Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-nine
Drew
We wake up just as the sun is rising. I have never slept as soundly as I did last night.
Emotional and physical exhaustion played a part, but I think it was sharing a bed with both Genie and Parker that did the heaviest lifting.
We shifted around several times throughout the night, each taking a turn being crowded in the middle, and it turns out that we're much more comfortable with Parker between Genie and me than any other combination.
I thought Parker and I would be more comfortable with her safely between us, but Genie's protective instincts are much more at ease on the outside of our little puppy pile.
Parker didn't complain, though. He seemed more than content to be cuddled and clung to from both sides.
“How long do you need to pack?” Parker asks Genie as she pulls my shirt over her head.
“Just a few minutes. I didn't bring much. I'll need to change, though.”
“No shower,” I demand, surprising myself more than either of them.
She smirks at me. “Hadn't planned on it.”
“You either,” I say, looking at Parker.
“Wasn't going to,” he says. “We don't have time, anyway.”
We all exchange a look. We haven't discussed leaving, but we all have an unspoken understanding that we're getting the hell out of here before anything else happens.
I have already decided that I'm going to go out of my way to avoid Jonathan Baker if at all possible, even though I would very much like to make good and fucking sure he sees my mark on Genie.
“What's our plan?” she asks. “After we leave.”
“That all depends on you, baby,” I tell her, pushing my feet into my jeans. “If you want to go back to your pack lands, that's where we'll go. If you want to see how you feel about mine first, that's fine, too. It really is whatever you feel most comfortable with.”
She turns to face me, brows high and hand on her hip.“You don't care if we go back to my pack?”
I shrug. “It's all going to be our pack soon enough. I'm going with you, wherever you want to be.”
She nibbles the corner of her lip. “Some of them might still be a little unhappy with you.”
“I don't care,” I tell her, meaning it. “They have every right and reason to be unhappy with me. It's going to take time for me to show them who I really am. They'll see me soon enough; they'll see us. I can take the heat.”
“And that's the actual reason I want to go back home,” she says, blushing. “I think it might be better for me to have my next heat somewhere familiar.”
I nod at her and then Parker. “Then that's what we'll do. Whatever you need.”
She smiles at me and I wonder for half a second if she really thought I'd drag her back to my territory if she didn't want to be there. “I'll call home when we get to the foyer and get someone to pick us up.”
“Off the grounds,” Parker says. “If you think you'll be okay to walk out of here. We saw a diner close by when we came in. How do you feel about a greasy burger?”
She rolls her eyes. “I'll be fine to walk. He's not that big.”
“Ouch, baby” I say, making a show of grabbing my chest.
She rolls her eyes a little harder. “A burger would be good. And onion rings.”
We get all of our things gathered and packed and head to the foyer of the main building where the phone is. Genie calls home while I slip a note under the door of the office telling the staff that the three of us are leaving.
Parker touches my wrist when I walk back over to him. “Are you worried?”
“About?”
“Staying with her pack.”
I shrug. “Not really. I marked her. It's done.”
He eyes me and lowers his voice. “And how's that going?”
“So good. I can feel her. Are you doing okay with everything?”
He looks over at her and she waves. “I'm good, Cross. I really am.”
Genie hangs up the phone and walks back over to us. “My dad's coming. I told him he could send someone but he wants to drive up. I hope you don't mind.”
I shake my head. “It's fine. The worst he can do is kick my ass, right?”
She drops down into the chair in front of the window. “No. He could do worse.” She smirks sweetly at me. “But he won't.”
Most packs only need one telephone. It is usually located either in the Alpha's office or in the main pack house.
We are incredibly social and much prefer to communicate in person.
We like to see and speak with each other personally, physically.
We like touch and scents and the knowledge of how our pack mates actually are doing.
Phone calls are wholly unnecessary within the pack and we really only use them to contact other packs.
The telephone my pack uses is on the wall next to my mother's study and she answers on the fourth ring.
It's too early for her to have been awake, but she sounds like she's been up for hours.
“Hello?”
“Mom. Hey.”
“Drew, honey. Are you alright? What's wrong? Is Parker okay?”
I love my mom so much. “We're okay. But we're leaving.”
She tells someone on her end to go find my dad. “Did something happen?”
Blowing out a hard breath, I tell her. “Yes. Genie is here. It's been a strange month. I claimed her.”
“There?!” she practically yells, then lowers her voice. “You claimed her there? At Recovery? Where is Parker?”
“He was there with me. Listen, Recovery isn't what we were led to believe it is. I'll tell you about it later, but it's going to be a conversation.”
“So what I'm hearing is you're bringing her home?” The gleeful excitement in her voice twists my gut with guilt, but Genie needs to be somewhere familiar for her heat.
“Yes, but not yet. She goes into heat in the next week or so. She needs to be in her pack's territory and then we'll plan out what we're doing. We've got a good plan that works for everyone.”
“Hey, there's your father,” she says, then holds the receiver away from her mouth.
“It's Drew. He's fine. Parker's fine. Did you know Eugenia Barrett was at Recovery?” A pause, and when she speaks to him again I can tell he's in trouble.
“Well, isn't that nice? Well, they're all leaving. They are going to the Barrett territory. Get that look off your face, Nathaniel Cross. They will come here when they do.” Her volume and tone changes as she comes back on the line to talk to me again. “What do you need, honey?”
“Nothing. Her father is coming to come get us. We're going to meet him outside Recovery grounds. I just wanted you to know where we were. I didn't want you to worry.”
“And you know I would. Congratulations, baby. You sure Parker is alright? And how is our girl? We call her Genie now?”
I love my mother. I love her so much. “Parker is so good, Mom. I promise. Will you tell his mom he's okay and let her know where he is? Genie is good, too. She's perfect. You're going to love her so much.”
“I'll tell Cheryl. I always knew I'd love Genie. Will you let me know when you get settled with the Barretts?”
“I will. Love you.”
“I love you, too, honey.”
We end the call, but I stand there with my hand still on the receiver. Did my father know Genie would be here? Did he send me here knowing she would be here? I pick up the phone and redial.
Mom picks up again. “Yes? Hello?”
“Mom. Put Dad on, please.”
She lets out a hard breath. “Nathaniel. Your son wants to speak with you.”
My dad comes on the line. “Hello, son. I hear congratulations are in order.”
“Did you know, Dad?” I ask, pushing my voice to remain level. “Did you know she would be here?”
He sighs heavily. “Yes.”
“And you sent me, and Parker, here? Knowing what could, what would happen?”
Another sigh. “Yes.”
“Why?” I'm not angry about Genie. I'm not angry that she's mine. She was mine all along. I'm angry about the deception.
“That's what Recovery is, Drew. It's one of the things you would have learned about when you take over the pack.”
I'm not going to scream at my father. It won't make me feel better and it certainly won't help the situation, but I'm getting angrier with each word. “Explain it to me now.”
“Are you sure you don't want to come home and talk about it?”
“No.”
“Alright, fine. The only reason wolves turn rogue, whether by choice or circumstance, is because they lack stability.
They don't have the balance inside themselves or outside that they need.
After a while there is a split. Sometimes it's mental, sometimes emotional, but the result is always physical. Recovery is a place to recover that balance. Wolves stay there until they find whatever it is, or the person who will bring balance and stability back to them. My hope was for you to find another female while you were there since the Barrett girl was unacceptable. I hoped that Parker would find someone else there too, which is why I sent him with you.”
“So you lied to me?”
“Yes and no. I told you I wanted you to learn how to function as a pack leader, and that you and Parker needed to learn how to do that together because Parker is going to be your Second no matter what, that much has been obvious.
Eugenia's father contacted me and told me about her decision to go to Recovery and I thought, good. Maybe being in close contact with each other would give nature and destiny a chance to work. And it did.”
My eyes close against the anger threatening to spill out of me, and my next words are very controlled and come through clenched teeth. “What did you think would happen to Parker?”
My father sighs so heavily that I can almost feel it. “I wanted Parker to find whatever he needed, too. He left for nearly a year. He left the pack and he left you.”
“He left for me,” I interrupt. “He left because he thought I would run to Genie without him here to stop me.”
“And that's what you were doing. But he came back.”
“He was called.”
“By you.”
“Yes,” I seethe. “By me. He's my Second. He should have been there.”
“The moment you saw him, you abandoned your mate. Again. You know what was riding on you and Eugenia being mated and you abandoned that without so much as a look back. You showed both packs that you would put yourself, and Parker, above the health and future of your pack that day. Parker is mine as much as you and any other member of this pack. I want him home and I want him well. But he put our future at risk. I hoped that Recovery would change that. I wanted him to find someone else there.”
My rage will no longer be ignored. “He didn't find someone else here, Dad. He's still mine, and so is Genie. They're both mine and I'm pretty fucking sure he's hers, too. I think that's how it was supposed to be all along.”
“Then why did you run from it?” he asks.
My father isn't angry. His tone is serious, but he isn't short or condescending. He is leading. Teaching. And my anger dissipates as I try to land on an answer for that question.
In the end the answer is as simple and true as it's always been. “I was afraid of change. I was never going to give up Parker, Dad. Never. I didn't think Genie could accept that. I was afraid of changing everything. And then I was afraid of losing everything.”
“And now?”
“Now I'm not afraid of anything. I know Mom told you about Genie.
I'm taking her home. As soon as she's ready, we'll start planning for the joining of the packs.
All of us. I understand something now that I didn't before.
The council elders who signed those treaties before we were born wanted to create a pack large and powerful enough to lead the entire region.
We can do that. We're strong enough to do it.
But I can already see where challenges are going to come from.
Will you pull up everything we have on Pack Reeves?
It wouldn't hurt to check in on Pack Steele, either.”
“Did something happen while you've been there?” he asks, concern tightening his words.
“Nothing too serious, not yet. I just don't want something to hit us out of the blue.”
I look across the foyer to where Genie is sitting so pretty in the chair in front of the windows with her bag in her lap and Parker standing guard behind her.
He meets my gaze and puts his hand on her shoulder.
A feeling of rightness slams into me so hard that it takes my breath. “One more thing, Dad.”
“What's that, Drew?”
“I want to change Recovery. Not what it does, but people need to understand what they're coming here for.
It isn't fair to trick people into it. It's dishonest and people deserve to know the truth about why they're here. If I had known what I was coming here to do, I would have put more effort into doing that instead of fumbling through weeks of useless bullshit.”