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26

REMY

S leeping was impossible after Skye hung up. My mind was too busy twisting all the possible ways she could still be hurt while I was here, powerless to protect her.

The agitation and frustration ate at me until my wolf took over, pushing us from my bed and out the back door where I shifted and ran into the woods.

I took a long route, running down the mountain and around the edge of town. I passed by several groups heading out to relieve the overnight border patrols as I started back. By the time I returned to the house, the sun had risen, and I could smell the scent of breakfast starting in the kitchen.

I shifted back on the desk, sliding back into my sweatpants before opening the backdoor.

“Hey,” I said, greeting Rhodes, who stood over the stove.

He nodded at me, frowning at the food in front of him.

“Larkin making you cook for a change?” I smirked, heading for the refrigerator and pulling out a bottle of water.

His lips curved into a half-grin. “Skye called. Katy and Larkin are on the phone with her in the other room.”

I nodded, downing all the water in the bottle in one go.

Rhodes set the spatula down he was using on the eggs and turned to me. “What had you up so early?”

“Skye,” I admitted, sitting on the barstool across from him as Sam stumbled into the kitchen.

He made a barely intelligible grunt and headed straight for the coffee pot.

Rhodes shot me a concerned look. “Everything okay with her?”

“The storm cleared out, so they’re planning on leaving tomorrow,” I answered, crinkling the plastic of the bottle in my hands.

He blinked in surprise before a wide grin spread across his face. “That’s awesome.”

I nodded. “Yeah, except she also told me Norwood managed to get a spy into her dad’s pack.”

Fury twisted my beta’s features. “The fuck?”

“That’s messed up,” Sam seethed, his blue eyes narrowing in a way that looked a lot like our dad’s.

“Her dad handled it,” I replied, trying to ignore the residual bitterness of not being able to protect her myself. “But it has me on edge. I hate that she’s all the way over there and I’m all the way over here. I feel so damn useless.”

Sam clapped a comforting hand on my shoulder as he slipped on to the seat beside me. “She’s okay, though, right?”

“Yeah.”

Rhodes turned back to the stove with a hard sigh, shaking his head. “At least she’ll be back soon.”

“She isn’t coming alone,” I told him, drumming my fingers on the edge of the counter.

He slowly turned back to me, eyebrows raised. “Excuse me?”

“Her dad is coming. Apparently he hates Norwood as much as we do. He offered to help.”

Rhodes’s eyes narrowed and he shook his hair out of his eyes. “You think that’s a good idea?”

I sighed quietly, rolling my shoulders to work the tension out. “Skye trusts him. I trust her.”

“Okay,” Rhodes agreed. And that was it. Rhodes would back whatever play Skye and I made.

“If Skye trusts him, that says a lot,” Sam mumbled, still nursing his coffee cup as his bleary eyes became more focused.

I watched him carefully, wondering if it might be time to get him to lay off the caffeine addiction.

Sam cleared his throat and set the mug down. “Skye doesn’t trust people. If her gut says we can trust him, that means a lot.”

He was right. Skye didn’t trust a lot of people. I didn’t know of anyone, besides her mom and Tate, that she trusted that wasn’t currently living in this house with me. The number of people Skye would let herself rely on could be counted on my fingers.

The fact that she trusted Nikolai was huge.

I just hoped like hell he didn’t disappoint her.

It would be awkward as hell to have to dismember my future father-in-law.

Katy and Larkin entered the kitchen as Dante and Ryder came down the back stairs.

Larkin practically skipped to Rhodes, plucking spatula from his fingers and sliding between him and the stove. She kissed his lips quickly with a bright smile.

“Skye’s coming home,” she announced with a smile, her eyes sparkling.

Instead of moving back to let her work, Rhodes wrapped his arms around Larkin’s waist, burying his face against her neck until she was laughing and trying to get away.

Ryder sat down next to Sam as Dante went to fill out their coffee mugs.

“Where’s Dax?” Katy demanded, looking around until her eyes landed on his twin.

“Sleeping,” Sam muttered.

Katy looked at the clock on the microwave. She planted her hands on her hips in exasperation. “You guys have school in less than thirty minutes.”

Sam gave her a slow blink. “I’m up.”

“Fine,” Katy snapped, pressing her lips together. “I’ll wake him up.”

She started for the stairs, but spun around, went to the sink and filled up a glass of water before marching back to the stairs.

Dante chuckled as he handed Ryder his drink, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend’s chest and pulling him back until Ryder’s back was pressed to his front.

Seconds later we heard Dax bellow, followed by Katy shouting and a door slamming.

Katy hurried down the stairs a second later, ignoring the looks we were all throwing her way as she put the now empty glass in the sink.

“Was that really the best way to handle it?” I ask dryly, shaking my head.

She flashed me a smile I knew not to touch. “It was that or the coffee.”

“Not the coffee,” Ryder moaned, protectively encircling his mug in his tattooed hands.

“He’s right, Kit-Kat,” Rhodes said, finally lifting his head from Larkin’s shoulder with a frown. “Coffee is sacred.”

“Agreed,” she chirped. “Hence why I went with water.” Her eyes narrowed at Sam. “Are you showering on your own, or should I refill the glass?”

Sighing, Sam got off the stool and headed for the stairs with his coffee.

“I need the sausage,” Larkin told Rhodes, glancing over her shoulder at him.

Grinning, he whispered something in her ear I couldn’t hear. Judging by the way Larkin suddenly turned bright red, I had an idea.

Rhodes went to grab what she needed from the refrigerator with a smirk.

Glancing around the room, it struck me how normal this had become. Katy handling the twins, Ryder and Dante cuddled together at the end of the island, Rhodes and Larkin making breakfast. This group was almost complete.

Katy met my eyes, the sadness seeping through the mask she put on.

Skye and Tate were on their way back, but we still had no idea where Maren was.

“You guys talk to Tate yet?” I asked Dante and Ryder.

Dante nodded, leaning his hip on the counter next to Ryder. “She said they’re coming home soon.”

“Thank Christ,” Ryder muttered.

Dante’s lips pinched together. “I guess we can plan Luke’s funeral when she’s back.”

I nodded mutely. There wasn’t much I could say at that.

Rhodes coughed. “Rem said that Skye is bringing company with her.”

Katy nodded, jumping on his subject change. “Yeah. Larkin and I will go over the housing situation to see where we can squeeze people in.”

“We should have two more houses done tomorrow,” Ryder added. “They’re not contracted, so we can throw sleeping bags and air mattresses in there for the time being if we need to.”

“If we need more room, Dax and Sam can double up. I can sleep on the couch in the living room,” Katy offered. “That frees up two beds here.”

“No,” I said firmly, shaking my head. “There’s going to be people coming in and out of this house nonstop for meetings. The last thing we need to add is more people sleeping here. We’re on top of each other all the time as it is.”

“Rhodes and I can go back to my parents house,” Larkin suggested, her eyes darted to his, but I could see neither liked the idea of leaving.

Again, I shut that idea down. “If you guys want to, that’s one thing, but I need you both close. Rhodes is working on the packs, and Larkin is the only thing keeping us from all being high school dropouts.” I smiled at her. “Besides, Skye will want you here.”

“What about Addie?” Katy asked. “Don’t you think she’ll want to be with Skye, too?”

My back stiffened, my hands fisting on the counter. “Skye isn’t going anywhere. She’s staying here.”

“Easy, caveman,” Rhodes said softly, his tone teasing and serious at the same time. “No one is trying to take her away from you.”

I sighed, forcing my muscles to relax. I was too tense. “Sorry.”

“But we are expecting a lot of people to be coming in the next few weeks. There’s at least six representatives for those planning to come and join our pack. One is an Alpha,” Dante pointed out. “We’ll need to put them somewhere. You and I both know that putting them all together in the same place could be tense.”

He was right. Usually when an Alpha came to visit from another pack, they were given their own space. It was why we had the cabin and extra rooms here. Even though Stone Valley was the only pack with a formal Alpha left, the representatives from the other packs needed to be shown the same respect or we could risk them pulling out.

These men were coming to denounce their packs and give me complete control. The last thing I needed was them getting pissy because they had to share a bathroom with another pack they had an issue with.

“The bed and breakfast east of town,” Larkin said suddenly. “Gabe had them close it down so tourists wouldn’t be tempted to come here. No one’s been using it since it’s in the middle of the woods. They have eight rooms that they said we could use for the Brooks Ridge pack, but we didn’t need to yet. We can put them there.”

“That’s perfect,” I agreed quickly.

Rhodes smiled at her and kissed the side of her head.

“Okay, so we have that sorted,” Ryder said, finishing his coffee. “I’m going to meet with the foreman today and see what else we can have done before they arrive.”

He stood up and put his mug in the sink before walking back and kissing Dante hard. “I’ll catch up with you later?”

Dante nodded, pausing to press his forehead to Ryder’s for a brief second. They exhaled in tandem, completely in sync with each other in that moment.

“I’ll pack some food up for you,” Larkin called as he headed for the staircase.

“Can you pack mine, too?” Katy asked. “I’m going to go with him.”

Larkin nodded. “Yeah, but don’t forget you need to pick a topic for your English essay.”

Katy scoffed and whirled, red hair flying. “I thought we were getting a pass on school work. Impending war and all that.”

“You’re getting an extension , not a pass,” Larkin corrected. “And it’s just a topic, Katy. You can pick a topic . An author or a book.”

“Fine. Who was the one who put her head in the oven?”

“Sylvia Plath,” I answered as I started to laugh.

“I pick her!” Katy called, leaving the room. “Also put cheese on my eggs!”

Larkin rolled her eyes and turned back to the stove. “I’m going to stick her head in an oven.”

Rhodes started pulling containers out of the cabinet, and I wondered exactly when he became so damn domestic. Dante and I swapped amused glances.

“What’d you forget?” I asked as Katy thundered back down the stairs.

She literally slid to a stop, her chest heaving and eyes wide. She held up the phone in her hand. “It’s Mom.”

My heart literally stopped as I turned and gave her my full attention.

“Dad’s awake.”