Chapter Nine Ren #3
Maybe that wasn’t only a figment of the authors’ imaginations.
Of course, in our case, being mates had something to do with it, but I wasn’t sure anymore that the mate bond was the only thing behind how I felt.
“Ren?” Xavier tugged my hand, pulling me closer to him. “Please dance with me. I have to stay on duty, but I can spare a couple of minutes for this. Everyone here is a friend and ally, and there’s no danger to the Anax.”
So we danced. Body to body, his arms over my shoulders, mine around his waist.
Swaying slowly, not moving our feet, which was fine because I probably would have tripped over him.
The music wrapped around us, or maybe that was our bond.
Something pulled us together, embracing us the way we embraced each other.
This was where I was meant to be. Moving sort of to the music in Xavier’s arms on a bright green lawn under brilliant, hot sunlight, surrounded by people who accepted me if for no other reason than that the Anax accepted me, and they had to do what the Anax said.
That wasn’t the only cause of their acceptance, though.
I saw it in the smiles people cast toward Xavier and me.
Felt it in the friendly way they spoke after the song ended and Xavier and I resumed wandering the yard.
Beside my mate, under his protection, I was as much a part of this group as anyone.
I didn’t know if it would last. I prayed it would.
Most of the wedding guests left that evening, including Quinn, who made a point of coming over to talk to me as he and Malachi were saying their goodbyes.
“I’m glad I had a chance to meet you,” Quinn said.
“Keep in touch, yeah? It’s good to have friends in this world, and I’d like for us to be friends.”
He waved toward the house. “The werewolf world, but the actual world, too. Especially people who get that your life isn’t instantly better just because you find a safe place to land.”
“That’s for damn sure.” I studied him. Something about him was soothing but powerful at the same time, and I couldn’t begin to identify it. “I’m glad to meet you, too. You’re going to be part of that Virtual Haven thing, right?”
“Yeah, absolutely, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my coursework.” He grinned as I looked confused. “University. I was changed partway through my third year. I’m going back to finish undergrad, and then hopefully going on to veterinary school.”
“Wow.” That was something I’d never even considered. “They let you—us—do that?”
“I have an in with the Anax of Canada.” He nodded toward that Anax, who was talking to our Anax and Kyle.
“Malachi and I aren’t part of a pack. The island that we live on is our territory, officially, and we have permission to travel freely into or through the territory of the neighboring pack because otherwise we’d never be able to leave home. Going anywhere else, though,
requires jumping through some hoops, and that includes me going to university in Prince Edward Island. We live in Nova Scotia. So Silas is helping to make it happen.”
“Oh.” I vaguely recognized the names of a couple of the Canadian provinces and was kind of proud of myself for remembering that they were even called provinces.
School hadn’t been something that really held my attention, and it had been a long time since anything other than survival had mattered to me.
“Boy, are you talking his ear off?” Malachi walked over to join us. “Ren, it was nice to meet you.”
“You too.” I stood up a little straighter. Malachi was very formal, and something about him made me want to be too. “Quinn wasn’t talking my ear off.” I touched both ears. “They’re still there.”
Both of them laughed. Quinn and I exchanged phone numbers, and Malachi led him away toward the airstrip. I stood there for a minute processing the concept of having a friend who wanted to stay in touch with me.
As darkness fell and more guests left, Xavier rested his hand on my shoulder. “Are you tired? Tomorrow we go back to the Anax’s other house. It won’t be hectic, but the Anax might want to get an early start.”
“Oh.” We would be leaving this place. I’d known that, but I was just getting used to being here.
Now I would have to get used to a completely different house in a completely different area.
A noisier one, from what Xavier had told me.
Directly across a harbor from Boston itself.
With planes taking off overhead constantly, because Logan Airport was right on the other side of the harbor.
“It’ll be all right, Ren,” Xavier said quietly. “You’re one of the Anax’s wolves now. He’ll do everything he can to make sure you’re settled. So will I.”
“Thanks.” I pressed my lips together. “It’s getting late.”
“It is.” He smiled down at me. “We can go upstairs. Assuming you want me to sleep in your room again tonight. I don’t have to.”
“I want you to,” I blurted before he completely finished speaking. “I’ll sleep better with you there.”
“Then let’s go.”
We said good night to the Anax and Kyle and everyone else who was there, and Xavier led me to my room. Which wouldn’t be my room after tonight. Maybe if I asked the Anax, he would let me stay here. A caretaker, sort of. I could keep sleeping in this little room that felt so safe to me.
Except the Anax and everyone else would be gone, and I’d be alone here. Vulnerable to whoever came along and decided to cause problems. Without my mate.
“There’s a room similar to this at the other house.” Xavier closed the door. “Small. A one-person room, though like this one, the bed is big enough for two. It was Quinn’s room when he worked for the Anax. No one’s used it since he left. The Anax probably wouldn’t mind if you took it.”
“What’s between him and Quinn?” That was none of my business, but it distracted me from worrying. “The Anax acts different with him.”
“He took Quinn in after the kid watched half his pack, including his lover, get massacred by members of another pack.” He sat on the edge of the bed and held out his hands.
Stunned, more by how calmly and bluntly he’d spoken than what he’d said, I just stood there. “That’s horrible!”
Xavier nodded. “I wasn’t working for the Anax yet, so I don’t know the whole story. But one of the wolves responsible for the massacre was the one who changed Quinn. And abused him, along with other members of that pack. Quinn went through hell and beyond,
survived the massacre only because his lover was the pack Beta and used compulsion to force Quinn to run away, and then Quinn had the wits to find his lover’s phone and call the Anax while he was still standing in the aftermath.”
“Holy fuck.” I couldn’t imagine. I’d been through my own hell, but nothing like Quinn. And he’d seemed so happy. So much at peace, especially with his mate beside him. “I wouldn’t have known anything so awful happened to him.”
“He gets help.” Xavier grimaced. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you that. But he does. Being with Malachi helps him too. Doesn’t mean he isn’t still dealing with all of that. It still gets to him sometimes. The Anax has stuff that gets to him, too.
I think Quinn reminds him of himself in some ways. They were close until Quinn left. Not romantic or anything. More like brothers. There was a…we’ll call it a rift between the two of them for a while, but the Anax is trying to repair it now.”
“And now he has another stray he’s taken in.” I sank onto the bed beside him, still not taking his hands. “Fuck. I’m Quinn’s replacement goldfish.”