16. Mack
16
MACK
T he next morning, Aerin is visiting with her grandparents while I’m finishing up the surprise in the nursery.
I take a step back and I’m admiring all my hard work when the nursery door swings open and Bennett steps in.
He whistles under his breath. “That sure is something.”
I frown at him. “Something Aerin and Thumper will like? Or something I should pull down immediately and burn?”
He flashes me a grin. “Something they will both love.”
“Are you sure?”
He claps my shoulder. “I’m sure.”
I know how to make Aerin happy. Know how to be an Alpha and keep my pack safe.
But this…
“I have no idea how to be a dad, Bennett, and I am terrified I’m going to fuck something up.”
“You won’t fuck anything up.”
“I might drop Thumper,” I tell him. “That would be a pretty big deal.”
“You won’t drop the baby.”
“Says every person who has ever accidentally dropped something,” I say, looking at the nursery with a critical eye.
Everything is ready.
The crib, the dresser, the closet full of clothes Aerin and I bought, and the rest of the pack gave as gifts. The changing table. The rugs and curtains.
And my surprise.
“You’ll be fine,” Bennett assures me.
I raise my eyebrow. “This is going to be you in a few months. You know that, right?”
He grins at me. “I do. And I can’t wait.”
“Just wait until the self-doubt hits you.”
“About being a dad or about your surprise?”
“All of it.” I consider my response for a little longer. “The surprise, mostly.”
“I offered to help,” he reminds me.
He did.
I turn away from my surprise for Aerin. One I hope she will love. “But I wanted this to be something I did for her with my own hands.”
“Aerin will love it.”
“You think?” I’m not sure.
Bennett angles his head, scrutinizing me. “It’s not like you to be so unsure.”
I sigh. “This is important. Probably the most important thing I give her. I want it to be perfect.”
He nudges my shoulder. “It’s not the most important thing you’ve given her.”
I tilt my head to the side, curious. “That thing is…”
“You gave her a home. A fresh start. Your love. I’d say all of those things were more important than this.”
I blink, surprised, but the longer I think about it, the more I’m sure he’s right. Aerin has never wanted things. Months ago, I gave her a credit card to buy whatever she might want, and to this day, she almost never uses it.
She’ll use it to do the grocery shopping or buy stuff for the rest of the pack and the baby. But when it comes to stuff for her, she always says there’s nothing she needs or wants.
“You might be right about that.”
“No need to sound so surprised,” he drawls, his voice dry.
I laugh. “And here I was thinking you came to rub my nose in my breaking the lounger.”
“I’d tell you I told you so, but that would be too easy.” He arches his eyebrow. “I caught a scent in the kitchen and it smelled like you and Aerin were busy trying to break other pieces of furniture.”
Shaking my head, I bend to collect the remnants of my project from the floor. There’s not much since I’ve been cleaning as I go, but I wanted to wait until Aerin was out before I came in here. “I left Aerin in bed and went downstairs to figure out how I could protect her, then I started planning what we’ll all need in a house. Not an hour later, she finds me snoring.”
Bennett holds the door for me and I smile gratefully. “Pack works better together. Aerin and the baby need you rested, not staying up all night trying to solve problems alone. That’s my job.”
“What does Helena think of that?”
“Helena is an enforcer. She understands.”
I guess she would. She’s no longer a Boone Pack enforcer, and I didn’t ask her to occupy that position when she joined our pack, but she’s stepped into the role anyway. It actually works out for everyone. Bennett is my beta, head of security, and he’s her mate.
An enforcer and the beta always work closely together.
“Have you discovered anything new at the hotel?” I ask him as we walk down the stairs.
This morning, after I dropped Aerin off at Adela's house to spend time with her grandparents, I texted Bennett to stop by the hotel and check if there had been any new arrivals.
Other than keeping our eyes open and staying alert, there’s not much we can do.
But ever since we found the claw marked tree outside the hotel, I’ve had a bad feeling trouble is coming to Winter Lake. No shifter does that and just leaves.
“Aerin thinks someone might be testing our defense,” I say as we make our way outside to dump the trash. I’d leave it in the kitchen, but I’m holding evidence of what I’ve been up to in the nursery that I don’t want Aerin to see yet.
Bennett nods. “That sounds plausible. Especially if it was the same someone calling up and hanging up.”
I dump the trash, and Bennett closes the lid.
“We’ll keep the pack safe, Aerin and the baby, too.” He claps me on the arm. “I better go. I promised Helena we’d clean the house.”
He makes a face and I laugh. “Just wait until she starts nesting. Aerin was determined to scrub every corner of the house.”
He leaves, but I stay outside, hands stuffed in my pocket as his car disappears from view.
Aerin will be gone for most of the morning. Adela said she might even be there over lunch.
I walk around the side of the house, and grateful not to have any near neighbors, I enter the forest at the bottom of my garden and strip.
I hadn’t intended on shifting today, but why not take advantage of the time to sniff out any potential trouble while Aerin is away?
As I run, alert for any potential threats, I ponder my life. And my past.
Years ago, I didn’t just want to be like my dad. I wanted to be him.
That was until I saw his failings as a father. Now I wonder if the reason for my fear of failing as a father goes back to that.
My mind takes me back to the last day in the Raleigh Pack.
That last day when Dad walked out of the house—and my life—and he didn’t come back.
Whispers fill the pack house. They’re followed by raised voices, then questions.
Someone bangs on my door and I jump, scrambling up from my bed as I rub the sleep from my eyes.
“Have you seen him, Mack?” someone shoves open the door to ask me.
“How would he know where Connall went?” someone else mutters as they gather around me.
“Where who has gone?” I ask, trying to wake myself up fast and with no idea what’s going on.
Sympathy fills their eyes before they blink and turn away.
“Guess he didn’t tell even his son,” someone whispers.
They leave and I don’t know who they mean, but I think I can guess.
He barely spoke to me since Mom died. He barely spoke to anyone at all.
He just grunted. And he was always so angry.
Then he left and didn’t come back.
The fighting doesn’t start until early the next morning, as if everyone wanted to be sure he wouldn’t be coming back before they jostled for a higher position.
Everyone wants to be Alpha, but only one person can be.
I keep my head down, stay out of the way, too young to want anything to do with running a pack. And even if I wanted the position, why would I want to lead the pack who stole all of my dad’s attention?
By mid-morning, five men are dead.
As dark glares and tension ripple around the house, I keep to my room and I start to pack. I’m fifteen, nearly sixteen, and I never saw a future anywhere but here, with my pack. With the growing violence, dark glares, and signs that things are getting worse, my place isn’t here.
Not anymore.
I slip out of a window. No one cares about me. They’re too busy fighting each other for control of the pack.
I don’t take much. Just a couple of changes of clothes, some fruit and jerky.
The ripples of the pack that used to be home spread outward. The Raleighs destroy themselves and I keep going, never looking back, and only rarely wondering what happened to the dad who just walked away and left me.
All I care about is starting over.