“Len, I would have done anything to help you.”
“I know you would have…”
“But there’s no way you would have let me, right?” She smiles as she chews on her lip. And then her hazel eyes fill with brimming emotion again, and she closes them so I can’t see.
“I’m sort of okay, Bailey.”
“You’ve had Ares with you since the day we picked him up. I keep trying to imagine how you must feel, and all I can do is cry. Or think of ways we can torture the people who did it.”
“You and me both.” I grin a little crazy at Bailey. She gets me.
“You’re amazing, Len. So strong.”
“The hardest was leaving him behind,” I confess. “Even now, I can’t think about him lying there all by himself. I know he’s not there, but it really fucking hurts.”
“Do you know who did it?”
“Sort of,” I say and this time it’s my turn for my eyes to fall away from hers.
“I know you’re not going to tell me everything. Tell me what you can, then. You know you’ll feel better… plus, you know I’ll nag you till you do.” She nudges me with her shoulder.
Bailey’s right though, on both the nagging and the feeling better. I twist a couple of the strands of fluff in my fingers, wondering where to start.
“So, I do have a pack, but I kind of lied to you a while ago.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time. Not sure it matters now,” she says, smacking my fidgeting hands. “And do I know any of them?”
“Hmmm.”
“Lennon, spill…”
Then it pours out of me. Not the detail that will put her in any danger but absolutely everything else. Of course, we cry. She pinches me until I bruise after a few confessions, but we also laugh and scream.
All around us, we can hear her pack and half of mine, but they leave us gossiping under the blankets for what feels like hours until Noah interrupts us.
The light blinds us both, but he squats above us looking so fucking gorgeous that both Bailey and I burst into laughter. But in our defence, we had just been talking about dicks and knots. Noah tips one of his eyebrows up at me before looking at Bailey.
“Hello, I’m Noah.” He holds his hand out for her, and she swoons a little before she reaches up to shake hands with him. “No one else was brave enough to interrupt you both to tell you dinner is ready, but I figured you might be able to help me get this one to eat, considering what she’s just been through.”
“How much do you like her?” Bailey asks without letting me go.
“A lot. I’ll always care for her, Bailey,” he replies, and while his words are so freaking sweet, his monotone might be easy to misinterpret as cold, but I’ve also explained Noah to Bailey in our short, intense catch up.
“She’s been through a lot.”
“She has. I’d like to feed her now if I can.”
I shake my head at him, biting my lips so I don’t break into one of those cinematic smiles in my very real happiness. And then Bailey kicks me, like a fucking horse, making me roll out of our fluffy getaway right into the feet of one of her alphas.
I don’t even look behind me to see who it is. I pin Bailey with a look. “Koda?” And the smile that breaks over her face is answer enough.
It would have been better to meet each other’s pack in different circumstances, but I have kind of met her pack before, just not in person. Noah helps me stand while Koda pulls Bailey up and into his arms. And then I turn to take the rest of the crowd in.
Without an introduction, I can figure out her pack. Koda in a lot of ways is similar to Valak and Gabriel. But weirdly he’s probably closer to Valak because of the look in his eyes—he’s a protector. Ashton and Henley are almost opposites of each other, except they have a closeness that extends to how a couple are. But they’re both tall, have blue eyes, that are again opposite—Ashton’s are icier and Henley’s are pretty like sapphires. And Reno almost stands by himself, but the look on his face is one of pure happiness, and the others actually keep referring back to him for their cues. It’s ridiculously cute.
Bailey leans against Koda. He has that look in his eye of a man wholly and solely infatuated and besotted by his woman, and she looks at him similarly. But when any of their pack moves or talks, they all lean towards each other. They orbit around each other, and anyone assuming Koda and Bailey are more of a couple than part of an equally loving pack is so wrong it’s not funny.
Bailey introduces each of her men separately so as not to overwhelm me. We reach around each other awkwardly and shake hands which is plain weird because we’re not strangers but not friends either. And I know each of them are wearing a scent blocker, trying to make it easier on me. The only scents I can pick up are Gabe and Noah, and Bailey’s happiness.
