Chapter Fourteen
Why was she so nervous?
It had taken her longer than she’d thought to pack overnight for her and Bayen, and then do the grocery shopping.
That last part was on her though, because she had forgotten bread for their sandwiches and had to double back and run into the grocery store again.
Then the line to pay out had been long, and she’d gotten more stressed the longer it took.
What if Bayen was fighting Tabian right now? What if he had Changed and was fighting him in the pizza place? She pushed the gas down harder and sped up the winding road that led to Tabian’s house.
When she pulled into the clearing though, she slowed at what she saw.
Tabian and Bayen were already here, and the closer she got, the more she realized they weren’t fighting, or even arguing. They were working together to get Tabian’s truck packed near his storage shed.
Tabian was pointing at something and explaining, and Bayen stood with his hands on his hips, watching him intently, then nodded and turned, picked up the box of supplies and loaded it into the back of Tabian’s truck.
Tabian’s truck was insane. He’d done so much customization to it, and under the camper shell, it was a world of camping supplies, all tidy and organized. Tabian was at the back, fiddling with something, but he turned and saw her, waved and headed toward her car.
She parked beside his truck and opened her door. Tabian was quick to pull her in. He kissed her and then patted her ass. His bright blue eyes had a wicked glint as he eased back. “You smell good.”
“It’s cherry hand lotion,” she said, relaxing under his touch.
“The bugs will love it too.”
“Oh, shoot,” she murmured, looking at her hands. “I can wash it off.” She wouldn’t tell him she’d slathered it all over her arms too.
“I like it,” he growled, leaning in to nip her neck. He patted her hip and opened her back door to grab the two duffel bags she’d brought for her and Bayen. Bayen had texted her and asked her to pack his tent and his camping backpack too, so she’d thrown those in the trunk.
“I haven’t been camping in forever,” she said excitedly. All of her stress was gone now that she knew Bayen was up for the trip and not trying to bleed everyone. “How can I help?”
“You want to pack the cooler?” he asked.
“Yes! I got three bags of ice like you said.”
“Atta girl.” Tabian pulled a polished black cooler from the back of his truck and settled it on the ground. It matched the rest of his camping supplies.
She didn’t know why, but she found his organization attractive. This would be way less fun if everything was chaos and stressful.
The cooler had wheels, so she dragged it to the trunk of her car and started packing the layers of cold groceries Tabian had instructed her to get, and ice.
She put several sodas in there too. The orange ones that Bayen liked and a few beers for her and Tabian.
The dry groceries she left in her handled grocery bags and hauled them to Tabian.
He came over to help with Bayen’s tent and backpack, loaded up the cooler.
Movement caught her eye, and she looked up to find a tall man headed their way. The evening sunlight was saturated and beaming in her eyes, so Tru shielded her face and squinted, and waved.
The man waved back, but behind her, Tabian muttered a curse.
“You must be the new boo,” the man said as he reached them.
Tru couldn’t take her eyes off of a deep scar down his face. “H-hi,” she said, offering her hand for a shake.
He shook it and twitched his chin toward Bay. “Is that the kid?” Vic asked. “Boy, you sure stirred up a lot of chatter around here. I heard you took on Bridger.” He grinned. “Bout time someone tested him.”
Bay ducked a smile. “I didn’t mean to,” he mumbled.
“Tru and Bayen, this is Vic. The nosey one I told you about,” Tabian introduced them. “Vic, this is Tru and Bayen.”
“What happened to your face?” Bay asked.
“Bayen Alexander,” Tru whisper-screamed. “Manners.”
“It’s okay,” Vic said. “I got shot.”
“You got shot?” Bay’s voice echoed through the woods. “In the face?”
“And a couple of other places.”
“By hunters?” he asked.
“By other werewolves.”
“Oooh,” Bay said, shaking his head. “That’s fucked up.”
“Language,” Tru said.
“You cuss,” Bay pointed out.
“Yeah, Tru. You cuss,” Vic teased.
“Oh my goodness, you are going to make it harder to guide this young man, aren’t you?” she asked Vic, trying to hide her smile. “All of you. Delinquents. Bay you aren’t allowed to hang out with him.”
“I know you’re joking, but he probably really shouldn’t hang out with him,” Tabian jabbed. “He’s weird.”
“Weird how?” Bay asked.
He was such a direct question asker. Always had been.
“He has pet hamsters.”
“Hamster, singular,” Vic corrected him demurely.
“Her name is Earline, and I knit her sweaters, and before you let Tabian the Bore convince you that it is lame, I opened an online shop, and I make an extra three thousand dollars a month on top of my awesome job selling said hamster sweaters because apparently there is a demand and no one else is supplying.” He leaned closer to Bayen.
“If you would like to learn, you could be my apprentice.”
“Um, maybe some other time. I’m going camping with Tabian.”
Vic frowned. “You sure go camping a lot.”
“Yeah, it’s just something I enjoy doing,” Tabian said quickly.
Vic’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, but me and the guys have been talking about it. You should probably teach your wolf to be comfortable here. You don’t have to travel to Change.”
“Right. I’ll think about it,” Tabian said as he closed the tailgate of his truck.
“It just seems overkill to keep buying all this equipment and spending so much time away from the territory when you have a house here,” Vic said, gesturing to his new home.
Tabian tossed Bayen’s tent and backpack into the back seat. “Noted.”
“It’s just strange is all I’m saying, man.
“Um, Tabian’s a pro,” Bay said in a confused voice.
“Ready?” Tabian asked Tru and Bayen in a rush. “Let’s load up.”
Tru and Bayen stood there awkwardly, and then Tru nodded. “It was nice to meet you Vic the Hamster sweater knitter.”
“Hey, maybe sometime if I come back here can you tell me more about being shot in the face?” Bay asked.
“Bay,” she gritted out in warning.
“What? Scars are cool, right? His scars look crazy.”
“My lady likes them,” Vic said smugly. “And yes, I’ll tell you everything about that day, and you will think I’m ten times cooler than Tabian, and you will want to hang out with only me, and you will realize how lame Tabian and his little camping trips are.”
“Are you competing with me?” Tabian asked, opening the passenger side door for Tru.
“There is no competition,” Vic assured them. “Of course teenagers would find me more awesome than you.”
Tabian snorted and shook his head as he helped Tru up. She was laughing. These boys were clearly friends, but the banter was also entertaining. Guys were strange with their love languages. It was mostly just them insulting each other.
Bayen climbed into the back seat behind her chair, surrounded by supplies, leaning a pillow she’d brought for him against the window.
“That dude is kind of funny,” he said.
“Don’t tell him that,” Tabian said as he climbed behind the wheel. “His ego is big enough.”
“Does he really knit hamster sweaters or was he just messing with me?” Bay asked.
“Oh, no, he really knits them. I’ll bring you to Bingo one of these weeks. He brings Erline in a new sweater every time for good luck.”
Bay huffed a little laugh, and it filled Tru with such a deep well of relief. He’d been so unhappy and on edge lately. It did her heart well to see and hear him relax.
“How was your day at school?” she asked him as Tabian drove them out of Rogue Pack territory.
“Very schooly.”
Tabian cast him a hard glance in the rearview mirror. “You gonna tell her?”
“Nope,” Bayen muttered.
“Why not? It’s awesome.”
“Same reason you are hiding your channel from your Pack.”
Tabian clenched his jaw and looked ahead at the winding road.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” Bayen asked.
“They won’t understand,” Tabian remarked.
“They’re going to figure it out at some point. You have millions of views.”
“Nah. They’re all terrible at the internet.”
“Why don’t you want them to know?” Tru asked.
Tabian relaxed back into his seat and sighed, pulled to a stop at the main road and looked over at her.
“I started it out as just something for me. I created this little world that I can have just for myself, and I know what those guys will do. They’ll never stop giving me hell for it.
” Tabian shrugged. “It’s just nice to get away from my Pack world and disappear into this one. ”
Okay. Tru reached across and squeezed his hand. “That’s understandable.”
“That Vic dude is going to figure it out,” Bay said, typing away on his phone.
“Bay got a girl’s number today,” Tabian said.
“What?” Tru blurted out, twisting in her seat to look at her stepson.
“Thanks a lot,” he muttered with a glare for Tabian.
“A human girl?” she asked.
“Are you judging?” he asked.
“Good Lord, Bayen. Let me ask questions. You are offering me nothing and I’m excited for you. Explain or I will keep asking questions.”
Bayen heaved another sigh and pulled the new drone box off the top of the supply pile in the seats next to him. He began opening the box, and nonchalantly said, “She’s human. She’s cute. She doesn’t seem repulsed by me, so that’s a plus. Anything else?”
“Is she nice?”
He pursed his lips and looked thoughtful.
“I have her in statistics. She sits at the back of the class a couple tables over from me. She seems quiet but she smiles a lot, and in the hallways, she laughs a lot with her friends, but I never hear her laughing at other people. If that makes sense. I like her laugh.”
Tru glanced at Tabian and back at Bay. “She sounds cool.”
“Don’t say ‘cool.’ It ages you.”
“She sounds rizz. Drippy-drip, no cap.”
“That’s not at all how you use any of those terms,” Bay said with a disgusted look as he put earphones into his ears.
“Bruh.”
“Stop,” he gritted out. She saw it though. He was fighting a smile.
Tabian squeezed her hand and held it, and whooo that man gave her butterflies. The more he touched her, the more she grew comfortable.
Zane hadn’t liked affection, and had always flinched away from her touch, and she hadn’t realized how much damage that had done until she felt hesitant touching Tabian at first, as if she would get in trouble or make him uncomfortable. He seemed to like affection though.
As if he could read her mind, he pulled her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss there, then settled her hand on her thigh and held it there, driving with one hand.
A thrill of excitement and happiness washed through her and she closed her eyes and smiled at the sensation.
He was bringing her back to life. Even if Bay was making barfing sounds from the back seat, no one could take away from the relief and joy and excitement she felt at doing an adventure with her guys.
Did Tabian realize he was healing her with each comforting thing he did?