Chapter 45 Rickon #2
Which means he has a good idea but doesn’t want to talk about it.
Guess we’ll know soon enough, so I help him out by changing the subject.
“I called Lexi Mom today.” I won’t apologize to Callisto or ask for his permission.
We’re way beyond that sort of thing. “Titles aside, it’s you guys who got me through. ”
Callisto reaches across the table, silently asking for my hand.
When I slip my palm into his, he closes his warm fingers around mine.
“I realized something today. You say I helped you, but you’re the one who gave me the confidence to act like king of the playground.
Sure, people lived in awe of the Wren name, but it was you .
. .” His voice breaks. “It was you who gave me wings.”
I squeeze his hand, my heart too full for words.
Callisto clears his throat and grins. “You realize Mom will slide adoption papers your way by Christmas?”
I laugh and pull back to buckle my seatbelt. “That won’t be necessary,” I muse.
“Sure, but just so you know, she’s talked about it for years but was worried about offending you.”
I glance back at Calli, meeting his bottomless black eyes. Their only blood son isn’t jealous at all. “I had a family all along, didn’t I?”
He smiles, and it means everything.
The plane taxis out. Red switches to her and merrily feeds Zack snacks provided by the air hostess to keep his jaw moving for the pressure change.
I ought to help, but my lids keep sliding closed.
If I’m honest with myself, I haven’t slept properly since Zack left, but now he’s here, his fresh-baked bread scent filling the cabin beside Red’s honeyed macadamia and Callisto’s fresh timber aromas, and I feel perfectly safe.
We level off, the heavy engine noises fading away, and someone tucks a blanket around me. I mumble a thanks, but the warmth smothers me into oblivion.
When I drift back into consciousness, the sounds have changed from a dull roar to a fainter whine, and the vehicle bumps me around. I flail, my sleepy brain deducing turbulence, but Zack shushes me as he traps my hands. A steady heartbeat pounds beside my ear, and I relax.
Opening my eyes, I discover I’m cradled on Zack’s lap in a car, and the window reveals tall aspen and spruce trees.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Red says, reaching for my hand.
I blink at her, wondering what karma in my previous cycles brought this gorgeous woman into my life. It sure wasn’t anything good I did in this one.
“Damn, look at you.” My omega leans out of her seatbelt to nuzzle her head on our joined hands. “Like a sleepy kitten waking up. Calli says we’re almost at the cabin, FYI.”
I stroke my fingers idly across her face before glancing out at the winding mountain road. “I can’t believe I slept through the plane landing,” I murmur. To say nothing of being carried out.
Red chuckles, her voice vibrating pleasantly in my hands. “Well, you were snoring like a freight train.”
“Was not,” I shoot back. Glancing up, I catch Calli’s amused eyes in the rearview mirror.
“You kinda were,” he says. “We figured you were exhausted.”
My ears heat and I turn away.
Zack squeezes me before shifting one hand to stroke Red’s hair lovingly.
“Did you carry me, Zack?” I ask.
“Yes. Easy for I. Ri-ckon is mine.”
I chuckle and close my eyes again, concentrating on his powerful heartbeat.
Judging by the flex of muscles wrapped around me, Callisto isn’t the only one who bulked up in the last month.
I suppose his arm healing properly and the dangers in prison made Zack train himself.
Even if it’s physically easy for him to carry me, I don’t think that’s what he meant.
As members of his pack, nothing is too difficult for Zack to do for us.
We put a leash on Zack and trotted him out like a pet, but I’m the one who’s truly owned. And it’s the most amazing feeling in the world.
Callisto slows the hire car in front of giant gates and leans out to put a pin code in the box.
“Wow, this is fancy-shmancy,” Red declares, sitting up to peer out the window.
The brick-paved road arcs to the left, revealing driveways leading to mini-mansions, each sitting on a few acres and bordering state forest. The trees stretch away to mountains capped with snow despite summer being here.
We turn into a familiar drive bordered by rows of stately pine trees, and I sit up, just as excited as Red to see our destination. I was a teenager the last time we came out here for a skiing holiday.
The house looms into view, the two stories wrapped in balconies, stone facing, and a steep tile roof.
Warm orange lights glow inside and out, even though it’s early afternoon.
Inviting green grass borders the gravel path from the drive to the house and clusters of aspens and pines hide the other cabins from view, making the place feel private.
“Okay, when you said cabin, that was not what I was expecting.” Red boxes her hands together and makes them smaller, brows rising for emphasis.
I laugh as I throw the door open. “C’mon, Red. Haven’t you learned yet that the Wrens don’t do anything small?”
“Well, you have a point,” she mutters.
Callisto laughs as he gets out and opens Red’s door. “Hey, play fair! This is the small version around here!”
I tug Zack out, and he follows me slowly, head swiveling to take in the expansive forest views, the pair of Pine Warblers that zip past, and the towering house. Wariness flickers in his bond as he surveys foreign territory.
I take his hand to reassure him. “We’ll be safe here, Zack.”
He points toward the house. “Stay here?”
“For a few days, yes. Then we’ll go home to the apartment.”
He nods once and pulls me to his side to kiss my hair. I wiggle into him, then take a step toward the house, but a sudden rush through the bond freezes me in place. The sensation’s loaded with alpha aggression that makes my stomach drop.
Zack turns and crooks a finger at Callisto. “Cal-ee. Come!”
What exactly is their unfinished business, and what if he brought Callisto out here for some kind of punishment?
If Zack goes full metal like in the prison, there won’t be a damn thing I can do to stop him.