“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 by in the next week. 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.”
27
Remy
It took us about two minutes to get out of the house. Dax was still pulling his shirt over his wet head while I threw the car into drive and started down the mountain for the med center in town.
“Here,” Katy said, passing a pair of shoes to Sam so he could slip them on over his feet.
She gave me an anxious smile as I rounded a corner a little too fast, the back tires spinning for a second before they caught on the ground with a lurch.
“Is he okay?” Dax demanded, his face popping through the collar of his shirt as he yanked it down.
“Mom said the doctor was checking him out,” Katy relayed, her eyes focused on the road ahead as I turned the vehicle towards town.
“But this is good news, right?” he pressed.
Katy and I exchanged another set of looks.
Hopefully it was good news, but who knew? It wouldn’t surprise me if the world threw another sucker punch at me.