A few shifters came by our table to congratulate Monty and Jordy, and I tried hard to remember the names as Monty introduced them to me.
When the adrenaline abated, the recovery symptoms hit me hard again. I was getting tired, and the wooden bench wasn’t helping my lower back and butt situation, but I was hoping we could wait for Jordy. The place almost emptied out after eleven. Finally, Sedric lowered the music as the universal closing-time announcement and shoved Jordy from behind the bar toward us.
“I’ll help with the cleanup,” Jordy insisted.
“Not tonight, you won’t,” Sedric said. “I’ll do the basics, and you can come early tomorrow.”
I wanted to tip Sedric his monthly salary, but Monty didn’t let me pay.
“Give that guy a bonus at least,” I muttered into his ear.
“Oh, I will, don’t worry.”
The night was chilly, with that kind of drizzle that hung in the air and crept under my coat, but I was warm on the inside. We went home holding hands—me in the middle, Monty on my right, and Jordy on my left. I felt like the luckiest man on the planet.
The future was hazy, but I very much liked the blurry images in my head.
Would Jordy and Monty be okay moving into the chalet with me? Would they like living there? Hell, I had an entire forest up here. I could build us another house if we wanted. I saw myself on a hiking trail on the slopes above, my two big bears flanking me, keeping me safe. I could stray off the marked trails if they came with me, right?
I wassobuilding a recording studio here. Nothing big, just the basics, only one more squat little building next to the guest cottages.
And I wanted a huge hot tub before winter came. I would be tucked between my alphas, steam rising around us, snow falling…
I’d sell the house in the city and make Beauville my permanent home. It was the only solution that made sense to me.
I didn’t want to live anywhere but here. Jordy would still work at the pub because he thrived there, and Monty would be all over town, with his nose in everyone’s business like he always was.
I didn’t want them to change. They were perfect.
The outside world would try to make it difficult for us. There would be tabloid shitstorms, fans and paparazzi sniffing around here, media training, and a bunch of people trying to get a piece of us in one way or another. There would be long-haul flights and missing each other.
But I knew to the marrow of my bones that I would always come back here, to Beauville, to my home, tucked between my two bears.
“Did you tell Laurel about today?” Monty asked when we were walking up the road to the chalet.
Jordy squeezed my hand. “No. Sorry.”
“Tell me what?”
Monty was quiet for a long time, probably waiting for Jordy. I braced myself. I could feel Jordy’s tension through the bond but didn’t dare to guess what it was about.
“It’s the last day of my probation,” Jordy finally said. “Starting tomorrow, I’m in the clear.”
My legs must have stopped walking on their own because we were all standing now. I could barely distinguish Jordy’s face in the dark.
“That’s good, right?” I said.
He shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah.”
“I’ve been wanting to celebrate,” Monty murmured softly from behind me. He stepped closer, and I could feel his warm breath on my neck. I leaned back against him and lifted my hand to brush Jordy’s bristly cheek.
“We did celebrate a little today, right?” I whispered.
“It was a great day,” Jordy said. “Still is.”
“How about we make it even better?”
Jordy’s teeth glinted in the dark as he smiled. “What do you have in mind?”
