I carried her inside. We were giving Tyrone and their pack money for groceries, even though they protested, so I made myself at home in the kitchen. We decided to take our sandwiches and snacks to the river bank. I hoped it would give her some calm.
She sat in between my legs while we ate and then leaned back, breathing evenly.
My omega had fallen asleep after her big meal, and didn’t that satisfy my bear. The fucker was pleased as could be with himself. One kiss and feeding our female. That was all it took.
“I love you already,” I whispered as I threw a blanket over her sleeping form.
Chapter Thirteen
Isabella
It was getting late, but I wasn’t ready to sleep. Too much had happened, and there was so much to think about, so much to do. If I set my head on a pillow, I’d still be awake hours later. Sitting here with my rescuers was a much better plan.
I understood why Millie liked it here. There was a peaceful calm, despite not being as far away from civilization as it appeared. Like we were in our own little bubble or fairy realm where no one could get to us. Given how much I learned about bear people today, maybe we were. More likely, it was the safe feeling I got being around the alphas who helped me escape.
They were an interesting group. I didn’t know them very well, but they came across so very differently from each other. After my talk with Tyrone, Millie set out a huge pot of chili, and the group of us ate and chatted about anything and everything not related to Mark. I learned about Alice and her adventures in mischief, all about a flea market I was definitely going to check out when this mess was straightened out, and a little about some of her omega friends and their mates.
Dinner was so…normal. My favorite part was seeing how the alphas interacted with each other. Friends, absolutely. But deeper than that. Not brothers, either. Brothers weren’t by choice; they were by birth or marriage or court documents. They were together because they wanted to be. They chose each other. I couldn’t wait to hear about how they came to be a pack.
York was a big old teddy bear, sweet and gentle and oh-so cuddly looking. More than once, I had to stop myself from hugging him. But I also had a feeling that if he suspected someone was about to do me harm, we would see a wholedifferent, fierce side of him. He had papa bear vibes all over the place.
Then there was Cashel. He seemed the most reserved in his emotions, his entire demeanor calm, yet serious.
The three of us hadn’t talked about our careers or education or past lives at all really. They had the contracting work, now, but, from what I heard Mark complaining about, it was a fairly new venture for them.
Something told me Cashel was once someone who went to work in a suit and tie. He had leadership written all over him, but not like Mark, who forced everyone to comply. He had that magical quality where people just wanted to follow him.
Lyon. I wasn’t sure what to make of him yet. He was quiet and intense. He never made me nervous, but I suspected that if he wasn’t connected to me in this mate way they kept referring to, he could be. Oh, scratch that—he would be.
Out of the three of them, he seemed most similar to some of the dons I’d met. They weren’t all like Mark. Some of them led with blood and fear, but, for others, it was just a family business they had to be on their toes for. Competitors, instead of trying to out-invest or out-wealth the other, they quite often tried to acquire a territory by force. The gunshots and cement blocks and all the messed-up things on television that couldn’t possibly be true, were.
“You guys don’t need to stay here.” It was just the four of us now, sitting outside, watching the moon and each other. It was the first time we’d been able to speak alone since coming here, and so far, it had been mostly quiet. Not awkward, like we should be speaking. Just nice.
All three of them tensed at my words, though. Great, I was making it worse.
“What I mean is, I don’t want to keep putting you out.” My attempt to make it better only grew the tension.
I was so bad at this mate thing. Except that I’d already accepted it to some extent, which, all things considered, was not a normal response. Maybe I wasn’t as bad at it as I thought.
The way Millie talked about meeting her mates, she knew they were hers and all about shifters, being one herself. Despite that, she didn’t fully accept it right away because of trauma. If it weren’t for her bear reassuring her, it sounded as if it would’ve taken much longer to get their relationship to where it was today.
I didn’t have an animal, but part of me knew from the second we met, they were mine without the words to describe it. I felt safe with them in a world where nothing was.
“What I mean is, I appreciate you, but if you have other things to do, I won’t be mad.”
“We have nothing to do that would be more important than taking care of you,” Cashel said. “It hurt when we had to leave earlier.”
York reached out like he was going to take my hand and then pulled it back. They still walked on eggshells around me, but how could they not? They knew what Mark had done, and anybody who didn’t see someone who’d faced that kind trauma through an empathetic lens, wasn’t worth their breath.
“Where did you go?” I asked.
“We took care of Mark,” Cashel said calmly, firmly, and without a hint of wanting to continue.
Lyon growled, but not like a lion. If I were to guess, it was probably like a bear. I’d never heard one growl, but the sound coming from his chest was very much not human.
“When you say you ‘took care of’ Mark, do you mean in the way Mark ‘takes care of’ his competitors?” I asked hesitantly.
Would I care if he was dead? Absolutely not. But having someone you just decided was gonna be your always-and-forever accused of murder was kind of shitty.
