Page 153 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)
AUDREY
We left the healing pool at a slower pace than we arrived, for which I was grateful. I wasn’t as sore as I’d been walking north, but I was still sore. Bishop held my hand while Knox, in his wolf form, kept brushing up against me, and my heart couldn’t have been fuller.
On top of that, a gentle breeze whispered through the forest and the sun shone brightly, turning into brilliant specks of dancing light with the fluttering leaves and branches.
Even Cyrus looked more relaxed. He and Deacon chatted about the upcoming alliance meeting and their thoughts about the merchants with the weapons powerful enough to take down a grimalkin.
“If they do what Gower claims, this could change things,” Deacon said.
“Yes, we’d suffer fewer casualties but we have to weigh how this will also affect our alliances, not to mention anyone who wants to hurt or conquer us,” Cyrus replied.
“You know I hate it when you bring a good thing down,” Deacon huffed.
“But you know he’s right,” Bishop replied. “If Gower buys enough of these weapons he won’t need our warriors, and our warriors and Whil’s elixir are our primary export.”
“Not until Audrey works her magic with her new technology,” Deacon said, flashing me a teasing smile.
Cyrus slowed his pace to fall into step with Bishop. “New technology?”
“I might not have anything soon,” I replied, glaring at Deacon, who just kept smiling at me. I hadn’t been sure if Deacon, Nova, Whil, or Bishop had mentioned to Cyrus my plan to tell the pack’s scientists and engineers about stuff from my realm, but it was clear they hadn’t. I’d been planning to keep it a secret and not draw attention to myself until I actually had something to show Cyrus. I wanted him to see I was valuable to the pack, and I couldn’t do that without proof.
“What kind of timeline are we talking about?” Cyrus asked.
“I don’t know.”
He frowned at me, but instead of wanting to shrink away from him like I used to, I just felt frustrated. I hadn’t even started working with anyone, and I was still learning what the pack knew and didn’t know.
Sensing my frustration, both Knox and Bishop hit me on both sides with a wave of confidence and determination. The emotions were so strong, I stumbled, needing to clutch Bishop’s hand and lean against Knox to keep my balance.
Cyrus groaned and looked skyward. “We aren’t even walking that fast.”
Deacon’s shoulders shook, and he clamped his jaw shut then slapped his hands over his mouth then gave up, releasing a deep laugh. The sound was contagious and soon all of us were laughing and I’d just couldn’t stop.
It was like the final wall I’d put up to protect myself from the stress of trying to save Bishop had shattered, and all the worry and fear came rushing out in a laugh. The situation hadn’t even been that funny.
“Really, though,” Bishop said, sucking in deep breaths and trying to get himself under control. “That was our fault. You were frustrating her and we both sent support through our bond at the same time.” He palmed the back of his neck and looked sheepish. “Next time, I won’t be so forceful.”
Me, too, Knox said.
“I don’t mind,” I assured them. I’d rather be knocked off my feet with love and support than anything else. That, and I liked how determined they were to show me that they had my back. No one else had ever been so certain. Not even Mila, who’d been my only friend in my old pack.
Sure, she cared for me but not enough to stand up against our alpha for me, and I wouldn’t have expected that from her, either. She had a medium level of shifter strength but that still wasn’t enough for Merrick to respect her. I wasn’t sure if Merrick respected anyone.
Cyrus huffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m not criticizing or stopping you. I want to help and I need to know where you are in the process so I can provide the proper support.”
Warmth fluttered around my heart at his words, a hint of a shifter connection forming even though we weren’t touching. Or was that something else? The connection my soul was determined to make with him that I doubted he’d ever accept.
“I’m at the ‘I don’t know what I don’t know’ stage,” I said, making him frown again.
“We’ve been spending time together,” Whil added, “and I’ve been answering her questions about our realm and our pack.”
“For example, lenses,” Deacon said. “And I’ve talked to a few different human merchants and still don’t know if they’ve figured out how to correct bad eyesight or not.”
“What does human eyesight have to do with anything?” Cyrus asked.
“If they’ve figured out what concave and convex lenses do,” I told him, “they’ll have invented glasses to help people see better as well as magnifying glasses and telescopes.”
A wrinkle formed between Cyrus’s eyebrows. “I have no idea what those are. Those words sound weird.”
“They sound weird to me, too,” Deacon said and everyone else nodded, even Whil who had more experience traveling beyond the pack’s lands.
“I guess that means the magic that lets me understand and speak to you can’t translate the words.” Which suggested that for whatever reason, no one had discovered those things.
“So like hors d'oeuvres ,” Bishop piped in.
Cyrus threw his hands up and groaned. “What the hell is an hors d'oeuvres ? A new technology as well?”
“It’s a mini appetizer,” I told him. “But the magic doesn’t translate it because it’s not my native language.”
Deacon looked at me as if he’d never seen me before. “You speak more than one language in your realm?”
“No,” Bishop said on my behalf, eager to share what he’d learned, but then looked at me, his expression — and his emotions from the bond — guilty for answering when he didn’t actually know if I spoke more languages or not.
I smiled at him and shook my head, sending him encouragement through the bond so he’d keep going. We’d had the conversation days ago during a picnic lunch and he was still excited at the idea of me helping the pack with what I knew.
“They have ways of communicating long distances so some foreign words have become common use.”
“That’s incredible,” Deacon replied. I’d mentioned the lenses during one of our dinners together when Bishop was away, but I hadn’t talked about all the other things from my world.
“What would be the fastest and easiest thing to make?” Cyrus asked.
“The lenses,” I replied without hesitation. I’d been thinking about what needed the least amount of learning since I’d started seriously learning about this realm. “They require creating perfectly clear glass which you already have on some of your windows and creating the glass with a curve… and I’m not sure the best way to go about doing that.”
Cyrus pursed his lips, his gaze traveling into the woods ahead of us as he thought. “When we get back, I’ll set you up with Isac. He’s our best glassmaker. He should be able to make what you need.”
His attention jumped back to me, his eyes bright with determination, something I’d never seen from him before. The look made my heart flutter and a sliver of the warmth in my chest slipped down to my core. That annoying voice inside me started to speak up, but I shove it aside, not wanting to shatter the moment.
Except he must have seen something in my eyes, because he grunted and looked away, shattering the moment.
“The faster you make something, anything,” he said, his voice gruff. “The faster the reluctant members of our pack will accept you.”