16. Bexley

16

BEXLEY

“Alpha!”

“Alpha! Alpha! Come look!”

“Miss Shirley’s about to tell a story. Come oooon!”

I giggled as the children of the combined packs pulled me along. Miss Shirley sat there in a beautiful bright yellow dress and matching sandals as she waited for the kids to gather around her. Even some of the adults from my pack sat with us as well. Gregory sat there holding Annabelle in his lap. Terraria sat next to him with Little Billy. Joseph crawled into my lap while Silvia sat next to me, eager to listen to whatever story was about to be told.

And after Miss Shirley did a head count, she launched into a story.

“Once upon a time, on a mountaintop so sweet and fair, lived The Thunderfall Pack?—”

“That’s us!” one of the kids exclaimed.

Annabelle leaned over and whispered in my ear. “What’s our pack name?”

I smiled as I looked over at her. “Why don’t we take a vote on it tomorrow and see?”

She nodded her head vigorously before she turned her attention back to Ronyn’s mother. So, I did the same.

“—and the pack was happy and full and filled with delight. Until one day, a storm came.”

The kids gasped as I tilted my head.

“A storm came to the top of the mountain unlike anything the pack had seen,” Miss Shirley said as she used her arms and hands to help set the scene. “The clouds rumbled past, heavy and dark. Thunder crashed so hard in the distance that the mountain itself seemed to shake. And as we made our way down the mountain to shelter in the caves, we learned something.”

The kids, as if they knew what came next, all responded in unison.

“What did you learn, Miss Shirley!?”

The adults giggled as Ronyn’s mother’s smile grew across her face. “We learned that birds are for the sky, and wolves are for the ground. That’s why our Alpha at the time led us down the mountain toward the meadow beneath us. While the mountain kept us safe from other predators, it didn’t keep us safe from the one thing that we couldn’t control. So, the next time you’re seeking shelter when you’re afraid?”

“Go! To! The caves!” the kids exclaimed together.

Miss Shirley clapped her hands with everyone before the kids took off. Even Little Joseph ripped himself out of my lap and took off, and Joseph was one of the quieter kids in my pack. I watched them head back to the meadow of the compound and tumble around in the grass, much to the dismay of many parents who wanted to keep their pup’s clothes fresh and clean for the celebration. I walked around to the women that were cooking and the men that were slicing and dicing, and asked if they needed anything. I kept an eye on the children, making sure they didn’t venture too far into the woods without an adult. I made my rounds and bided my time, unable to help it as I peeked over at Voss’s place.

Miss Shirley started rounding up the kids once more for the opening of the solstice celebration.

With all of the tables set with delectable meats, finger foods, and wine, the children’s choir led by Miss Shirley gathered at the front of the crowd around the fire. Miss Shirley lined them all up before kneeling in front of them on the grassy knoll, her hands poised at the ready. She nodded her head three times, humming a soft note that all of the kids hummed back. Then she lifted her hands and brought them down, ushering in a chorus I had heard only days before.

“The Thunderfall Pack is a great big home where we all live happily in our zones, and the way we run and the way we laugh is a great big bonus to our evening baths.”

For the second verse, some of the adults around me joined in.

“The Thunderfall Pack is a great big home where we love one another with our great big might, and the way we play and the way we fight is a great big bonus to the way we gripe!”

Everyone giggled with laughter before the rest of both the packs finished out the last verse. And as I gazed around at the few shifters of my pack, I noticed something.

They were singing along, too.

“And the Thunderfall Pack is a family where the kids roam ‘round like they’re wild and free. So come on, let’s go, where the waters flow. So come on, let’s goooo where the waaaa-teeeeers floooooooow!”

Whoops, cheers, and hollers only backdropped the whistling as the children beamed with delight. Miss Shirley stood onto her feet, waving her hand and taking a bow as the cacophony of the crowd grew. I couldn’t help but raise my hands over my head. Tears of pride pricked the backs of my eyes, and that’s when I knew what had to be done with my pack.

I had to find a way to convince Voss to absorb them.

Then after the clapping and cheering died down, Dom made his way to the front of the crowd and held out his hands.

“Everyoooone!” he boomed over our heads. “Welcome to the autumn solstice!”

Music struck up to our side and before I knew it, someone linked my arm and whisked me away from the crowd. I craned my neck over my shoulder, watching men and women of all shapes and sizes take to the makeshift dance floor I saw Voss putting together earlier that day. Men twirled their women around and the kids flailed their arms around like feral, wild little things.

It made my heart happy to see them smiling after everything we had been through.

“So,” Merida said as she rushed up to me and linked her arm with mine, “whatcha think?”

I shook my head softly as she walked me around the perimeter of the party. “You guys know how to throw a hell of a shindig.”

She smiled brightly. “No. Dom knows how to throw a shindig. We’re just here for the payout of his efforts.”

I barked with laughter. “That doesn’t shock me one bit.”

But then, a sharp pain shot through my shoulder, and I hissed.

“Still giving you troubles?” Merida asked with concern on her face.

I shook my head softly. “Nothing that I can’t handle.”

“The potion I gave you yesterday should have?—”

I giggled and patted her arm with my free hand. “Your potions can’t fix permanent damage on a human, Merida.”

“Says who,” she grumbled.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m fine. Really.”

“You’re not fine. Your shoulder gives you constant pain. That’s what you told me.”

“And?”

She stopped walking and yanked my arm a bit, turning me to face her. “You don’t have to be in pain. Not here. Not around us, at least.”

I tilted my head. “Merida.”

She pinned me with a look. “Bexley.”

I took her hands in mine and pulled her close. “Merida, you’ve become a very good friend to me since I’ve been here.”

She grasped my hands just as tightly. “You’ve become a good friend to me, too.”

“Which is why I can’t have you stressing out over me like this.”

“As long as you’re in pain?—”

I cut her off. “I know you’re a healer. I know that’s your job. And I know you’re worried. But you’ve gotta understand that I’ve withstood a lot over the course of my career. I’ve been tortured. Raped. Beaten for information. I have aches and pains everywhere that’ll never go away. It just… comes with being the kind of CIA agent that I am.”

Merida’s face filled with horror as I spoke. “And you’re just… okay with all of this? With everything that’s been done to you?”

I shake my head softly. “No, I’m not. But I believed in its greater good, so I withstood it.”

She stepped even closer as her powerful blue eyes focused on me. The wind kicked up, blowing her wild red hair around her face. The freckles that donned her entire body seemed to come into focus the darker it grew around us, and the determination behind her eyes told me I needed to shut up while she spoke.

I swear, I’d never met a woman that could get me to shut up the way she could.

“I don’t care what kind of greater good you fought for,” Merida said as she shook her head. “I don’t care what you withstood, or what you thought you had to do. When you’re here? With us? You’re not in pain. So,” she said as she stuck her hand into her healer’s robe and pulled out a vial. “Drink.”

“Merida.”

She shook it in front of me. “You’re going to take one every three days. That seems to be about how long it gets you. I’ll keep a stash on me and come find you whenever you need to take it.”

“Merida…”

She took my hand, forced it open, and settled the vial against my palm. “I added a bit of lavender and honey so it won’t taste like shit this time.”

I giggled softly. “Thanks.”

She stared me down. “So?”

“So, what?”

She motioned to it. “So drink it up. You don’t want to be in pain for the celebration.”

“It’s just a dull?—”

Her blue gaze froze on me. “Drink.”

I held up my free hand in mock surrender. “Fine, fine. Okay. I just… I don’t want you to go through so much trouble.”

“You’re not trouble, Bexley.”

I grinned at her before I popped open the vial. I drew in a deep breath before I tipped it up to my lips, and the lavender and honey only served to make that shit taste, well, like shit wrapped in lavender and honey. Still, I appreciated the gesture as I forced the thick liquid down, damn near chewing on it just to get it past my gag reflex.

Even Merida grimaced a bit when I finally swallowed. “Lavender and honey doesn’t work, got it.”

I capped the vial and handed it back to her. My voice was hoarse. “I don’t think anything will work for that shit.”

She giggled as she took it from me. “Yeah, maybe not.”

But, as the pain in my shoulder almost immediately dissipated, I sighed with relief. “Thank you.”

She linked her arm with mine once more. “Like I said, you don’t have to be in pain while you’re around here. Even if I can’t heal you, that doesn’t mean I can’t keep you comfortable.”

“Hey,” I said as we started walking again, “as long as it doesn’t affect my ability to operate at the drop of a hat, I’m good.”

We walked toward the darker edge of the woods. The pack danced off in the distance as a massive bonfire roared to life. I saw Dom walking with some of Ronyn’s lieutenants, all of them carrying this massive buck on a spit to put over the fire.

It wasn’t until we stopped walking to watch that Merida spoke once more. “What else did you have to do on your job?”

Her voice was so soft that I almost didn’t want to answer. But I found a sort of comfort in talking with Merida. It had been a very long time since I’d connected with any kind of a woman outside of my workplace.

I enjoyed having her as a friend.

“You know, I’ve always seen my survival tactics as nothing more than that,” I said as I watched the children of the pack run around the fire and sing songs at the top of their lungs. “I saw them as a way to get by. As a means of…”

“Dealing?” Merida asked.

I nodded softly as I squeezed the arm she had mine threaded through. “And then I get out here, and I get around you guys, and I see the way you live and how you treat one another and how close you guys are and how big the family is and I just?—”

She nudged me softly. “You just… what?”

I shrugged. “I just… didn’t know this kind of life was possible. I didn’t—didn’t know it was a thing. And now that I know it’s a thing… I’m not sure I want to go back. I’m not sure I’ll be able to live without all this.”

“Why would you have to?”

“Everything all right?” a rumbling voice asked.

I gasped softly, flinching at the sound of Ronyn’s voice as a curious smirk grew on Merida’s face. I peered over my shoulder at Ronyn and the grin on his face seemed boastful. As if he was proud of himself for being able to sneak up on me.

My stare volleyed between the two of them. “What? A girl can’t have a moment where she lets her guard down? Damn.”

Merida giggled. “It’s not that. It’s just…”

“You haven’t let it down yet since you’ve been here,” Ronyn said.

Merida pointed up at him. “That.”

I rolled my eyes and unlinked my arm from Merida before I turned to Ronyn. “How’s Troop C?”

He blinked. “How did you know it was?—”

Merida giggled. “Why do you guys still question her like you’re shocked when she does something even remotely capable?”

I tilted my head and folded my arms over my chest playfully. “Yeah, Ronyn. Why is that?”

He grumbled as he turned back toward the woods. “Patrol time.”

I giggled as my arms unfurled. “I bet it is. But, Ronyn?”

“Yes, Bumblebee?”

Merida paused. “Bumblebee?”

I loved his nickname for me. It filled me to the brim with warmth. “Let me know if you or your troops need anything, all right? I want to make sure they get fed and stay hydrated while they’re patrolling.”

Ronyn studied me for a while before he nodded his head. “I’ll let you know if we need anything.”

He disappeared into the woods with a gigantic leap.

“He ain’t tellin’ me shit, is he?” I asked as I looked over at my newfound friend.

Merida cackled as she linked her arm with mine. “Not a cold chance in hell.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I figured.”

As Merida and I started away from the woods and back toward the pack, the sun began setting. The fire illuminated the space around the darkening meadow as the sun sank quickly behind the trees. The sunset cast shades of red and orange and purple across the sky. Merida and I took our time, marveling the beauty of it as we strolled back toward the party. But when I finally pulled my gaze out of the clouds, I found a very familiar and determined set of piercing emerald eyes staring at me.

Voss.

He towered over his pack. At least, it felt like he did. He stood there in his stereotypical worn-out jeans with a t-shirt that was at least one size too small for him. Oh, and those muddied-up steel-toed boots of his. Goddamn it, he looked delectable. Good enough to eat. I felt Merida’s arm fall away from me as I stood there, allowing Voss to devour me with his gaze. His stare raked down my dress. He studied the flowers in my hair as the autumn breeze blew strands away from my makeshift crown. Something stirred in my gut when his gaze connected with mine. The way that smirk crawled across his lip made me feel big. And brave. And… bold.

Fucking hell, I couldn’t wait to get him alone.

Even though I still wasn’t sure what that meant for my future after all this shit with Delilah.