Chapter 12
Jessie
Still shaking from the elders’ meeting, I led Sue into Ivy House from the back door.
“I’m not sure inviting them was a good idea,” I said, picturing Cyra flying into a tree. “I mean, it was Cyra’s fault. She firebombed that gnome much too close to one of the elders. Did you see how fast that elder moved?” I shivered. “That kick had a lot of power.”
Austin’s emotions had flooded with fear and aggression, something I’d only felt from him when I was in harm’s way. And maybe it was because of me, but he’d frozen. Aljoe had, too. Sue—everyone. They’d frozen solid, scared to incite the basandere any more than Cyra already had.
Except for Sebastian, of course, who thankfully defused the situation by falling over in terror and playing dead.
Dave really shouldn’t have laughed so hard at that.
Sue didn’t answer, uncharacteristically stiff as he walked beside me.
I kept chattering, nervous I’d start crying on his behalf.
“I didn’t miss Aljoe’s look at Austin. He wasn’t sure he’d want to fight that elder, and that is saying something coming from a guy who fought more than one at a time to stay in the woods, right?
I mean…she kicked a phoenix. Yes, Cyra laughed about it, but that’s probably because she recognized a creature that might be able to take her. ”
We walked through the house, which was spotless. At the front door, I paused.
“I’ll be right back.” Sue continued into the front yard.
“There is a certain way things should be done in—” Mr. Tom’s words cut off as he entered the hallway.
One of the helping garhettes followed behind him, mouth open to argue, but saying nothing upon seeing me. They both turned down the way and disappeared around the corner.
“—this house,” Mr. Tom went on before they were out of earshot. They weren’t getting along, as I knew they wouldn’t, but the garhettes were well versed in stubborn gargoyles. They were not deterred, and so I was staying all the way out of it.
Sue’s new SUV waited in the driveway. He opened the back and took out two small boxes that were battered and stained, one with a partially crushed corner. It was clear he hadn’t wanted to even discard the vessel in which he’d carried his memories.
I stepped aside and furiously tried to keep from crying.
“It is a true warrior, a strong soul, who can endure so much pain,” Ivy House said, solemn for the first time I could remember.
“Just this way.” I motioned him toward the left, into the rarely used front-facing sitting room.
In the corner, I showed him where the hidden latch to the secret door was.
“This gets you into the veins of the house. The interior hallways. They are a maze, but don’t worry—Ivy House will direct you.
Just tell her what you need, and she’ll guide you. ”
The blue glow from the magically powered lights went out, and then one by one they turned on, the movement showing the way.
“You can get in from a lot of places.” I motioned him in and closed the door behind us. “Your room has an entrance. Anywhere in the house, just ask Ivy House where to get in, and she’ll pop a door open for you.”
We went up the stairs, around and up more stairs to the previously seldom-used third floor.
The lights directed us, and I was quiet so Sue could get accustomed to the hush and the eerie blue glow.
Slowly I let him take the lead, following the lights, letting Ivy House guide him.
He was putting a lot of trust in both of us, and I wanted him to know both house and heir were in this with him.
At the far corner, an area I’d only been in once before when I was exploring, the lights all clicked on. A wall stood in front of us, perfectly matching those around it. I stepped around him and slowly put my finger on a decorative element. Without a word, I moved away.
He balanced the boxes in one hand and put his finger on the area. It clicked and the wall fell away, as though it hadn’t been there.
He glanced at me.
I went first. The lights clicked on in a little circular space that was fairly bare.
“I had Mr. Tom bring up some tools for you.” I motioned at a toolbox on the floor. “There is a hammer and nails and various picture-hanging things in there. You can hang the pictures wherever you want. If you want.”
I turned to survey the bench pushed against the wall.
“The seating isn’t great. It’s been here for…
ever, I don’t know. Mr. Tom took away the cushion.
It wasn’t fit for purpose. But I’ve told Mimi to order a couple chairs.
We couldn’t do a couch because…we weren’t sure how to get it in here.
But you’ll have better seating if you want to hang out.
They’ll recline so you can sleep if you want.
And an end table or two for heavy drinking.
No judgment. Mr. Tom gave her the size of the space, so she’ll outfit it for you. ”
I walked through, checking surfaces for dust. Mr. Tom had done a great job sprucing it up.
“We can get shelves, too.” I glanced back at him. His face and body were stoic. “Whatever you need. Just let us know.”
I clasped my hands in front of me, tears threatening with the way he held those boxes. With the knowledge that he’d had to move his family again. He’d had to choose his pack over his family yet again, taking them from his home. Back to not having a home.
“They can stay here forever, if you want,” I said, a tear breaking free.
I wiped it away quickly. “This can be their space so you can visit them and remember them. If something should happen to you, they will live on here, protected by Ivy House. Watched over in your stead. They can outlive you here. Ivy House will make sure no one touches them.”
I wiped another tear away.
“Or maybe that is presumptuous,” I rushed to say. “Maybe you’d like something closer to your room until you can go home—”
“No,” he said, his voice gruff. His bearing stayed the same. “I expected a cubby in which to put a couple boxes. This is beyond—” His voice broke and he paused for a moment. “Thank you. This is perfect.”
“Okay.” I headed for the door. As I was passing him, I stopped and put a hand on his arm. I didn’t know what to say, or if I could say anything at all without crying. All I could offer was a simple touch to let him know I was here for him. Forever.
Aurora
“You’re needed.” Mr. Tom’s strangely strong grip took hold of Aurora’s upper arm. “This way, please.”
He pulled her away from the kitchen counter, making her drop her half-eaten sandwich on the counter.
Tristan waited at the doorway to the main sitting room, his expression hard. His gaze tracked her coming toward him.
“Get him down to Indigo,” Tristan told her. “She’s here.”
“What’s the status?” Aurora asked Mr. Tom as he essentially manhandled her up the stairs. She let him. It was easier just to go along with things where he was concerned.
“The miss is in her room crying.” He sniffed.
“Sobbing is probably the better term. Sue has been in the room for his family for an hour hanging pictures. He must be done for the moment. Given the miss is reacting like this, it means he…probably needs help. That’s your role.
You can read his twitches. Also, you’re impossibly hardheaded. It’s a flaw.”
Said the man dragging her up the stairs.
“Wrestle him down to Indigo if he won’t go willingly. She doesn’t cure, but she helps.”
At the top of the stairs, Mr. Tom shoved her into the hallway and pointed. He didn’t say another word as he turned and walked back down the stairs.
Right, then.
This was the hard part, getting an in. She had no right to push her way into Sue’s life, for many reasons. This was unheard of in the shifter culture at this level. But the whole team was trying to support him, and she had the tools to best do what needed to be done.
Besides, he’d overstepped by carrying her into the bathtub and sitting vigil. She’d appreciated it, but still…payback.
She walked down the hall like she was going to her new room—one she hadn’t started moving into yet—when she saw him come out of the secret door in the hallway. She hadn’t even known the door was there.
Her heart dropped. The struggle to keep moving was obvious. To keep functioning. The wounds had been ripped open and were bleeding from the inside out. It was a wonder he didn’t leave a trail of red behind him.
She sped up. He didn’t notice her, lost in his grief. That right there was a dead giveaway to the pain he was in.
He went to his room, hand outstretched for the knob.
It didn’t turn at first for some reason, making him hesitate, looking down on it, and then she was there.
It opened suddenly, and she was right behind him, pushing.
Ivy House was clearly helping. Her heart warmed that a magical house cared so much about the lives and people inside it.
He startled, turned to fight, but there was no fight left in him. Not right now.
“Hey.” She didn’t bother shutting the door behind her, using her hands and weight to get him to the bed in the center of the room. It shut anyway. “It’s me.”
He half fell on the bed, violence and suffering sparkling in his eyes. She was probably one of the few who weren’t scared of his retribution. She could handle him, at least long enough to calm him down.
“Remember when I wanted to lie on the floor in misery?” she said, helping him sit straight. “And you put me in the bath?”
His dark eyes held hers.
She pressed on his shoulders and then dug in with her nails so that he could feel physical pain, helping ground him in the moment.
“Remember when I wanted you to fuck off and instead you sat vigil?” she pressed, letting violence sparkle in her eyes to match his. “This is payback.”
“Leave,” he growled.
“No.” She stared hard at him.
Challenge lit a fire in his eyes. She held it. You couldn’t go head to head with Yazanth Golden Fang and be worried about a situation like this. Or anything at all, really. That beast was burning away her ability to feel fear.
“Leave,” he growled again, but the fight was lost. He knew it.
“Tell me,” she said. “Was it a good space for them?”
His eyes pleaded with her. To leave, probably. To stay, maybe. He might not even know.
All he could do was nod—barely hold it together and nod.
She did something she’d never do in her dad’s pack. Or any shifter pack. Another professional line crossed.
She stepped closer and pulled him in, hugging him into her middle.
He wrapped his arms around her, clutching her tightly. He buried his face into her stomach and sobbed, his big shoulders shaking under her palms, his voice ragged with grief.
“They’ve found a new home now,” she said softly, constricting her arms against him.
Tristan had filled her in on what Jessie had planned, the most thoughtful, amazing answer Aurora never would’ve thought of.
She wasn’t just learning how to lead from Uncle Auzzie and Aljoe, but from Jessie as well.
There was more to leadership than strategy and war—there were the people, and that might be the most important of all.
“They’ve found a larger family to watch over them.
Your family, Sue. We’re all in this together.
We’ll stand by you and protect your family. They’re in safe hands.”
“I couldn’t,” he said, squeezing her. “I tried but I couldn’t…”
“You couldn’t save yours,” she said with a steady voice, holding on to him.
“No one in your position could, not without help. My dad wouldn’t have protected his, and his pack was three times the size of yours.
Shifters don’t look for enough help. Not like we need to.
Not until now. Now you are forcing others to accept the help they need.
The help you needed. You are helping lead this charge to unite.
To assist others in avoiding the fate your family endured.
You’re helping, Sue. In your family’s memory, you’re saving people. ”
His sobs refreshed. His fingers dug into her.
“Share them with us,” she said, leaning over him, still holding him tightly. “Share their memories. Don’t keep them inside. Let us share in their life so that we all might know them. So that we might know Spencer.”
That was his birth name. So unlike the eccentric name he had today. But he needed to merge these halves of himself. He needed to trust his team to support all of him, not just the part they knew.
His emotion subsided slowly. His hold on her didn’t.
After a while, neither of them moving or speaking, he calmed and finally said, “This is embarrassing. Alphas don’t cry.”
She rubbed his shoulders. “I remember watching my uncle sobbing over Jessie in front of two packs, without apology or embarrassment. My whole world changed that day. Alphas should cry. To show emotion is to prove you aren’t dead inside.
A leader is someone who needs to understand the people they lead.
You can’t do that if you can’t feel. If you feel, you shouldn’t be ashamed to show it. ”
He took a deep breath and shuddered against her. He didn’t release her.
She continued to hold him, breathing deeply, encouraged when he unconsciously matched the breaths, helping to further calm him. He didn’t tuck the pain away but made peace with things once again.
“Indigo is downstairs,” she said. “I think we should go see her.”
His arms constricted for a moment before loosening again. “Who orchestrated this? Jessie?”
“No. Tristan, amazingly enough. He’s got you, Sue. We’ve all got you. C’mon. Let’s go down to Indigo. If I go down alone, Mr. Tom will just manhandle me back up here and then force us both down again.”
He took a deep breath, moving so his forehead was against her lower stomach. “What would’ve happened if I’d dunked you in the bath, I wonder? How would this situation have changed?”
“I would’ve hog-tied you and thrown you down the stairs. Same result, different delivery.”
He shook with laughter. “Okay, let’s go see Indigo.”