Page 25

Chapter Twenty-Four

Talia

I cuddle into the warmth of my mate, wrapping a soft blanket around my shoulders and watching the midday sun stream through the living room window.

Drayton sits behind me, keeping me warm and cozy in the cool breeze of the open window.

He tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear and nuzzles his nose into the crook of my neck.

I hear him inhale deeply and a shiver of satisfaction runs through my body.

I don't think I'll ever get used to how much my body reacts to these men.

My head falls backwards, exposing more of my neck to Dray.

He takes the opportunity to nuzzle in more, his fingers playing with my teal wavy locks as he lightly grazes my skin with his nose and lips.

It's quiet in the house at the moment with all of my other mates out with the pack, trying to put everything back together from the attack yesterday.

Drayton was out almost all night coming up with a plan for how to best fix everything and how to do it as quickly as possible. While the packlands are mostly safe out here, it wouldn't be wise to leave the destruction for very long.

All it takes is one unsuspecting human stumbling on the packlands to have everything go even more to the dogs.

Or whatever the expression Drayton used was.

Wes explained that it meant to get even more chaotic, but I still haven't figured out what that has to do with dogs.

"Talia?" Alaric calls, his footsteps moving towards the living room.

"In here!" I yell back, elbowing Drayton when he growls lightly and pulls me tightly against him. "Hey! No growling at Alaric."

Drayton pulls back and grimaces at me. "I don't want him to steal you from me."

"You need to learn to share, Dray," I lightly chastise and lean in to kiss the tip of his nose, while pushing myself further out of his arms. "You've been sitting here snuggling me for the last two hours. You should probably go lie down and get some sleep, anyhow.”

“Sharing is caring, alpha,” Alaric teases with a cheeky grin. “You’ve had our girl all morning, time to give her to me.”

“But she’s so warm,” Dray playfully mumbles into my shoulder. “And she smells so good.”

My cheeks heat up at his sleepy compliments, and I giggle at the soft sensation of his lips moving against my skin. Alaric makes a tsk tsk sound as he walks over to us and lifts me off the couch and into his arms.

“No hogging our mate, no matter how good she smells,” Alaric chastises Drayton, who just flips him off in response. It’s not long before Drayton is snoring away on the couch, slumped over in the same half seated position he was in when I was there with him.

“Let me down for a minute,” I whisper to Alaric who immediately releases me.

Walking over to Dray, I attempt to shift his legs onto the couch to lie him down. Alaric leans over me a moment later, shifting Dray’s legs for me. I spin and place a kiss on his cheek in silent gratitude before sliding the blanket still draped around my shoulders off and placing it on my sleeping mate.

With a smile, I take Alaric’s hand and lead him out of the living room as quietly as possible. He shakes his head at me with a lopsided grin, but moves just as silently as I do. Once we’re far enough from the living room, I stop and look up at my tallest mate.

“So, what are we doing?” I look down at my stretchy yoga pants and loose tank top then back up at my mate. “Should I go change?”

Alaric places his hands on my hips and pulls me into him. He brushes a lock of hair behind my ear and kisses my forehead gently. “What you’re wearing is perfect. I’m going to take you to meet our security team for the pack and a few of the other wolves that have been anxious to check on you since the attack.”

“Are you sure yoga pants are okay to meet your team in?” I grab a lock of his long blonde hair and twirl it between my index finger and thumb. “It’s a little underdressed for meeting people, isn’t it?”

“Not at all,” he assures me. “We’re heading out to the training area which means what you’re wearing will fit right in with everyone else. I was also hoping, if you were up for it, we could see about some defense training for you. It may be easier for you in a group setting to see how moves work and what good and bad form can look and feel like. What do you think?”

Nerves and excitement fill my chest in equal parts. It would be good for me to get some training in and I would love to meet more of the wolves in the pack. But, what if I’m bad at combat? What if I can’t grasp any of the moves and I look silly in front of the others? I’m not a predator like they are. I’m a healer, not a fighter, and I don’t know if fighting is ever going to come easy to me.

“Okay,” I say hesitantly, but with a smile. “Let me just put my hair up so it’s out of the way.”

“Good idea, kitten. I’ll wait here for you.”

Alaric kisses me then shoos me towards the stairs with a gentle push. I take the plush steps two at a time, racing into my room to grab the hair tie I know I left on my bedside table. My nerves are making my palms sweaty and I drop the black hair tie twice before finally securing it around my wrist.

Despite how long I’ve been here now, I haven’t had much of a chance to really interact with a lot of the wolves here. A few of the braver pups have come by to meet me and play a couple times, but with all the tension around Drayton becoming alpha, not many of the older wolves have come around. Helen being one of the few exceptions to that and that’s probably only because she’s Penn’s mom.

The overprotectiveness of my mates is the other reason I’ve been kept away from the majority of the pack. With Marcus stirring things up, it’s hard to always know who is friend and who is foe which has my mates being far more cautious with me.

The fact that Alaric is taking me to meet and train with his team has my stomach full of butterflies. I want to belong to this pack as a whole, not just to my mates. This feels like the first step in that direction.

Once my hair is securely in a ponytail, I head back downstairs. I blow a kiss to Penn as I pass by his room and he pretends to catch it with a wink.

“Have fun, Tal!” Penn hollers after me. “Don’t forget we have dinner plans tonight.”

“I won’t!” I yell back before launching myself into Alaric’s arms. “Ready?”

Alaric holds me up by the back of my thighs and kisses me deeply. When he pulls back, I can hardly catch my breath, but I know my smile is dazed and happy.

“Now I’m ready,” he says with a smirk. He places me on my feet and takes my hand in his, pulling me towards the door.

It’s cool outside as we walk to the training grounds, the smell of the forest calming me with every step. It’s not far from the alpha’s house so we get there faster than I was expecting. Alaric stops me before we walk in, looking down at me with a soft smile.

“You have nothing to worry about with any of these guys. I promise that,” Alaric assures me, his face going serious. “But Talia, if at any point you feel uncomfortable or want to leave, you have to let me know. I want you to be able to protect yourself, but I don’t want you to push yourself past what you can handle.”

“I’ll let you know,” I promise him. I squeeze his hand with my own for extra reassurance. “Let’s go meet everyone!”

Alaric walks into the training area, his thumb rubbing reassuring circles on the back of my hand as he pulls me with him.

The training area is set in a semi circle of trees with three buildings making up the other half of the circle. To enter, you either need to come through the dense tree lines or under the arch that sits between two of the buildings.

Inside the clearing is eight different wolves, three female and five males. They all stop talking as Alaric walks towards them and dip their heads in respect to him. Their eyes shift to the ground and stay there until we reach the group. Once there, its like a rubber band snaps and they all lift their heads and greet us happily.

“Alaric! Good to see you,” a red-headed man greets him with a pat on the shoulder. He’s nearly as tall as Alaric, with orange red hair and light brown eyes that turn to look at me. “Talia, right? I’m Garth, the head of security under Alaric. Behind me is my team. From left to right we have Maya, Selene, Kira, Harris, Freddy, Baron, and Drac. It’s so good to finally meet you. We’ve been getting on Drayton and Alaric to bring you to meet us since you got here.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well,” I say, stepping up to stand beside Alaric. “The guys are a touch overprotective, aren’t they?”

Alaric shrugs at my teasing, completely unapologetic for doing what he thought was best to keep me safe. Not that I expected he would be. If there’s one thing all five of my guys agree on, it’s protecting me.

"We wanted you protected and we didn't want to overwhelm you right away.

You went from isolation to a pack, we wanted you to have time to adjust," Alaric explains, his eyes never leaving mine. When he turns to the others he grins in an almost feral way. "Besides, you assholes are a handful as is.

No one should just be thrown to you right out of the gate.

"

"You got us there," a female wolf with amber coloured eyes that I believe was introduced as Kira, claps Garth on the shoulder and smiles at me. "We're tough and loyal, but we do fall a wee bit on the feral side of things."

Maya on the end scoffs and rolls her eyes playfully. "Speak for yourself, Kira. I am not feral, thank you very much. That's why Talia and I will be the best of friends," she says with a wink at me. "Because I know how to behave like a civilised being.

"

"Oh please," Harris or Baron jeers. "You don't know the meaning of the word civilised!"

Standing on the sidelines and watching these shifters interact with each other brings the largest smile to my face. You can feel the comradery and bonds between them as if they were almost tangible. There's not a moment of silence as each of them throws in their teasing two cents at each other.

I lean into Alaric's side with a content smile. This is what family should be. This is what a family should look like. I haven't seen much of the pack, but I can tell that Marcus has tried to break a beautiful thing by sowing discord the way he has. A wolf needs their pack, and these shifters are no different.

"Okay, okay!" Alaric puts his hands up to silence the playful bickering from his team. "I brought Talia today to join our training. She's extremely new to all of this, so we're going to take it slow. Selene, will you partner with Talia today?"

The smallest female wolf smiles and nods at me in confirmation. She has been the quietest of the team so far. Her dark, almost black, eyes have just watched her teammates with a smirk. My peryton peaks out at her to judge the danger we may be entering into. I reassure her with a gentle mental nudge, reminding her that Alaric wouldn't put us in actual danger. With a snuff of agreement she settles back down inside our meadow peacefully.

Despite my reassurances to my peryton, anxiety still fills my chest as I walk over to Selene. I meant what I said about Alaric not putting us in danger, I just can't shake the feeling that I'm about to fail. I'm not a fighter. Maybe mentally I'm strong enough, but my magic and my body are that of a passive healer, not a warrior.

"We'll take it slow," Selene whispers to me, her voice far more hoarse than I expected. “Just let me know if you need me to show you any of the moves multiple times. There’s no rush to get everything right the first time.”

“Thank you,” I respond quietly, thankful for her calm understanding.

The rest of the team is partnering up around us while Alaric pulls out a few items from a nearby shed. He tosses dark blue mats into the center of the circular arena and some wooden weapons shaped like guns, knives, and something that looks like a short, fat sword.

“We’re going to do some basics of self-defense today to help Talia feel comfortable with it all. So spread out in pairs and grab one of the mats and wooden weapons,” Alaric instructs, sending a quick wink of encouragement my way.

“Go easy on me,” I joke to Selene with a nervous laugh. “I’m not much of a fighter.”

“I promise to help you find your fighting spirit,” Selene responds. “No one will ever touch you again. If I can learn to fight, so can you.”

I simply nod in response, the hoarseness of her voice clicking into place in my mind. My healing energy rises to the surface in response to my instincts around what she’s been through, but I push them back down. One day I can offer her my services as a healer, but it’s not up to me to decide if she wants to be healed.

We quickly get down to business and it’s clear that I am way behind the pack. They move with grace and efficiency that I could only dream of possessing. Selene is calm and patient throughout, not minding that being partnered with me means she doesn’t get to truly practise at all today.

To my surprise all of the others on the team pause their training at different times to come over and offer tips and tricks to help me grasp the basics of disarming an enemy as fast as possible. Each one of them has a unique way of approaching the same situation and I can easily see why Alaric chose them for his security team.

By the end of the two hour training, I’m drenched in sweat and smiling from ear to ear. I still don’t think fighting is truly for me, but I have a much better understanding of how to defend myself if someone else enacts violence first.

The cool wind blows the loose hairs that have come out of my ponytail around my face and dries some of the sweat coating my brow.

“You did really well today, Talia,” Selene commends me and pats my back as I breathe heavily in and out. “Hit me up if you want to practise some more.”

“I will. Thank you, Selene. You’re a really good teacher,” I compliment back. She nods and turns away as Alaric comes up beside me.

Pulling me into his arms, he kisses me deeply. My toes curl as his lips claim mine and I cling hard to his shoulders. I forget we have an audience until one of them coughs deeply and chuckles as I jump away from my mate.

“Oops.”

“They’re adults, they can walk away if they don’t like it.” Alaric brushes a piece of hair behind my ear. “You did so good today, kitten. I’m so fucking proud of you.”

“Thank you for bringing me here today.”

“Anytime, kitten. Now, let’s get you back to the house so you can get ready for dinner tonight. Helen will skin me alive if I make you late.”