33. Caden
33
CADEN
The days pass quickly, autumn creeping into early winter. The Pack Summit will be here in another couple of weeks.
Avery spends most nights in my bed. Occasionally we end up in hers when she works late until I distract her out of her clothes, enjoying bending her over her workbench.
Waking with her scent in my nose becomes one of my favorite parts of the day. It’s drowsy and smooth. It envelops me, luring me to her. I roll on top of her, trailing kisses down the valley between her tits, making my way lower to the crease of her thigh, seeking more of her soft, sleepy arousal.
She giggles, fingers threading in my hair. “Morning.”
I hum, rubbing my cheek on her stomach. “You smell incredible.” I grind my hips against the mattress, groaning. “Shit, you make me so hard in the mornings.”
Her laughter is so sexy. She stretches, then stills.
“Did you hear that?”
I didn’t. I’m too busy tracing patterns on her thigh with my tongue, getting closer to tasting her. I want her legs wrapped around my head while I enjoy feasting on her.
She nudges me. “Go check. Someone’s coming.”
With a ragged sigh, I drag myself from my mate, grabbing the first pair of shorts I find and adjust my dick so it’s not so obvious I could carve stone with it. I wait until she’s pulled one of my sweaters over her head before opening the door. Callie’s in the hall with Beatrix, their expressions matched in mischief. Lena hovers behind them with a book tucked under her arm.
Avery’s sisters have been staying here. Beatrix moved her things into the rooms I prepared for them next to Callie’s and Lena’s migrating all her books.
“Good morning,” I say slowly. “Need something?”
Callie puts on an innocent act. “We were just coming to see if you were awake. We’re going down to the dining hall for breakfast.”
Beatrix snorts, muttering, “And making sure they didn’t miss it.”
“Bea.” Avery nudges me aside, her cheeks pink.
“What? You missed it yesterday,” she points out with a giggle.
“And the day before that.” Callie feels my forehead. “Are you eating properly? Getting enough to drink? We’re starting to worry.”
I scrub my face. “Yes. We’re—wait, no. Never mind. I’m not discussing this with you.”
It’s Avery’s turn to snort. “Thanks for checking on us and reminding us to come up for air.”
“Are you coming with us?” Lena asks.
“Yes. Go on, buttercup. We’ll meet you downstairs,” Avery says.
Our sisters leave us be. Callie peeks back with a wink before they round the corner. I like having the Alpha’s lodge full of life with our family all in one place.
“Did they just call us out?” I muse.
“They’re happy we’ve figured ourselves out.” Avery pats my chest. “Let’s go to breakfast before the whole pack starts spreading a rumor we’re caught up in a mating frenzy and start placing bets on when we have pups. ”
I catch her waist with an interested rumble, nipping beneath her ear. “I like the sound of that.”
She laughs, swatting me. “Caden.”
“Mate,” I counter warmly.
I let her go for the cost of a languid kiss. We get dressed and join our sisters, walking across the commons together.
Two she-wolves come up to us. I tense at Seline’s approach, but Avery is at ease.
“Avery,” Emily calls.
She stops for them. Emily and Seline nod to me. I’m relieved when Seline shows none of her previous interest, deferring to Avery respectfully.
“What’s up?” Avery prompts.
“We just wanted to say thanks,” Seline answers. “For helping us get reassigned for our rotations and understanding why we were interested in doing different work. We start today.”
“I can’t tell you how glad I am to never look at another frying pan again,” Emily says with a laugh. “Thanks for taking us over to meet our crew to make sure no one would give us trouble, too.”
“Oh, no problem,” Avery assures them. “If you need anything else, let me know, okay?”
Avery takes my hand when she rejoins us, her high spirits infectious. It fills me with pride to see people coming to her as their Alpha female.
She gave me the confirmation I searched for that the females in Cormac’s brood are being mistreated. Sylvie shut down when we offered her help, denying any trouble with her mate.
We had better luck intervening to help Nina and her pup get away from Trent when she agreed she was interested in dissolving their arranged mating. We moved her in with Alma for the time being, and Trent’s under watch by my lieutenants after kicking up a fuss, threatening to drag his female back to their den by her hair. I dragged him by his hair to the commons, then kicked his ass until he submitted and spent the night in a holding cell.
I usher my family to the head table in the dining hall. Hodge makes room for Lena, pouring juice for her. I cast a watchful eye at Cormac’s table, making sure he’s remaining in line. There have been less frequent incidents since I stripped Lorne’s rank. I’m hoping it’s the last of it.
More females come up to our table to talk to Avery throughout breakfast. She listens to each of them, offering her advice or promising her help.
“Sorry to interrupt you while you’re eating,” a young Farrows girl says. “I tried to reach you at the healer’s cabin, but you’d left for the day.”
“It’s okay.” Avery sets aside her plate. “What do you need?”
I fill it while they talk, making sure she gets a choice cut of ham before the enforcers at the table pick at the steaming platter.
“I’m worried about my dam,” the girl explains. “She works in carpentry and says her arm is bothering her. She swears it’ll heal if she leaves it alone, but her appetite’s not right.”
“Your cabin’s on the lower loop, right? Okay, I’ll come by tomorrow to see her.”
The girl’s smile breaks free in relief. “That’s great. Thank you.”
“You’re a natural at this,” I praise once she returns to a table at the back.
Avery blushes. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve taken your place as Alpha female. You care for the females. You give them all a voice and make sure none are overlooked. Liam and Hodge told me you organized a class on identifying poisonous plants.”
Her eyes widen. “Oh. Well, I wasn’t thinking of it that way, but yes. I want to help when people come to me. And teach them what I know so they can help themselves.”
“You’ve done more than that.” I cover her hand with mine. “Helping Nina get away from Trent. The job rotations overhaul. Keeping an eye on the food allotments to ensure they’re fair.”
She’s smiling now, pleased and shy. “I wanted to help her before, but I didn’t have the power to change anything. Not until now. The rest isn’t a big deal. Some females like Emily and Seline didn’t like that they always ended up assigned to laundry or kitchens and told me they were interested in being trained to do electrical work with the maintenance crews.”
I add another helping of sausage to her plate. “They feel safe coming to you. They put their trust in you. I’m glad to see it.”
Together we’re working to make our pack a strong, happy community. I thought I had to do it all on my own, but now I see. Leading a pack isn’t a duty for an alpha to bear on their own. I needed her at my side, to anchor me, to make me better. It doesn’t matter what lies ahead for Silver Falls Pack, we’ll face it together and overcome anything.
The change in my attitude hasn’t gone unnoticed amongst the pack. I asked Liam while we were on patrol why the requests stacked on my desk have doubled. He laughed so loud it startled birds from their perches in the trees. According to him, the word is that I’ve mellowed out now that I’m with my fated mate.
After breakfast, Avery goes up to her cottage. She’s getting it ready to convert into a workshop. I’m not able to stay away from her for long. I get through my morning duties as quickly as possible, then head up to bring her the tart berry turnovers she’s always liked and the gift I’ve been crafting in secret.
New paths are being carved by the teams I commissioned for the project, expanding the roads for the upper packlands to be easier to navigate. It takes me half the time to reach her place.
I find her inside, stocking the shelves I’ve expanded along the other walls with tins of salve. The bed’s been moved into her room to make space for a storage bench and a larger counter to replace the table.
“What are you doing all the way up here, Alpha Blackburn?” she teases.
Warmth flows through me. I hold up the pastry. “I thought you’d like some of these. Alma made a batch today and I told her to set aside some for you.”
“Thank you.”
She takes some with the same gusto she’s always had when it comes to these when we were growing up. I enjoy watching her tiny shiver of bliss when she pops the bite in her mouth with a hum.
“I have something else for you. A surprise I’ve been working on whenever I have a minute.”
She lights up. “What is it?”
I tilt my head to the door. “Come see. I left it outside.”
She follows me. I cover her eyes before we round the corner. Her laughter is airy and her fingertips graze my forearms.
“Watch your step,” I say.
“Hard to do when you’re blindfolding me,” she says airily.
“I’ve got you. Ready?”
“Yes.”
I drop my hands. The wooden sign rests against the house. The plants were the hardest part to carve in the design. I used a primrose as the main motif. It always makes me think of her whenever I spotted it growing wild in the last couple of months.
“Caden.”
Her voice thickens with emotion and she covers her mouth with her hands. I slide an arm around her waist.
“You like it? I wasn’t sure if you wanted to make it yourself, but when I asked Lena and Bea, they thought it was a good idea.”
“I love it. It’s perfect.” She burrows into my side for a tight hug. “Thank you.”
I kiss the top of her head. “I’ll hang it for you.”
“Then I’ll be officially open for business.”
While I get to work, she takes clippings from her garden and fills a basket with herbs. I head in once the sign is hung above the porch declaring the cottage her apothecary and herbal shop. She’s on a stool to reach the rafters with a length of twine between her teeth and a bundle of rosemary sprigs, hanging it with her collection of drying plants.
“Ready to go home?”
She hops down with a smirk and returns to her workbench, giving a sassy sway of her hips that snags my attention. I step into her while she works, kissing her temple.
“Thinking about getting me into bed already?”
“I always want you in my bed. But more than my bed, the lodge is your home. You know that, right?”
She fusses with the bundle of sage she’s preparing to hang for drying, head bowing. My nose twitches with the change in her scent. It sharpens with bitterness, putting me on edge. She’s nervous, but why?
“What’s wrong? Have I said something to upset you?”
“No. It’s not that I don’t want to be at the lodge. It’s—you’ll think it’s silly.”
I rumble, hugging her tightly to take away her worries. “No I won’t. Whatever it is, tell me, mate. You can tell me anything.”
She spins, eyes shimmering. “Of course I want to be with you. And providing the best for my sisters is always a priority for me. They’ve really enjoyed spending time with Callie and being more integrated in the pack. They come up here way less than I do now, and they’ve pretty much moved into the lodge.” She sighs, rubbing her forehead. “Part of me is reluctant to move out of the cottage. Like I’m losing it if I leave.”
My heart twists. My wolf grows agitated and panicked, scratching at the veil between us. He senses she’s distressed and wants to protect her. I pull her close.
“You were in survival mode for years. This is your cave. The safe space you carved out for yourself. You won’t lose it. I’d never take this from you.”
She huffs, snuggling against my chest. “I know. See? This is why it’s silly. I know you aren’t. You’re helping me convert it into my shop.”
My lips brush her head. “You don’t have to move into the lodge if you’re not ready. Or if you’d rather, I… There’s a cabin I’ve held—it’s near the commons off the main road. You’d have everything… I mean, until—if—you wanted…”
She quiets me when I struggle to finish the alternative suggestion. “No. I want to be wherever you are. Forever.”
I blow out a relieved breath, the tightness in my chest unraveling. “Thank fuck.”
“When you said that, I think it finally helped me realize what I need.” Her smile is equally soothed. She surveys the room. “Can we do it today?”
“Right now. Give me twenty minutes. Start packing.”
I kiss her, then I’m out the door, shifting to my fur the minute I’ve shed my clothes to race for reinforcements.
When I return in my truck, I have Callie and Liam riding with me to help move everything.
“Avery!” Callie bounds up the steps. “Caden says you’re finally moving down to the lodge officially!”
Liam comes around the truck while I drop the tailgate. “You’re going all domesticated on me.”
I grin. “I’m a mated man. Trust me, if you ever find yours, you’ll see how blindly you’re walking around until they smack you right in the chest.”
I illustrate it by thumping his sternum. He grunts, shaking his head with a smirk.
“Nah, I’m good. That True Mate shit’s not for me.”
“You say that now.”
Avery comes out with a basket overflowing with clothes and pushes it into my arms. My world reorients as it always does when she’s near.
“It’s not much,” she says. “Just the essentials. Callie’s packing the rest of Lena’s books she left here.”
I drop the basket on the bed. “Not just the essentials. This isn’t a weekend away. Bring it all. Come on.”
“I don’t have a lot,” Avery says as I usher her back inside .
“We’re taking everything,” I insist. “And whatever you don’t have, I’m getting for you.”
“I find it best not to argue with him when he’s like this,” Callie says. “He’s stubborn.”
“Oh, I know it,” Avery responds fondly.
It doesn’t take more than an hour to get everything loaded in the truck. Callie chats Avery’s ear off on the ride back to the lodge, planning a girls’ weekend with her sisters. Liam takes off once we get her stuff inside. Callie spots Taryn across the commons and skips over to join her friend. Beatrix is at lessons and Lena’s reading at Alma’s while she naps the afternoon away.
It leaves me alone in my den with my mate.
“We can put all this away later. Want a drink?”
“Sure.”
I take her hand and bring her to the lounge. The room where I like to relax is decorated with cushy leather furniture and dark accents. I get us two glasses and pour us each a finger of whiskey.
Avery strolls around the room. She’s been here before when her dad was the pack beta.
She moves a pillow from a couch to an armchair by the fireplace, then rearranges the stack of quilts in the basket beside it, flinging two from the pile. When she’s finished, she emits a little grumble and goes back to drag the armchair to the opposite side of the fireplace.
I rub my chest, my wolf growing excited. My mate is nesting. Viewing the lodge as her den, making it just how she likes it.
“Those blankets need to go. They don’t smell right. And this.” She points at the couch. “This needs to move. It’s all wrong.”
“Tell me where you want it.”
She peeks at me. “You don’t mind?”
“Nope. I’ll spend all night moving anything you want. It’s your home, mate. If you’re not happy with it, then I’m not either.”
Her lips twitch with a hint of a smile. “Okay. Can you pull it this way, please?”
“Like this?” I hoist it by the leather armrest and adjust it .
She bites her lip, tilting her head. She shakes it, moving around to study the room from a different angle.
“No, it needs to be more towards the window. Can you?—?”
I nudge the furniture, watching for her cue. She relaxes, relief smoothing her pretty features.
“Yes. That’s better.”
My wolf purrs. It fulfills him to please her. I’m right there with him.
We move room to room until we make it to my—our—bedroom. This one she has the least to change after spending so many nights here. I didn’t realize it before, but she’s been making this space her own bit by bit.