Chapter 23 - Bryce
I hadn’t stopped pacing for the last twelve hours—not since the ceremony had ended in the ifrit attack, and since I had seen Mason preparing to launch through ifrit fire to save our daughter.
As soon as I’d seen him go low to the floor, preparing his leap, it had hit me. He had once sacrificed me—and, unknowingly, Cassie—to have this life. This picture-perfect alpha he thought himself to be. And last night, he had been ready to sacrifice that life for Cassie. To ensure her safety.
Mason had really been ready to sacrifice himself, and I couldn’t handle thinking about it without breaking down into more tears.
“Brett says you’re going to wear a path in his den,” Mason murmured now, pulling on my wrist gently.
“I can’t stay still,” I muttered, looking down at my daughter on a pallet tucked beneath blankets.
Her face still hadn’t gotten its color back, not yet.
I took in the purple hue of her eyelids and her blank palms. Last night, I had seen the glow of her skin after the explosion had scattered the ifrit, and the rainstorm had soaked the woods.
The prophecy truly was real.
My daughter had magic—powerful magic she’d likely wielded without ever knowing, magic she had been able to use at a second’s notice.
Magic powerful enough to render her unconscious for so long.
“Bryce.” Mason’s voice reached me distantly. “Sit with me.”
For once, I did. “You know, when she was five, she got the flu,” I told him, not once taking my eyes off her.
“I cried so hard in the doctor’s office just for her to be told to rest up, of course.
I went to bed ill with worry every night.
Through every cough, every dizzy spell, and sickness, I held her, told her that Mommy was there, Mommy was never going to leave her alone, not while she was sick, and not ever.
She’s barely ever been hurt, and now… Now this. ”
Part of me wanted to blame Mason, blame the damn town, blame the ifrit or my brother, or my own damn self for not going back to White Bay. But June had confirmed as much: Cassie wouldn’t always be free of this, not while she possessed her powers.
There would be so much more digging to do. Perhaps there was a way to conceal them from notice, to cloak her from the ifrit.
“You’ve done amazing,” Mason murmured. “But now it's time to let Brett heal her and continue doing what he’s doing. He’s the best the pack has, and he’s treated some god-awful things. Right, Brett?”
“Right,” he called out, dabbing a salve over my daughter’s neck, where some of the demon blame had caught her.
“Last year, Theo got speared by a damn mountain lion. Came back with his organs nearly falling out of his stomach. Stitched him up real good, though. No infection, minimal bruising, and his recovery was great.”
“See? She’s in perfect hands,” Mason assured her.
And I was about to protest further when a small whimper came from the pallet. I was on my feet in a second, Mason behind me, as we went to Cassie’s side. Her eyes peeled open.
“Mommy?” she croaked.
“Baby, I’m here,” I whispered, my eyes stinging with tears as I reached for her hand. I laughed through my tears, overcome with worry and happiness of her waking up. “How are you feeling?”
“It all hurts,” she mumbled. “The wolf… he… he would have hurt himself. I think I did something to help.”
“You did everything to help,” Mason told her, reaching for her other hand. “I’m so proud of you. God, I thought we were going to lose you, Cassie. I couldn’t let that happen. I didn’t think—I just knew I had to get you.”
“I couldn’t lose my daddy,” she whispered. “Not when I only just found him.”
Mason went rigid, his eyes shining with tears. His mouth parted, words not coming out. “That’s right,” he choked out. “Your dad isn’t going anywhere.”
“I’ll do another check over her now that she’s awake,” Brett said, and Mason sniffed, wiping his tears away as he nodded. “You two can stay there, though, it's fine.”
But before he could, a cleared throat in the doorway of the den had me turning. I gasped quietly. “Jackson?”
He looked sheepish as he stepped into the den, his eyes falling to Cassie.
His brow puckered in agony. “I… Well, Theo tracked me down early this morning, tried to fight me, as wolves. Then he shifted and told me my niece had almost died, and I wouldn’t have ever even known, for how absent I’ve been.
I’ve been ashamed of what I’ve caused. For you, Bryce, and for you, Mason.
I couldn’t choose my loyalty between you both—”
“I never should have asked you,” I told him, shaking my head. “I should have found another way. I never should have put you in that position.”
“It was bad,” he agreed gently. “But I get it. I do. And I’m sorry I dipped for so long.
I figured that if I kept patrolling, kept finding more ifrit sightings and evidence, then I could do something.
I spent so long feeling helpless, not being able to fight for you, Bryce, that I had to keep moving, keep going—until I was already starting to realize I felt like I was disconnecting from the pack.
I don’t want out, Mason, but I understand if you can never have me back. ”
Mason only glared outright at my brother, long enough that I almost went to him to beg him to keep it civil, especially around our daughter.
But Mason only took three sauntering strides towards Jackson. “You don’t just walk out on your pack like that. On your alpha.”
“I know,” Jackson said, cringing. “And I’m sorry.”
“I needed you there last night.”
Jackson nodded, his face tight, as if pained.
“Are you hurt?” Mason asked, only to receive a shake of Jackson’s head.
“Are you okay?”
Jackson winced. “I’ve been better. Mostly, my head’s a mess. I didn’t like how I handled our fight, or how I avoided Bryce.”
“Forget our fight,” Mason muttered. “And come the hell back home, Jackson. Brothers fight, don’t they?”
“Brothers, don’t call you the things I did that day we fought.”
“These two do,” Mason laughed. “Jackson, you’re my closest guy here. My pack isn’t my pack without you, got it? We’re bound.” He shrugged. “Get your ass back out there, and pay your damn respects with the rest of them. Cassie’s initiated into the pack. She’s more than just your niece now, okay?”
“Yes,” he said quickly, glancing at Cassie in the bed. He looked ready to say more, maybe to insist he stay there with her, but he only turned and headed outside, where I could feel the energy of the pack waiting to pay their respects to Cassie’s healing.
But as soon as Jackson left, Theo entered, and I immediately adjusted my stance, putting myself between Theo and Cassie. It meant little that we had fought together the night before.
“Bryce,” he called out. “I owe you an apology.”
“Damn right you do,” Mason growled.
“Mason, can I speak with her alone? All of us do. The whole pack.”
Mason turned to me, lifting a brow. “Is that okay with you?”
“Do you trust them?” I countered.
Mason nodded without hesitation. “They’re my pack. As much as I’ve changed, so have they.”
“Then I’ll trust your trust,” I whispered.
They had already accepted Cassie. Was it so far a stretch to accept me as well?
Slowly, cautiously, I walked out with Theo, finding the pack grouped together, all of them watching the tent.
To come under their scrutiny felt like tiny pinpricks all over my skin.
Until each of them stepped forward, bowing their heads to me, as they had to Cassie the night before.
“Bryce,” Theo said. “I’m sorry for everything.
I’m sorry for the years I bullied you, and I’m sorry for every awful thing I said back then, and recently.
You never deserved any of it, and I was stupid and proud, thinking I was tough because I could bring you down.
” He stepped towards me and bowed his head.
“Mason loves you. We get that now. And whoever he loves is accepted by us. If you agree, you have a place within this pack, and we swear we will protect you. You and Cassandra, to every and any end.”
“Are you serious?” I whispered. “Theo, you put me through hell, and I… I want to belong. I want to be a part of this pack more than anything. I want to be home, and know that home is not a place of prejudice or hatred from the brothers I should have in the pack. Can you promise that?”
“I can promise that,” he swore. “I didn’t before when I should have, and I’m sorry. We’re all sorry, and I can only hope we can keep finding ways to prove it to you. I’ve been an asshole—”
“Yeah,” I huffed. “You have.”
“But I’m ready to be different,” he finished. “Starting now. Starting by inviting you and Cassie to a pack dinner tonight, if you’ll join us. I’m actually cooking it, and it’ll be at the museum. Just… give us a chance.”
“Dinner,” I said slowly, laughing. “You’re sure you want to have dinner with the freak show?”
Theo shrugged, smirking. “You can say some shitty things to me if you want to in return. Call me a thousand cruel things. I’d deserve them all.”
“It doesn’t exactly have an effect when you’re asking to be bullied,” I snorted.
“But if you’re willing to actually show me you’re changing, then I’ll give you one chance.
Literally, one chance, Theo, and mostly because I’m tired of the anxiety and the feeling of not being enough.
I want to belong, and I want Cassie to belong as well.
I want this to be her proper home. I want you all protecting her—and me. ”
“And we will,” he said quickly. “You have a dozen protectors here. The pack welcomes you back, Bryce.”
And it was strange: I had wanted to hear those words for years, craved that acceptance, only to now hear them and feel a sort of slow satisfaction rather than the overwhelming joy I had thought. I realized it was the knowledge of knowing I was worthy of my place with the other shifters.
Of my place in the town entirely.
And I was starting to believe that place was right next to the alpha of the Honeycreek pack.