Chapter 12
I didn't realize how much it hurt my heart to leave Taryn, even though we were working to help those that took damage from the storm.
Also, where were all these emotions coming from? I was always the stoic one and here I was having feelings? What the fuck was up with that?
"Earth to Holt," Ash's voice broke through my thoughts. The alpha looked amused at my distraction.
"What do you want?" I asked, keeping up my grumpy facade.
"We've passed a handful of stores that have broken windows and wood. I've asked you where do you want to start first and you kept walking," he said, stopping in his tracks and forcing me to.
Fuck. He was going to know something was up and I had to figure out how to save face.
"Maybe I haven't seen one that feels right to help. Did you stop to think about that?" I asked.
He gave me an eye roll in response. "She's safe with Mathias. We have to trust that he will protect her if needed."
"Mathias knows that I'll kick his ass if he doesn't," I said.
"Then you'll kick yourself for letting her go with him. I know you're a badass, Alpha. You don't have to tell me," Ash sighed. “Being a good alpha means we trust them both.”
“I’m working on it,” I sighed.
He nodded once then glanced around at the broken wood and glass lining the sidewalk. “So, where to?”
I stopped in front of an antique store. It wasn't the type of place that I would normally go in, but there was something telling me that we were needed here.
I always went with my gut and it had never let me down, yet.
At least, I used to think that. I was questioning it more lately with the revelations Taryn gave us.
With a careful step, I moved past the doorway and the debris that littered the entrance and called out to see if anyone was here working. A distant voice called back from the back of the shop. I waved for Ash to follow me and we started our search for whoever was in here.
The destruction went all the way to the middle of the shop. It was sad to see so many relics ruined by mother nature that were kept safe for hundreds of years.
An older beta with a sweet smile greeted us as we got to the register area, her words bearing the weight of her sadness. "I'm sorry, boys. We are closed for clean up and repairs."
"Well, ma'am, we are here to help. If you'll have us," I told her, returning her smile. It was a kinder one that I was used to, but I couldn't bring myself to be irritable in the face of this cute, old beta.
"Oh, that would be wonderful. I was just about to go to the hardware store and get some plywood for the picture window and door. Would you two clear the glass away and the broken door? That would be a wonderful start to getting this place in order," she said. “Plus, two strapping alphas will have an easier time than little, old me.”
"It would be our pleasure," Ash told her, amping up his charm again. Sometimes, I envied his ability to so easily talk to people and come off as unassuming.
"I have some trash cans out back you could bring in to place the glass in. There’s a dumpster out there to empty them into as well," she said.
I held out my hand. "I'm Holt and this is Ash."
She shook with a firm hand. "Deb."
"Well, Deb, you can gather what you need and leave us to work," Ash promised her.
"You two are just the angels I needed today, and alphas at that," she said with another smile.
"Glad to help," was the only thing I could think of to say. Way to go, Holt. Always so smooth .
"Ash, you go grab the cans and I'll start making piles of glass and wood," I told him as I pulled on the gloves we had purchased at the hardware store. We found brooms and dustpans in her utility room, snagging those as well.
Ash just gave me a nod and didn't argue. We may both be alphas, but once I started a task there was no stopping me and he knew it. There was something about manual labor that got me out of my head and into a rhythm.
Maybe it was an OCD thing, I wasn't sure but I always felt more useful and that was a feeling that I thrived on.
"Hey, Holt, you want to leave some for me?" Ash said as he set a trash can next to me.
"You, get the wood and I'll do the glass," I told him with a nod of thanks and started to load my can.
"Sure," he huffed and got to work. "I wish we had some music."
"Why? You'd just start singing and dancing and we'd never get this done," I reminded him with a laugh.
"So, says you. It helps pass the time for me," he said, grabbing the bottom panel of the door. "It's amazing that the door broke apart but this is still intact. Just shows you never know what Mother Nature is capable of."
"Ash, we are here to help, not chat like school girls," I reminded him. Working in silence was my thing, not his, though.
"If we were actually chatting, Taryn would be the topic and how we are going to get her to move in with us," he said, matter of factly.
He wasn’t wrong there. I’d give anything to load her up in our SUV and take her right back with us. But we had to keep in mind we were fusing her life to ours, and that was a delicate dance we didn’t want to fuck up.
"We are still working on trust. I think if we push too hard we will have her running for the hills," I pointed out as I dumped another round of glass in the can.
"Who knew you were so deep, Holt?" Ash asked as he scooped up a pile of wood, shooting me a look that said he saw right through me.
"Ha, ha, I just don't want us to fuck this up," I groaned. “I’m already an asshole, and we have a past, it’s not as easy as a blank slate.”
"Language, young man," Deb piped up from behind us.
"Sorry, ma'am," I muttered and got back to work.
I heard a little laugh from her. "Can I bother you two for a minute and have you unload this plywood for me?"
"Of course," I answered as I dropped a few more pieces of glass into the trash can. I dusted my gloves off over the bin and headed back towards the door where she was waiting.
"You two are the sweetest. How have you two not been snatched up?" she mused as she led us to her truck out back. It was almost comical to see her standing next to the big, old pickup truck.
"It's not for lack of trying," Ash told her.
"Is that so?" she asked, all ears now.
I gave him a ‘shut the hell up’ look but he didn’t back down.
"I'm sure the right one will come along soon. I waited for my Harv for twenty years and we were married for almost thirty-five when he passed. I’m grateful for every day that I had with him," she gushed. “He was the kind of alpha who made you feel safe and protected.”
"That's the kind of love I'm looking for," Ash told her as he lowered the tailgate on her truck. “We found her, but it’s complicated.”
She winced. “Oh no, already taken? I was fearful of that when I was looking for a mate.”
“Not exactly,” Ash said. “Let’s just say our girlfriends in college had issues with her we didn’t know about, and used us against her. Now, years later, here we are finding out she’s ours and she thinks we’re assh… jerks.”
“Nice save,” I snorted, but she ignored his almost cursing as she thought it over.
“I take it you apologized? Not just said sorry but explained and were sincere?” she asked. This old lady was invested now, there was no getting out of this pep talk. Honestly, as much as I hated to admit it, maybe this was what we needed.
“We have,” I confirmed. “When she first saw us and had that reaction, we got to the bottom of it. Our beta has a softer touch so he was the one who really helped her give us a chance. We’re trying, but now it feels like no matter what we do, one wrong move and we’ll lose her.”
Deb’s expression softened as she looked at me. “I think the fact you’re trying so darn hard, pardon my words, tells me that you care a whole lot. That right there is what’s going to save you. Finding a mate, a true scent match, really brings things into perspective. It’s like you’ve been on autopilot, but now you’re finally focused and that person is right at the center, changing your personality, your thoughts… just shifting you to a new version of yourself.”
Ash nudged my shoulder. “I think it’s done that to both of us. He’s practically soft now.”
She chuckled. “Mark my words. Treat her right from here on out and you’ll get your happily ever after. Mates aren’t an easy thing to walk away from.”
“We will,” I promised before waving at the truck. “Now, let’s get started, enough emotional talk.”
Deb didn’t argue, she just shook her head and gestured to the truck bed.
"Just set this right inside the back door until we get that mess cleaned up," she instructed.
"Yes, ma'am," we said at the same time, getting a laugh from her before she headed back inside.
"When did you become the mushy type?" I asked Ash as he jumped in the bed of the truck to take off the ratchet strap.
"Since the first scent of Taryn," he admitted as he pushed the first piece at me. "Knowing that she was my mate, something clicked inside of me and I knew that I wanted real love. You know, like you see in the movies."
"Okay, when we get back to the house, I'm checking your head for a bump. You must have hit it," I told him.
Even though I was joking with Ash, I felt the same. Taryn was the missing piece we needed and having her around just felt right.
“Do you hear that?” Mathias asked after I loaded up the book in the car, wrapped carefully so he couldn’t see what it was.
I straightened up, closing the trunk, then listened. “The song?”
“Yes, I think they’re close,” he laughed, following the sound of eighties rock music. A bit closer and I could hear someone singing along. Mathias shot me a grin as he pulled me around the corner to find Ash and Holt helping an older beta fix up her front door. The sidewalk in front of her antique shop was the only part that was actually clean, it seemed they had been working hard.
Feeling light after an afternoon with Mathias, I jumped in with Ash when we were close enough.
He turned around, a bright smile on his face as I belted out the chorus to Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi.
Holt was shaking his head, but his smile was also brighter than I’d ever seen it.
Ash and Mathias both joined in as the song continued, me singing into an invisible mic while Ash used the broom he was holding. I danced my way over to Holt, holding my fake mic out to him when the chorus was just about to come back again.
“No way,” he tried to protest, but it just didn’t have the same effect.
“You know, you don’t have to pretend to be miserable all the time, alpha,” I teased, earning a huff from him.
“I think you’re starting to make me realize that, omega,” he shot back, leaning against the brick on the outside of the building as he watched the rest of his pack act like fools.
When the song ended, I was breathless, but smiling wider than I think I ever had. Some of the panic of meeting them had worn off and all I wanted to do was have more moments like this. Ones where I got to see who my pack really was, no former misconceptions or pain involved.
The sound of tires coming to a screeching halt had all three men moving in front of me. I shoved them aside enough to see a woman stepping out of a shiny, red sports car.
“Mom? What are you doing here?”