Adam takes a bite of his pizza and chews around his suppressed smile, and Jasper is already making cooing sounds at Dini, trying to coax her closer.
If I had to guess by the looks of it, she doesn’t want to get closer to the dogs.
“Maybe when we’re done, Adam, Ezra, and I can get the dogs to come inside with us, and you can give Dini a treat,” I suggest. “I’ve got some of those tubes of squishy cream stuff she and Odin trip over themselves for.”
“I definitely want to give that a try.”
Once we’re done eating, the sky is a beautiful orange and magenta along the horizon, something I missed terribly living in the city. That and stars. Light pollution always robbed me of seeing the night sky in all of its glory.
“Thank you all for helping me today.” My voice is tight. “It means more than I can really ever express. This place was everything to my Uncle Jim. He put his all into creating and running it. He loved animals, of course, but he worried about them a lot. He doted on them. They were his only family, really, aside from me.”
“He never mated?”
I look up at Adam with what must be sad eyes, because his grow sad at the sight of me. “I don’t know if you all know this, but my family is made up of wealthy business owners going back generations. A long line of city-dwelling packs, actually. Jim found his mate many, many years ago. She was from another affluent family in the city. But her family was very old school. They still believed in arranged marriages to gain greater power, and they’d basically given their Omega daughter away to garner more wealth.” I frown, sigh, and lean back in my chair, taking a sip of my soda. “Jim never told me, but my dad, his brother, mentioned that he tried to get his scent match, Marjorie, to run away with him. But she wouldn’t. And Jim was never the same again. He came out here to start over, alone.”
“That’s so fucked up,” Jasper breathes. “I mean, if you asked me to run away with you, I’d jump at the chance.”
An unbidden laugh bursts from my chest, and I reach out to take his hand before looking into his silvery-gray eyes. “I appreciate that. I really do.”
“It must have been… difficult for your uncle to go on after losing hope like that.”
I turn to Ezra, who looks much sadder than I’d anticipated. It makes me wonder if he’s really talking about Uncle Jim.
“Well, it was difficult at first, from what I gathered when I was a bit older. But he found his happiness the best he could, and I’d like to think that he was fulfilled in plenty of ways before he died.”
Jasper turns his hand so our palms connect, then threads his fingers with mine and squeezes.
“Honestly,” I go on, “he always seemed so happy. Until the topic of family wealth would come up. Then, he’d get that kind of mad where you’re really quiet and just radiate negative energy. My dad used to warn me never to talk to Jim about the nicethings I had at home or any of the family trips we were going on. I didn’t know why I couldn’t talk about those things, but I followed the instructions I was given. But I think I understand a little better now. Maybe.”
“What do you mean?” Adam’s attention is solely on me, but I can see he’s feeding Crooze pizza crust under the table.
I stifle a smile. “Well, the way I see it, money is the reason Jim didn’t get to be with his mate. Money dictated that she basically be sold to another family to grow a business. Even though the Peppers are wealthy, we didn’t come from the same business sector as Marjorie. Jim may have believed that if neither of them had money, they’d have been together.” My head shakes at that. “I don’t actually know for sure. But I do know that my family doesn’t approve of me being here and doing this. Running the sanctuary. So I’m here and doing it all on my terms. No Pepper money. Only Adley's money.”
“Your family really doesn’t approve of you doing something noble like this?”
My laugh is bitter now as I look at Ezra. “Uncle Jim was the weirdo who gave up all his ‘opportunities’ to play with animals all day. They were incapable of seeing why he’d want to do this—build this place, care for living creatures who can care for themselves. Jim was his own person, and my family saw that as odd. Now, they look at me the same way.”
I’ll never forget the looks of horror on my parents’ faces, and the rest of our family pack, when I told them Jim had left me the sanctuary and I was moving to Crescent Lake. My father called it “Jim’s Curse.”
His own brother.
I was so hopping mad I didn’t speak to them again the entire time I’d put my plan into motion and made it out here. I’d been at my job for just enough years to be bought out, so I retired early, then I rented out my penthouse to have a monthly income,packed up what little I needed, and got out here in under a week after Uncle Jim passed.
“I’m really sorry, Adley.” Jasper squeezes my hand. “That isn’t right. But you know that.”
My head is already nodding before he finishes. “But there’s something else my uncle taught me over the years. Something I promised him, and I intend to keep my promise.”
I look at each of these Alphas, my scent matches, my mates. We’ve only just met, but I already feel the beginnings of a bond forming between us all. Even Ezra.
“I promised Jim that if and when I found my scent matches, I’d never let them go.”
Chapter Seven
Over the next few weeks, the four of us hauled ass to get as much work done at Adley’s property as possible.
We managed to clear out the old trailer ourselves, donated the lumber to a nearby facility for recycling, and waited for the new prefabricated trailer to be brought to the property in sections. Once they were here, the workers worked alongside the utility company guys and got the entire thing set up in two days. And I have to say, that thing is almost nicer on the inside than my apartment.
I’m a little jealous of Ezra.
