Chapter 31 #2
“Working things out.” Dorian captured my hand as he walked beside me while I balanced on the imaginary line between their territories. “Please don’t be angry.”
“I’m not.” I sighed, stopping in my tracks. Where I stood, I was neither a part of Volk nor Bailey Pack, and if that wasn’t poetic irony, I didn’t know what was.
I like poetry.
I smiled at my own beast and then bestowed that smile on my boys who were waiting for me to speak.
“Dorian needs to go to his meeting.” I pressed up onto my tiptoes to kiss his rough cheek. “And I need to meet Volk Pack.” I took Atlas’s hand. “And the two of you need to stop pissing on each other’s feet long enough to make this work.”
*
Gray clouds tinted the morning. I tried hard to push them away as Atlas and I walked in silence down the dirt road. Being with him helped to quiet my racing thoughts and his hand in mine was a steady anchor to the real world. I hated myself for not being able to enjoy it fully.
The road crested a hill and dipped into a valley.
The sight of what lay below stole my breath away.
Open sky and fat white clouds parted to let the morning sun shine through.
A large ranch and fences took up the back of the valley, overlooking a few roads lined with the cutest log cabins and a giant red barn.
Up in front of us was a main strip of not more than fifteen or so businesses and boutiques with western-themed architecture on a cobblestone street. Just a cute little town hidden in the oasis of the mountains.
I held tighter to Atlas’s hand as I asked, “This is it?”
A boyish smile lit up his face and he watched his feet as we walked. “Do you like it?”
“I love it,” I gushed. “It’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. This is like something from a fairy tale.”
“Welcome home, Luna.”
Atlas swept me off my feet despite my laughing protests, carrying me toward the town.
He called you Luna. My wolf preened.
I didn’t bother to remind her that we still weren’t technically the Luna yet.
If I thought Volk Pack would be quiet like Atlas, I was dead wrong. Children’s laughter and women’s voices grew louder the closer we got to the main strip. And then, there were wolf shifter pups everywhere.
Atlas had to set me down to accommodate all the pups that wanted to climb on him.
A quiet sort of pride and longing filled me as he tossed pups into the air, intercepting the few that tried to bulldoze me over.
It was chaos. The good kind. Filled with giggles and love.
Little girls told me how pretty I was and a team of boys stuck out their tongues until Atlas sent them scurrying. I couldn’t help but laugh.
They sure raised them big here.
I glanced at Atlas’s broad shoulders and back, appreciating that fact.
“Alright, run along now.” Atlas tried to shoo the pups away with a growl.
They ignored him as a group of girls grabbed my hands, dragging me from my mate.
“I knew it.” I turned to look at him over my shoulder.
“Knew what?” He hurried to catch up.
“That you were nothing but a giant teddy bear.” I stuck out my tongue at him, which probably wasn’t the best way to meet my future pack as I rounded the corner, coming face to face with what felt like the whole town.
The main strip was something out of a Hallmark movie, with hand-scripted chalk signs out front of each business and flowers hanging from lantern poles. Even the little schoolyard up ahead had a real bronze bell.
The pack had all gathered on the sidewalks as if they’d heard us coming. Without Atlas’s mark, I had no connection to them as Luna, so I didn’t blame them for looking at me like I was strange.
Or it might’ve been because I still had my tongue pressed between my teeth as I was dragged by pups down the main sidewalk.
“Did she call you a teddy bear, Alpha?” An elderly female dam stepped outside of the cafe, bearing her weight on a cane as she sized me up.
Oh no, not this again.
I could feel it. The judgment. The criticism.
Freak. Bitch. Weak.
I smiled brighter, intending to introduce myself and clear up any misunderstanding, when the old dam cracked a toothy smile.
“Our new Luna already figured out all our secrets.” She winked at me. “Now you’ve got to keep them too.”
I mimed zipping my lips.
Laughter came next, followed by the warmest greeting. The pups took it upon themselves to show me off to their moms, who in turn showed me shops and stores and spilled more pack stories. I was hugged until I was dizzy and yanked around until my feet ached.
Not everyone came on as strong. A few women who worked at the florist and market only gave me tight-lipped nods of respect. I didn’t press, giving them their distance as I catalogued a few emotions I wished they didn’t feel. But I didn’t sense a mean bone in the whole bunch.
Lucky. That’s what we are.
Or it’s all too good to be true.
I tried not to let my thoughts dampen the introduction to the pack. They seemed to be having so much fun sharing bits of themselves that I did my best to be present and soak every moment of it up.
It was almost noon when I crashed into Atlas’s waiting arms.
“They love you.” He scooped me off my tired feet and breathed in my scent. “I knew they would.”
“Careful,” I teased. “Your teddy bear side is showing.”
“More like a grizzly bear,” Atlas grumbled, but he wasn’t fooling anyone.
Being in his arms let the weight of the day catch up to me. It was a lot, going from the quiet of my life to Bailey Pack and now this.
I rested my head against his chest and sighed. “Say, don’t you want to show me your bedroom too?”
His growl did sound more like a grizzly bear as he turned, hurrying away from his pack. “I thought you’d never ask.”