Chapter 46 Hazard
Hazard
I follow just behind Casey, ready to kill anything that upsets her, even the smallest bug, whatever she wants.
“Mika, it’s fine, relax.”
I take her hand, and she turns, touching her lips to mine, and before I can even register it, she’s turned away, back to the cabin.
We all know why we’re back here. The mountain where we lived doesn’t feel like home anymore. We’ve gone to several places over the last twelve months, but there is only one place we keep coming back to.
She puts her hand on the cabin door and pushes it open.
It looks exactly the same. Like we walked out yesterday and not almost two years ago.
Casey lets out a small sound, and I know we’re home.
Of all of us, Wrath had been the most against coming back here, but once our families agreed to relocate with us, he relaxed.
Finally finding foster packs for the children of Pack Foster and getting them out of our pack helped as well.
It had taken a while to find them all safe places.
I am grateful that none of the children were there that night, but they don’t look at Casey and see the omega we love, they see the feral wolf to be feared, so getting them gone had been my number one priority, and now I feel like I can breathe.
“So, this is home?”
Casey inhales and exhales. “Yes, this is home. Mika, Drew, Riordan, Hudson, Kerrick. We’re home.”
My omega smiles, and it reaches her eyes.
She’s come a long way from the omega we found in the pit, but she’s different now, too.
She’s colder to strangers and defensive.
Sometimes she retreats into the wolf for days.
We sit with her and wait until she’s ready to come back, but I know we all just want to help her feel safe again.
“I promised when we were finally free I would call you by your true names.”
I’d forgotten she had made that promise.
“I think free is a state of mind, too, and it feels free here. We could be happy here. I love you, Mika, and you know I adore you, Drew. Riordan, you take my breath away. Hudson, I don’t know how to be me without you. Kerrick, you are my everything.”
“So sappy,” Riot teases, but I can tell he’s pleased.
She takes a step, but I catch up her hand and pull her to me. She jumps up, wrapping her legs around my waist.
“Thank you for bringing me home, Hazard.”
I let out a mock growl. “Mika,” I remind her unnecessarily. “I am your Mika.”
“You are my Mika, my Hazard, my everything.”
The warmth that expands in me when her meaning presses into me has me lost for words, so instead I kiss her, our lips lingering.
“Enough of that. Let’s unpack. The sooner it’s all in there, the sooner we can go for a run.”
“You just want to fuck in that meadow we found.”
“No regrets,” Riot says over his shoulder.
“Mmm, we should start in the bathroom,” Wrath whispers as I set Casey down.
“Why the bathroom?” I ask. “What happened in the bathroom, Huddy?”
“Don’t call me that, Mikie!” Wrath says over his shoulder.
Angel catches Casey and pulls her to his chest. He’s never going to be the wolf he was, but he’s found a semblance of peace. In that they are mirrors of each other.
We all have found that peace, and it’s her. Not that she believes us.
After we beat Pack Foster, home wasn’t home.
Khaos started slipping away from us mentally.
The grief and guilt couldn’t be contained, and being there was just compounding the memories for him.
Our people looked at him, and I knew he was thinking and wondering if they thought he was going to turn out like his father.
It was Riot who demanded we leave and find somewhere else. We travelled, but we just kept heading south until the familiar mountain came into view.
Riot’s whole argument was that Khaos could be alpha anywhere; he didn’t need to do it anywhere he didn’t feel safe.
So, we left, making the single best decision, because home was affecting all of us, and I don’t think any of us realised how impactful being there and trying to live in those memories was.
I sent an email back and told my dad where we were heading as soon as I figured it out.
I probably shouldn’t have, but getting the text three weeks ago saying the pack had packed up and moved into town had stunned me speechless.
They’d apparently bought a whole heap of houses, and instead of living on pack lands, our pack has decided to integrate with the town.
I’d gone straight to Wrath, and we’d decided to hold off on sharing until the right moment.
I inhale the scent of menthol and laugh. This place holds so many good memories for me now. I love it.
The memory comes back, dark and bitter. Those long months waiting, not knowing if she was alive or dead.
Khaos puts a heavy hand on my shoulder. “We’ve taken care of it. We won’t let it happen ever again.”
The first thing Khaos had done as alpha supreme was to summon alphas and betas who were skilled in fighting, mediation, perceptiveness, and charm.
He’d issued them with a decree that had effectively given them the rights to go through the packs and assess them for being corrupt.
He said he didn’t want to hear about another omega dying or suffering like our mate has.
“Of course, we won’t.” I force a smile, and he relaxes.
Being alpha isn’t something Khaos ever wanted, but maybe that’s what’s going to make him the best alpha.
Reigning with an omega and four other alphas is unheard of, but the packs have embraced us wherever we have gone. They love Casey and Khaos. Riot and I charm them over, and the quiet awe they regard Wrath and Angel with is amusing.
I kick off my clothes. “Let’s have sex!”
Casey bursts out laughing.
“No!” Riot snaps. “We’re unloading the car.”
I nod my head, listening to him intently. “It is a very, very important job.”
I snatch up Casey, turn, and bolt out of the cabin, laughing hysterically as I run.
She laughs with me, and then harder when we both hear Riot and Wrath curse. Surprisingly, it’s Angel who catches up with us first, tripping me. I lay on my back, whining like I’m injured, then shift and roll around on my back, wiggling like crazy through the long grass.
“You are so undignified,” Wrath says and folds his arms over his chest.
I look up at him and do the biggest, saddest wolfy eyes.
“No! Unpacking-”
I whimper.
Casey joins me.
I wink at her, and her tongue lolls out of her mouth, exactly the same way I do mine.
We sit beside each other, wiggling with excitement and whimpering, until Khaos bursts out laughing.
“Let’s go!”
YES!
I bolt after our alpha, Casey by my side and my brother on the other.
Riot and Wrath catch up, and then we are running through forests of dappled light, valleys of wildflowers, and the most perfect place on Earth with the most perfect mate on Earth.
The bond between us dances in the air.
Shimmering with happiness.
Together, like I promised.
Because the vows of wolves are forever.