him.
Rebuilding a life was terrifying.
What was I supposed to do with the pile of alphas who were suddenly mine? How was I supposed to navigate the line I’d crossed with Jude after pretending it didn’t exist for years? Too many things had changed so fast, and nothing was slowing down anytime soon.
If I didn’t make my peace with this new influx of chaos, I wasn’t going to survive it. Much as I needed routine, maybe I could trick my brain into thinking change was thenewroutine. At least I had people around me willing and able to help, even if their methods were a bit unorthodox.
After a quick introduction to Ava and her pack so they knew who we all were, we waited for Alve to tell us Tyler had arrived.
Knowing the house was empty helped stem some of the worst anxiety. Even if Tyler left his meeting the second we opened the door, we would have time.
The four of us walked down the street together and I put in the code with trembling fingers, relieved when the lock clicked open. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. Tyler had told me to come home when I got my “head on straight,” but as soon as I got Poppy and Pepper out of here, this house no longer qualified as home. I could never allow myself to have that with Tyler again. I’d never forget the look in his eyes when he’d forced me out of the car.
“Babies!” I called out, hoping to hear the pitter-patter of paws.
Nothing came. Jude got their carriers out of the entryway closet at my instruction, and I wandered the first level, calling for my cats. It was only when I passed the door to the basement that I heard the faintest meow. The basement was finished, and we had a ton of rooms for guests and recreation, but the cats never went down there because Tyler didn’t want them in his space, and we kept the guest rooms cat fur-free so they were always closed, unless someone was coming to stay.
