Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

A Week Later

Bay walked through the Pack House, heading for his new suite of rooms after a workout in the gym. He’d moved out of his single room with an attached bathroom to a two-bedroom suite with a living room and a small kitchen. Getting used to having an instant family had not been a chore. He loved having his True Mate and the pup close by. At first, he’d offered to sleep on the couch until Sonya got used to them being married. But she’d vehemently protested about sleeping separately. Bay smiled when he remembered how she’d spent her first night at the house, demonstrating why they should share a bed.

The last few days had been busy with moving Sonya and Karim to the Bay Area and dealing with the aftermath of Dale’s death. He hadn’t run the research lab in the middle of the woods by himself, but they couldn’t find any records of who else was involved. And the rest of the Sunbeam pack either knew nothing or chose not to share their knowledge. Nora had stayed behind to deal with the pack-law ramifications of the situation. Ulf had stayed by her side as muscle, not that Nora needed him. She could hold her own in a fight. But Ulf looked menacing enough, and the unknown of an immortal Viking put the Idaho village inhabitants on edge, so maybe they’d spill something they wouldn’t tell Nora.

The couple had finally arrived home and the entire house was in a frenzy to celebrate Christmas Eve, or Yule, in honor of the winter solstice. The pack had embraced both Sonya and Karim, but the pup got extra attention, not only because of how special his birth had been, but because celebrating the holidays with a kid made everyone embrace their more childish side and the excitement for tonight ran high.

As he passed the game room, he heard Ulf and Karim shouting at the screen. They’d been gaming ever since Ulf had arrived back that morning. It sounded like the pup was winning. Bay grinned. The Viking loved challenging the wolves to a game, but so far he beat all of them most of the time. Maybe he’d found his match in Karim.

As he was about to ascend the stairs to the living quarters on the second floor, Justice poked his head out of his office. “Got a minute, mate?”

Bay swallowed. They hadn’t really talked after the initial short debrief. To be honest, he’d avoided his commander because he wasn’t ready to discuss how he’d almost fucked up this mission too because of his reading problem. “Sure.” He switched direction and entered the room.

Justice closed the door behind him. “Sit.” He gestured to a visitor’s chair in front of the desk. “I have some questions.” As usual, he wore immaculate clothes. The crispness of the matching vest and slacks seemed to fit his British accent.

Bay sat and took the initiative. “I know I should have come to you earlier, before Ulf or Nora told you about my problem. I’m sorry I didn’t.”

“You didn’t?” Justice quirked an eyebrow as he took the chair on the other side of the desk.

“I could blame that I’ve been busy with the move, but the truth is I’ve been avoiding discussing the issue.”

“The issue?”

Why did Justice suddenly speak in short-question form only? “You know, my reading problem.”

The other man watched him for a moment. “What about it?”

“Ulf must have told you I’m dyslexic. I couldn’t read the note that Dale left me on the windshield.”

Justice leaned back in his seat. “Ulf hasn’t told me shit about anything. Other than your debriefing when you got back from Idaho and Nora’s reports via phone on the aftermath cleanup, I know nothing.”

Bay sighed, and then retold the story about how he’d had to ask Karim to read the note for him.

“You told me that already,” Justice said.

“Yeah, but I figured you thought I was too upset or couldn’t read the handwriting or something. The truth is I can’t read worth of shit. The letters always jump all over the place.”

Justice waved a hand in the air. “I’ve always known you had a reading problem. I mean you read nothing given to you on paper. You scurry away to your secret lair. What you do in there, I don’t know, but when you come out, you know the information better than most so I figured you had a way of dealing with your limitations. I had guessed it could be dyslexia, but unless it caused problems with you doing your job, I wasn’t going to address it.”

Bay froze in shock. “You knew?” He thought he’d been so clever hiding his disability from the pack and all along they knew how dumb he was. “But why didn’t you say something when it made me fuck up the fraud case?”

Justice frowned. “Mate, you didn’t fuck up that case.”

“I ended up in the wrong part of town because I didn’t check the navigation system. And after I got attacked and lost the fight, I almost blew up Bolt’s case.”

“Okay, I give you that you did almost fuck up when you forced Arek and Laney to square things with Regie so she didn’t out the pack to the public. But now we know she wouldn’t have done that anyway. Plus, if you want to put a positive spin on things, you might have sped up things for her and Bolt to finally get together.” He paused and leaned forward. “As for the navigation error, the naming convention of the avenues and streets in San Francisco is fucking bonkers. Many people get confused by that. Plus, that fucker Lloyd had put a tracker on your car and fiddled with the engine. No matter where you ended up when it broke down, he and the guy posing as a mechanic would have found you.”

Stunned, Bay leaned back in his chair. Justice had known about his dyslexia all along. And he didn’t view Bay as a major fuckup. “But if you don’t think I’m an idiot, then why did you punish me by sending me as nothing but muscle to Idaho?”

“I never said I don’t think you’re an idiot and that statement just proves that you might be a bigger one than I thought.” Justice blew out a breath. “I didn’t send you to Idaho as a punishment. Retrieving the first one naturally born wolf pup in forever, negotiating custody of him, and doing it while not drawing attention from the other alphas is not punishment. And not a job we’d give to someone who doesn’t have the smarts to pull it off.” He smiled. “Now, granted, I didn’t think you’d be so committed to the mission that you’d marry the pup’s sister, but here we are.” Bay’s wolf bristled and the accusation that they’d married their True Mate out of anything but love. He growled deep in Bay’s chest. Justice laughed. “Steady on, mate. It was a joke.” He turned serious again. “Besides, if you could read as well as others, you might have focused on the words of Dale’s note at first and delayed figuring out who it was from by scent.”

Bay’s head spun with all this new information. “If you know I’m dyslexic and you don’t think I fucked up my last two jobs, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Oh, that.” Justice gestured toward something on his desk. “I got this as a Yule gift for the pup. Do you think he’ll like it?” Suddenly, the alpha’s lieutenant looked uncertain. “I mean, I figured most of the others will give him electronic gadgets and shit. So I went old school.” Bay leaned forward to study the item on the desk. The label on the plastic bag covering a pile of black material said it was a giant dragon kite with a twenty-one-foot wingspan. “The beach below the Pack House can get really windy. I figured it would be a great place to fly a kite.” Justice’s voice trailed off.

Bay smiled. He could imagine how much fun Karim would have flying a giant dragon on the beach. And judging by its size, he’d need a few pack members to help him get it up in the air. And those wolves would have a field day frolicking on the beach with the pup. “He’ll love it,” he told Justice.

When he stepped out of the shower in their suite, Sonya waited for him with a worried look on her face.

“What’s wrong,” he asked, worry eating away in his chest. Did she not enjoy living in such close proximity to the other wolves? “I know these last few days have been hectic, and if you don’t want to live in the Pack House we can find our own place.”

Sonya shook her head. “I love your pack. Well, I love the people I’ve met so far. There are a lot of them.”

Bay crossed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms. He’d never get used to how right it felt. “They’re your pack now, too. And Karim’s.”

He felt her nodding against his chest. “They’ve gone out of their way to welcome us. And I feel safer than I have in a long time.”

“Then what is it?” He pulled back and used a finger to smooth the frown lines on her forehead.

“Karim and I got you a Yule gift, but we’re not sure if you’ll like it. As a matter of fact, you might hate it.”

“I won’t hate anything that you give me.”

“Don’t be so sure. Just in case, we want to give it to you before the party so that if you get angry, it won’t be in front of everyone.”

Bay frowned. What was this mysterious gift? Either way, he wouldn’t get angry with them. Nobody’s given him a Yule gift in a long time. The pack didn’t bother with them, other than between True Mates. Before he could answer, Karim shouted from the other side of the door. “What did he say? Can we give it to him now?”

Sonya smiled. “He’s both worried and excited about giving it to you.”

“Let me throw on some clothes and I’ll be right with you.”

Sonya nodded and left the bedroom to go into their living room. When Bay joined her, he saw that she and Karim had set up a small pine tree in the corner and decorated it with shiny baubles and lights. “This is amazing,” he said.

Karim stood by the tree that was only as tall as him. A nervous smile lit up his smile as he pulled out a wrapped package from under the tree. “Open it.” Bay took the rectangular item and sat down on the coach. He shook the gift in his hand, but the rattle told him nothing except that it was probably not Legos or a puzzle. “And there’s also this.” Karim shoved another package at him, this one cube-shaped.

“Karim, let him open the gifts on his own time,” Sonya said.

“But he’s taking forever.”

Bay ripped off the paper and stared down at the box in his hand. “You got me an ereader.” He hated how flat his voice sounded, but he thought Sonya knew about his dyslexia. They hadn’t talked about it straight out. There hadn’t been time to talk about a lot of things. But he’d mentioned it, sort of, in a roundabout way when he told her about Dale’s note.

Sonya opened her mouth, but before she could utter a word, Karim, bouncing with excitement, interjected, “Open the other gift.”

The other package contained a pair of top-of-the line wireless headphones. Those, at least he could use.

Karim grabbed the ereader box and started opening it. “Now you have the same setup as me. Let me show you how it works. Well, your headphones are nicer.” He shot a reproachful look at Sonya.

She sighed. “Let him open his own gifts and figure out how to use them.”

“I don’t mind,” Bay said, lamely. Odin would grow a new eye before he’d be able to decipher the instructions for the ereader and then he’d still not have a use for the gadget.

Karim chatted away as he ripped open the boxes. “Get Sonya to buy both the text and the audio file for the stories you want.” He paused and looked at Sonya. “Do you have enough money to buy us both books or do I have to share mine?”

“I think we can find funds that cover both of your reading needs, but it would be nice if you shared your books with others.”

“Fine,” Karim grumbled, but then got excited again. “So when you set the font to the one that helps people like us with dysleskia–”

“Dyslexia,” Sonya corrected and earned another reproachful look from the pup.

“That’s what I said. Anyway, there’s a special font for us and if you use that when you read your story and have the voice reading to you in the headphones at the same time, it’s much easier to figure out the letters.”

Wait, what? How had he missed this? “You have dyslexia?”

Karim rolled his eyes. “Duh, yeah. Just like you.” He beamed a full-wattage smile at Bay. “We’re the same.”

Lost for words, Bay looked at Sonya for guidance. Moisture glimmered in her eyes. “He’s been thrilled ever since he found out you share his condition.”

“Yeah,” Karim said. “Because now I know I can grow up to be a real wolf and a pack member even though I take longer to read.” He had the ereader out of the box, but frowned at it. “It won’t turn on. I think we have to charge it first.”

“We can set it up after the party,” Sonya said. She looked at Bay, worry showing on her face. “Do you like your present?”

He stood and pulled her into a hug. “I love it.” He cleared his throat. “It’s the best present ever.” Leaning down, he captured her lips with his.

“Ew,” Karim shouted. “Stop with the kissy face.”

Bay reached behind him and pulled the pup into the hug. “I’ll give you a kiss next,” he threatened.

Karim made gagging noises, but burrowed between the two grownups, arms around their legs. Sonya sighed, the sound happy, and leaned into Bay’s chest.“You know I went to school to become a teacher, right?”

Bay nodded and then realized she couldn’t see him. “Yeah.”

“I’m actually a special education teacher, focused on pedagogy for people with reading difficulties like dyslexia.” She paused. “If you’re open to it, I could show you some methods for making reading easier.”

“Don’t do it.” Karim said. “They’re not as much fun as the reading stories on the ereader. You have to do a bunch of writing exercises and she gives you homework.”

“I give you homework to help you learn,” Sonya said.

“What if there’s a game that could help me learn,” Karim said with newfound enthusiasm. “That would be fun.”

“You should get Ulf to research that for you.” Sonya ruffled his hair and he swiped at her hand impatiently.

“Ulf only likes where you get to shoot stuff. I think I have to research that myself.”

“I’ll help you,” Bay said. “And if we find one, we’ll play it together.”

“Yeah,” Karim exclaimed.

“After we do our homework for Sonya’s lessons.”

Karim sighed. “I guess,” he said with such a forlorn sigh that both Sonya and Bay laughed.

His wolf purred. Family , it grumbled joyfully.

Family , Bay agreed. The best family he could ever have hoped for.He hugged them tighter.

Thank you for reading this book! Want more of Bay and Sonya? Click here for a bonus epilogue and to subscribe to my newsletter. You’ll get new release announcements first and have access to bonus content and exclusive giveaways. Or scan this QR code:

Want to read about the mission that Bayden thought he messed up? That takes place in Wolf Promise , Bolt and Regie’s story.

Also, check out the rest of the books in the Norse Warrior Protectors: https://www.asamariabradley.com/norsewarriorprotectors/ .

If you haven’t already, subscribe to my newsletter for new releases updates, bonus content, and exclusive giveaways: www.asamariabradley.com/newsletter/