Chapter 19
Fallon sat on the back porch and sipped the herbal tea made with dried leaves from Zara’s tea garden and watched a squirrel run up and down a tree, gray tail twitching. She’d slept well for a few hours, but her inner alarm clock hadn’t allowed her to sleep much past dawn.
And she was hungry too.
She’d slipped from Avi’s arms and dressed quietly, then made her way to the kitchen where she worked as quietly as possible to make toast and brew a cup of tea before taking a seat outside to watch the sun come up.
She didn’t remember ever enjoying being outside so much in the prowl.
Maybe because it hadn’t felt like a place where peace was valued.
It had been oppressive under the thumb of an alpha who only cared about himself.
Now she had Avi making sure she was the happiest female on the planet, and an alpha couple who wanted the whole herd to be safe and content.
Having a great leader made all the difference.
Her phone buzzed on the small glass side table and she lifted it, smiling when she saw her mom’s number.
“Morning,” she said when she answered.
“Up early as usual, I see,” Sera said with a light laugh.
“So are you. It must be genetic.”
“That’s true. My mom was an early bird too.”
There was a strange hesitation and Fallon’s heart clenched slightly. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Yes, definitely. I just wanted to let you know that we were attacked on the drive to the park last night.”
Fallon nearly jumped out of the chair. “What? Why didn’t you call last night?”
“Honey, it’s okay, I promise. The park had sent scouts ahead to check the roads and they didn’t see Otto or his males. He was clearly lying in wait, though, because they tried to run us off the road.”
“You weren’t hurt? You swear?”
“I swear. None of us were. Otto had a lot more than two males with him—it was like a swarm. I suspect he brought a lot of the fighting-age males from both prowls, and he used them last night. The park shifters were amazing, though. They drove like they were stuntmen from the movies. It was scary but wild.”
“Geez, Mom.”
Sera laughed again. “I’m not saying I wasn’t scared out of my wits, because I sure was.
But I trusted the males to get me to the park safely and they did.
I didn’t call you last night because I knew how exhausted you were and I didn’t want to cause you more worry.
But I’m fine, I promise. Did you know there are elephant shifters? ”
“I did, yeah. The park is full of some really cool shifters. There’s a black panther who is mated to one of the elephants, a red fox mated to a bear, and an owl mated to a wolf.”
“I like that they let anyone mate with anyone,” Fallon said. “The alphas don’t push their beliefs on their people.”
Fallon settled back in the chair after the initial scare. “But you’re okay? You promise?”
“Yes, I promise. I’m all settled in the spare bedroom of Sunny and Seneca’s house. It’s adorable. They’re going to look for a place for me to stay underground, an empty house with one of the groups, but I’m fine here.”
“So you’re not going to come back to the farm?” Fallon couldn’t keep the hope out of her voice.
“I’m not a stallion or a stallion’s mate, honey. The farm is really wonderful, but it’s not home for me.”
“The park is?”
“I haven’t met everyone yet, or even left the bears’ private living area where I was staying before, but yeah. It does feel like home here. And I’ll point out that Otto attacking us last night just shows how dangerous he is. Now he knows I’m not at the farm and you’ll be safe from him.”
“I want you to be safe too.”
“I will be, honey. And we’re not too far from each other at all. When things have settled and it’s safe, we’ll visit each other. Did you know the park has candy popcorn? Sunny got some for me. It tasted like chocolate sandwich cookies.”
“I did. The park has awesome food. You should try the bacon jam. It’s great on burgers.”
“I will for sure. But for now, I’m sticking to Sunny and Seneca’s house. But enough about me. How are you feeling? How’s the baby?”
“I’m good. I just had toast and some tea with herbs from Zara’s garden.”
“What kind of tea?”
“Blackberry leaf and lemongrass. It was like a hot cup of blackberry lemonade and so freaking good.”
“Sounds delicious. You’ll have to send some to me to try.”
“I will.”
They talked for a while about the baby, the farm, fall gardening, and breakfast baked goods that would be perfect for the cooler weather moving in as September progressed.
“I miss you already,” Fallon said. “But I also feel oddly hopeful that things will settle and peace will come to both the park and the farm. Otto and Colton moving on would be the best thing for everyone.”
“It sure would be. And I miss you too. I’m so glad for the time we had together and grateful you’ve found your soulmate in such a sweet male.”
Fallon heard movement in the kitchen and an answering tug in her heart, letting her know that Avi was nearby. “I’m going to refill my tea, Mom. Take good care of yourself. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“You take care too, honey. Love you more than you know.”
“I love you too.”
Pressing the button to close the call, Fallon picked up her mug and plate and walked into the kitchen to see Zara, Crew, and Avi.
She greeted them and hugged her mate. He kissed the top of her head. “You should have woken me when you got up.”
“You needed your rest.”
He pressed a hand lightly to her belly with a smirk. “You need your rest too.”
“I’ll take a nap today.” She wiggled her brows, and he made an appreciative sound in the back of his throat.
“I’ll definitely join you.”
She told them what her mom said about Otto and the drive to the park.
“I’m glad she’s safe and so are the park shifters,” Crew said, “but I think it’s a good sign that Otto knows she’s not here.”
“It doesn’t mean we take anyone’s safety for granted,” Avi said. “He could still target any one of us to try to force Sera out of hiding.”
“I just don’t get why he won’t find someone else to mate,” Zara said. “It’s wild that he was so intent on claiming an arranged mate who literally fled the state to avoid him. Trying to claim Sera instead is some extra-strength bullshit.”
“I think it’s his ego,” Fallon said. “Jaguars who become alpha tend to view failure of any sort as a total failure as alpha. So because he was promised me as a mate to ally the prowls by Dario when he was alpha, the males following him would see it as a colossal error on his part if he couldn’t secure the mating. ”
“Being pregnant meant he didn’t want you, though?” Avi said.
“Yeah. So he saw my mom as a substitute.”
“It’s so gross,” Zara said. She leaned against Crew. “I’m glad our alpha isn’t an ass like that.”
Crew grinned. “Me too.”
* * *
Later that day, after a sexy romp in the sheets and a nap, Fallon settled in the sewing room to mend a pair of coveralls. She liked the mindless work and being helpful to the herd in a way that was wholly unique.
She wiggled in the chair, her back aching. The chair was not working for her.
As she tried to get comfortable, Avi walked in with a box and said, “The other package from the sewing store was finally delivered.”
“Oh, yay!” she said. She put the coveralls on the table and stood, stretching. “Do you think there’s a better chair than this one somewhere? It’s killing my back.”
“Let’s go look. I’m sure we can find one, and if not, we can order one.”
They left the sewing room and looked in the storage rooms. Several were filled with boxes and bags, old shelf units loaded with dusty items, but in one of the rooms they found furniture. Including several desk chairs.
As she sat on them one by one and tested each out, she swiveled in a circle and noticed two closet doors in one wall.
“What do you think?” he asked, looking at the chair critically.
“I think this one will work,” she said. “Why are there two closets in here?”
“Huh? Oh, I don’t know. That’s kind of weird.”
They walked to the doors and opened one, which turned out to be a standard closet with a few old coats hanging in it. When they opened the second door, it had loose wires hanging from the ceiling and walls, and pipes covered with plastic caps on the floor.
“Holy crap,” Avi said. “It’s a plumbed bathroom. I had no idea this was here.”
She smiled as Avi walked into the large space and pointed out where the shower, sink, and toilet would go, his voice filled with awe.
Her mind spun. “Could we turn this space into a suite for us? And a room for the baby next door? Then we’d have more privacy and a crying baby wouldn’t be so loud for the other stallions if he or she were on a different floor.”
“That’s a great idea,” he said. “Dexter is already working on plans to turn a couple of the rooms off the kitchen into suites with one of them earmarked for Grey and Tatum, but this room is already done. We’d just have to install the bathroom fixtures, clear out the stuff shoved in here and the next room, and paint. I can do a lot of this work myself.”
“I’d help.”
He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’d love that.
We can talk to Crew about it, but I know he won’t mind.
” They talked about the bathroom and attached bedroom for a bit, and then went to the room next door, which had a small walk-in closet and a picture window that overlooked the front yard.
“I think this would be the perfect room for our baby,” she said, picturing a rocking chair by the window and a crib against the wall.
He grabbed the desk chair she’d liked the best and wheeled it to the sewing room to replace it, carrying out the other one. As she settled in the seat, she said, “Oh yeah, that’s much better.”
“We need to clear this room out too. It’s still got stacks of boxes. It’s got to be mostly junk left from the old owner.”
“I’m sure Zara would help me go through the boxes in here,” she said, swiveling in the chair with a smile. “It could be a sewing room and a playroom. For all the babies that will come into the herd in the next few years. Not just ours, but the other herd members.”
“That would be awesome.” The walkie on his hip squawked and he answered. “Yeah, Ford?”
“I need a hand in the barn. You busy?”
“On my way.”
“See you later,” she said.
“Love you, sweetheart.”
“Love you too.”
She turned and opened the window to let in the gentle breeze, then bent to open the box of sewing supplies they’d ordered from a store in the northern part of the state.
Just as she was pulling a few yards of dark blue fabric for Zara and Crew’s bedroom curtains, Tatum knocked on the door to the sewing room holding a box under her arm.
“Hey, lady, how’s it going?” Tatum asked.
“Great. How was the library today?”
“Always fun. I had a teen boy come in to do research on the Jersey Devil and boy did I have a lot of stuff to tell him about!”
“Do you think the Jersey Devil is real?”
“Heck yeah. New Jersey is huge and full of wooded areas, people who don’t want to be found, and myths galore. I absolutely believe in the Jersey Devil. Maybe he’s a shifter!”
“I hadn’t thought about that. I’m sure the boy was happy to have someone who loves myths and legends at the library to give him information.”
“I sent him off with a big stack of books and resources, and I had a great time chatting with him about the local legend. But anyway, we also have a book sale going on, and I set aside all the board books I could find so you could go through them.”
“Oh! How fun!”
Tatum set the box on the sewing table next to the coveralls and opened it. She handed book after book to Fallon, from sweet A B C books about animals, to classics about bunnies who got into trouble, and little girls who fell into magical holes.
“Okay, I want them all,” Fallon said. “I just need a bookshelf. How much do I owe the library?”
“I already paid,” Tatum said. “Consider it a congratulations gift on the pregnancy from me and Grey. They were only fifty cents each and there are thirty books.”
Fallon gave Tatum a hug. “Thank you so much. You’re the best.”
“I try! I’ll keep an eye out for more books, especially as your little one grows. Every child deserves a bookshelf full of fun books.”
They sat in the room and talked about the books, about motherhood, the farm, and the future. Fallon felt closer than ever to the human female who loved books and legends.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Fallon’s chest wasn’t tight with worry. Her mom was safe. She and the baby were safe. Somehow, despite the chaos that had come to their doorstep, the herd had carved out some peace and she was grateful for it.
Grateful for a sewing room that smelled like dust and possibilities.
Grateful for friends like Tatum and Zara, Tris and Nancy.
And her bestie Sunny.
The future was just starting to take shape, and it sure looked amazing.