“Axes are fun,”he grumbles and I snort as much as my feline face allows.
After her first swing clipped the side of the wood wrong and sent the entire thing flying in my direction, I decided to watch from a safe distance for this one. Stretched out on the branch above them, I have the perfect vantage point to watch my brothers make fools of themselves as well as keep an eye out for any incoming threats to my mate.
Cole steps in behind Rin to correct her stance and try to show her the best spot to aim for on the chunk of wood sitting on the massive stump serving as a makeshift table. Her next strike sinks into the center, but not nearly deep enough to split it. The axe stays lodged in place and I just watch amused as she starts getting frustrated and angry.
She’s spent so much of her life having to be a watered down version of herself to fit in, that it’s beautiful to see her true self start to shine through. She’s starting to let her guard down around my brothers as much as she was with me, realizing they aren’t going to hurt her and she doesn’t need to tiptoe around their moods.
A growl slips out of her throat as she wrestles the blade free and while Cole looks amused, enjoying the show too much to intervene, Ares’ expression is one of carnal hunger. He swipes a hand over the back of his head and shuts his eyes, looking to the sky and counting to ten. I don’t think either of them have noticed that they’re more alike than they realize, despite her human status.
She may not have fur, but she certainly has claws.
It’s just a matter of getting her to see that too. She’s more like us than she is any of those bastards she left behind. Rin belongs here, belongs with us. I have no idea what we’ll do if she decides she doesn’t feel the same. It would destroy us, that’s for fucking sure, but we can’t let her go back to the city either, even if she rejects us. They’d kill her, and I’m sure she knows that. I just don’t want her to feel like we’re her only option, that she needs to make the best of what she’s been given because it’s better than being alone.
I don’t want to be a consolation prize; I want her to continue looking at me as she does now even when I shift back.
There’s no doubt in my mind that she struggles to picture the men and the beasts as the same entity instead of separate, hence why she didn’t bat an eye when a damn panther curled up beside her. Yet, if Cole the human were to sneak into her bed in the middle of the night? She would have panicked.
Take her to the workshop,I suggest and both men share a look as they contemplate it.
“You just said manual labor doesn’t count as fun, and you want us to take her where we actually, you know,work?”Ares’ face scrunches up in confusion.
I get to my feet, walking to the edge of the branch and gracefully leaping off.Trust me.
We follow the winding, tree lined path between our house and the massive building that serves as our workspace. Cole pulls open the massive set of double doors, unlocked as they always remain. We’ve never had an issue with theft out in the wilds, each pack and pride respecting one another far too much for that. Not only would we be able to follow the scent of who was messing around with our shit right to their doorstep, but it would ignite a feud that just isn’t sustainable out here.
We rely on one another far too much to risk something like that for a few tools when all someone needs to do is ask for help and it’s given. Even those we don’t particularly like, if they showed up at our door desperate, we’d help as best as we could. Give them hell for it, maybe, but we wouldn’t leave them stranded.
“What is this place?” Rin asks, a touch of awe to her voice.
The woodshop is massive, with a myriad of projects in various states of completion. Lathes, table saws, and other assorted machines line one wall while the other is for supplies. A counter that runs half the length of the wall is strewn with things not yet put away; even though the drawers beneath and the shelves above areright there.
I side-eye Cole, glaring. He’s always been terrible at keeping things organized, even though he knows it bugs the shit out of me. He shrugs, unrepentant.
“We thought you were dead. You not riding my ass was really the only good thing I had going for me,”he flippantly states and I deflate.
It wasn’t fun for me either, you know.
He doesn’t respond and I frown, worried. Ares hedged at how things were when I was gone, but it sounds like it was far worse than he let on. I just assumed the state of the house was from them being slobs, but mixed in with a few of the cynical comments Cole’s been tossing out there, I hate to think what would have happened if I’d been gone for any longer.
“Woodshop,” Cole cheerily answers, not showing any sign of the morose voice that was just echoing around my head. “Have to make a living somehow.”
She wanders over to a table that’s about halfway completed, lightly running her fingers over the ornate leg reverently. “It’s beautiful.” Her attention remains fully focused on tracing the design, enraptured.
“I really didn’t expect her to be interested,”Cole admits, cocking his head and watching her, curious.
Girls like pretty stuff, no matter what form it’s in.
I jump onto the pile of lumber, climbing to the top and lying down. Sawdust feels awful on my paws, and I have a sharp pang of longing to be able to shift just so I can wear some damn shoes.
And the whole point of dating is apparently to get to know one another. This is a pretty huge part of who we are and what we spend a good chunk of time doing.
“You really made all of these?” she asks again, moving to another chair in a similar state.
Cole practically preens under her attention, soaking up the admiration in her voice. “Sure did. That one is Osiris’ though, and we couldn’t bring ourselves to finish it.”
She turns her head sharply, wincing a bit since she’s still been dealing with mild headaches since her injury. Grimacing, she opens her eyes. “I envy you, you know. The way you’re all connected, I mean. If I could have spoken with Ozzy like that, everything would have been ten times easier. He could have given me your number and-“
Cole cuts her off with a sad smile. “And your father would have likely traced the number and known exactly where to find you after you ran. Even if you had called us for help, I can’t imagine the three of us running off with you would have been any easier to pull off.”
