Chapter 17 - Bryce #3
“I do not!” I protested, giggling. At the sound, Mason gazed at me. It was only a second, but the hope that flickered away in my chest grew stronger, and I leaned into it. It had been seven long, lonely years—I just wanted happiness and peace.
I wanted the family Cassie and I had both longed for.
“All right,” Mason said, clapping his hands. “I’m going to race you to a special place called Honeycreek, but before that, I want you to pick me the juiciest berries you can find, all right?”
Cassie’s little face twisted into a frown. “But… the town is called Honeycreek.”
Mason grinned at her. “True, because there’s a creek here that gave it that name. And I’ll take you right to it. There’s a plaque along the creekbed that states when the town was founded and who bought it. It's pretty cool.”
Part of me wondered if Cassie would grow up to have an interest in history, or even science, with the way she hurried off to the nearest berry tree, eager to get to her history lesson. She seemed pretty interested in what June always had to say.
Mason wandered over, hands slid into his pockets. “I think that kid’s going to be even smarter when she grows up. She’s amazing already, Bryce. You’ve done incredible with her.”
I flushed under the praise. As a single mom with no friends in White Bay, I’d really struggled ever feeling valid or seen for what I was doing for Cassie, and while I hadn’t needed that particularly as long as she was happy, the fact that I was being praised for it now felt good.
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
“You shouldn’t have had to raise her alone, but you have, and she’s… she’s great. She’s a mini you.”
I snorted. “Likes her food, asks questions, stubborn.”
“And a dancer.”
“You don’t remember that,” I muttered. “You heard us talking about it.”
“True, but I remembered as well. And I actually left a gift for you in the guest room. Did you see it?”
I shook my head, frowning. “I’ve been a little zoned out, I guess, since the fight with the djinn. I still haven’t spoken to Jackson, and every time I’ve headed over there, he’s been out.”
Mason winced, nodding. “Yeah, Nate said he’s been shifted since our fight, running patrols like crazy. I think what happened with me is eating him up. We’ve never fallen out before.”
Guilt speared through me, and I winced. “I never should have forced him to be in the middle of us. I’m sorry, Mason.”
“Don’t be.” He shook his head. “I was angry and approached it all wrong. He was right to protect you. And I hate that I never knew Cassie, but I hate the reason why, most of all, because of my own immaturity and awful behavior back then. I’m angry at myself and took it out on both of you.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “You did. But…” I hesitated before speaking. “The Mason I walked away from years ago wouldn’t have admitted any of that. He would have scoffed, and when I apologized, he would have said damn right, you’re sorry.”
Mason winced before he raised a brow. “Was that your impression of my voice?”
“Yeah, did it work?” I let myself smirk right back at him, leaning forward. “Did my big, scary alpha voice work?”
“I’ll happily show you very intimately how a big, scary alpha voice works tonight if you wear my hoodie again with nothing under—Hey, Cassie!”
He whirled around, cutting himself off, right as I was fiercely blushing pink. I turned to face Cassie with him, who held aloft a fistful of berries, looking proud of herself.
“I didn’t have a basket,” she said simply. Impatiently, she dumped the berries—some squashed, some whole—into Mason’s unsuspecting hands, and tore back off, shouting that she wanted to get more.
Slowly, he turned to me. “Did I say she’s a mini you?”
“Only once,” I teased, relief flooding through me.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
I could only laugh at his bewildered look as he looked around, as if trying to find a solution. “It was your idea for her to pick them.”
“I didn’t think Cassie would… present them like a gift.”
“Come on,” I said. “It's the first gift she’s ever given her dad. I’m sure you can hold them until we’re home.”
Home. I realized what I had called his house, and even though it wasn’t a home, it didn’t feel like it yet; it had come out instinctively.
It's because you know that’s where your alpha lives.
I pushed aside that little traitor of a voice in my head and watched as Mason realized he had truly just been given a gift by his daughter for the first time.
And the smile that spread over his face made me think a little more than things really would be better, even if it was a guarded hope. A very, very guarded hope.
***
After the days we’d had, I planned on an early night, curled up next to Cassie.
There was something comforting in knowing I didn’t have to deal with the mess of my cottage in White Bay, but I would have done anything for Cassie.
Still, the fact that she was safe and tucked up in bed, in a house prepared for her by her father, was strangely comforting.
“What are you thinking about?”
Mason’s voice tugged me from my thoughts. I sat next to him, dressed in his hoodie, but I had on some old running shorts underneath, forgoing his interrupted request while we were in the woods.
“Cassie,” I told him, my eyes lowered to the floor as I thought.
“From the moment she was born, I knew I would have done anything for her. Been anything, gone anywhere, burned down the world if it meant she was kept safe. At the time, I thought that meant from you, but I mean from everything. When that djinn attacked us… There was nothing more paralyzing than realizing I wouldn’t have been enough to save her.
Not against the one in my cottage, and definitely not against the group of them in the woods. ”
My eyes welled up as I looked at him.
“I’ve spent so long telling myself that I didn’t need you,” I whispered.
“That Cassie didn’t. That even though there was a hole in my life, and in hers, and even though she asked more and more questions about your absence, I still remained stubborn because of how hurt I was.
I figured it was best to adjust to that absence, telling myself I had made the choice so I wanted to stick with it, rather than ever wonder if you would ever turn her away, let your pack turn her away. ”
“They wouldn’t,” he began to say, his voice roughening up.
“They would have,” I said gently. “Because she was mine, and they made their feelings about clear, over and over. They would have judged me at every step.”
“And Jackson and I would have beaten their asses to hell and back.”
“Not back then.”
Guilt flashed across his face. He could try to convince me all he wanted but we both knew the truth.
“Do you ever think you’ll hear the pack out?” he asked. “See how they’ve changed?”
“Are they all willing to apologize?” He went to open his mouth, but I cut him off. “Without you forcing them to.”
“Yes,” he said, his brows furrowed. “And if you’re willing to give them a chance, I’ve called a pack meeting above the museum tomorrow. You do not have to be there, but I would like you to be. It's your choice; I won’t force you.”
I fell silent, contemplative. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to decide now,” Mason assured me quickly. “I do want to ease your mind by swearing protection for you. I know the last time you saw me with the pack, it wasn’t a good memory—”
“It ruined my life,” I said harshly, immediately defensive.
“But this will be different,” he continued. “I swear it to you. On Cassie’s life, Bryce, I will protect you from them. I didn’t know you were at Harvey's that day when I told Freddie to show some respect. That wasn’t a one-off. Here.”
He dug out his phone, his thumb tapping into the screen, and turned it towards me, showing me a short thread of messages between himself and Theo.
Theo, asking if Mason was sweet on me, Mason challenged it, demanding that he learn to have more respect.
I swallowed. I truly thought it had been some form of performative thing, but if he was speaking like this, and it had been a few days ago, for nobody to see, that meant he was genuine.
“What if you run from me again?” I pressed.
“I won’t,” he swore.
“I can’t trust that yet.” I shrugged, grimacing. “What if it all floods back—that judgment from them, the worry you have of being overthrown as the alpha, the pressure you still put yourself under, and the expectation. What then? How do I guarantee you won’t do the same?”
“If you can’t trust my words, then I can’t decide for you,” he said gently. “You can stay here. I need to hold the meeting regardless, but it's your call.”
I had hidden in Jackson’s house as much as possible to avoid seeing the pack. That wasn’t exactly something I could do forever. The pack was a trigger for his old behavior, and I didn’t know if I could risk it.
I thought back to eating around Mason—how it had taken a lot of hesitation, but I’d done it, something I never thought I could.
He’d encouraged me, enjoyed watching me like the food.
“Do you trust them to be different?” I asked.
“Mostly.” I appreciated the honesty. “And the ones I don’t trust will listen to me.”
“Theo?” I guessed. He frowned, nodding.
“He challenges me most, but I think talk of what happened at the bakery got him. The two were close, and he knows I’d have him out just like I did with Freddie, if he keeps being disrespectful to my leadership, or to you.”
I nodded, biting my lip. “Okay,” I said, anxiety already curling through my stomach at the thought of attending the meeting. “I’ll go. On one condition.”
“Yeah?”
“You find a way to speak to Jackson and apologize. I can’t stop feeling guilty, and I want you two to make up.”
He grimaced but nodded. “He should be there tomorrow, but if not, I’ll track him down, force him to speak to me.”