Chapter Seven
Rhomas
Hemlock Mountain
Home was the very house I sometimes called home as a pup.
Sure, sometimes that meant my parents came to stay or my siblings dropped in but as a single wolf it never bothered me much and I couldn’t imagine Eamon would mind the company after we got to know each other.
If he did, I’d have to speak with my parents.
The house was technically theirs but with me living there they never had to worry about hiring a caretaker because keeping a den in livable shape was something wild wolves were born to do.
Copying shifter tradition, I carried my mate over the threshold.
He was shocked when Jolly rose up on his hind legs and booped the security sequence with his nose.
Others had asked if his security add-on made the house more at risk for break-ins.
It didn’t. Jolly knew the code on the special large pad made just for him, but it was his very essence that actually unlocked the door. Okay that and his living DNA.
Jolly opened the door for us and I carried Eamon into the house.
I had called around and hired a catering company to setup breakfast and one of those shopping center places to bring over a rack of clothes – the sort where you can shop at home without someone looking over your shoulder.
In a few days, they’d come back and pick up what Eamon didn’t like and I’d pay the difference.
Jolly sprinted straight for his seat at the table.
His tail banged against the chair as he waited to be served his share of the hunt.
I shut and locked the door behind us and helped my mate remove the coat he borrowed from my dad.
Snow was starting to fall again. January blizzards weren’t unheard of in this part of the territory.
I hoped they held off long enough for us to bring Glenn home.
Trekking back and forth in the snow might be fun for Jolly and me, but I wasn’t sure it would be fun for Eamon.
He was shorter than me and more slender.
He wasn’t wild born and I was sure he’d get cold much easier than us.
“Hey! I’m still a wolf, mister!” he said, teasingly shaking his finger at me.
I grabbed it and then his hand and brought it to my mouth for a gentle kiss.
“I will take into consideration your comfort for as long as I live, mate,” I said, still holding onto his hand.
“Whether it was choice, fate, reincarnation, or merely the nature of wolves that brought us together, it matters little. For we are mates and that means forever thinking of the other. It’s impossible not to think of you and it’s an honor to think of your wellbeing.
Imagine, out of all the souls in the Other World you chose me to do just that. ”
“For all you know, the last time around I was the alpha,” Eamon smirked.
“I think you’d have done a very good job at that. You did save Glenn,” I grinned.
“You know, some guys would get mad about that.”
“About you saving Glenn?” I asked.
“No,” he laughed. “About me saying maybe they’re not always an alpha.”
“I don’t remember what happened in my past life.
I could’ve been a fish or an axolotl for all I know,” I shrugged.
“Getting angry over hypotheticals seems to be a pastime for some people and even if I were a fish in a past life should I be mad at the fisherman? It is good to learn from the past and it is even better to remember the good times. One should plan for the future too, but focusing on the here and now is how we have all survived this long. And in the here and now we are together for however long we live. Plus, you should know, carriers are sacred in the wild. Okay, they’re not to be messed with because they will eat your guts while you’re still alive for messing with their young, but that’s what makes them sacred!
” I grinned and pulled him in for a kiss.
At the table, Jolly whined. He disembarked from his chair and ran back into the living room. He nudged the back of my legs with the top of his head, trying to push me into the kitchen.
“Hungry?” I asked Eamon.
“Starving. Those burgers seem like eons ago,” he nodded.
I picked him up again.
“Is this another tradition? Carrying your mate to his meal?” Eamon laughed.
“You smell so tired,” I said. “It hurts me that you’re this tired.”
Jolly jumped back up in his chair. He’d eaten every time we took a break the night before but the catering spread included sausage gravy and fried potatoes, both of which he was rather partial to.
Usually, I’d only give him a taste, but everyone deserved their favorites at a celebration, and he had worked longer hours than usual yesterday.