Chapter 24 #2
Pax sighed heavily. “I think that’s a good plan.
Above all, I want you to be happy. I always have.
Time was when us just living and working together was enough, but I know first-hand that’s not enough now.
I want you to have what I have. I want you to find your mate and your happiness.
And then I want you to come back here so we can all be happy together.
Heck, maybe we’ll build you an airport if you’re going to fly.
The Clan needs good projects to bring us together that might also generate some revenue. ”
It was a crazy idea off the top of his head, but it sort of made sense, Pax realized.
The youngsters were learning how to build.
They could build the airport structures on Clan land and if Ari got his pilot’s license and spread the word among shifters, they might just have some built-in business for the new venture.
Ari’s expression had turned thoughtful. “There aren’t any shifter-owned small airports in the area,” he said, his tone contemplative.
“And our kind can always use shifter-friendly places to land. Plus, any income from the airport would help the Clan. I wonder how those wolves in Texas structured their business?” Pax mused.
“I don’t know, but I will definitely try to find out,” Ari promised, the light of a good challenge in his eyes.
“So, your mission just expanded,” Pax said, grinning as he ticked off his next points on his fingers.
“Learn to fly. Make friends with the Island jaguars and assess them. Make friends with the wolves and figure out how they built their airport and made it profitable. After that, maybe fly over to Jaguar Island and see what our eccentric billionaire friend, Pepard, is up to. Then come back here and report on it all. Oh, and if you happen to find your mate while doing all of the aforementioned, so much the better.” Pax was grinning, as was Ari.
“Is that all? Are you sure there’s not something else I can squeeze in?” Ari joked. They sat for a moment in silence, each with their own thoughts before Ari spoke again. “Pax, have you ever thought about being Alpha?”
Pax’s head swung around in surprise. “Say what now?”
“Rodrigo has no heir and there isn’t really anybody else who could compete with you for the position if and when Rodrigo steps down. You’ve seen the wider world. You are thinking about a big future for the Clan. You’d make a great Alpha to lead the next generation into prosperity.”
“But—”
“Say we do build this airport here,” Ari steamrolled over his twin.
“And say I make it my base of operations. I still won’t be here all the time.
I’ll be flying a lot. As it should be. So, the idea that we could share responsibilities in the future as we have all our lives isn’t really practical.
One of us needs to step up if duty calls for the Clan, and I think it’ll have to be you. ”
Pax was stunned by Ari’s words, but had to admit, the idea didn’t make him uncomfortable, so much as surprised. A month ago, he wouldn’t have even considered it, but now? Everything was different.
They were both strong Alpha-type personalities, but they had taken the Beta role in their Clan as enforcers and investigators.
The Alpha’s right-hand men. That had worked while they were younger, but now that they were settling down, or at least making moves in that direction in Ari’s case, things had changed.
“You know you just dropped a bomb on me,” Pax admitted looking ruefully at his twin.
Ari smiled a bit smugly. “Good. Just think about what I’ve said. Nothing’s going to change right now or overnight, but we’re at the stage in our lives that we need to start thinking about the future.”
“When did you get so wise?” Pax was truly stymied by his brother’s deep thoughts. He hadn’t imagined Ari was planning beyond just his next mission. That’s what they’d done all these years, but Pax could now see that kind of thinking was no longer sufficient.
“Wise or just wise-ass?” Ari teased, breaking the solemnity of the moment as he shrugged. “It’s pretty much the same with me.”
They both laughed and sat on the porch in the afternoon sun. They said nothing for a while, and the silence was the comfortable kind they’d enjoyed since childhood. The desert went gold in the low light. A hawk carved a wide, lazy circle above the scrub.
“Tell me something,” Ari said eventually.
“What?”
“I’ve been wondering.” His eyes followed the hawk. “What does it feel like to find your mate?”
Pax gave it an honest answer. “It’s like nothing else. Like she’s the thing I’ve been missing in my life. The one that was supposed to be there and wasn’t.”
Ari was silent for a bit. Then, he nodded. “Good. I’m going to do my best to find mine.”
“I know you will,” Pax said with quiet conviction.
Pax told Bree that evening that Ari was going to be leaving soon. She received the news with a thoughtful calm that helped settle Pax’s nerves about the upcoming loss of his twin.
“He needs this,” she said simply.
“He does.”
“And you’re all right with him going?”
“I’m all right with it. We’ve been halves of a unit our whole lives. That won’t change. But he needs to be his own person for a while. So do I.”
She tilted her head. “You said it.”
“Said what?”
“Your own person. You’ve been saying we for as long as I’ve known you. You and Ari. You and Ari’s training, you and Ari’s assignment, the things you and Ari were working on.” She paused. “You just said I need to be my own person. I think that’s progress, even if it’s uncomfortable.”
He thought about that. She was right. He hadn’t even noticed they’d done that all their lives.
“I’m pretty sure I agree,” he replied finally.
She smiled, full and warm. “Good. I like you as your own person, because that person belongs to me.”
He reached over and took her hand in his. She held on, while outside the desert evening came in slow and golden over their small town in Arizona, and there was nowhere else on earth he would rather have been.