21. Sunny
Sunny
Cali takes Hunt back to the farm to get their car. He returns, and we all pile in. I feel so emotionally drained—from the accident, from my grandmother, from every goddamned thing in my life that I find myself not feeling much at all on the ride back.
Luca and Jess sit on either side of me and continue to purr the entire way. It's nice. It takes off any sharp edges from my near-catatonic, emotionless state. I keep catching the guys glancing at each other with meaningful looks, but choose to ignore it.
When we pull up in front of the farmhouse, I let Luca slide out first, taking my hand and helping me out. Then, without any question or prior warning, he scoops me into his arms and begins carrying me up the porch steps bridal-style.
This pulls me out of my emotional black hole. "Hey! Let me down!" I protest, though only half-heartedly compared to my usual outrage.
"Sure, I'll put you down. On your couch."
I huff. I could put up a bigger fight, but three more steps, and we're here. He sets me down gently on the plush sectional. The little yellow daisy wallpaper I helped pick out when I was six makes this one of my favorite rooms.
The guys take their own places on the couch.
"Who's trying to harm you?" Cole asks. He sits closest to me. His dominance rolls off of him like waves off the dunes. I open my mouth, but Luca cuts me off before I can say anything.
"Don't say it's not our business, because you're our mate, and it is, Pretty Girl. It always will be our business where you're concerned.
His eyes are pleading, and I have the insane urge to walk over and plant myself firmly in his lap, nuzzle myself close, and never leave.
I feel hot. Thank god for heat suppressants.
Though heat spikes can happen even with suppressants around scent-sensitive alphas. I'll take an extra dose before bed.
I think about it momentarily, and the guys wait patiently.
"My cousin."
This gets shocked expressions all around.
"Your family is doing this to you?" Jess looks fit to murder someone. His face is more serious than I've seen it since we met. Despite his size, he usually smiles and asks cute questions of me. Now, he looks like the mountain of a man he is.
"I don't really have a lot of family anymore,” I say.
“My mom had me when she was twenty-four, and left me with my grandparents.
She didn't want to be a mom, and wasn't interested in the farm.
My mom's two sisters weren't either. Both of them are omegas.
One of them moved to the other side of the world to be with her pack, and I don't see her anymore.
The other found her own pack and had three boys.
Two alphas and a beta, my cousins. None of them are interested in the farm.
"Grandma and her two alphas, Grandpa and Pops, raised me.
By then, her beta husband, Rupert, had already passed in a car accident.
But when I was little, Pops needed an operation, and he didn't make it.
" Tears spring to my eyes. At the time, I'd been five, so the memories of Pops are hazy, but I still remember a smiling face and gentle lullabies.
A warm sound like a car engine revs behind me, and I'm shocked to find Cole purring for me.
Luca starts a moment later, and soon, the whole room is full of alpha purrs.
"Grandpa passed six months ago from old age,” I go on. “He was the dominant alpha. Grandma’s been suffering from bonding sickness ever since."
This time, I really can't stop the tears from falling. Jess wraps me into his arms and with my cheek flat against his chest, his purr is even louder and more soothing. I could fall asleep like this, but I need to finish this story. I hate telling it, and I'll never be able to restart it later.
I don't pull away; I just angle my head to see the rest of the alphas.
"Once she got the bonding sickness, she started making arrangements.
I was the only one who ever said I wanted to run the farm one day.
She triple-checked with everyone. I was the only one who wanted it.
So, she transferred everything to my name. But my cousins and my aunt and uncle…"
"They want to sell," Cole supplies. He'd figure it out first. He meets my eyes, and the deep well of regret takes my breath away.
Because while I was getting enormous pressure from my family and their lawyers to sell and split the money amongst the blood relations, the Night Pack was pressuring me from the other side to deal with considerable numbers which, when I refused, enraged my cousin.
"They somehow found out about the offers about a month ago and were furious,” I said. “That's when the vandalism began."
There’s a beat of silence while they all take this in.
"Why do they want you to sell so badly?" Hunt asked. Ever perceptive.
"My uncle made quite a bit of money doing something with investing. But he made terrible investments last year, and now his whole family is on the edge of ruin. I feel bad for them. I really do. But I'm not giving up the farm for it."
Jess squeezes me closer. "My Sunshine is so fierce, protecting her home."
At first, I tense, thinking he's making fun of me, but his scent is steady. He's being earnest. Cole is deathly quiet, with dominance and anger radiating off him. Luca looks murderous, with his brow furrowed and arms crossed. Hunt looks upset but calm, thinking.
"So, this is partially our fault," Jess says, rubbing lines up and down my back.
" No!" I blurt out so fast that they all gawk at me.
"No," I try again, a bit calmer. "They were always going to do this.
The offers were a trigger, but something would have brought them around eventually.
I was never going to do what they wanted.
" I meet Cole's dark eyes, and my core tightens at the rage directed on my behalf.
Eventually, the purrs surrounding me are so comforting and soft that I fall asleep. When I next wake up, I'm tucked under a mound of blankets on my couch. The lights are low, and it's clearly nighttime. A note lies on my coffee table. When I pick it up, it smells of Cole.
We're in the yard if you need us or want us. We picked up some pastys Luca says you like from the Café. They're in the fridge. We're not going anywhere while you're in danger.
PS: I will never let anything happen to you, Little One. It will be okay.
That last line has me perfuming and wondering if I shouldn't go out to the tent and have them help me with this feeling that has me on the edge of a heat spike. But, exhaustion overtakes me.
I snuggle back down into the couch and the blankets. The pack's scent still clings to them, and I can't imagine returning to my room. It feels sterile and cold in comparison to this couch. I fall into an easy sleep surrounded by the scents of the alphas.