I clasp his shoulder. “Thank Goddess!” I blurt out. “Because it’s the same for me.” I am so relieved he was honest with me that I could cry. “Yet, I don’t know what to do.”
“I would do it for you and Faye,” he says. “I would give my best if that’s what you want. We’d need to rely on my family until we could provide for a family by ourselves, but I would definitely try.”
“Me too,” I say. “I don’t know if I’d be any good at it, but I would try. But I am not sure if it will be good for Faye.”
Saying it aloud gives a stitch to my chest. I am failing. I failed my best friend and her daughter. But I have no income, I barely have any money, I am just getting by somehow and alreadyrelying on Felix heavily. Felix himself was in college until two months ago; he will start learning a trade soon and will work in the pack, but he won’t make a fortune just yet.
We are already relying heavily on his family and pack. If they weren’t so supportive, I don’t know what I’d have done. And I am sure they would help us with Faye.
But…
What am I supposed to do?
“How about we do exactly what you just said?” Felix offers. “We do what’s going to be best for Faye. Let’s see what she wants and what feels right for her. And if that’s staying with us, we will manage. If it’s something else, we will manage that.”
His words are cathartic to me. He is right. Faye should have a choice. I don’t need to shoulder this decision on my own. Felix is there with me, so is his family.
“Oh,” Felix blinks, turning his head towards the fence. “We have a visitor.”
I follow his gaze, my eyes bulging at what I see. I should be used to it by now, but this one takes the mantle. “An alpaca?!”
“Yes,” Felix says, tilting his head curiously. It seems nothing can truly faze him.
“Do you have them on pack grounds?”
“No, that’s the first time I‘ve seen one here.”
The alpaca stretches its head until I get up and pet its neck. It immediately rubs its head against my shoulder. Meanwhile, Felix opens the garden gate so that I can lead it inside.
“Liam and your father said that this might be my gift,” I say quietly.
Felix nods. “They are right, I think the same. It has to be.”
“Is it weird to say that it doesn’t make sense to me?” I ask.
“Well, you obviously are a fairytale princess,” he says, “and animals always flock to them.”
His comment makes me smile, it’s so cute. And I can’t believe he just did that; he held me throughout my breakdown, talked me through my doubts, constructively discussed my problems with me, and now just made me laugh.
“So, how are we going to name it?” he asks.
I look at it, feeling unusually mischievous. “How about Al-Pac?”
Felix just laughs. “Sounds good.”
twenty-nine
Life in a Pack
*GWENDOLYN*
The next morning, Aurelia picks me up for some girl talk while Felix leaves to help his father with something. He is trying to take over more jobs and responsibilities in the pack. He still isn’t sure about what to take a class for, but he either wants to do something with IT or learn to become a mechanic.
“Do you have a new family member?” Aurelia asks when gazing through the terrace door to the garden. My alpaca is standing there, currently chewing on some grass.
“She joined last night,” I explain. “Her name is Al-Pac.”
“Oh, it’s a female alpaca? How could you tell?”
