Chapter 27
T he handoff was almost instantaneous once we got back to the pack house, Amir waiting in the shade for our arrival. He opened my door for me, let me take a quick bathroom break and give Kai a goodbye kiss, and then had me bundled into his vehicle, the AC already on full blast.
“You’re getting to know me so well,” I said, leaning into the chilled air flowing from the vents.
“Don’t want you sweating all over my seats.”
I turned to stick my tongue out at him, relieved at the playful smirk on his face to know he wasn’t actually serious.
“Don’t stick that out unless you’re going to use it, princess. Might give me ideas.”
I sucked my tongue back in and pressed my thighs together, wiggling to get comfortable before putting on my seatbelt. “Do I get to know where we’re going now that we’re in the car?”
“We’re going to one of my favorite places,” he replied. “At some point we’ll get you out to all of the national parks around here, but we’re going to start small with Red Rock Canyon.”
I immediately tried to snoop on my phone and Amir put his hand over the screen.
“Quit that. The view has to be a surprise.”
I pouted at him and closed the page, turning my phone face-down.
“If you don’t put that pout away, I’m going to pull over and bite it.”
My perfume filled the car. “That’s terrible motivation for me to stop.”
He looked so pleased with himself. Amir swung us onto the road out of the city and settled comfortably in his seat, calmly reaching across the space to gently hold the back of my neck.
“It won’t take long to get there. I make this trip whenever I need some time for myself.”
It warmed me down to my toes that he wanted to include me in a place he kept to himself. The sun ahead of us was a little bit blinding, but we swooped into the shade of the mountains quickly, passing a sign that said Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area .
“Close your eyes.”
“Okay, but I’m trusting you like me enough that you won’t leave me out here,” I said with an awkward laugh. Probably not the best attempt at teasing…
“One, I wouldn’t do that even if I didn’t like you, and two, the others would toss me off a cliff if I even thought about it, which I never would. I just want the view to be a surprise.”
I dutifully closed my eyes and waited. The radio was playing the top forty quietly and I allowed myself to relax into my seat until Amir pulled to a stop.
“Keep them closed.”
I did so, waiting while he turned off the car and a moment later my door opened. Amir unbuckled me and scooped me right out of the seat. I koala-clung to him and buried my face against him.
“I’m going to put you on your feet now. Just let me get you angled before you open your eyes, okay?”
“Yes, sir.”
My feet settled on top of gravelly ground and Amir shifted me just so, pressing up against my back with his arms around my waist. “Open.”
The expanse of stone in front of me looked like it was lit ablaze by the sun, a rainbow of red and gold spilling over the undulating rock in a brilliant display of light and shadow. I couldn’t breathe for how beautiful it was. Like art come to life.
“Oh my god,” I whispered. “How is it real?”
Amir purred behind me. “It might be my favorite spot on the planet. I know bigger and grander places exist, but this one feels like mine. I’ve never even come out here with the pack. Not this spot, anyway. We’ve gone for hikes during the day, but they’ve never been to this particular viewpoint with me.”
“Thank you for sharing it with me.”
I leaned back against him, held awestruck by the view while he purred away. We didn’t speak for a while, just watched the sun slowly sink and the shadows slant to add darker shades to the rainbow. When the sun was finally behind the top of the mountains to the west, Amir sighed and squeezed me to him.
“Do you like it?”
“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”
“It looks like the exact opposite of where I grew up, and when I moved out here, when I’d wake up in a cold sweat from the pressure of expectation, or even the memory of it, I would drive out here. It’s so alien compared to the forests of the Catskill Mountains, and that difference was the best anchor I could have to know I had escaped the person I used to be.”
“I’m glad you had somewhere to come that made you feel better. You didn’t like who you used to be?”
“More that I don’t recognize that person. I love my parents, my family, and I was good at what they chose for me to do, but I never felt like me until I met the pack and could finally breathe.”
“You keep surprising me by how alike we are. I’m such a short time away from my old life and I still don’t even recognize it when I turn it over in my head. Like a story someone else told me instead of something I had lived.”
“That’s exactly it.” His hands swept down me and back up, settling on my arms. “This isn’t the best place to see stars, but if you want to stay for a while, we still get a pretty good view.”
Encouraged by him sharing this place with me, I spun and hooked my arms around his neck, standing on my toes for a kiss he readily gave. “Keep me out all night if you want. I like having a chance to get to know you.”
“I didn’t pack for an overnight, but we can enjoy it out here for a while.”
He tucked me back into the vehicle and we drove further in until we reached a valley with some tables. I hovered in the shade of the mountain while he unpacked what he had brought with us. Amir set two neatly folded blankets on the edge of the picnic table, and spread a third over the top before putting the cooler and two flashlights on top of it.
While we waited for the light to disappear entirely, we wandered through the shade while the air was still warm but rapidly cooling. There wasn’t a ton of plant life, but we did see a few adorable lizards and I got to touch the beautiful red stone. Once it was dark enough to haul out the flashlights, we settled back in at the picnic table. Amir sat cross-legged and patted his lap for me to climb into it.
“Now we wait,” he said.
I was cozy as hell in his arms. “Did you bring us snacks? What’s in the cooler?”
“Water, cola, gummy bears, chocolate bars, and mini cheese.”
“You monster, those gummy bears are gonna be hard as fucking rocks.” I tried to reach for the cooler, but he held me fast.
“I like them with a bit of chew.”
“The allure of gummy bears is that they’re soft .” I whined and he finally let me grab the edge of the cooler to free them to come up to the outside temperature.
“At least let me have some while they’re cold.”
I fed him the gummy bears myself, popping them between his lips while I asked questions about his life, finding out that he had two brothers, had broken his arm falling off the monkey bars when he was eight, was allergic to horses, and never turned down a dumpling.
“I feel like you need to take me on a dumpling crawl so I can taste all of the best ones the city has to offer.”
“That would take us at least a week of eating them for every meal.”
“Oh no,” I mock gasped, “more time with a beautiful alpha. However will I survive?”
He nipped my earlobe, making me squeak. “Are you turning into a brat now that you feel comfortable?”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “I’m figuring out who I am around people who want me to be happy.”
I never would have dared to sass Jerry.
Amir was quiet for a long moment before pulling me even closer and resting his chin on my head. “Every time I learn something new, it makes me want to push your ex off a cliff and give you the fucking moon just to prove a point.”
“I don’t need the moon. I’m just glad I have room to breathe. I think what I’m quickly learning is that it’s been a long time since I felt safe.”
“If I have my way, that’s the only way you’ll feel until we all die.”
I turned my head, drawing him down for a kiss as the first stars winked awake in the sky. I didn’t know what to do with a future like that stretched out in front of me, but if the days ahead were anything like today, I was going to be the happiest omega to ever live.