Chapter 21: Aislin

Chapter 21: Aislin

Seeing Eastpeak in shambles changed my entire perspective of the mountainous pack. I once thought the wolves of Eastpeak were stoic, composed, strong of both body and mind, like Everett. They resisted help and kept to themselves, so much that even I found them intimidating, like they were so above the simpletons of Grandbay and Dalesbloom that they didn’t need to trouble themselves with our affairs. Only now I saw them for what they truly were: just people content with their solitude, and they crumbled under pressure just like the rest of us.

Between bouts of gentle weeping and shell-shocked errands, the Eastpeak wolves were grateful to Gavin, Billie, Muriel, and I as we tried our best to help throughout the evening. I still couldn’t fully comprehend how this had happened. It didn’t even feel real when Everett first told me over the phone. The sight of his bloody and tattered packmates was evidence of the dragon attack, but it wasn’t until I traveled back with him and the Mythguard to the site of the massacre that the devastation was driven home. Seven bodies were lined up in the grass and bared to the early September sunset, the stench of acrid oil and coagulated blood hovering above them. We had brought tarps to wrap them up and carry them back to Everett’s place in. There was a graveyard the shifters used on the mountainside to the furthest east of Eastpeak territory where they were destined to go. Together, Gavin, Billie, and I, as well as four of the Mythguard helped Everett and his packmates collect their dead. By nightfall, we had them home, and shortly after midnight, we had buried them all in a row, makeshift wooden crosses standing in place of the gravestones that would come later.

In the earliest hours of the morning, my packmates finally left. “I’m going to stay behind with Everett,” I told Gavin. “It just feels like I should.”

He understood. The fated mate bond was stronger than the disagreements that pushed us apart in the first place, and I knew the best thing I could do for my fated mate was simply be here for him. His pack needed him, but when that was all said and done… who else could give Everett what he needed but me?

His injured packmates remained in the house. Two of them occupied his two spare bedrooms, and the other two shared the sectional couch downstairs. A few healthier packmates stayed to keep an eye on them, camping out in sleeping bags on the floor. I had brought a change of clothes just in case and kept my bag on the floor of Everett’s bedroom. He sat on the edge of the bed, and I carefully sat down beside him, searching his face for unspoken thoughts.

Everett finally sighed. “Thank you for your help today.”

“Of course. I couldn’t just leave you to deal with this alone.”

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to be here.”

The roughness in his voice betrayed the difficulty of his day. Underlying frustration brought an edge to his words that could have been directed at me or himself, but from what I knew of Everett, I suspected it was the latter. He heaped all the blame of this attack upon himself, and not just the attack, but my anger at his plans to use me, too. He blamed himself for everything that had gone wrong these past few days and it wouldn’t surprise me if he wanted to push everyone away so he could fester in his guilt. It was probably how he coped with all of his shortcomings, but I wasn’t going to let him isolate himself and suffer alone anymore.

I scooted closer until my knee brushed his. “I want to be here with you, Everett. I know things between us have been rocky, but we just never got a chance to understand each other. It’s happening, however slowly… even if it takes a terrible fucking tragedy for me to see parts of you that you normally wouldn’t show anyone else. But I need to see these parts of you. Just like you need to see parts of me I usually keep locked away. So, to me… it’s okay if you feel like you’re a mess, like you ruined everything, because you need to give me a chance to see that and accept that about you. Does that make sense?”

Everett stared ahead, processing what I said. Earlier, I had witnessed a moment of vulnerability in him, where he locked up and trembled as I held him, and even now I could tell he was trying not to let it happen again. Slowly, he replied, “That’s very sensible of you.”

“I can’t take credit for the idea.”

He glanced at me.

“Muriel said something that got me thinking,” I clarified.

“What did she say?”

“That people should be understood and loved alongside their flaws.”

Everett furrowed his eyebrows.

“It’s just that these imperfections you talk about, that’s what makes you human. It’s what puts us on the same level… makes it easier to relate to you,” I said. “If you think you fucked up big time, well… it’s okay, we all do. Especially me.”

“Not badly enough to get your packmates killed.”

“Maybe not, but you didn’t do it on purpose. Everybody fucks up. Recognizing that is the first step to forgiving yourself, I think, and when you can forgive yourself, you can forgive others.”

Everett drew in a long breath and looked at the wall again. The gears in his mind kept turning, his mouth tightening as I watched him grapple with finally allowing himself a touch of forgiveness. For nearly a minute, I was left in the suspense of not knowing if he would accept my advice or not. Then, instead of a verbal response, he turned to me and lifted his fingers to my cheek. Not expecting the touch, I stiffened and met his eyes—or rather, fell deeply into them, seeing myself reflected back in his wounded greys. The slightest pull of his fingers coaxed me closer until his lips cradled mine. He kissed me once—gingerly—and then a second time, more fully and for longer. My heart blossomed with elation, unsteady though it was.

When we broke contact, Everett rekindled it by pressing his brow against mine. “I think, in a way, you’re much smarter than me when it comes to other people,” he said softly.

A nervous chuckle blurted from me. “Maybe in a way, yeah. But probably not for long.”

“Why?”

“Because now that you’ve gained this very important knowledge, you’re gonna start applying it.”

“You mean treating others like they’re human?”

“Yeah.”

Everett shook his head. “I still have a lot to learn. I was hoping you could teach me.”

“Teach you how to be more tolerant of people?”

“Mm.”

“Okay, well, I’m hardly an expert.” I was still an asshole sometimes, too. “So maybe we can learn together and just hold each other accountable.”

“That sounds… manageable.”

I pressed closer to him, seeking another kiss. It was so cleansing to having this intimacy with him. Our lips embraced and his chest leaned into mine until I felt his heartbeat drumming. I didn’t anticipate how badly he had wanted this touch until I was giving it to him, and he reciprocated with a desperate desire to be as close to me as possible. Before long, we had tipped over and laid beside each other on the bed, kissing, then pausing to gaze into one another’s eyes, relieved to immerse ourselves in our fated bond.

Had the circumstances been kinder, I would have rolled on top of Everett and shown him exactly how much I appreciated him. But I knew the day was hard enough as it was, and neither of us possessed the emotional strength to shove aside our sorrows for a few minutes of sexual pleasure. There was too much healing to be done. Just entwining our bodies was good enough, because within the hour, we were stripped down to our underwear and comfortable under his bedsheets, snuggling innocently. I supported his head on one arm, his face nestled under my jaw while with my other hand, I gently trailed my fingers through his hair. Everett clutched me against him and closed his eyes. He fell asleep a few minutes after that, and to the sound of his quiet snores, I drifted into dreams as well.

That morning, I woke up next to Everett. He was already awake, and he’d been watching me sleep for a few minutes. I smiled at him. From the small twinge in his lips, I knew he would have smiled too, had he been feeling stronger.

To his surprise, that morning, Taylor’s girlfriend Bree returned. She appeared at Everett’s house looking disheveled, tired, and bitter. “I stayed with him as long as I could, but I had to leave. The Inkscales turned up,” she explained. “I was barely lucky enough to outrun them.”

“I’m sorry, Bree. I can’t even begin to tell you how deeply I regret everything…”

“Don’t,” she cut at Everett. “Nothing you can do will bring him back.”

“I know.”

She shook her head and left. None of us could fault Bree for the way she felt, or for the text she sent Everett later, saying that she was going to leave town and stay with her human family a couple states away. It was safer there. Living with the constant threat of death and the memory of Taylor everywhere she turned was just too much for her.

Tensions were high in Eastpeak for the next couple days, and in Grandbay, too, as nobody knew when David was going to strike next. The Mythguard had been given their reason to act on Dalesbloom and the Inkscales’ aggression now, and we were just waiting for the official extermination order based on the Mythguard’s assessment of the attack. The order would tell us who exactly was approved for the extermination attempt. For an emergency measure intended to prevent any more death, it was a really convoluted process—but extermination was a pretty dire measure to be taken at all, so I understood. But it left us anxious for what David might do in the meantime. I should have been in Grandbay to help my pack defend themselves, but even Gavin agreed that I should stay in Eastpeak with Everett. They had already suffered so much, they needed as many hands as they could get. We didn’t know if David would go directly to Grandbay or if he would launch another attack on Eastpeak while they were already so weak. I couldn’t bear the thought of Everett being caught off guard and slain, so I would be here to protect him.

Three days after the massacre, Everett seemed to be recovering from the shock of his losses. His confidence was shaken, but he just needed time. Thanks to Muriel’s healing magic, his four wounded packmates were already faring well enough to speak and walk. They wouldn’t be doing border patrols any time soon, but Everett still had six packmates, including himself, as well as me—seven wolves total—who could keep an eye out for dragons.

The night of that third day, the ten remaining wolves of Eastpeak gathered for another meeting in Everett’s living room. I sat off in the corner, watching while Everett stood before them all with renewed composure.

“In light of the recent losses, I want those of us still here to stay close and in constant contact. You will all be staying here at my house until the threat of Dalesbloom and the Inkscales has subsided,” said Everett. “We will perform spot checks on the perimeter as humans instead of full border runs, which means that in groups of two or three, you will drive out to roads that intersect with our perimeter to check for scents. You will have your phones on you. Additionally, when not at work, you will be staying here, and there will be a rotating shift of two on guard at all times. We will have three vehicles here prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. The Mythguard will be monitoring the house, as well as several locations throughout the town, and will report back if there are any sightings of Dalesbloom wolves or the dragons. I am committed to protecting our pack—no more wolves will die to David’s wrath. As soon as the extermination order is in, we will eliminate this threat. I will not rest until Eastpeak is safe again.”

The Eastpeak wolves nodded in agreement. There was little dissent to Everett’s course of action. Everyone was feeling the same fear and unease, and clustering together at his mountainside home would offer the security that they were all in need of.

Three of his packmates sat at his kitchen table for a late dinner, including Everett’s mother, Lyssa March. I carved meat off the flank of a deer and passed the raw, dripping cut to a packmate, whose hands trembled too much to cut it themselves. Then I passed a cut to Lyssa. “Thank you,” she said crisply, taking it on her plate. She was far more proper than the others, and exceptionally more so than my Grandbay packmates, who would have just sunk their teeth in without need of a fork and knife.

“So who’s your contact for these deer?” I asked.

Lyssa smiled tightly. “I wouldn’t want to overshare. As you can imagine, resources are scarce these days.”

Fear of Dalesbloom and the Inkscales had kept all of us from being able to hunt. Gavin still tried to catch what he could for Grandbay, but I hadn’t seen anyone from Eastpeak organize a hunt since I got here. Wolves had to eat a lot of meat, so they were getting it from somewhere—I just didn’t know where, and Lyssa seemed less than keen to divulge that information.

“I understand. So… how long were you with Everett’s dad?” I continued, trying to make conversation with the woman who may very well become my mother-in-law.

She kept her eyes on her plate. “Mm… twenty-five years. December 1st would have been our thirty-fifth anniversary.”

“Wow. Was he your fated mate?”

“Yes, he was.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I murmured, chewing away. “Did you ever get another fated mate?”

“No. But I have no interest in that. None could ever replace the first man I loved so dearly.”

I couldn’t imagine it would be easy moving on. Some people never did, even ten years later.

“My son takes his relationships very seriously. As much as he does his job and his role as Alpha,” Lyssa added. “I trust you will respect that.”

“I know. What’s important to him is important to me.”

This time, she peered up at me with a tight, judgmental frown. “It’s something you will have to take seriously as well.”

“I was prepared to become Gavin’s Beta when the time came. I’m ready to do whatever is needed of me no matter my position or where I am,” I assured her.

This seemed to satisfy Lyssa, who continued processing her meal. “Good then. Because you know, he won’t stand for his fated mate belonging to another pack.”

I anticipated this conversation might arise. It unsettled me to think that I may have to abandon my friends and family for Everett. But I would be ready for it when the time came. As serious as Everett was about his relationships, job, and pack, I was serious about everything I’d promised to him. I would be here for him, no matter what I had to sacrifice.

As long as Eastpeak was still alive at the end of all this.