The heat of the day had passed, and there was a cool breeze as my bear lumbered along the trail. Evelyn’s wolf passed us, but my beast was content to be in his fur and enjoy the run.
Whenever Roland’s unicorn was close by, the beasts parted and stared. They were as much in awe of him as their humans. And when my mate chose to trot beside me, it highlighted that our lives had changed for the better, though the poachers were still a factor.
Some of the wolves and foxes lapped us five times, but my bear held his head high, proud to be mated to a unicorn. And when we returned to the river creek and took our skin, people crowded around asking Roland what unicorns ate and if it was true his horn had healing abilities.
That made me nervous, and I kept glancing over my shoulder because my mate was advertising how valuable his horn was. I interrupted after twenty minutes, saying we had to get to the dining hall before certain people ate the curry. That got Roland’s attention, and he glared at the zebra shifters that were far ahead of us.
“Today was a good day,” he noted as we sprinted toward the dining hall. “And Alpha agreed with me about the food choices on offer.”
“Even better.” We linked arms and strode into the dining hall.
My mate was pleased the zebras had been waylaid by Auden and he got his fill of shakshuka.
“The best day.” He smooched my cheek as I served myself fish and chips.
As we walked to our table, all eyes were on us, and I hoped now that everyone knew who my mate was, the attention would wane and he’d just be another Stoney River pack member.
19
ROLAND
We’d been pack members for two weeks, and in some ways, it felt like we’d always been here. I had friends and people to chit-chat with during meals. I’d been called in to help heal a couple of times. Once was for a young child who had a fever, the second when an alpha hadn’t been too careful as he was using a nail gun. It was different, though. My unicorn wasn’t overworked, and he was willing. He felt like he belonged, and he wanted his packmates to be well.
For the most part, I focused on the life I was building with my mate and my job at the general store. It was so different than life back in my herd. I was valued and looked at as an equal.
I’d been pretty tired lately, and this morning, I just did not want to get up.
“Come on, sweetie,” Bryden said, brushing the hair from my brow and pressing a small kiss there. “It’s time to get up. I’m going to take a shower now, and if you want to join me, you have to get out of bed.”
“You don’t play fair,” I grumbled, climbing out of bed and joining him.
We spent a little too long under the hot water, getting ourselves dirty before we got ourselves clean. When we came out, I was running a little too close to work time. I grabbed my cooler bag and threw random things from the fridge in there: some cheese sticks, a whole cucumber, a carrot, cream cheese, and cottage cheese, because it was easier to do that than to put it in a dish, and some crackers. It was hardly the lunch of champions, but it would do.
If worse came to worst, I could take part of my lunch break to go get some pie. My mate and I had been going through the pie menu. I’d taken to bringing home a different flavor every two days, and each one was better than the last. The current favorite being the coconut cream. We’d see how long it stayed on top.
So far, I loved my job. It was great. Our regulars came in every day, people from town who were bored or grabbed one of our sandwiches. There was also a guy who picked up the same frozen burrito for lunch one at a time, instead of just buying them all for the week. It was nice, though, building connections in town as well as with the pack.
Today, Creven was the one driving me. It wasn’t always the same person, depending on what other people’s schedules were, but it was always a pack member who had something to do with the security of the pack lands, and today that meant the Alpha.
The first week of being driven had been rough. It brought back my insecurities from my herd days when every move I made was watched. But this wasn’t that. They were watching out for me. They weren’t watchingme. Once I saw the truth of that, my worries over my daily rides were more that I felt bad they hadto take time out of their day than feeling bad that I was always under watch.
I arrived at work a few minutes early, put my cooler bag in the staff room, and grabbed my apron. Today, I was making sandwiches for the grab-and-go fridge, something I only did when Susie had the day off or if we ran out too early. Making the sandwiches was her favorite thing and had been for the past decade. She’d been so worried I was going to take it over after I mentioned I enjoyed making them. That was when I saw what a treasured part of her routine it was and quickly assured her the job was hers as long as she wanted it.
Today, the tomatoes hadn’t smelled right. I asked my boss, but he told me they looked fine, they smelled fine, and they tasted fine. So I went with them, but I kind of wished Susie was there to finish them up because I was starting to get nauseous.
After the sandwiches, I was on stocking duty. It was easy work, not always physically, but not brain-taxing, either. On most days, that was good. But some days? Some days that meant my brain wandered where it shouldn’t.
Today was a good day.
I clocked out and picked up a few foods that I had been craving, including green olives, cream cheese, and challah bread. For whatever reason, I got it in my mind that making a grilled cheese out of those would be the world’s best sandwich. We’d find out tonight because I finally had all the ingredients.
Creven stepped in and waved to my boss. I told my co-workers I’d see my next shift, and we left.
The first few times someone came to get me, I think my boss thought they were dates, and since it was the same alpha the firstcouple of times, possibly cheating dates. My boss was quick to head straight to soap opera land. Now he knew it was just friends giving me a ride, so he often just waved, sometimes giving them a sandwich if we had made too many.
On the ride home, I told Creven all about the sandwich I had on my mind, and he laughed.
“What? You don’t think it’ll be good?”
