24. Twenty-four
Twenty-four
August 2022
Phoenix Campbell
I see Archie flinch out of the corner of my eye when I accidentally drop a mug in the sink. It’s been just over two weeks since he appeared on our doorstep, soaking wet and injured. When he eventually woke up the day after we took him to the witch, he told us his name was Archie, and he was from a pack in Scotland. Benjy, Alpha Eastwood's middle son, had told him about us. I don’t know Benjy all that well, but I’m glad he knew we would be a safe place for Archie and that we’d protect him. We said he could stay with us as long as he needed, but when we asked him questions about what happened to him, he seemed to retreat into himself.
Whenever there’s a loud noise, he recoils, and I really hate to contemplate what made him so skittish. Last weekend, we found him having a panic attack because he overheard us arguing. He couldn’t hear what we were saying, just our raised voices, and we both felt so guilty afterwards.
In actual fact, we were only bickering over the fact one of Cee's favourite books had been made into a TV series. Apparently, my take that the TV show is actually better than the book was very controversial, and Cee practically gave me a TED Talk on the superior merits of the book. Since then, we’ve been careful to speak calmly and quietly when Archie’s home.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to make you jump.” It’s only him and me at home today. The school where I work has broken up for the six-week summer holidays, and while I’m enjoying the long break, I miss Cee when he’s out at work all day. He’s been working on some secret project these last few months, but he won’t tell me what it is yet.
One thing we have learned about Archie is he’s a big ol’ computer nerd. He works for an IT company in software development, so once we managed to source a new laptop for him, he’s been able to work remotely from home.
“It’s okay. I’m sorry you and Connor both have to tip-toe around me. I’ll be out of your hair soon,” he says, and his voice makes my heart hurt a little.
“Hey, you’re no bother at all. Like we said, you can stay here as long as you need,” I tell him, and he nods, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.
I sit opposite him at the little kitchen table; he’s on his lunch break and eating a sandwich.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on you at all if you’re not ready, but you know you can talk to us about anything, right?” I try to sound reassuring.
“I know. Thanks. I actually just feel kind of humiliated by the whole thing,” he replies with his soft Scottish accent. The guy should narrate audiobooks honestly; his voice is so gentle and soothing.
“A secret for a secret?” I ask, hoping if I open up, it might make it easier for him to. He looks hesitant but then agrees.
I explain my and Cee's actual backstory. How we met years ago and were together in secret for years. When I tell Archie about us breaking up a year and a half ago and how we essentially only spoke to each other again for the first time on our wedding day, Archie’s eyes widen at my revelation. I probably should have checked with Cee before sharing it, but at this point, I don’t think it really matters who knows.
“I’m kind of shocked, but also, that sort of makes a lot more sense,” he says, laughing to himself.
“It does? What do you mean?”
“When Benjy told me about you two, he said the two of you were in an arranged marriage but also that you’d been engaged to his sister the year before?” he asks, and my face heats.
“Yeah, I sort of omitted that part,” I say sheepishly. “It’s not quite as bad as it sounds, and it’s a much more convoluted story, but it’s why we broke up.” He nods in understanding.
“So yeah, over the past few weeks of spending time with the two of you, I thought, damn, they’re very in love for two people who only met and got married four months ago.” I laugh this time; it hadn’t even crossed my mind how bizarre we must seem together from the outside.
“It was definitely rocky there for a while, but we’re in a better place now,” I say with a soft smile on my lips.
“My dad is Alpha Fraser.” His eyes drop to the table as he leaves the statement hanging in the air between us.
Oh shit, I can’t help but think things just got very complicated. I ask the question even though I’m not sure I want the answer.
“Is he why you’re here?” He looks up at me, and his eyes are glassy. He doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t need to. It’s all there in the look of fear and vulnerability on his face. “I’m so sorry. Can I give you a hug?” I ask, feeling completely useless.
He whispers, “Yes,” quietly, so I get up and wrap my arms around him.
“You’re safe here, you know? I know we aren’t pack yet, but we can be. You don’t ever have to go back,” I tell him, and I mean every word of it. “Can I tell Connor what you told me?” I ask. Cee needs to know what the deal is if we take Archie into our pack. Thankfully, Archie agrees, and I squeeze him even tighter.
“Fee? Phoenix?” Cee shouts when he walks through the front door.
“I’m upstairs!” I yell down to him.
“What are you doin'?”
“Wanking.” I shout back.
The next thing I know, he’s stampeding up the stairs and bursting through the bedroom door. Thank god Archie went out to the supermarket because Cee sounds like a herd of rhinos.
“Well, this is disappointin',” he says when he spots me fully clothed, standing in the corner of our bedroom.
“Why are you standin' there?”
“There was a humongous spider, and I managed to trap it under a glass, but now I don’t know what to do with—Hey, what the hell is that?” I ask as soon as I spot the mini bundle of fur in his arms, distracting me from the eight-legged beast before me.
“Excuse me, he can hear you,” he whisper shouts and pretends to cover its ears.
Cee plops the cat on our bed for a moment before retrieving the spider from under the glass and chucking it out the window. I make a 'bleurgh' noise at him having it in his bare hands. Gross.
Now the bedroom is safe once more, we join the cat on the bed, and Cee scoops him back up.
“This is Magnus.” The look of adoration in his eyes tells me everything I need to know.
It appears we now have a kitten.
“And where did Magnus come from?” I ask as I reach out to scritch under his tiny chin. I’ve never really been a cat person, but he does look pretty cute.
“When I was out workin' today, I could hear this little mewl, so obviously, I went to investigate.”
“Obviously.”
“The poor little guy was trapped under some wooden decking, and so I had to rescue him. Please say we can keep him?” He’s giving me the puppy dog eyes. If I had any ability to ever say no to him, I’d probably point out we already have quite a lot on our plate before adding a kitten into the mix. However, I think I would have to prise Magnus out of Cee's cold, dead fingers to separate them. I may as well admit defeat.
Taking the kitten out of Cee's hands, I peer into his disproportionately big green eyes. I stifle a snort because it’s not lost on me Cee has managed to find the kitten version of his wolf form with his almost black fur.
“Welcome to the family, Magnus,” I say to him, and he lets out a tiny squeaky meow .
“Really? We can keep him?” Cee says as if he gave me any other option. I plop Magnus onto the bed so he can explore a little. His dark colouring is a stark contrast to the white bedsheets.
“What’s another stray? We seem to be collecting them.”
Cee launches himself at me and presses his lips to mine in a sloppy kiss.
“You are the best husband I’ve ever had.” I burst out laughing.
“I’m the only husband you’ve ever had.”
“And I think I’ll keep you.” He has a big, goofy grin on his face, and a kitten seems a small price to pay if it makes him this happy. “I love you, you know?” His voice is softer and more serious all of a sudden. I swallow down a small lump in my throat because we haven’t properly said that to each other since we broke up over a year and a half ago.
“I know,” I tell him, because I do. We still have a long way to go, but I see all the effort he’s been putting in these last few months.
“I love you too. Always have. Always will,” I say and kiss him gently. Our kiss gets more heated as our tongues meet, and Cee is straddling my legs in a way that is giving my dick all kinds of ideas. “We should probably calm down before we scar poor Magnus for life,” I say with amusement. Cee's head rests against my shoulder, and he’s panting a little. He looks over at Magnus, who’s currently wrestling a cushion twice his size.
“I can’t believe I brought a little cockblock into the house. What was I thinkin’?” Magnus accidentally topples himself over the edge of the bed. “Oh fuck. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it!” Cee scrambles over to where Magnus fell and scoops him back up.
Half an hour later, and Magnus seems to have tired himself out. Cee is sitting next to me with the sleeping kitten on his lap; I’m not sure which of them is purring louder.
“So, I spoke to Archie today, and he kind of dropped a bit of a bombshell.”
“He told you what happened?”
“Not exactly. He told me his dad is Alpha Fraser, and that’s who he’s running from.”
“Fuck,” Cee says, echoing my own thoughts exactly.
“I know I should have discussed it with you first, but I told him he could stay here and join our pack,” I tell him, hoping I didn’t fuck up.
“That’s okay. You know I’d never send him back to that. I’m glad he felt he could talk to you.”
“Speaking of… he kind of told me because I spilt the beans on us…” I really don’t want to make waves, but I think it’s best to be honest with him now so he doesn’t find out later.
“What beans? We have beans?” he asks; his tone is playful, and it eases the knot in my stomach a little.
“I told him how we actually met like five years ago and that we used to be together,” I explain, and he makes a ‘hmm’ sound. “Sorry if I overstepped. I just thought if I opened up, maybe he would feel he could too.” Ugh, I feel bad for not checking with him first.
“That’s okay. It’s not like if the truth comes out now, it will really change much. Plus, I think it probably makes sense to tell anyone who joins our pack.” I sigh in relief he’s not mad over it. “We can’t do this forever, you know,” he adds, and I panic, my heart rate spiking all of a sudden.
“Can’t do what?”
“Tip-toe around each other. Always scared the smallest argument will fracture everythin’.”
He’s right. Things have been good between us, but I’m always scared that if we have a disagreement over something, he’ll run for the hills.
“I know it’s my own fault, but I’m not goin’ anywhere, okay? We’ll inevitably have arguments sometimes, but I promise I don’t have a foot out the door anymore.” I’m grateful to him for saying it because I needed to hear it more than I knew.
My biggest fear is us finally getting back on track and building a life together, only for it to crumble like a house of cards at the first sign of trouble.
“Thank you for saying that.” He squeezes my hand, and I let out a deep breath. “I’m not going anywhere either.” I turn his hand over in mine and trace the silvery scar across his palm with my fingertip. It’s been there since Nina performed the ceremony to bind us to the land. I look at my own unblemished hand and can’t help but wonder why the ritual left him with a mark but not me. Either way, it’s a nice reminder of what we’re building here together, and it appears we have our first new pack member.
“Are you ready to go?” Cee asks.
“Do I look ready to go?” I've just stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my waist.
“Could you at least pick up the pace a bit? I want to stop in on Archie before we go.” Archie moved into a small flat nearby last week. We've given him a few days to get settled, but something about him brings out a protective streak a mile wide in Cee, and it's like he can't settle unless he knows we're both okay.
“How about you go downstairs, fill some bottles of water, and pack a few snacks? Then, by the time you're done, I'll be ready to go,” I suggest.
“I've already done that.”
“Okay… How about you go downstairs anyway because you're being annoying.” He huffs, but at least he leaves.
Connor knocks softly three times on Archie's front door—he still startles easily.
“Oh, hey, you guys, I was just heading over to bring these.” Archie is holding some Tupperware filled with brownies, and my mouth waters.
“Wow, they look good. The school holidays are almost over, so we're makin' the most of Fee's free time and headin' off to hike Pen-y-ghent. Fancy it?” Cee asks him as we follow him into his living room.
“That's okay. You two only just got your space back; you don't need a third wheel,” Archie says. He smiles softly, and it's clear he'd like to come, but he's always worried about imposing.
“We've spent the last four days solidly together. At this point, you'd be doing us a favour by running interference,” I try to reassure him, but he looks anxious.
“We're not in the middle of an argument or anythin', I'm just annoyin' Fee to death,” Cee adds, managing to actually reassure him. I nod in agreement, he is very much annoying me to death today.
Archie seems to think about it for a second and then says, “Okay, nice. Gimme a minute, and I'll be ready.”
Five minutes later, the three of us are piled into the Jeep and on our way. It's a beautiful sunny day, so all the windows are down, and Cee is playing DJ in the front passenger seat.
When we arrive at the car park in Horton in Ribblesdale, it's only nine-thirty in the morning, but it's still almost full. Cee grabs a rucksack from the back seat, and we wander past a tree decorated with hundreds of old hiking boots.
The first section of the hike is a pretty gradual incline, and there aren't too many people around.
“How're you settling into the new place?” Cee asks.
“Good, actually. The upstairs flat is empty, so it's nice and quiet,” he replies. I hope when someone eventually moves in above him, they're not too loud because I imagine it would cause him a lot of stress otherwise. “How's Magnus?”
“Still a legend. Fee, show him the photo you took yesterday.” I chuckle at the memory and dig my phone out of my pocket to show Archie. Cee had returned from a run in his wolf form and was sunbathing in the garden. Magnus climbed on top of him and took a nap on his back. Archie laughs softly at the photo.
“I now totally understand why you used to sit still for hours when he was asleep on you. He looked so cosy on me that I ended up staying in the garden until I was on the brink of starvation,” Cee says in his usual hyperbolic way.
When we reach the section of the hike that's quite steep with a bit of scrambling involved, there's a slight bottleneck where the slower humans are taking a while, so we wait to one side and tuck into Archie's brownies.
“Oh damn. These are incredible,” I exclaim. “You missed your calling as a baker, I swear.” Archie smiles and then tucks the box back into his bag so we can carry on.
Despite the sunny day, the peak of Pen-y-ghent is incredibly windy. Cee keeps having to swipe his dark hair out of his eyes. Removing the rucksack from his shoulder, he digs out two beers and pops the caps on them both before handing one to Archie.
“I'm fine, you brought those for you both, I'm good,” Archie says, trying to pass the beer back.
“It's tradition, and I can share one with Fee. It's also lukewarm and tastes like piss, so I wouldn't thank me either,” Cee replies. He takes a large sip, winces and then passes the beer over to me.
“Wow, that's really bad.” Archie laughs. “Why is this a tradition?”
“Well, years ago, when we used to meet up in secret, it was almost always in the middle of the night. During the summer, we started doing all these local hikes in the dark, and I'd steal a couple of my brother Sammy's cheap beers to have at the top. In hindsight, rich boy over here should probably have been in charge of the beverages, but alas, tradition now dictates that piss water beer is to be drunk at the peak,” Cee explains, and Archie nods with a smile twitching the corner of his lips. I hand the bottle back to Cee, who downs the rest before shuddering in disgust.
“Um, do you guys mind if we take a picture? I never really got to have friends to do things like this with…before,” Archie asks, his gaze down on the ground. My heart breaks a little for him. It took a lot for him to ask that question, and I'm so proud of him.
“Of course! New tradition, pisswater beers and a selfie at the top?” I grab my phone to take the photo, the wind has all of our hair flying in every direction and our cheeks rosy pink, but we all have big grins on our faces and joy dancing in our eyes. The first photo of our little Yorkshire Pack.