Chapter 8 - Killian
Owen kept drumming his fingers, a sure sign that he was thinking about other things. The four of us were in a meeting to discuss the current situation of our town.
I tried to ignore the nervous energy he was exuding, focusing instead on giving my report.
I was in charge of watching for any shifts in the forest, and the patrol this morning had found some worrisome things.
Not only had the fields flooded, but a few of our fishing lakes in the mountains had dropped drastically.
“They’re at least two meters below the normal water levels,” I said, lacing my fingers on top of the table.
“I’ve instructed my second to come up with a plan to relocate the fish.
We’ll harvest as much as we can, drying and freezing them, and fertilize whatever eggs we find and store them.
Hopefully, the water levels return, and we can stock the lakes again. ”
“But there’s a lot more than fish that will die with the lake,” Jace murmured.
I nodded, brushing my fingers through my hair. “That is true. It’s not an ideal situation, but there isn’t much else we can do at this point. My first priority is to try to preserve the fish we can eat. If the lakes disappear, then we lose a major source of protein.”
Jace nodded. “Owen, has there been any progress in the possessed warriors?”
Owen looked up from where he was glaring at the table. “Two of them have woken. They have no memory of what happened. It’s just like what the Burgess alphas described. But so far there’ve been no signs of violence. I’m positive that we are progressing as planned and the pack will be cured soon.”
He said it with full confidence, but he was lying. We all knew it. There was no cure for the situation, not with how we were going. The evil energy was getting stronger around town, and this was only the start of things happening.
The truth of it was, until we fully embraced Jasmine as our mate and things had truly changed, internally as well as externally, it was only going to get worse. We had the example of Burgess to prove it.
This time, it was my turn to ignore Owen and drum my fingers while he talked.
It had been over a week since the wedding, and things had been…
fine. Jasmine kept to herself, and we kept to ourselves.
Occasionally, there were moments when we spent time together, but it always felt a little cautious. Which was understandable.
Yesterday was the first time she actually approached me, asking for help with a problem.
She told me about an omega in a tricky position, being a single mother and working.
I’d gone ahead and looked into it and found that her job hadn’t allowed the omega to take a proper maternity leave, and she’d also been denied her monthly childcare stipend.
It had been a headache to sort out, but I ordered a full audit of the stipend system to check for anyone else who had been denied for spurious reasons.
In the meantime, if Jasmine hadn’t felt like she could tell me about the situation, it would have continued to the omega’s detriment, and the detriment of her two children.
“I also believe we should make more efforts with the housing program,” Owen continued, bringing me back to myself.
“I happened to go to the trailer park where Jasmine used to live, and it is in deplorable condition. It’s ripe to be the epicenter of disease.
I know we’re low on funds, but I believe the trailers should be demolished and proper housing built. ”
“What would this proper housing look like?” Jace asked.
“Perhaps an apartment,” Owen said with a shrug.
At this, Renz scowled. “That is not a good idea. People who are used to having their own homes and outdoor space don’t want to be forced into apartments. Rather than demolishing everything, the priority should be replacing the trailers in the worst condition.”
“That is less efficient—” Owen started.
“You can’t just knock down people’s homes, Owen,” Renz repeated, narrowing his eyes. “Seriously. Even if they are omegas, they deserve to have a say in how they live, too. Isn’t that why the Goddess told us to marry an omega? Because it’s about how we treat them?”
Owen leaned back in his chair. He scowled at the ceiling but didn’t answer.
Jace rubbed his jaw. “I understand what you’re saying, Owen. You want to replace the trailer park with something so the omegas have an improved living situation. Renz, you are considering the emotional impact. Neither of you is wrong. Let’s just find the middle ground here.”
“I suggest we canvas the park,” I said. “Get the omegas’ input on what sort of changes they need, rather than what we think they need. Perhaps the trailers are a symptom, not a cause.”
“That’s a good place to start.” Jace stood. “Unless there was anything else we needed to discuss—”
“There is,” I interrupted.
Jace’s mouth twisted in disappointment, and he sat again. “Yes?”
“We need to do some sort of bonding activity with Jasmine,” I said.
I’d been thinking about it for a while, and this was the only thing I had come up with.
“We should leave pack territory for a while, the five of us. We can use it as a chance to test our communication lines as well as have some time away from pack responsibilities. None of us know her, and she doesn’t know us except as men who tormented her for most of her life. ”
“That’s because—” Owen started angrily.
“The Goddess wanted us to marry her,” I said, keeping my voice calm but firm. “It won’t be long before she goes into heat. With how things are right now, how will you feel after the heat is over? After we’ve had sex with her? Do you really want to have that with someone that you don’t know?”
I let the implication remain unsaid. If we didn’t have some sort of bond with her, then the heat would be pure sex, animalistic, and when we were back to ourselves, we would all feel dirtied by it.
We needed to know her better, to have some sort of connection, so that it wouldn’t end up driving us even further apart.
“I don’t like the idea of leaving pack territory,” Jace said.
Renz rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure what the purpose of it is. Shouldn’t we find ways to just get closer in real life?”
“The point is that we need to strip away the distractions. Focus on her and each other,” I said. “We’re not very unified right now, and we don’t have the space to actually be ourselves when the whole pack is watching.”
Owen slumped back, arms folded.
The other two nodded slowly.
Good. “I have a few ideas of where we can go. I don’t want the city. There are too many eyes there. But there’s a place in Burgess’s territory that I believe their alphas will let us visit.”
***
“But why do we have to leave?” Jasmine asked when the four of us told her our plans.
Her stance was defensive, eyes wary as she looked from alpha to alpha.
“I thought things were going just fine already. We’re not getting in each other’s ways.
Won’t being stuck together all alone in the woods just be a recipe for more tension? ”
“It will allow us to work through that tension,” I told her.
Jasmine was quiet, twisting her hands together. She pressed her lips tight and shook her head.
“We’re not asking,” Owen said, sounding just as angry at her refusal as he had about my initial suggestion. “We’re telling you. This is what we have decided to do. We have it all arranged, and we’ll be leaving first thing in the morning. All you have to do is pack enough clothes for three days.”
Jasmine shook her head again. “I have plans. I can’t leave to go camping.”
“What plans?” Renz asked.
She winced and looked away.
Owen snorted. “So you’re lying to us again. We—”
Jace grabbed his arm, stopping him.
“Jasmine—” I started.
“Excuse me.” She sidestepped around us. “I need a few moments. I’ll pack when I get back.”
Owen started to say something, but Jace shook him, glaring. Jasmine didn’t wait; instead heading outside at once. She seemed to fold in on herself as she walked. It occurred to me that we’d done the same thing to her that Owen had been suggesting about the trailers.
“I’m going to go talk with her,” I said over my shoulder as I headed toward the doors.
“I’m coming too,” Owen said.
I turned. “No. She shuts down when she’s around you, Owen. You’re too angry. I’ll talk to her.”
Owen frowned. I ignored him as I headed outside. Jasmine was close by, sitting on an old bench in an overgrown lawn. I joined her, sitting quietly next to her. She wrapped her arms around herself and stared up at the sky.
“You don’t have any plans, do you?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. I don’t.”
“Then what is it really about?” I turned toward her. “Is it that we made the decision without you?”
“A little.”
I nodded slowly. “I’m sorry for that. I’ve been thinking about how we needed to get to know each other. I thought this would be the best way, but I shouldn’t have bulldozed over you. You should have been part of the conversation. If you need more time, or would prefer a different location—”
“It’s not entirely that.” Jasmine let out a soft sigh. “It’s…being alone with the four of you.”
Being alone? “But we’re alone in the house all the time.”
“That’s not the same as being off in the woods. I don’t know anything about the forest. I’d be wholly dependent on all of you, and if anything happened…I know that I need to trust you in order to prove I can, but this feels like a lot. I don’t know if I’d be safe.”
Her voice was low, and I could hear how much it cost her to admit this much. My wolf growled softly, wanting to protect her. But I was the one making her feel unsafe.
“What…what do you think we’ll do?”
Jasmine bit her lip. “I’m not sure, exactly. The Goddess arranged our marriage, so I guess you won’t kill me. But I don’t know what to expect. Especially when you talk about my heat. Is this camping trip meant to be a sex fest? Is that what you mean by bonding? Because I’m not ready for that.”
“Neither am I.”
She turned toward me for the first time, studying me.
“What I am envisioning is a time where we can focus on you and each other. The four of us have been best friends since childhood, but with how busy things are, it’s easy to let those bonds fall to the wayside.
If we can just talk, learn how to better communicate…
” I shook my head. “Somewhere where we don’t have to worry about interruptions. No sex.”
Jasmine sighed. “I guess…I’m not exactly worried about the four of you being pushy about sex. It’s a thought, but so was a secret murder pact.”
I chuckled at her phrasing. “Will you come? I promise, if anything happens, I will listen to your concerns.”
She nodded once. “I’ll come.”
My wolf relaxed. We sat in silence a moment longer, and the quiet seemed more comfortable now. It took trust to agree to this. I was going to make sure that trust was earned.