Page 16 of Deep Love

“I am upset,” I told my sister, “but something truly amazing has happened tonight that makes it hard for me to be as furious as I should be.” I beamed a smile at Delphi, loving that she cuddled up to my side and rested her head on my shoulder.

“Did you get laid or something?” Sylvie asked, making Delphi bark out a laugh that my sister had to have heard. “Holy shit! You did get laid and you’re still with her and she can hear everything I’ve been saying.” Sylvie grew quiet for a few seconds. “Oh my Goddess!”

I could easily picture the panic attack my sister was having as she realized she’d called our cousins wolves and referenced the packhouse. “Calm down, Sylvie. It’s all okay. Where are you?”

“In the office where I’ve been all fucking day, trying to salvage what’s left of Ferguson Construction.”

“And where are Gary and Scott right now?” I asked.

“The police station. Scott used his one phone call to call me because he thought you were going to have a coronary, but it turns out I’m the one having a coronary because you’re riding a sextastic high or some shit.”

Delphi and I both laughed now, probably making Sylvie madder, but all the problems I’d been having with the Ferguson pack seemed utterly ridiculous now that the most important person was back in my life.

“Okay, we’ll meet you at the police station and figure this shit out.” I looked at Delphi and she nodded that she was up for coming with me.

“We? Who is we?” my sister asked. “Take me off speaker, will you, dammit?”

I tapped the button and put the phone up to my ear. “Relax, Sylvie. You’re going to be happy with my sextastic partner.”

“Do I know her?”

“Yes, indeedy. See you in a few.” I ended the call before she could reply and true to Sylvie’s style, a text immediately came in.

Sylvie: Jerk. Who is it???

I replied with a laughing emoji then shoved my phone into my back pocket and held my hand out to Delphi. “C’mon. My truck is in the diner’s parking lot.”

She took my hand and let me pull her to her feet, but then she hesitated. “I want to be there for you as you deal with what sounds like a difficult situation, but maybe I shouldn’t be seen at the police station yet. Someone might recognize me. I’m actually surprised no customers at the diner tonight knew me.” She angled her hands to herself. “I look the same as I did right before I died.”

I hadn’t considered that. I’d been too busy enjoying having her back to think about anyone else in this town who had been in her life.

Selfish much?

“How about if you stay in the truck then?” I tugged on her arm again and this time she followed me to the apartment’s door. “I have a baseball hat in there you could wear, but we’ll save the big reveal to Sylvie until we’re somewhere private.”

“Okay.” She leaned into me as I shut the apartment door behind us. “I’m open to anything that lets us still be in each other’s company.”

I squeezed her hand then brought it up to my lips to press a kiss to her knuckles. “Me too.”

We launched into a brisk walk through the warm, summer night, making it to my truck in no time at all. I opened the passenger side and rummaged around until my hands closed on my Ferguson Construction baseball hat. I had one, though I didn’t work in the business with my packmates. Tried that. Didn’t love working alongside Gary and Scott and my other drunk and high relatives.

“Here we go.” I handed the hat to Delphi and she corralled her dark hair, pulled it through the back of the hat, and settled the hat on her beautiful head.

She held her hands out to either side of her. “Am I adequately disguised?”

“Maybe to someone who hasn’t spent an evening getting reacquainted with every inch of you.” I pulled her up against me, angling my head so I didn’t bump into the bill of the baseball hat, and brushed my lips against hers. “I’d know you anywhere, my angel.”

She melted against me and we both gave in to a heated round of kissing before my phone buzzed in my pocket.

“Right,” she said. “We need to get you to your sister and cousins.”

“Damn them.” I dropped a quick kiss to her nose then arched my arm toward the passenger seat. “Your chariot awaits.”

She climbed in and I closed the door. I checked my phone to find a text from my mother who had apparently found out about my cousins.

Mom: You’re going to help your cousins, right?

I have to say it ticked me off that she expected me to dig them out of every stupid thing they got themselves into. I wasn’t the pack’s Alpha.

But we definitely needed one.

Me: I’m on it.

Stowing my phone back in my pocket, I jogged to the driver’s side, and for the first time in forever, these problems with my cousins didn’t feel insurmountable. I would dig them out of this. Everything would be all right.

Because I had Delphi back.