Chapter 24 #2
Nix nodded in agreement. “When Gray took care of the wolves threatening me, it was…” He paused, eyes locking with mine even as tears welled up in them.
“At one point, it all comes crashing down. Your body and mind have been in survival mode for months now, and that takes a toll. That’s okay.
You are allowed to be tired. To be exhausted.
You’re allowed to be fucking done and angry and hurt and happy all at once.
” Nix swallowed, his lips pressed into a thin white line as his eyes got shiny.
“No one expects you to be fine after what you endured, okay? This pack—” He cleared his throat.
“We will support you. No matter what, or how long it takes.” He hugged Connie again, and the teen clung to my mate.
“The next time you doubt that you did anything, think about this: without you, Callum would still be a… a slave. Without you, we wouldn’t even have known about him. ”
Fuck.
The mage.
I rubbed a hand over my face. I’d forgotten all about him.
Shit.
Everything in me protested as I turned my head away from my mate and searched for the unknown mage.
Oak was standing next to me, watching Nix and Connie like a hawk, a smile tugging at his lips. He turned to me and winked. “I hope you have room for two teenagers,” he whispered, low enough that no one else but me and Rhett could hear him.
Rhett snorted, but I only blinked at Oakley.
What? As if Connie, the pup we’d just saved from his old Alpha, would want to move in with his new Alpha.
Besides, what teenager voluntarily moved in with adults if they could stay at the packhouse instead?
I got—and denied—requests from underage teenagers who officially wanted to move into the packhouse all the time.
My wolf, on the other hand, puffed out his chest, pride washing through me as his eyes darted back to Nix, who was still hugging and reassuring Connie.
Maybe…
No. I shook my head. Not happening.
I turned around, searching for the rest of my packmates. Heath and Angelo weren’t far away, and there was a third signature. The scent of ozone, the static right before a storm. Familiar and foreign all at once.
Rounding the truck, I furrowed my brow as I found my two pack members still sitting in the bed of the truck, a slender man tucked between them.
Maim, my wolf growled when I first laid eyes on him, and I internally flinched at the rage that was bubbling up inside me. It took a second for his state to fully register with me, and then I was with my wolf.
We should’ve fucking killed that piss-poor excuse of a wolf!
Yes, turn around. Kill.
I wanted to. Oh damn, I so wanted to do just that. That asshole didn’t deserve to keep breathing.
The mage’s neck was rubbed raw, scars littering his throat, forming a fucking collar themselves. Wary eyes spotted me as I rounded the truck. His hands balled into fists against the metal truck bed, and he squirmed, his throat working, Adam’s apple bobbing.
A sour scent wafted over.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I needed to calm the fuck down, but how was I supposed to be calm if all I wanted was to go back and kill the bastard who’d done this to another human being?
I swallowed a mouthful of bile and tried the deep breaths again.
The mage kept eyeing me warily. His scent told me he was afraid, but his face showed nothing but bone-deep tiredness, which was probably the reason he was still sitting and not making any attempts to get up at all.
He could fight me. He could get up. He could run. Yet he was sitting between Angelo and Heath, his eyes tracking my every movement but otherwise completely still.
“Hi,” I said, climbing into the bed of the truck.
I quickly sat down, so I was on an eye-to-eye level with the mage.
“I’m Grayson, the Alpha of a pack called Cedarwood.
This—” I made a broad gesture that encompassed all my pack members.
“Is part of my pack. My mate probably already invited you to stay with us, but I’d like to formally extend an invitation too.
We’d love to have you stay with us in Cedarwood for as long as you want. ”
I held out my hand, giving him what I hoped was a friendly smile.
Callum’s throat worked, eyes darting to me, to Heath and Angelo, then further, searching for something.
My smile widened. I felt Nix rounding the truck before I saw him, his demeanour purposely easygoing as he dropped into my lap and leaned against me.
Closing his eyes, he let out a sigh. “I was so worried about you,” he whispered, nuzzling his face into my neck.
I smiled down at him, then looked at Callum again.
His eyes were wide as he watched Nix, whose hands roamed over my shoulder and my side, checking the exact spots the knife had sliced through my flesh.
Slowly, the other mage extended his hand and shook mine. His handshake had barely any pressure behind it, and he kept staring at our hands as if he couldn’t believe he was actually doing this, so I kept it short.
“You’re okay with coming home with us?” I checked.
The mage blinked. “Is it a choice?”
Nix finished my checkup, apparently satisfied when he couldn’t find a scratch on me, and turned to Callum.
“Everything you do from here on out is your choice,” he said, leaning forward.
“You are your own person. You make your own decisions. I’d love for you to come with us and take time to recover—both physically and mentally.
But you don’t have to. We wanted to free you, and we did that.
You are free. It’s hard to believe, but you really are. ”
Callum swallowed, his throat bobbing, once again drawing attention to his red and swollen neck. Immediately, anger bubbled up inside me again. Nix squeezed my thigh and pulled my arms around him.
“I… can I think about it? What I want?”
I nodded. “Of course. But we need to get going. We made sure no one was following us, but at some point, they’ll realize you’re gone, and I’d like to be as close to our own territory as possible when that happens.”
Callum nodded, biting his lip, uncertainty replacing the tiredness on his face.
Nix looked at me and winked, then turned to Callum and held out his hand.
“Why don’t you come with me? I don’t know how you feel, but I for one want to actually sit in a car for the rest of the drive. My ass is fucking numb from the vibrations.”
The barest hint of a smile flashed over Callum’s face before it settled back into uncertainty, but he got up and gave a quick nod.
“Okay.” The word was spoken so softly I almost missed it.
Nix didn’t. A grin split his whole face, and he jumped to his feet.
“Great. Rhett and I already went over the seating arrangement. You’ll be in this truck with me, Gray, Connie, and Rhett, Gray’s second in command.
Oak, who you’ll meet soon and is the biggest softie there is—he’s the one in charge of all things social in the pack, so he’s probably gonna be your welcoming committee—will switch to Paul’s car, as will those two lugs here.
Oh… you’re probably wondering who Paul is… ”
The more Nix talked, the less Callum smelled of fear. I watched my mate in awe as he chatted to Callum all the way out of the bed of the truck until they were both firmly seated in the cab, my mouth hanging open. Since when did Nix talk so much?
“He’s doing a Levi,” Rhett said, walking up next to me.
“Huh?”
“Nix,” Rhett said, nodding at my mate. “He’s imitating Levi.
You know, Levi starts rambling when he’s nervous.
It’s adorable, and his viewers love it almost as much as I do.
Anyway, Levi told me that when Nix used to clam up, he’d start to ramble and it’d put Nix at ease…
I think Nix is trying the same tactic with Callum. And it’s working.”
I looked at the tinted windows that were hiding Nix, Connie, and Callum from view, but I could still feel Nix. Could feel his fury warring with relief. His tiredness with excitement. And underneath it all, worry.
My muscles ached as I pushed to my feet, but I ignored it. I’d be sore for a while. The fight might not have lasted that long, but a real fight always took a toll. It had one tense and on edge in a way that no training exercise could.
Angelo and Heath climbed to their feet too and hopped off the truck, both giving me short nods. I clasped their shoulders and offered them a smile.
“Good job,” I told them. “You did well. And thank you for keeping my mate safe.”
“It was an honour, Alpha,” Heath answered, the sentence sounding like an automatic response. Angelo rolled his eyes and elbowed him.
“Dude. You sound like a robot.”
Heath tensed, shaking his head. “Yeah. Sorry. I really didn’t care for the atmosphere in that pack.
” He gave me an apologetic look. “I mean it, though. I didn’t expect you to send me in when I was vocal about my doubts.
” His jaw was set, the muscle ticking as if he had to keep himself from saying more, the stoic, almost petulant set of his jaw reminding me of the way he’d held himself when he first arrived.
I squeezed his shoulder again, waiting for him to meet my eyes. “I don’t blame you for critical thinking. But I hope you realize why I had to take the risk.”
Heath swallowed, eyes darting over to where Callum sat. “I do now.”
“That’s all I ask.” I gave his shoulder one last squeeze and waited until his muscles relaxed before I let go. “We’re gonna debrief tomorrow afternoon. It’ll be past midnight before we’re home, so… sleep in.”
I certainly planned to—with my mate in my arms and no more threats hanging over our head.