“You can’t. Fuck them for making me uncomfortable in the one place I felt safe,” I growled, stepping out of their embrace, ready to face the world now. “Let’s go see if I can donate any of it, and the rest? Well, it can go to the trash. I’m tired of it darkening our lives.”
“Damn right,” Kieran agreed. Each of them took one of my hands and led me to the living room, where the pile had been moved.
“Yeah, you probably need this,” Cade said as he walked in with a box cutter, flipping it open before handing it to me.
It should have been disconcerting that they didn’t even have to speak to know my plans had shifted to finally handling this massive mountain of boxes.
I sat on the floor in front of them, tucking my legs under me, and started to open them.
I viscerally recoiled at the first one, a burst of their scent hitting me hard. Cade growled, snatching the box from me before taking it back outside to put it directly in the trash can. I didn’t need to know what was inside. It smelled like their clothes, as if they were giving me back my pack scents.
How kind of them,I thought sarcastically. They missed the mark every damn time.
The second box I opened had a binder in it. I pulled it out and flipped it open. They had printed off pictures of our pack.
How strange that not one of them pulled me into old memories or feelings. It felt like a different life entirely at this point.
There were only a few candid shots. The rest were mainly group photos from things like vacations or events. Not one of them really showed my personality or how they saw me.
In fact, they all looked perfect in every single one, like they’d handpicked the ones that made them look the best, even if Iwasn’t. That was something that didn’t sit right with me. It felt like this was a gift for them, not me.
I didn’t want a perfect, picture-ready pack. I wanted a candid one. One that shit-talked while they shot zombies in a game. A pack that wasn’t afraid to mess up the kitchen and share meals around the table. One that would blow handfuls of suds at each other as we cleaned up. Simply singing and dancing to music as we worked.
I wanted a pack that wasreal.Every day I spent with this pack made me realize they were exactly that. In a short time, theyhad already mended the broken pieces of me, helped me heal after my old pack broke my heart.
Right now, staring at the gifts that meant nothing to me, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.
That was a freeing thought. I no longer had to let them hang over me like a raincloud. They had no place in this life I was making.
I slammed the book closed and looked at the others with a wicked grin. “Anyone up for a bonfire?” I hopped to my feet, ignoring the rest of the boxes. As I stormed out to the fire pit, I started ripping out the photos, dropping them onto the pile of logs that was waiting. I unceremoniously threw the binder on the ground, letting it lay there, just a carcass of what they put together. If they thought this bullshit photo album was going to make me forgive them, they’d lost their minds.
Mason joined me with a grin on his face and a bottle of lighter fluid in his hand. He popped it open and handed it over. I took it, dousing the logs and photos alike.
Cade tried to hand over a lighter, but I waved him off, camera already ready to record. “Light it for me, please.”
He didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger, pressing the small flame to the liquid, igniting it in a flourish. I took the video, watching as flames took hold, the blaze flaring to life and consuming thepictures until they were curling in on themselves. When nothing but ash remained, I hit end.
Then I hit send.
There were no words. The video was enough.
“Can someone bring me the other boxes?” I asked. They went back inside, gathering the boxes, and then we went through them as a pack.
Nothing was safe. There were little trinkets and empty daily journals for me because they knew I liked notebooks. Funny enough, they used to complain about finding them everywhere.
Now, all of a sudden, I guess they deemed it worthy. They even sent me a few stacks of books, probably picking out whatever was popular, not bothering to know if it was part of my collection or not.
“Not one thing in this fucking pile fits you,” Cade said as he looked between the fire pit and our donation pile.
“They even got the snacks that I eat wrong,” I said. I hadn’t touched some of these sugary treats since high school. It just showed how little they knew me now.
“That’s why they’re back in North Crossing, licking their wounds, and she’s here with us, having plenty of orgasms and pampering,” Mason concluded.
“On that note, what’s next?” Lennon asked, looking at me.
My mood had shifted, and I was more than ready for some time with my pack.
“First one to beat me in Zombie Annihilator 2 gets to share my nest tonight,” I said as I raced back inside, the entire pack on my heels except for Cade. I knew the alpha was standing by the fire pit, making sure the flames were out before coming to join us.
