“I don't care,” I tell her, meaning it. “They have every right and reason to be unhappy with me. It's going to take time for me toshow them who I really am. They'll see me soon enough; they'll see us. I can take the heat.”
“And that's the actual reason I want to go back home,” she says, blushing. “I think it might be better for me to have my next heat somewhere familiar.”
I nod at her and then Parker. “Then that's what we'll do. Whatever you need.”
She smiles at me and I wonder for half a second if she really thought I'd drag her back to my territory if she didn't want to be there. “I'll call home when we get to the foyer and get someone to pick us up.”
“Off the grounds,” Parker says. “If you think you'll be okay to walk out of here. We saw a diner close by when we came in. How do you feel about a greasy burger?”
She rolls her eyes. “I'll be fine to walk. He's not that big.”
“Ouch, baby” I say, making a show of grabbing my chest.
She rolls her eyes a little harder. “A burger would be good. And onion rings.”
We get all of our things gathered and packed and head to the foyer of the main building where the phone is. Genie calls home while I slip a note under the door of the office telling the staff that the three of us are leaving.
Parker touches my wrist when I walk back over to him. “Are you worried?”
“About?”
“Staying with her pack.”
I shrug. “Not really. I marked her. It's done.”
He eyes me and lowers his voice. “And how's that going?”
“So good. I can feel her. Are you doing okay with everything?”
He looks over at her and she waves. “I'm good, Cross. I really am.”
Genie hangs up the phone and walks back over to us. “My dad's coming. I told him he could send someone but he wants to drive up. I hope you don't mind.”
I shake my head. “It's fine. The worst he can do is kick my ass, right?”
She drops down into the chair in front of the window. “No. He could do worse.” She smirks sweetly at me. “But he won't.”
Most packs only need one telephone. It is usually located either in the Alpha's office or in the main pack house. We are incredibly social and much prefer to communicate in person. We like to see and speak with each other personally, physically. We like touch and scents and the knowledge of how our pack mates actually are doing. Phone calls are wholly unnecessary within the pack and we really only use them to contact other packs. The telephone my pack uses is on the wall next to my mother's study and she answers on the fourth ring. It's too early for her to have been awake, but she sounds like she's been up for hours.
“Hello?”
“Mom. Hey.”
“Drew, honey. Are you alright? What's wrong? Is Parker okay?”
I love my mom so much. “We're okay. But we're leaving.”
She tells someone on her end to go find my dad. “Did something happen?”
Blowing out a hard breath, I tell her. “Yes. Genie is here. It's been a strange month. I claimed her.”
“There?!” she practically yells, then lowers her voice. “You claimed her there? At Recovery? Where is Parker?”
“He was there with me. Listen, Recovery isn't what we were led to believe it is. I'll tell you about it later, but it's going to be a conversation.”
“So what I'm hearing is you're bringing her home?” The gleeful excitement in her voice twists my gut with guilt, but Genie needs to be somewhere familiar for her heat.
“Yes, but not yet. She goes into heat in the next week or so. She needs to be in her pack's territory and then we'll plan out what we're doing. We've got a good plan that works for everyone.”
