Chapter 14 #3
“Ohh, don’t be so sure about that,” I said, rolling my eyes as I thought back to last spring and a two-month period in which two neighbours had been at war. “Remember Mrs. Connelly and Mr. Sutton?”
Oakley shuddered. “Forgot all about them. I’m so glad they’re not shifters and thus not my problem. I can only imagine playing mediator for them.”
I opened the door to my office and nodded.
“Anyway, you talked to Nick and Connie? I want to check in with them later.”
“Yeah.” Oak nodded, a smile creeping onto his face, the apples of his cheeks glowing. “I introduced them to Danny, Farah, and the lot about an hour ago. They’ve been in the gaming room ever since.”
“That’s good.” I nodded, then sat behind my desk, remembering Nix’s wide eyes as he took everything in last night. My heart dropped, chest aching. He was so close, yet felt so far away, our bond pulling at me, my wolf urging me to give in to the pull.
We’re the Alpha, I told him firmly. We have responsibilities.
He huffed in annoyance. Because yeah, when Rhett had found his mate, I’d told him to take time off.
To delegate. The problem was, as an Alpha, that wasn’t something I could easily do.
Especially now, with two pups seeking refuge and a whole different pack trying to get their disgusting paws on my mage.
“How are they holding up?”
Oak took a minute to think about that. He was good at reading people, his intuition far surpassing mine. Then again, he’d studied psychology. Reading people was kind of his job.
“As well as can be expected. They’re shaken but strong. I think it’s good that they can lean on each other, but we need to be careful about not writing them off as basically adults. No matter how mature they behave, they’re not. They’re kids, and they went through quite a lot of trauma.”
I nodded grimly. “They almost died.”
“They were almost murdered, yes.” Oak nodded, running a hand through his dark hair. “They need support to work through that. I also suggested finding foster families for them, but they don’t appear interested.”
I’d gotten the same impression. “Do I honour their wishes?”
Oak nodded. “For the moment? Yes, definitely. I imagine that the pain of losing their families is still fresh, especially for Nick. Conrad, on the other hand, might not be willing to trust a family after suffering abuse from his own.”
Nix’s face came to my mind, the distrust written all over his skin, his blue eyes haunted as he was slowly creeping away from me.
I sighed.
“Thinking about that mage of yours?” Oakley asked with barely concealed interest.
“He’s not my…”
He laughed, his eyes sparkling as he leaned back in his chair.
“Gray. Buddy. How long have we known each other?”
I grumbled. “Thirty-two years.”
“Right. I’ve known you since you were born. I was your babysitter. You can lie to me if you want to, but everyone saw it.”
“Everyone?”
“Well, everyone in the meeting last night. You held his hand, buddy.” Oak snorted. “Doesn’t get more obvious than that.”
I sighed. “It’s not like I want to keep it a secret forever.”
Oakley nodded. “But your mate gets spooked easily, and you’re afraid that the pack hounding him would be too much?”
“Yes. You heard a bit of what he’s been through. He’s traumatized.”
“He is. But he trusts you. Or rather, he’s starting to. Your mate bond really helps things along. Be there for him.”
Yeah, he had trusted me. Until I’d gone off the rails after seeing those stupid stolen items. Hell, I didn’t even fucking care about them.
A camping cooker and a carton of protein bars?
A couple of cans of soup and beans? I could easily pay for that.
He hadn’t been stealing for fun. He’d stolen the bare necessities to survive.
I wished he’d come to me instead. I wished he’d had enough faith in me to know I’d protect him.
There was a knock on the door, and Paul entered, a huge grin on his face as he held out a box. “I come bearing bear paws.”
My stomach rumbled, the heavenly scent of sugar and freshly baked goods hitting my nose.
“Just what I need.”
Paul laughed, and the freckles on his cheeks appeared to dance as he scrunched up his nose. “Yeah, I thought this might make the bitter pill a bit easier to swallow.”
“Conrad?”
He nodded.
“I’m afraid things aren’t going to be easy with him.
I made contact with the council, though, and I’m in the process of finding a lawyer.
Hey, Gray, can we like, send one of our pups to law school?
We could use a pack lawyer.” Paul looked at me, his yellow eyes wide and pleading, but they were dancing with laughter.
I shrugged. “If someone volunteers. However, for us to give them a scholarship or a grant or whatever, they’d probably need to sign something to say they’ll study shifter laws too.”
“It’s still a good deal. Anyway, that’s not the topic. Go ahead and get that sugar high; we’re gonna need it.”
I sighed as I grabbed one of the sugary treats, even though it now had a bitter taste to it.
“Okay. Give it to me. How screwed are we?”